Divided we stand: Rocky start to Balochistan Assembly’s first session

MPAs cause ruckus by taking oath in Pashto, Balochi languages.

QUETTA:

The near-ruckus caused by newly elected members of the Balochistan Assembly taking oath in Balochi, Pashto, Brahvi and Urdu languages encapsulated the conundrum the province is facing. 

Newly elected members of the Balochistan Assembly were administered oath on Saturday by Speaker Matiullah Agha half an hour late from. Fifty six out of the 65 members were sworn in, while elected members of the Balochistan National Party-Mengal boycotted the session in protest against rigging.

The agenda of the day was confined to oath taking only however, before that, Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party’s Parliamentary leader Abdul Rahim Ziarat said his party members would take oath in Pashto.

National Party leader Dr Abdul Malik Baloch followed suit, saying his members would take oath in Balochi and Brahvi. But Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid MPA Mir Abdul Karim Noshirwani opposed the proposal, saying “Urdu is our national language, thus the oath should be taken in Urdu.”

Agha proceeded to administer oath in Urdu but nonetheless, some members decided to take oath in Balochi, Bravi and Pashto, leading to a ruckus with nobody able to understand what the other members were saying.

Following the oath, Agha felicitated and welcomed the new members of the house, hoping they would perform their duties in line with the Constitution.

During the session, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz MPA Meer Asim Kurd Geelo drew the attention of the house towards the bomb attack on PML-N provincial President Nawab Sanaullah Zehri’s election rally which killed his son, brother and nephew and asked for the offering of Fateha for the departed souls.

Before adjourning the session, the Speaker said that nomination papers for the position of Speaker and Deputy Speaker will be submitted on June 3 in the provincial assembly secretariat and voting will be held on June 4.

Six members were absent from the inaugural session, including BNP-M chief Sardar Akthar Mengal and Mir Hamal Kalmati, who boycotted it in protest against rigging.

Elected for the first time as an MPA from Turbat, Azeem Buladi told The Express Tribune that “law and order situation was the topmost issue for the new assembly to resolve”.

APC protests outside assembly

Political parties that formed the All Parties Conference (APC) rejected the legitimacy of the newly elected assembly in Balochistan, saying “the members had come to serve the interests of the very forces active from behind the scenes rather than the interests of the masses.”

BNP-M’s Dr Jahanzaib Jamaldini, Central Secretary General JUI-Ideological Maulana Abdul Qadir Looni and PTI’s Abdul Bari addressed the demonstration outside the Balochistan Assembly.

They said a dummy leadership was once again imposed in Balochistan, adding that for the past 65 years, hidden hands were involved in the manipulation of the political process for their interest.

This is the very reason why the country be set by crises and woes today, they said.


Published in The Express Tribune, June 2^nd, 2013.