Kamal quits as Balochistan CM

Jam Kamal on Sunday resigned as the chief minister, a day before the provincial assembly was to convene a voting for a no-confidence motion against him.

"Jam Kamal Khan has submitted his resignation to the Governor of Balochistan Syed Zahoor Ahmad Agha," a statement issued by the governor's spokesperson read. The resignation was accepted by the governor, it added.

Before Kamal submitted his resignation, a meeting was held at the CM’s House.
Taking to Twitter before stepping down, Kamal wrote that he had given his "utmost time and energy" for the province’s governance and development despite "many deliberate political hindrances".

"I would rather leave respectfully and not be part of their monetary agenda and bad governance formulation," he said, in an apparent reference to the disgruntled group comprising members of his own Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) and allies, who were demanding his resignation.

He then shared a picture of the dissidents sitting together and wrote that seeing all the drama, jealousy, fake propaganda and hunger for the CM slot showed how “performance was put down in front of monetary gains”.

“They say, the so-called "division of BAP" is because of Jam Kamal. Then I leave my decision to the party and its coalition members,” he added.

A day earlier, the concerned authorities were alerted for the issuance of a notification of the resignation of the chief minister after its approval by the governor.

However, Kamal did not send the resignation to the governor at the last moment and the issuance of the notification was halted. Instead, he denied reports that he had resigned from the post of the chief minister.

Sources said Kamal was ready to step down at any moment, but conditional to the withdrawal of the no-trust motion against him.

He was also insisting on making his resignation public on October 27.

On Wednesday, the disgruntled members of the Balochistan Assembly had tabled a no-confidence motion against the chief minister.

The motion, backed by 33 of the 65 provincial assembly members, was moved by Provincial Food Minister and BAP leader Abdul Rehman Khetran.

On Friday, CM Kamal had claimed that he had support of majority members of the provincial assembly and he would foil opposition and ruling party disgruntled members’ bid to remove him through a no-trust motion.

“Alhamdulillah we all are 41 as coalition (BAP, PTI, ANP, HDP, JWP, PPP, Azad, BNP-A). And out of this 41 members. 80% stands with us. Why do we count opposition as part of this coalition? If they stick to this policy then they should announce themselves as part of opposition too,” he said in a tweet.