Balochistan govt, opposition stick to guns

United opposition demands of CM to take trust vote as Kamal refuses to quit

QUETTA:

The united opposition in the Balochistan Assembly upped the ante in its effort to remove Jam Kamal Khan-led provincial government, demanding of the chief minister on Saturday to seek fresh vote of confidence from the house, as the chief minister refused to resign from the post.

Opposition leader Malik Sikandar Khan said that Balochistan was facing a “political and constitutional crisis” after acceptance of the resignations of three ministers, while six advisers and parliamentary secretaries have not withdrawn their resignations.

Addressing a news conference along with Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) Senior Vice President Malik Wali Kakar, parliamentary leader of BNP-M Malik Naseer Shahwani and Haji Nawaz Kakar of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), Malik Sikandar called for convening the assembly session.

Reiterating that the chief minister had lost majority after the resignations of 10 ministers, advisers and parliamentary secretaries, he said that in this crisis, Governor Syed Zahoor Agha should call the assembly session and ask the chief minister to take a fresh vote of confidence.

The opposition leader said that Jam Kamal Khan had himself accepted that he had support of only 24 lawmakers, therefore, in this situation he has no moral ground to stay in the office of the chief minister anymore.

“In the house of 65, Jam Kamal has the support of just 24 members of BAP (Balochistan Awami Party) and the coalition partners, so, he has lost the right to continue working as the chief minister,” he said.

“All orders of Jam Kamal as the chief minister issued during the last 20 days are unconstitutional and officials should not obey these illegal orders,” Malik Sikandar said.

Referring to the no-trust motion filed against the chief minister, Sikandar said that the Governor House had pointed out some technical errors yet the motion was still pending with the governor.

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Sikandar claimed that Kamal had not taken any decision according to the will of the people during the last three years as the chief minister. “This issue started when he and his cabinet members allocated development funds to the unelected people instead of spending through elected members.

“What happened with the opposition afterwards, is also illegal and unconstitutional. The chief minister lodged an FIR (First Information Report) against the opposition members who remained for 13 days in the police station,” he added.

Despite committing all these atrocities, the chief minister was asking the opposition parties to save his government and meeting with the leaders of opposition parties.

CM firm on staying

Meanwhile, Balochistan Government spokesperson Liaquat Shahwani said that the opposition parties’ demand for resignation of the chief minister had been rejected. “Jam Kamal Khan is the elected Chief Minister of Balochistan. He is running the affairs of the government in an efficient manner,” he said.

“There are no allegations against the chief minister on the basis of which he should resign,” Shahwani said, adding that the chief minister had the support of the coalition parties, “so, the chief minister will not resign”.

Shahwani said that the opposition was disappointed because of the low chances of success of its no-confidence motion, otherwise it would have convened a meeting in a month. He added that the PDM alliance was failing at every forum for the last one year. “Failure is still their destiny,” he added.