ISLAMABAD: In a shocking upset, Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) on Wednesday ended its two-year-long coalition with ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), accusing the latter of dishonouring a written accord, it had signed before joining the government after July 2018 general elections.
Speaking on the floor of the National Assembly, BNP-M President Sardar Akhtar Mengal announced his party's withdrawal from its alliance with the PTI-led federal government over its failure to implement accords with the party.
"I'm officially announcing that our party is ending its alliance with the PTI...we'll stay in parliament and will keep talking about issues," he declared.
Mengal continued that the PTI had signed two agreements with the party at the time of government formation after the 2018 elections, and later during the presidential elections, but not a single point of the accord was implemented.
"If our demands were illegal and unconstitutional, we're ready to face even death, but then all those who have put their signatures on these accords should also face the same," said a visibly perturbed Mengal.
Mengal presented two separate lists of missing persons before the assembly.
According to one of the lists, 18 people have so far been recovered, while the other contained the names of nearly 500 people who had gone missing after signing the agreements with the PTI.
He said the decision to come out of the ruling coalition was made after many meetings of the party's central executive committee.
"The law and order situation is worsening in Balochistan, death squads have been reactivated," he claimed.
Mengal said that the people of the province were not "slaves", and questioned why a Balochistan peace conference could not be convened like the one held for Afghanistan peace process.
"The government is worried about Kashmir more than Balochistan...it's busy in forming committees on Kashmir, which is not with it, but it's not worried at all about losing what it already has. This House can discuss issues of wheat, sugar and tomatoes, but not the blood of the Baloch people," he lamented.
The Baloch leader also questioned the allocations made for the province in the recently announced federal budget.
He said that the prime minister had no time to visit the camps of missing persons, and no time to meet the fishermen facing problems.
"We have simply demanded that the missing persons be recovered and the National Action Plan (NAP) against terrorism be implemented in letter and spirit. Through the other agreement, we have demanded projects for Balochistan and Gwadar," he added.
Mengal said that agreements made with the people of the province were openly "violated" in the past too.
He also criticised the government for cutting shares of the provinces in the National Finance Commission (NFC).
He added that the government, despite repeated warnings did not take steps to stop locust attacks, adding the government had aircraft for chief minister, and it could buy F-16s, but there was no aircraft for aerial spray.
He held the federal and Balochistan governments responsible for the spread of the Covid-19 in the country by allowing pilgrims from Iran to enter Taftan without making any arrangements.
"A first information report (FIR) should be registered against whoever is responsible for the deaths in the country due to the coronavirus," he added.
He alleged that the parliament had been turned into a "Hyde Park" corner where the members were free to vent their frustration through speeches but no one was there to listen to them seriously.
While highlighting his grievances in the assembly, the lawmaker stated that the foundations for the road from Chaman to Karachi were laid in 1973, and it had killed 4,500 in road accidents.
He added that instead of giving them a six-lane road, the government gave them only a two-lane road.
Mengal also claimed that "no one can find justice in this country" and that "justice is being sold".
While hitting out at the government, he noted that the Pakistan Steel Mills was being privatised and thousands were being rendered unemployed.
"The disappointing thing is that no one here is ready to listen to their [the laid off workers'] demands," said Mengal.
He added that if the demands could not be met, then they should at least be noted.
"It has become a tradition here that the last government is held responsible for everything," he said.
The number of National Assembly members from the leading party, and the coalition partners, is reduced to 180, after the BNP parted ways with the PTI.
Before the BNP-M's withdrawal, the PTI enjoyed majority in the National Assembly with 156 seats, while along with all its allies, it had a total of 186 seats in the lower house of the parliament.
The MQM has seven, the PML-Q has five, Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) five, BNP-M has four, Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) has three and Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP) and Awami Muslim League have one seat each besides four independent lawmakers.
On the other hand, the opposition has 156 seats, as Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has 84 seats, Pakistan People's Party 55, Mutahidda Majlis-i-Amal Pakistan 16, and Awami National Party has one seat.
The four members belonging to the BNP-M have not yet announced becoming a part of the opposition alliance.
Despite being a part of the government alliance, they remained on independent benches.
With the inclusion of the BNP in the opposition alliance, seats of the opposition party will jump to 161.
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