Balochistan National Party
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The Balochistan National Party (Urdu: بلوچستان نيشنل پارٹی) is a Balochi nationalist political party in Balochistan, Pakistan. BNP believes in national right of autonomy for Balochistan through a peaceful and democratic struggle.[1] It is split into two factions,
- Balochistan National Party (Mengal) - the anti-establishment wing led by former Balochistan chief minister Sardar Akhtar Mengal, who is incarcerated by the government in the Karachi Central Prison since December 2006.[2] The secretary general of the party is Habib Jalib Baloch.
- Balochistan National Party (Awami) - the pro-establishment wing led by Senator Mir Israrullah Zehri.[3]
Another faction previously known as BNP or BNM (Hayee group) merged with Balochistan National Democratic Party (BNDP) to form National Party in mid-2003.
As 2008 general elections were boycotted by all four major nationalist parties in Balochistan, i.e., JWP, PkMAP, NP and BNP-Mengal; BNP-Awami actively took part in it. In fact, BNP-Awami was part of the governing coalition in the last Balochistan government with PML-Q and JUI-F from 2002 till 2007. In the 2008 elections, BNP-Awami won 1 national seat and 5 provincial seats. They nominated Syed Ehsan Shah to be the parliamentary leader.[4]
[edit] References
- ^ Amanullah Kasi. "Operation not to weaken struggle, says BNP chief" Dawn Newspaper, April 3, 2006
- ^ Family fears Akhtar Mengal may be killed in prison: BNP-M chief suffering from cardiac problem Dawn Newspaper, March 03, 2008
- ^ "Benefits of development start reaching common man: PM" Pakistan Observer, October 3, 2007
- ^ Staff Report. "BNP-A names parliamentary leader in Balochistan Assembly" Daily Times, February 28, 2008
