Balochistan's Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik.
Meanwhile, he has asked the incumbent Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik not to resign until the matter is settled, sources told The Express Tribune.
Although the premier decided on December 10 to implement the Murree accord – following which he nominated Zehri, president of the Balochistan chapter of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), to replace Dr Abdul Malik as the next CM – the change has yet to materialise owing to emerging differences among the political allies.
The tripartite Murree agreement was signed by the PML-N, the Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) and the National Party (NP) on June 4, 2013.
A source said the provincial finance department and the planning & development (P&D) division were the major hurdles in the smooth transition of power under the Murree deal.
Currently, the P&D division and the finance department are under the control of the PkMAP and the NP, respectively, and they are seemingly unwilling to relinquish these portfolios in the new cabinet.
CM Malik, according to the insider, has asked the PML-N leadership to allow the party’s allies to continue with the provincial ministries in the next provincial setup.
However, it is believed that Zehri being the next CM seeks the P&D and finance portfolios to come under the control of his party.
The source said that when Dr Malik took oath as the CM on June 9, 2013, he had asked the premier to allow his party (the NP) to have the two important portfolios of P&D and finance to run the provincial affairs smoothly.
At that time, according to the insider, PM Nawaz had persuaded the PML-N’s Balochistan leadership to relinquish the two portfolios.
Zehri has urged the party leadership that without these portfolios his office would amount to nothing, as he would be unable to run the affairs of the province in a smooth manner.
The PML-N’s senior leader and Senator Agha Shahbaz Durrani said there is no issue of distributing portfolio as the cabinet will be dissolved under the agreement.
“The issues will be resolved within two to three days,” he said without confirming or contradicting the reports that there were serious differences among the coalition partners.
Another PML-N leader said all the issues would be addressed by this weekend and the entire cabinet will be sworn in by the next week.
However, the CM’s spokesperson Jan Mohammad Buledi said the N-P and PkMAP will retain the ministries which they have right now and after replacing of the CM. “The ministry of Zehri will also be given to the N-P whose chief minister is going to resign,” he said.
Another official said Zehri during his meeting with the PkMAP chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai assured him that he will not change any ministry and governorship that belongs to the PkMAP.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 17th, 2015.
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