Daily Times

The federal government on Thursday decided to reach out to Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) to address its grievances.

The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan in Islamabad. Defence Minister Pervez Khattak, Minister for Planning Asad Umar, Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser, Shafqat Mehmood and Babar Awan attended the meeting.

During the meeting, Imran Khan directed the government’s negotiation team to remove the reservations of PTI-led government’s allies, including the BNP-Mengal. In this regard, he tasked Defence Minister Pervez Khattak to meet with representatives of disgruntled coalition partners and address their concerns. He directed the team to formally start negotiations with the BNP-Mengal.

Meanwhile, BNP-M chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal telephoned Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari and discussed important issues, including the political situation of the country. During the conversation, the two leaders also discussed the government’s failure to stop locust attacks, growing poverty and the government’s criminal negligence in combating coronavirus.

The BNP-M chief inquired about the health of the PPP co-chairman and wished for his quick recovery.

On the occasion, Asif Zardari said the PPP has always strengthened the country, democracy and the poor by supporting the economy in difficult times. He said that the PPP will continue to play its leading role in saving the country from the ‘selected’ and ‘imported’ rulers who have made the country a hotbed of problems.

On Wednesday, BNP-M chief Akhtar Mengal had announced to part ways with the PTI government. While addressing the National Assembly session, Mengal had said that his party waited for two years but no one had bothered to pay attention to their demands despite the party fully supporting the government in the last budget. He said that PTI had signed two agreements at the time of formation of government after 2018 general elections and later during the presidential election, but not a single point of the accord had been implemented.