Bureau Report
QUETTA: Disgruntled Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) lawmakers and its allies in the coalition government on Wednesday decided to file a no-confidence motion against Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan Alyani two days later. The decision comes as a 24-hour ultimatum, given to Alyani by members of his own cabinet and other lawmakers over what they termed as his failure to consult them in running the affairs of the province, ended yesterday (Wednesday) at 5pm.
Addressing a press conference, provincial Minister for Social Welfare and Special Education Asad Baloch said that the disgruntled lawmakers had met with the delegation sent by the chief minister which had asked for more time. “But we said that we have already given Jam Kamal three years, we can’t spare anymore time,” he said, adding that the disgruntled lawmakers had the support of almost 40 members of the provincial assembly. He said that they would wait 24 hours before submitting their resignations.
Last week, Chief Minister Alyani, who was also president of the BAP, resigned from the party office, with Dawn reporting at the time that he had been facing opposition from some ministers and lawmakers in the party who had demanded that he resign as the chief minister. According to the report, the disgruntled BAP members had taken the stance that they did not want to work with Alyani anymore.. Mr Alyani made the announcement in a tweet. “Alhamduliliah, I worked for the betterment of the party during the last three years,” he said.
Meanwhile, Balochistan government spokesperson Liaqat Shahwani said that the chief minister had the support of provincial lawmakers and categorically stated that Alyani will not resign from office. Efforts to assuage the concerns of the disgruntled lawmakers will continue, he said, adding that their concerns will be addressed.
The signs of the ongoing political crisis in Balochistan were first seen in June this year, when opposition members had camped outside the provincial assembly’s building for days in protest against the government led by Alyani for its refusal to allocate development funds for their constituencies in the budget. The protest had led to mayhem and police had later booked 17 opposition lawmakers in connection with the incident.
Following that, the opposition had moved a no-confidence motion against Alyani. In this connection, Dawn had reported at the time that Alyani was also facing opposition from within his own party over some issues, especially ministers’ powers of posting and transfers and allocation of development funds. Sardar Mohammad Saleh Bhootani, who was local bodies minister, had resigned due to differences with the chief minister, the report had said, adding that the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s parliamentary leader in the provincial assembly, Sardar Yar Mohammad Rind, had also submitted his resignation as minister for higher education after making a fiery speech.
