QUETTA: Balochistan Nat­­ional Party-Mengal (BNP-M) president Sardar Akhtar Jan Mengal has claimed that the opposition alliance will give surprise to the BAP-led coalition government in the province.

He said he had doubts about the victory of the ruling parties in the Senate election.

He was speaking at a press conference on Tuesday in which former senator Nasima Ehsan Shah announced her decision to join the BNP-M. She belongs to the Pakistan National Party headed by her husband MPA Syed Ehsan Shah and has filed her nomination papers for contesting the Senate election on a women’s reserved seat.

Sardar Mengal said that Ehsan Shah, whose party had been part of the ruling alliance, would now support the BNP-M in the Senate election. “There will be other surprises also for the government in the Senate election,” he added.

“Senate seats are not our problem. Our problem is recognition of supremacy of the Constitution and equality of nationalities, ensuring their rights and upholding democracy in the country.”

The BNP-M chief said: “I am surprised that whenever I come to Quetta, the government is upset. This is the first time that the government has approached our people. They have offered some seats to the opposition and talks were held in this regard but no conclusion has been reached yet.”

Replying to a question, he said that he did not think that the government would win the Senate election [from Balochistan].

Sardar Mengal said that the release of Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assem­bly Hamza Shehbaz Sharif was a positive decision and it proved that his arrest had been made through wrong tactics.

He said that it had always been the policy of the governments in the country to use the institutions to subdue their opponents. The BNP-M leader ruled out the possibility of talks with the government.

Published in Dawn, March 3rd, 2021