Akhtar Mengal annoyed over appointment of Anwarul Haq Kakar as Caretaker PM, writes letter to Nawaz Sharif
ISLAMABAD, Aug 13 (SABAH): Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) President Sardar Muhammad Akhtar Jan Mengal on Sunday expressed his displeasure with the appointment of Senator Anwarul Haq Kakar as the Caretaker Prime Minister, claiming that such decisions created “more distance” between his party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
“You have nominated such a person as the caretaker prime minister whose appointment has closed the doors of politics for us,” Sardar Akhtar Mengal stated in a letter to Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif. He added: “Such decisions have created more distance between us and you.”
Akhtar Mengal expressed disappointment that the country’s problems are being solved through consultations with the establishment instead of politicians.
In his open letter he shared on his official Twitter account on Sunday, Akhtar Mengal whose party is a part of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) coalition that ruled the country for 16 months said this communication was a continuation of his last year’s letter in July, saying that instead of the problems he mentioned earlier being solved, they had only escalated.
He deplored that the problems of Balochistan, including enforced disappearances, continued, and instead of looking for a political solution, the problems were being solved through force. “The country’s problems are being solved through consultations with the establishment or by looking at them for a solution instead of politicians,” he lamented.
Mengal also wrote that the PML-N had so quickly forgotten the conspiracies and unconstitutional actions it had borne the brunt of, and not learnt a lesson.
“We remember the injustices we faced from Gen Ayub to Gen Musharraf. But by forgetting the conspiracies and unconstitutional actions of generals Musharraf and Bajwa so soon, your party once again carries out legislation in the dark of the night without taking its allies into confidence, which is equal to weakening the democratic institutions, strengthening undemocratic powers and fixing more nails in the coffin of democracy.”
He said that not taking the allied parties into confidence while making important decisions will lead to creating mistrust and bad blood among each other.
Moreover, Mengal also took issue with some decisions of the outgoing government. He took issue with the fact that the Pak-China Gwadar University was being built in Lahore instead of Balochistan.
Punjab has no scarcity of educational institutions; however, being on the periphery, Balochistan’s several cities are in urgent need of better educational institutes, especially for higher education.
He wrote that renaming the Gwadar airport after Feroz Khan Noon — a former prime minister — was shocking as Balochistan’s population may not even be aware of his name.
He further contended that whereas in the last census, the population of Balochistan was about 2.24 million, in the most recent census — approved by the Council of Common Interest (CCI) and to be the basis of the upcoming elections — 7300,000 fewer people were recorded.
Mengal in his letter wrote that: “Not taking allies into confidence in important decisions will perpetuate mistrust.”