Imran Khan, Army responsible for ongoing atrocities on people of Balochistan: PDM

Karachi [Pakistan], October 20 : Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan-led government and the Army are responsible for the ongoing atrocities on people of Balochistan, said Balochistan National Party (BNP) president Akhtar Mengal and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam chief Fazlur Rehman at the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) rally in Karachi.
During the Sunday's rally, both leaders also hit out at Khan and the Army for their plans of annexing islands of Sindh and Balochistan.
Rehman slammed Imran Khan for antagonising its friends like Saudi Arabia. He further said that Khan has created distrust in China towards Pakistan.
Taking a dig at the Army, he said, "If the Army remains within its constitutional domain then I support it."
To Chief of the Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa, he said: "Bajwa Sahib, I respect you so much. But please try to avoid these foolish [PM Imran Khan] friends."
Speaking on the 11-party opposition alliance PDM's aims, Rehman said that the PDM wants to restore a "free, democratic atmosphere" and to ensure the survival of the state, Geo News reported.
"No amendment will be accepted which would reduce the rights of the people...If the people of Sindh do not want, no one can dare to divide Sindh," he said.
He further said it is "not conscionable to recognise this government".
The ordinance, which has emanated without a discussion in the Parliament; in its 25 pages, clearly stated that can not be challenged into Pakistani Courts. Meaning, nobody, starting from the Parliament democratically elected, can challenge the law.
During the rally, BNP president Akhtar Mengal also hit out at the Imran Khan government for inflicting atrocities on the people of Balochistan saying that if Pakistan is not to be blamed for the atrocities, who should be blamed.
"When mothers and sisters come to know about a body at the hospital, they can identify their son/brother's body not by looking at their face but by seeing the footwear. They identify their ward by looking at the clothes that they were wearing while they were subjected to torture," he said.
He added, "Is this the Pakistan, which has been declared an Islamic state? Are such atrocities are inflicted upon people? Was this country made for us, or for DHA? Is it made for those who live in this country or for cantonments, for the public or for the pizza guys?"
The BNP president further said that the blood of the Baloch people is being shed across the country adding that the people of Balochistan can't even grieve the atrocities they are facing.
"If we don't blame them (Pakistan government), then who do we blame? Ourselves? I am ready to salute you if you are ready to give me an account of the bloodshed of my fellow Baloch and only then I shall salute you," he said further.
Balochistan is a resource-rich but least developed province of Pakistan where a movement for freedom is ongoing for the past several decades. Many Baloch believe that the region was independent before 1947 and was forcibly occupied by Pakistan.
Pakistan Army has launched several operations in Balochistan and has supported criminals, whom locals call "death squads".
The list of leaders who showed up at the 'jalsa' were -- JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Pakistan People's Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) vice president Maryam Nawaz, former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Ahsan Iqbal, Maulana Shah Owais Noorani, Allama Sajid Mir, Dr Abdul Malik, Iftikhar Hussain, Ameer Haider Khan Hoti and Dr Jehanzeb Jamaldini.
This was the second power show of the 11-party opposition alliance PDM. The first was held in Gujranwala in Lahore.