QUETTA - Balochistan National Party (BNP) chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal has said courts should be locked up now after the passage of Protection of Pakistan Bill (PPB).
“Lest those forces which are sitting in the parliament and have approved the black law of PPB should fall victim to this bill in future, because Nawaz Sharif enacted an anti-terrorism law in the past and the coming general took him to anti terrorism courts. It is apprehended those who are putting their lives at stake for the protection of Pakistan can become insecure in future. When the courts are there and laws are in place, a security person standing in a chowk with a rifle in his hand should not be empowered to decide a matter and implement it,” he said.
He stated courts should be locked up now because they have no justification in terms of their existence.  He went on to say black laws of anti-terrorism were enacted in the past like PPB and their architects had to appear in the courts under these laws.
He held, “Be it tsunami or revolution, Balochistan does not figure in priorities of any one. What to speak of tsunami we have not even seen a drop of water which could extinguish the blazing fire in Balochistan triggered by trampling of human rights, extra-judicial arrests, forced disappearances and tortured dead bodies.”
“The Model Town incident is tragic and we condemn it. Events like this take place in a large number in Balochistan. Why did the revolutionary leader who has come from Canada to bring about a revolution in the country not speak on the repressions and atrocities perpetrated in Balochistan?” he questioned.
He remarked, “Balochistan is a secular society and there is no room for religious fanaticism, bias, extremism and bigotry in this society. The forces which are scared of prolonged political struggle waged for Baloch nationalism have started sowing the seeds of religious fanaticism and extremism and want to let Balochistan slide into the murky darkness of ignorance. They want people of Balochistan to remain confined to seminaries instead of moving towards the goals of education, maturity and sensibility.”
About the appointment of Arsalan Iftikhar Chaudhry in Balochistan Investment Board, he said: “Malik of Balochistan has got powers incidentally and if he has taken any decision, criticising it is unwarranted in my view. “