PM Abbasi to visit Quetta in bid to thwart no-trust move

Federal Minister Abdul Qadir Baloch is already in the provincial capital

QUETTA: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi will visit Quetta within the next day or two in a bid to persuade dissident PML-N leaders to support Chief Minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri against whom a no-confidence motion has been submitted in the Balochistan Assembly secretariat.

The task to appease the PML-N lawmakers was given by the party chief Nawaz Sharif, sources said.

Prime Minister Abbasi would hold meeting with collation partners, including PkMAP chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai and National Party President Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo.



“PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi will visit [Quetta to] address grievances of PML-N legislators who are leaving CM Balochistan Nawab Sanaullah Khan Zehri [in the lurch]. PML-N’s position in Balochistan is worsening day by day,” added the sources.

At least 14 Provincial Assembly lawmakers, including Zehri’s most trusted aide Home Minister Mir Sarfaraz Bugti, submitted a no-confidence motion against the CM on January 2. The move attracted more PML-N leaders, and ministers and advisors also tendered resignations.

PM Abbasi is also learnt to be in contact with JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman in a bid to seek his support to foil the no-confidence move.

Federal Minister General (retd) Abdul Qadir Baloch has already arrived in Quetta.

“Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is fervently seeking to foil the no-confidence move,” the sources said.