The first formal meeting between a two-member government team and Sardar Akhtar Mengal, the head of his own faction of the Balochistan National Party (BNP-M), on Saturday ended without making any progress, but both sides agreed to continue the talks.
“We are political people. I have told them that the decision (to quit the ruling coalition) is a party decision which cannot be changed,” Mr Mengal said in a brief chat with reporters after his nearly 30-minute meeting with Defence Minister Pervez Khattak and Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar at his residence.
Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi is also a member of the government team, but he did not attend the meeting.
Mr Mengal, who had announced his party’s decision to quit the ruling coalition on the floor of the National Assembly on June 17, said he had informed the government team about his reservations and the issues involved would definitely take some time to resolve.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Khattak said that Mr Mengal had political stature and he had some “reservations” about which they had a discussion. “We will continue to meet each other,” he added.
Negotiations to remain on course; MPC concerned over possible changes in 18th Amendment, NFC Award
Mr Umar said the BNP-M and the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) held similar views that without giving rights to the people of every part of the country, Pakistan could not make progress.
He said the question now was what could be done that would be visible to the people of Balochistan.
In response to a question, Mr Mengal said that so far Prime Minister Imran Khan had not made any contact with him.
The government team met Mr Mengal hours after the latter attended a multi-party conference (MPC) of the opposition parties in Balochistan which was hosted by Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman.
During the media briefing after the MPC, Mr Mengal said the decision to quit the ruling alliance headed by the PTI had been made by his party’s Central Executive Committee (CEC).
“The decision to go back to the government is not in my hand. It is the decision of the party’s CEC and no individual can change it,” he declared.
Responding to a question, Mr Mengal said that it was perhaps for the first time in the country’s history that a political party had announced its decision to quit the government on the floor of the National Assembly. He, however, said that when he made the announcement his party members were sitting on independent benches and they were still sitting on independent benches. He said today they were invited by the opposition so they had attended the event and they were ready to hold talks with the government.
When he was told that his party had voted for the federal budget last year despite having the same reservations and asked what would be its strategy now, the BNP chief simply replied that when they had already quit the government, it was clear what they would do in the voting.
Mr Mengal said if the government resolved the issues of Balochistan, not only he but the entire population of the province would join the PTI.
Earlier, during a press conference, Maulana Fazlur Rehman read out the declaration of the MPC.
The JUI-F chief said the MPC participants had expressed concerns over the government’s move to amend the 18th Constitutional Amendment and change the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award, saying that any such moves would be “resisted by the democratic forces”.
The Maulana further said that they would not accept any cut from the 57.5 per cent share of the provinces
from the NFC. He said the MPC had condemned the actions of the Frontier Constabulary (FC), particularly in Balochistan, and demanded that its powers should be curtailed.
The JUI-F chief said the MPC also wanted the government to abolish the “death squads” operating in Balochistan allegedly under official patronage.
The BNP-M chief had accused the PTI of having a “non-serious attitude” towards Balochistan’s problems and complained about its failure to implement the two agreements reached with his party at the time of the formation of the government soon after the general elections in 2018.
Mr Mengal blasted the PTI for not paying heed to the key issues of the Balochistan province, including the missing persons and non-implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP) against terrorism.
Mr Mengal recalled that the PTI had signed two agreements with his party at the time of the elections of the speaker, deputy speaker, prime minister and later during the presidential elections, but not a single point of the accord was implemented.
