QUETTA: Former Balochistan chief minister and Balochistan National Party (BNP) President Sardar Akhtar Mengal said on Thursday the ultimate goal of his party was to seek Balochistan’s independence from Pakistan, for which the party was striving to prepare the ground and ensure unity among all Baloch nationalist political groups. He was speaking at a public gathering in western Panjgur district bordering Iran. The BNP chief said the Baloch had become tired of unabated military operations and excessive exploitation of their natural resources by the federal government, and now the BNP wanted the separation of Balochistan from Pakistan. The Baloch leaders need, however, to forge unity in their ranks in order to achieve the goal of liberation, he said. The BNP has previously faced many challenges, including the killing, arrest and exile of its leaders, the enlisting of their names on the exit control list and the freezing of their bank accounts, he added.

Mengal criticised President Asif Zardari for not sticking to his pledge of giving up the repressive policies of the former regime. malik siraj akbar

Akhtar Mengal calls for Baloch unity

QUETTA: Balochistan National Party-M chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal said on Thursday that anti-Baloch forces were trying to create differences among nationalist parties and called upon nationalists to foil such conspiracies and launch a united struggle for national rights.

Addressing a public meeting in Panjgur, he said the BNP-M would neither compromise on Baloch rights nor abandon the struggle against ‘oppressive methods’ of the establishment.

He said the BNP-M and other Baloch groups had the same objective and they must overcome their differences and adopt a strategy for unified struggle.

Sardar Mengal said his party had always rendered sacrifices for the Baloch rights and no one could accuse its leadership of having compromised the rights of Baloch. He said that the BNP believed in a progressive and democratic national struggle to protect the coast and resources of the Baloch people.

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