Govt to reach out to BNP-M, GDA to keep coalition intact.

Islamabad: The federal government has decided to reach out to the Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) and the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) after contacting the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) and the Muttahida Quami Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P).

The government's coordination committee will hold meetings with representatives of the BNP-M and the GDA after it establishes contacts with the MQM and the PML-Q.

The coordination committee will meet leaders from the GDA next week. The committee will apprise Prime Minister Imran of the reservations of its coalition partners. The meetings are being held to ensure that the government knows about the reservations and demands of its allies.

The development comes a few days after BNP-M chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal threatened to leave the coalition government over the arrest of four women from Balochistan's Awaran district. Mengal had led a sit-in protest in front of the speaker's dais in the National Assembly to protest the women's arrest. He had accused the government of being negligent about the rights of the people of Balochistan. "Neither did the previous government want to take Balochistan forward neither does this one," he had said during his speech in the parliament.

Mengal had blamed the...