“We demand the removal of Jaabbar’s name as representative of Balochistan at 10th NFC award as he is not an economist. The province has enough competent economists who can defend the province’s case in the NFC Award meeting,” said Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) senior leader Abdul Rahim Ziartwal.
He was addressing a press conference on Friday with other leaders of other opposition parties, including the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid, the Pakistan Peoples Party, the National Party, and Jamiat Ahle Hadith.
Jabbar is primarily a writer and has served as minister for information and media development and adviser to the chief executive on national affairs during the rule of General (retd) Pervez Musharraf.
Last month his appointment left high officials of the finance ministry in shock who were considering Mahfooz Khan for the position but in a surprise move the Balochistan chief minister appointed Jabbar.
Khan, a former senior bureaucrat, had represented Balochistan at the 9th NFC award. He was a technical person to deal with the affairs and had a keen eye on the country’s finance and economics.
Ziartwal expressed concerns over Jabbar’s nomination, saying he does not have a thorough knowledge of the economic, geographic, and social realities of Balochistan because he does not belong to the province. Therefore he was not a proper person to present the province’s case in the meeting.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 17th, 2020.
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