BNP-M senator retracts 'abduction' allegation shortly after resigning from seat

• Akhtar Mengal terms voting on 26th Amendment "drama".
• Pressurised by BNP leadership for "abduction" statement: Roonjho.
• Two BNP-M senators voted in favour of judicial package.
  

After resigning as senator, Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) leader Qasim Roonjho on Tuesday retracted his allegations that he was abducted and forced to vote for the 26th Constitutional Amendment shortly after making the startling claims at the presser outside the Parliament House. 

BNP-M leader Roonjho announced to resign from his senatorship after he violated his party's policy line by voting in favour of the much-touted judicial package in early hours of Monday.

Roonjho, whom the BNP-M leadership claimed was abducted ahead of the tabling and voting on the judiciary-centric constitutional tweaks, made the announcement addressing a press conference alongside the party chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal on Tuesday.

After much effort, the coalition government had powered the 26th Constitutional Amendment Bill, 2024, through the Senate despite opposition from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

In the session, 23 senators from Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), 19 from Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN), five from Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUIF) and four from Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) voted in favour of the constitutional package.

Additionally, four independent senators, two from the BNP-M, three from the Awami National Party (ANP) and three from the Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) had supported the bill during the voting.

Blaming the coalition government for coercion, Mengal alleged that the incumbent rulers had shattered the Constitution which was not even done under dictatorship.

He went on the say that the proposed draft was presented in late night hours without even getting consent of the government ministers.

Terming the entire parliamentary exercise to pass the legal reforms “drama”, the politician alleged that the government tried to change loyalties of the opposition lawmakers.

Addressing the same press conference, Roonjho claimed that those people, who had allegedly abducted them, were very influential who asked him to stay with them as their guest for some days.

The BNP-M senator said that he is a kidney patient and he also contracted malaria as he was forced to stay at a place full of mosquitos. He added that he was also taken to a hospital for a dialysis session by his abductors when his health deteriorated.

He, however, refused to provide details of his alleged abduction and said that further disclosure would lead to more problems.

Roonjho said that he accepted the senatorship to serve the people of Balochistan, however, he went through a terrible experience during his three and a half year of tenure.

Criticising the government, the senator said that it was incomprehensible to sit with "insensitive people" in the assembly anymore.

On the other hand, the senator's son Jahanzeb Roonjho alleged that his father was “forced by the BNP-M leadership” to conduct the news conference and announce his resignation "despite he had resigned from his seat".

Condemning the party's "immoral and unserious step", Jahanzeb claimed that his father made the allegations in the news conference that he was "forced to say by the BNP's committee".

Moments after conducting the press conference, Roonjho released a video message of him saying that he was pressurised by the BNP-M chief and workers to level the abduction allegations.

The politician further claimed that he was handed over a script to deliver those statements regarding his abduction. He clarified that he had not been taken away by anyone but he was staying at his residence.