Despite his best efforts, the embattled Chief Minister of Balochistan Nawab Muhammad Aslam Raisani failed to table a no-trust motion against Balochistan Assembly Speaker Muhammad Bhootani due to a lack of votes, his political rivals revealed.
A key leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in Balochistan told The Express Tribune, while requesting anonymity, that a large number of Raisani’s cabinet members refused to support the chief minister in his bid to dismiss the speaker who emerged as a ‘villain’ in the recent power tussle in the province.
Raisani had planned to bring a no-trust motion against Bhootani soon after he successfully managed to win a fresh vote of confidence by the provincial assembly last month, defeating the speaker’s bid to block the holding of the assembly session. The chief minister was advised by a few cabinet members to move a no-trust motion against the speaker, who, they alleged, was responsible for destabilising the provincial government.
The chief minister considered the speaker as the ring leader of a group of dissidents who were trying to topple his government after the provincial PPP leaders declared Raisani’s government unconstitutional last month.
President of the Balochistan chapter of the PPP Mir Sadiq Umrani – who manipulated the suspension of the chief minister’s membership of the ruling PPP – is said to be the ‘partner in crime’ against the chief minister.
According to the cabinet sources, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F), the coalition partner of the PPP-led government in Balochistan, politely refused to support the chief minister’s intended no-trust motion against Bhootani. JUI-F’s parliamentary leader Maulana Abdul Wasey, who is a senior minister in the provincial cabinet, advised the chief minister to avoid further conflict with the speaker, sources said.
Sadiq Umrani camp leaders said that the speaker enjoyed the support of many provincial ministers who would throw their weight behind him in case a no-trust motion was moved in the house for the vote.
The anti-Raisani PPP leaders in Balochistan also claimed that the federal government had asked the chief minister to give up his plan against the speaker as the government might have to pay a heavy price in addition to his already unstable government.
The tug-of-war between the chief minister and the speaker emerged following an interim order by the Supreme Court on Oct 12. The apex court in its order had observed that the provincial government had lost the authority to govern the province as it had failed to protect the basic constitutional rights of the people in the province. The court order had come on a constitutional petition by the Balochistan High Court Bar Association on the chief minister’s failure to ensure law and order in the province. Court proceedings are still in progress on the petition in Islamabad.
The tussle between the two was further sharpened when the Supreme Court, during another hearing on the same issue last month, questioned the constitutional status of the Balochistan government.
The chief minister, after suffering a serious setback by the court’s order, in a quick and smart move planned to obtain a fresh vote of confidence from the assembly to stay in office but the speaker tried to block Raisani’s attempt with the plea that the chief minister had lost his constitutional mandate to rule the province after the Supreme Court’s order.
Bhootani asked the provincial governor, Nawab Zulfikar Ali Magsi, not to convene the assembly session on the advice of a chief minister who had lost his constitutional right to rule the province.
The governor, who according to Nawabzada Lashkari Raisani, a key political figure and the younger brother of the chief minister, was hand-in-glove with the speaker, suddenly left the country for five days after summoning the session of the assembly last month giving Bhootani an opportunity to become the acting governor.
Bhootani, in his capacity, announced the cancellation of the assembly session, knowing that the chief minister was to seek a fresh vote of confidence on that day.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 6th, 2012.
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The curse of Democracy peeping from his goggles. Healong with JUI F has destroyed Balochistan in four years. Just look at him and comment on his performance, demeanor, character and conduct.