34 of 65 Balochistan Assembly members have taken refuge at speaker's house: Buledi

Acting president of the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) Zahoor Buledi on Thursday said that 34 out of 65 provincial assembly members had taken refuge at the residence of the Balochistan Assembly speaker after four members allegedly went missing.

In a statement, Buledi alleged that "four of our members were disappeared by the government yesterday".

"It is the responsibility of the IG (inspector general of police) Balochistan to recover the missing MPAs," he said.

Buledi further stressed that the IG Balochistan, "instead of falling under pressure from Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan", should provide the lawmakers security and rescue the missing members.

He also said that the Chief Justice of Pakistan should take notice of the disappearance of members.

Buledi said the premises of the Assembly "is safe for us; we will remain in the Assembly till the vote on the no-confidence motion (against CM Khan)".

In a tweet later in the day, Buledi said that he, along with some other MPAs visited the houses of the missing lawmakers.

Quoting the families, he said they have not returned since yesterday.

The Balochistan lawmaker had earlier alleged while speaking to the media that MPAs are being "tortured" and pressurised to back the government. This, he said, was conveyed to him by several lawmakers he spoke to.