NA Speaker revives dormant Balochistan committee.

ISLAMABAD -- It was almost two weeks after the decision of the Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) to quit the ruling coalition and failure of a government team to woo the party head Sardar Akhtar Mengal that National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser on Saturday finally revived a dormant special committee on the Balochistan issues which he had constituted some four months ago.

BNP-M MNA Agha Hassan Baloch represented party chief Akhtar Mengal in the maiden meeting of the Special Parliamentary Committee on Balochistan which was held at the Parliament House and presided over by the speaker himself.

According to a handout issued by the National Assembly Secretariat after the meeting, the members of the committee decided to form a four-member sub-committee under the convenership of Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination Dr Fehmida Mirza to prepare 'comprehensive terms of reference (ToR), encompassing all the issues relating to Balochistan'.

It was also decided that a representative of the BNP-M and Defence Minister Prevez Khattak, who is the head of the government negotiating team, would be especially invited to assist the sub-committee while it developed the ToR.

Representing the BNP chief Akhtar Mengal, MNA Hassan Baloch contended that the Balochistan issues had been getting intense since 2006 and needed to be addressed forthwith. He suggested examining the recommendations formulated by the parliamentary committee headed by Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain after meeting Nawab Akbar Bugti.

Bilawal talks to Mengal on phone

He suggested that the committee looked into the issue of missing persons besides meeting with their families to hear their grievances, especially in Baloch dominating districts. He said the BNP also demanded that the details of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects in Balochistan should be made public.

The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government had suffered a setback on June 17 when the BNP-M announced its decision to quit the ruling coalition at the centre ahead of the vote on the federal budget, putting the ruling party at the mercy of six other smaller allies due to its fragile majority in the National Assembly.

The decision had been announced by BNP-M chief Akhtar Mengal on the floor of the National Assembly while taking part in general debate on the budget.

Mr Mengal had accused the PTI of having a 'non-serious attitude' towards Balochistan problems and complained about its failure to implement two...