Balochistan CM fires home minister Bugti, special assistant Notezai

Sacked officials said to be supporting no-confidence motion submitted in the Balochistan Assembly against CM

QUETTA: Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri on Tuesday night sacked provincial Home Minister Sarfraz Ahmed Bugti and special assistant Mir Amanullah Notezai over their support for a no-confidence motion brought against him in the Balochistan Assembly by 14 MPAs.

Official sources confirmed that the CM has requested the Balochistan governor to remove Bugti from his office with immediate effect.

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Zehri, who was abroad, cut short his visit and returned back to Quetta in view of the abrupt challenge to his leadership and threat to the coalition government.
Special assistant Notezai was among the 14 signatories of the motion.

Soon after returning, Zehri held a meeting with a delegation of Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) headed by its chairman Mehmood Khan Achakzai and other MPAs.

Earlier in the day, the no-confidence motion was submitted in the Balochistan Assembly against CM Zehri over allegedly failing to fulfil promises held out to coalition partners.

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Of the total 65 members of the Balochistan Assembly, 14 signed the motion of no confidence.

Former Balochistan Assembly deputy speaker Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo from PML-Q and Agha Raza of Majlis-e-Wahdat-e-Muslimeen submitted the no-confidence motion under Article 136 of the Constitution in the assembly.

“While finalising the previous budget, we were promised that our issues would be addressed on priority basis, but CM Zehri failed to do so,” Bizenjo said while talking to media-persons at the Balochistan Assembly Secretariat.

The entire development budget was allocated for only two districts, including Khuzdar and Qila Abdullah, said Bizenjo, adding that “there is a plan to construct 300 dams only in Gulistan area of Qila Abdullah while other areas are being ignored”.

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He further said that the portfolio of deputy speaker had been allotted to PML-Q for being a coalition partner, but after his (Bizenjo’s) resignation, the CM decided to give the post of deputy speaker to PkMAP without consulting the PML-Q.

“The chief minister is not giving any importance to his coalition partners,” said Bizenjo, adding that “moving the no-trust motion is our constitutional and democratic right.”

Denying allegations of hidden powers behind the move, he said, “If we had been backed by hidden powers, there would have been 60 members instead of 14.”

Bizenjo urged the Balochistan governor and assembly speaker to call the assembly session immediately for proceeding on the no-confidence motion.

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Supporting Zehri, Bugti and Minister for Fisheries Mir Sarfaraz Domki of the PML-N had decided to resign from their ministries.

Before meeting Zehri, the PkMAP chairman had said that his party would fully support CM Zehri.

“We will go to any extent to foil the no-trust motion,” said Achakzai, adding that “it will be done in a democratic manner”.

The abrupt move has triggered political chaos in the already deprived province.

Zehri became the chief minister of Balochistan in 2015 when Dr Malik Baloch resigned after serving for two and a half years.

The movers of the no-confidence motion included; Bizenjo, Abdul Karim Nosherwani, Dr Ruqiya Hashmi, Notezai, Mir Khalid Langove from NP, BNP chief Sardar Akhter Mengal, Mir Hamal Kalmati, JUI-F’s Shahida Rauf, Husan Bano, Abdul Malik, Khalil-ur-Rehman Dumar, Agha Raza, deputy opposition leader Engineer Zamrak Achakzai and independent member Nawabzada Tariq Magsi.