LG polls, Senate seats: PML-N, allies fail to agree on formula

PkMAP demands top LG posts in six Pashtoon-majority districts

ISLAMABAD:

Three key coalition partners in the Balochistan government — Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) and National Party (NP) — have failed to work out a formula to share local governments and Senate seats.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif met top leaders from the three allies on Friday to devise a formula for distribution of key positions in the upcoming polls for mayors, deputy mayors, chairmen and vice chairmen in the final phase of Balochistan’s LG elections scheduled for January 28. The meeting was also supposed to work out shares of the three allies in the Senate elections.

However, the meeting remained inconclusive due to serious differences among the three allies. Subsequently, they decided to meet again in the coming week to settle the matter.

According to sources, a delegation of PML-N’s Balochistan chapter requested the prime minister to ask PkMAP chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai to drop his demand for the mayorship of Quetta.

The PkMAP is seeking the positions of mayors, deputy mayors, chairmen and vice chairmen in Quetta, Loralai, Qila Saifullah, Qila Abdullah, Zhob and Ziarat as these districts, according to the party, have sizable Pashtoon populations.

According to sources, Dr Abdul Malik Baloch’s NP has also supported PkMAP’s demand and said the mandate of the PML-N lawmakers would be honoured in those districts where they won the December 2013 LG elections.



However, PML-N Balochistan President Sardar Sanaullah Zehri opposed PkMAP’s demand, saying that it was the right of the PML-N to have its mayor in Quetta. He said the PML-N, despite winning a clear majority in the May 11, 2013 general elections, has already sacrificed by giving the government in the hand of the PkMAP and NP.

According to sources, Zehri expressed his fear that if the prime minister conceded PkMAP’s and NP’s demands, then the Balochistan chapter of PML-N would divide into three factions. “The PML-N won the elections even in the two districts where the PkMAP claimed to have the right to form local government,” he was quoted as saying.

The allies also could not agree on a formula for the distribution of 12 Senate seats, for which election is scheduled to be held on March 3. Of these seats, seven are general, two each are for technocrats and women and one for minorities.

Speaking on the occasion, Premier Nawaz said the Balochistan government must ensure good governance in the province. “Balochistan is an important part of the country and provincial and federal governments should work in coordination for optimum utilisation of the mineral resources of the province,” an official handout quoted the premier as saying.

He said the federal government was providing increased funds for the development of the province with a particular focus on infrastructure development. “The development of Gwadar Port and construction of the Pakistan-China Economic Corridor will bring a wave of prosperity to the people of Balochistan,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 24^th, 2015.