Neither is Narendra Modi interested in Balochistan nor Nawaz Sharif in Kashmir. Instead, their own political interests make them speak about the two places, Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) chief Akhtar Mengal said on Sunday.
\nSpeaking at the \u2018Meet the Press\u2019 programme of the Karachi Press Club, he said that the Indian prime minister\u2019s recent references to Balochistan were \u201cjust empty statements\u201d.
\n\u201cHe [Modi] has no interest in Balochistan or its people; his statements are just that: statements. Similarly, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is not interested in Kashmir or Kashmiris, either. Both the premiers are playing politics over dead bodies,\u201d he said.
\nIn an hour-long speech, Mr Mengal touched upon many issues related to Balochistan and said, \u201cKashmir seems to be nearer to Islamabad than Balochistan as the leaders and the media listen to and quickly react to grievances of the Kashmiris.
\n\u201cIf there\u2019s Indian involvement in Balochistan then by all means fight against it. Why kill our own people to prove a point to India.
\n\u201cBalochistan is a politically isolated and orphaned province. You kept us politically isolated and yet it is the country which has ended up getting isolated.\u201d
\nThe BNP-M leader said that his father and he could not complete their tenures in government because they were not courtiers.
\n\u201cI always support parliamentary politics over other options. In an all-party conference, I raised the issue of countering the upcoming demographic changes in Balochistan as well as the killing of settlers. Using strong-arm tactics by either side will backfire.\u201d
\nHe recalled the six points he had raised before the Supreme Court in September 2012. \u201cHad those points been accepted and implemented, we would not have been witnessing hopelessness among the people of the province and their mistrust of the state institutions and politicians,\u201d he said.
\nSpeaking about the points, he said they pertained to \u201cright to self-determination of the people of Balochistan.\u201d
\nContinuing, he said that the dismissal of the points had led to a \u201cwidely believed notion in the province that the state is only interested in the resources of the province and not grievances of its people.
\n\u201cThe grievances are still the same: to stop targeted killings by state-sponsored death squads, dumping of mutilated bodies and to employ local people in upcoming projects.\u201d
\nIn an apparent reference to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, Mr Mengal said, \u201cAny project initiated by a European, American or Asian country, which provides employment to our people, is acceptable to us. Similarly, a project that further deprives us of our rights and turns us into a minority in our own land is unacceptable. We do not want that at all.\u201d
\nHe said that Karachi had become \u201can advertising spot for luring investors to Gwadar\u201d, whereas Gwadar has \u201cnothing more to offer beyond beautiful images\u201d.
\nSince 1990s, he added, Gwadar had been getting half of its electricity from Iran. \u201cIran recently offered to provide electricity to other districts for a cheaper price. The proposal was rejected by Pakistan.\u201d
\nHowever, he did acknowledge the fact that multi-billion dollar development projects are to be launched in the province, including hospitals, expressways and an international airport in Gwadar.
\nHe then spoke about the terrorist attack on the Civil Hospital in Quetta on Aug 8.
\n\u201cTwenty-five lawyers died of injuries because of lack of facilities at the hospital situated in the provincial capital. To say it is depressing would be overstating the obvious.\u201d
\nConcluding his speech, Mr Mengal said that he had been accused of treason and called a traitor for raising these issues. \u201cThe media shows only one side of Balochistan. It seems that they have old recordings of the province and are happy to present that particular scenario in their analysis and talk shows because it works for them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Source: Dawn news<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Neither is Narendra Modi interested in Balochistan nor Nawaz Sharif in Kashmir. Instead, their own political interests make them speak about the two places, Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) chief Akhtar Mengal said on Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6658,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-c59-islamic-world"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n