Mengal Brackets Loyalty To Pakistan With Balochistan

He claimed that the fifth military operation is still underway with visible consequences

Mengal brackets loyalty to Pakistan with Balochistan

QUETTA – Balochistan National Party president and former Chief Minister, Sardar Akhtar Mengal took oath as the Balochistan Assembly Member after 14 years.
His action was widely welcomed by the House, and CM Dr Abdul Malik Baloch appreciated the nationalist’s struggle for the rights of the people. Engineer Zamarruk Khan, Gul Muhammad Dhummar, Dr Hamid Khan Achakzai, Dr Ruqayya Hashmi, Abdul Karim Nausherwani, Syed Agha Raza, Ms Yasmin Lehri and others welcomed the BNP leader in the House.
Sardar Mengal, in his brief speech after the oath, said, “We could not be loyal to Pakistan without pledging allegiances to Balochistan.” He said that Balochistan is on the world map because of the supreme sacrifices of the martyrs, including Nawab Akbar Bugti, Nawab Nauroz Khan, Habib Jalib and thousands of other unknown soldiers. He said they could not forget the supreme sacrifices of their martyrs and have to pledge to follow their footsteps in the future course of action.
“In the past, displaced persons from the whole region were used to take shelter in Balochistan. Now there is no place for its own sons and daughters to take shelter,” Sardar Mengal told the members. “The people have sent us to this assembly not to deliver beautiful speeches and get wide publicity in newspapers next morning, but to solve their problems,” he opined adding, “The masses have voted us by remaining on line in hot and cold weather only to get the issues resolved.” He said that mindset of the establishment has not changed; otherwise there would have been no mutilated bodies thrown at desolate places.
On the law and order situation, he said there is no guarantee that the proposals offered by the House members would be incorporated or implemented to improve the situation. “Democracy will be strengthened and institutionalised only when the people stop visiting the GHQ to win support and backing,” he said
He claimed that the fifth military operation is still underway with visible consequences. President Asif Ali Zardari and General (R) Pervez Musharraf had offered apologies on the past military actions and excesses committed against the Baloch people, he said adding there is no end to the practice of political victimisation. “If there is a change in the mindset of the rulers, there will be no mutilated body and enforced disappearances in which ethnic or sectarian terrorism is also included,” Sardar Mengal told the House. There should be a line drawn between the people waging a struggle for their national and usurped rights and terrorism, including sectarian terrorism, the BNP president opined.
He said, “We are facing aftermaths of the Afghan war and most of the politicians, who had supported the American agenda and joined Ziaul Haq’s Majlis-e-Shoora, are now the champions of democracy.”
Referring to the regional conflict, Sardar Mengal said, “If we would interfere in the matters of other countries, we should expect the same response from them as well.” He said Afghanistan has already been converted into a big graveyard.
The former CM said there is no one who could check the role of secret agencies and no one can dare to make them accountable. “If they can interfere in the internal affairs of independent and sovereign countries, then no one can stop them from interfering in our tribal set up,” he argued. He was of the view unless the policy goes unchanged; there would be no improvement in affairs of Balochistan. He said if the present government managed to check the agencies’ role, the rulers would deserve appreciations.
Sardar Mengal said that he had told PM Mian Nawaz Sharif in a meeting that development and progress is not possible without establishing peace. “We should put the cart before the horse,” he said. He said that the rights of Baloch people on their resources should be conceded. He demanded that all the agreements signed between Pakistan and China on Gwadar Port should be presented before the House. He said that any agreement converting Balochs into a minority is unacceptable.
He said the members of the House should be informed categorically whether the functionaries of secret agencies are servants of the people or not. He was of the view that with the induction of Frontier Corps in Balochistan, the situation had gone worse. He disclosed that ‘state backed terrorists’ had imposed law of jungle in Khuzdar for the past two months. The residents are facing shortage of ration and goods of daily use as the whole city is barricaded. The government should end the siege of Khuzdar, allowing a normal life for the local residents.
BNP-M leader Mir Hammal Kalmati also took oath as the MPA.

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