Finally complete: Balochistan cabinet takes shape, 11 ministers sworn in

No women, minority community members given ministries.

QUETTA:

After a five-month impasse, eleven ministers were sworn in on Monday, finally completing the Balochistan cabinet. However, the three coalition partners forming the provincial government did not include a woman or a minority lawmaker in the cabinet – a move criticised by some MPAs.

Balochistan Governor Mohammed Khan Achakzai administered the oath in a ceremony held at the Governor House. The portfolios of the ministers have not been allotted so far.

Security was beefed up during the ceremony with a heavy deployment of police, the Frontier Corps (FC) and other law-enforcement agencies.

PML-N provincial ministers who took oath on Monday include Nawabzada Jangez Marri, Izhar Hussain Khosa, Sardar Sarfraz Domki and Mir Sarfraz Bugti. PML-N got five ministries, one of which they gave to PML-Q; therefore, the latter’s Jaffar Khan Mandokhail was also made minister.

National Party’s (NP) Sardar Aslam Bizenjo, Rehmat Saleh Baloch and Mujeeb ul Rehman Mohammed Hassani were sworn in.

Meanwhile, Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP)’s Dr Hamid Khan Achakzai, Nawab Ayaz Khan Jogezai and Sardar Mustafa Khan Tareen also took oath.

However, Chief Minister Dr Malik Baloch told the media that the names of advisors have not been announced yet and a notification will be issued soon. Most of the sworn-in ministers are either nawabs or landlords.

The advisers include Khalid Langov from the National Party, PML-N’s Akbar Askani and Majid Abro, and PkMAP’s Ubaidullah Jan Babath and Sardar Raza Muhammad Barech.

In 2002’s general elections, most of the members of the Balochistan Assembly were either ministers or advisers – more than 45 MPAs out of the 65-member provincial assembly were in Nawab Raisani’s cabinet.

However, after the 18th Amendment, the government is supposed to have only 14 ministers in the cabinet.

Unequal representation

None of the three coalition partners – NP, PML-N and PkMAP – have included a single woman or a member of the minority community in the cabinet.

“We believe that there should have been at least one woman minister. I do not know why they totally ignored the women when they were finalising the cabinet,” said NP MPA Yasmin Lehri. She believes that it was the responsibility of all the three coalition partners, particularly the PML-N as the party “was awarded the women development department, which is why they should have picked a woman minister.”

PML-Q’s Dr Ruqayya Saeed Hashmi termed lack of women’s representation as an insult. “The 18th Amendment empowered women, especially in the provincial governments, but we are not taking advantage of that,” she told The Express Tribune.

At least PML-N MPA Rahat Jamali should have been given a ministry who had won the seat during the general elections and not been appointed a member on the reserved seat.

Meanwhile, Dr Malik said he supports the induction of women ministers and his government will develop a mechanism to include women MPAs into the cabinet.

Moreover, no member of any minority community was included in the cabinet.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, October 15^th, 2013.