Balochistan governor: Achakzai steps into Magsi’s shoes

President approves appointment of PkMAP chief’s brother.

ISLAMABAD:

Mohammad Khan Achakzai, an economist and elder brother of Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai, was appointed new governor of Balochistan on Tuesday.

President Asif Ali Zardari made the appointment on the advice of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Mohammad Achakzai replaces Nawab Zulfikar Ali Magsi whose resignation was accepted by the president on June 9.

Mohammad Achakzai
has served as a professor at the University of Balochistan, besides serving in various federal departments and retired as the chief economist in the Planning Commission of Pakistan.

Nawaz tells CM to take steps for dialogue

In his first official meeting with Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch, Premier Nawaz directed him to create a suitable environment in order to begin negotiations with Baloch separatists.

“The prime minister directed the chief minister to initiate a process of reconciliation with estranged Baloch elements and convey to them on his behalf his desire to see their participation in the
national mainstream,” said an official statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office.

“Your [Dr Malik’s] first task is to bring disgruntled Baloch leaders on the negotiating table,” a senior official of the PM Office quoted Nawaz as saying.

The official added that the Nawaz administration was also keen to find a solution to the continuing security operation in many areas of Balochistan under the ‘guise of the law and order situation’.

Nawaz told Dr Baloch his government would extend all possible assistance to the provincial government. “The government wants to usher in a new era in Balochistan and work to remove the
bitterness of the past and start a new page of everlasting love and affection,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 12^th, 2013.