Keeping coalition together no walk in the park: Kamal

Chief minister says managing allies more difficult in Balochistan than other provinces

QUETTA: Comparing the provincial political landscape to a puzzle, Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal has called managing and placating the many stakeholders involved in the decision-making process a much greater challenge than other provinces.

“Ensuring that all coalition partners are on board does not mean that the provincial government is turning a blind eye to corruption,” said Kamal, of the Balochistan Awami Party, while talking to a local news channel.

“This is the beauty of democracy and inevitable for the existence of a system. There is a need for teamwork to run the government as it can’t be run single-handedly,” he added.

He also said that the province was now on the path of the development following major sacrifices made for the restoration of peace.

I believe in working with honesty and simplicity, and the system we are putting in place has zero-tolerance for corruption,” he said, adding that the specially tasked chief minister’s inspection team, or CMIT, had reviewed almost one thousand schemes for irregularities and taken action against numerous officials.

“2019 is the year of development of Balochistan and we have laid the foundation for it through public-interest projects,” he said.

The chief minister also lamented politicising of issues of national interest while saying that Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam—Fazl chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman had tried to use the issue of a no-confidence move against the Senate chairman for political gains.

“Fazl lauded us during the meeting but in the press conference afterwards claimed that we (the government delegation that also included Senate Leader of the House Shibli Faraz) were seeking an NRO-like deal for the premier and the Senate chairman,” he said, referring to his with the JUI-F leader in July.

“The Senate became a political arena and such things should not occur,” he said of last month’s episode in which the attempt by the joint opposition for the removal of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf backed Senate chairman, Sadiq Sanjrani, was defeated.

In what was seen by many as a surprise, the final vote count on August 1 was 50 votes in favour of the motion to de-seat Sanjrani, five votes rejected, and 45 cast against. The motion was dismissed, having fallen short of a simple majority – of 53 votes in the 104-member house.

However, mere hours before the final result, the resolution to move the no-confidence vote had been passed comfortably by opposition senators, with 64 votings in its favour before falling short in the secret ballot.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 10^th, 2019.