Veteran Baloch politician and National Democratic Party founder Dr Abdul Hayee Baloch on Friday passed away in a road accident in South Punjab.

Mukhtar Chalgari, a former political colleague of Baloch, told local publication Quetta Voice that the vehicle in which Baloch was travelling collided with another vehicle while he was going from Faisalabad to Bahawalpur.

The body of the late nationalist leader would be brought to Balochistan for burial and he would be laid to rest in his ancestral town Kachi tomorrow (Saturday).

Hailing from Balochistan's Bolan district, Hayee was first elected as a member of the National Assembly in 1970 on the ticket of National Awami Party. At that time the general elections became controversial due to a tussle of power between East and West Pakistan.

Dr Baloch, along with the late Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri and others, refused to sign the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan and expressed reservations in this regard, according to a Quetta Voice report.

The Baloch leader, believed to be in his seventies, had also served as president of National Party. However, he launched his own party NDP in 2018.