‘Real forces’ don’t want to solve problems of Balochistan

ISLAMABAD: Balochistan National Party-mengal (BNP-M) chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal has said that the problems of Balochistan should be solved but some people, most of them belonging to the government, do not want that.

He told a TV channel that every segment of society is angry, every person who raises his voice for his rights has been abused and is angry. He said that even the most complex issue could be resolved through dialogue but “some forces do not want that.”

Mengal said some people are being ‘raised in pots’ to become leaders of Balochistan and they will never want the problems of Balochistan to be solved.

“’Real forces’ do not want a solution to the problem of Balochistan,” the BNP-M leader said. “I am serious about the talks but on the other side there are people who are against negotiations.”

He said the government used the term “angry Baloch” and added: “Give us any title but resolve the issues in a political way.” He said that the anger of the Baloch had intensified so much that they no longer expressed it.

“I do not know which Baloch the government calls angry: those who are abroad or those who are siting on the mountains,” he said.

The BNP-M chief said that all people of Balochistan were angry with the state except the ministers. He said that even bigger issues had been resolved through negotiations and the issue of Balochistan could also be resolved through dialogue.

He did not think the government was serious in negotiations. However, due to the changing situation in the region, the idea of dialogue has been floated, he believed.

Mengal said that those Pakhtun and Sindhi people who had been abused were also angry. “Journalists and media persons associated with TV channels are also angry. But for the Baloch, this issue is being raised because of the possible impact of the changing situation in the region.”

He said that the possibility of the Taliban’s advance on Pakistan ater the withdrawal of US and Nato forces from Afghanistan was being feared in the country, particularly in Balochistan.