Baloch demands.

SARDAR Akhtar Mengal`s departure from the PTI coalition recently has yet again focused attention on the grim situation in Balochistan. As the leader of the BNP-M, Mr Mengal walked away from the treasury benches, saying the government had failed to honour the commitments made to his party. Prime Minister Imran Khan has tasked some senior PTI leaders to engage with the unhappy Baloch leader and attempt to bring him back into the coalition. For now, this appears unlikely. The BNP-M had agreed to join the ruling coalition in 2018 after signing an agreement with the PTI, which committed the new government to fulfilling the stated demands of the party. These demands included the return of missing persons in Balochistan, repatriation of Afghan refugees, construction of dams for the province as well as legislation to ensure outsiders did not get voting rights in Gwadar so that the demographic balance was not disturbed. Mr Mengal says the government kept delaying the implementation of the agreement for one reason or another till his party could not wait any longer and decided to leave the coalition.

Things should not have come to this. Akhtar Mengal is a wellrespected politician who has consistently been advocating the strengthening of the federation. His demands in the agreement with the PTI all pertain to the interests of the province as a whole and do not centre on his party or individual benefits. The PTI government had asked his party to join the cabinet but he had declined, saying that he would support the...