Lashkari Raisani switches loyalty from PML-N to BNP

QUETTA: In a blow to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), former senator and the ruling party’s leader from Balochistan Nawabzada Lashkari Raisani, on Sunday joined the Balochistan National Party (BNP).

Along with Raisani, a large number of other political workers also parted ways with PML-N and joined BNP. Talking to supporters, he said that Balochistan has always been ignored and deprived of its due rights by the rulers. He vowed to continue his political struggle for the rights of people of Balochistan”.

The BNP chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal while addressing the gathering said that, “Balochistan has been turned into a heap of explosives.” People belonging to all areas and ethnic groups have suffered the loss of human lives during the unrest in the province, Mengal said.

The BNP chief also condemned the recent attack at a church in Quetta and killings of Hazaras and said that, “Previously Balochistan’s society had been tolerant and progressive and religious fanaticism is a new phenomenon.”

He lashed out at the government for what he called its continued failure to provide drinking water to the residents of Gwadar. People of Gwadar still do not have access to drinking water and you speak about the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), he said while addressing the PML-N leadership.

Lashkari Raisani is the younger brother of former Balochistan chief minister Nawab Mohammad Aslam Raisani. He had resigned from the post of PPP president for Balochistan in April 2012 and joined PML-N in March 2013. He has previously served as a provincial minister in the Balochistan cabinet as well as a senator during the PPP-led government.