QUETTA: The Balochistan Assembly formally elected National Party (NP) chief Dr Abdul Malik Baloch as the chief minister of the province on Sunday.

Dr Baloch will take oath of his office at 6 pm today at the Governor House.

In his address to the Balochistan Assembly today, Dr Baloch said that the missing persons issue was currently the most serious problem and holds the utmost priority.

While announcing a stop to secret funds he said that if he failed his test as the Chief Minister, then he may be punished as deemed fit.

He also said that for the sake of maintaining peace in the province, he would consult scholars, and all stakeholders will also be approached.

Dr Baloch went on to appeal to the Baloch armed groups to participate in dialogue for the sake of betterment for Balochistan.

He thanked Nawaz Sharif on the occasion and said that the military leadership and him should work together to try and resolve all problems.

Earlier on Saturday, Baloch was elected unopposed as the chief minister of Balochistan.

Dr Baloch was the joint candidate of three parties — the NP, Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party — but after the support extended to him by the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam – Fazl (JUI-F) he became a consensus candidate of all parties in the Balochistan Assembly.

Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif had nominated him for the post after meeting leaders of allied parties in Murree last week.

Dr Malik was the only one to have filed his nomination papers in the assembly secretariat for the chief minister’s election.

His candidature was proposed by Nawab Mohammad Khan Shahwani and seconded by Rehmat Baloch of the National Party.

NO END TO BULLET-RIDDLED BODIES

Five bullet-riddled bodies were recovered in different parts of Balochistan on Sunday, June 9.

According to levies sources, three bodies were found in Johan area of Kalat. They said that the dead bodies were almost one month old. The victims belonged to Bibi Nani area of Bolan district and they were kidnapped a month ago by armed gunmen.

Meanwhile, police also recovered two bullet riddled bodies in Khuzdar town of Balochistan. A police official who requested not to be named told Dawn.com that the two bodies were found in Irrigation colony area of Khuzdar. The dead bodies were shifted to civil hospital Khuzdar for postmortem.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

The bodies are found at a time when the newly elected Chief Minister Dr Malik Baloch has promised an end to mutilated bodies.

Dr Baloch has repeatedly stated that recovery of missing persons was his priority.