BNP-M to back govt if demands accepted: Mengal

KARACHI: Balochistan National Party (Mengal) leader Akhtar Mengal said on Wednesday that his party is independent in taking decisions and would support government if its demands are accepted.

He said his party has given external support, but not a coalition partner of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government. The party leader expressed his dissatisfaction over the working relationship with the government by saying that he visited Islamabad thrice for meeting with the premier but to no avail. "Who is responsible for that," he said while speaking to the media before the party meeting. Mengal said that his party members are independent members of the house and he has told the government since day one that he will extend his cooperation to the government projects depending on its merit. The BNP leader said that the party will stand with the opposition parties if they continue to play a positive role.

"We are not looking for planning to topple the government, we want to work with them," Mengal reiterated.

"We put forwarded six demands before the presidential election, and nine points before the provincial by-election. Not a single point was taken into consideration." Mengal, in his response to a question, said that he didn't attend a recent meeting attended by the Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa as he was informed only 12 hours prior to the meeting.

"I was in interior Sindh, it wouldn't have been possible to attend the Quetta meeting on such short notice," he said.

As many as two members of the BNP-Mengal, earlier, have attended a joint opposition meeting called by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Shahbaz Sharif to devise a strategy against the PTI government.