Balochistan Governor Malik Abdul Wali Kakar has convened a session of the new provincial assembly on Feb 28 for swearing in the newly elected members.
According to a notification issued by the Governor House on Saturday, Kakar has convened the session at 3pm at the Balochistan Assembly building located on Quetta’s Zarghoon Road.
As per the schedule, the newly elected members of the Balochistan Assembly will take oath during the maiden session.
The outgoing speaker of the Balochistan Assembly, Mir Jan Muhammad Jamali, will preside over the session and swear in the newly elected MPAs.
After the new MPAs are sworn in, the schedule for the election of the provincial legislature’s speaker and deputy speaker will be announced.
Most new members of the Balochistan Assembly, including those who belong to the PPP and the PML-N, are in Islamabad for the expected announcement of the chief minister of the province.
PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is expected to announce the next Balochistan chief minister nominee within the next 48 hours.
"The PPP chairman is expected to announce the nominated chief minister of Balochistan on Sunday,” one of the senior leaders of the party from the province told The Express Tribune on the phone on the condition of anonymity.
On the other hand, the four-party alliance – comprising the BNP-M, PkMAP, the National Party (NP) and Hazara Democratic Party (HDP) –planned to stage a protest demonstration outside the provincial assembly on Feb 28.
"We will protest [against the alleged poll rigging] on that day," Dawood Changezi, the central leader of the HDP, told The Express Tribune.
He said an important meeting of the alliance was under way to devise a strategy for the protest.
The alliance has been protesting outside the deputy commissioner's office for the last 16 days against the alleged poll rigging in Balochistan during the general elections on Feb 8.
In a related development, PML-N President and its nominee for the premier’s position Shehbaz Sharif met a delegation of the party’s leaders and the newly elected lawmakers from Balochistan in Lahore.
The delegation, led by PML-N Balochistan chief Jaffar Khan Mandokhail, included Jamal Shah Kakar from NA-263, Sardar Yaqoob Khan Nasir from NA-252, Jam Mir Kamal Khan Alyani from NA-257 and PB-22, Nawabzada Changez Khan Marri, Mian Khan Mondrani, Sardar Abdul Rahman Khetran from PB-4, Rahila Durrani, Muhammad Khan Lehri from PB-14, Saleem Ahmed Khosa from PB-15, Mir Shoaib Nosherwani from PB-33, Barkat Ali from PB-27 as well as independent members Mir Mohammad Asim Kurd Gello from PB-12, Wali Muhammad from PB-41, and Abdul Khaliq Khan from PB-51, who joined the party after the results were announced.
PML-N central leaders, including Khawaja Asif, Rana Sanaullah, Ishaq Dar, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Khawaja Saad Rafique, and Senator Azam Nazeer Tarar, were also present at the huddle.
Shehbaz appreciated the passion of the PML-N’s newly elected MNAs, MPAs, and leaders.
The PML-N president expressed his gratitude to them for their efforts, which were helping in the emergence of political stability in the country.
He vowed that they would all work together sincerely for the development of Pakistan and its province Balochistan.
Shehbaz stressed the need for putting the interests of country first instead of political ones.
During the meeting, issues in connection with the government formation in Balochistan were discussed.
The PML-N leaders from Balochistan informed the party president about their efforts to reach out to other politicians in the province. (With input from our Lahore correspondent)
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