Qadir Baloch officially parts ways with PML-N

QUETTA: Estranged Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Abdul Qadir Baloch on Saturday made his departure from the party official, announcing he could not be part of a group which speaks against the Pakistan Army, Geo News reported.

“I can never think of staying with a group talking against Pakistan Army,” said Abdul Qadir Baloch at a gathering in Quetta, who retired as a lieutenant general in the Army. Baloch said PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif had blamed the military leadership for the problems being faced by the country. “In so doing [Nawaz Sharif] is sowing the seeds of mutiny,” Baloch claimed.

He added that he wants to do politics “with respect” and had the interests of the people of Balochistan at heart.

Baloch, addressing the office bearers of PML-N, said he had decided to “part ways” with PML-N after the October 25 rally of the Opposition’s Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) in Quetta.

The former federal minister thanked former Balochistan chief minister Sanaullah Zehri for attending the gathering, saying he had only invited district presidents of PML-N to the meeting.

Meanwhile, addressing the gathering, Zehri said that it was due to Nawaz Sharif’s “betrayal” that “everyone had left the party”. “This is what I said in a call to Abdul Qadir Baloch,” he added.