QUETTA: In a dramatic twist months before the general elections, 14 members of the Balochistan Assembly belonging to opposition and coalition parties on Tuesday moved a no-trust motion against Chief Minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri, who later removed a minister and a special assistant for supporting the motion.

According to official sources, the chief minister sacked Home Minister Mir Sarfaraz Ahmed Bugti of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Special Assistant to the CM on Excise and Taxation Mir Amanullah Notezai of the PML-Q soon after his return from a foreign trip late in the night. They said CM Zehri had sent formal advice to the governor, asking him to remove Mr Bugti from his office with immediate effect.

Mr Zehri returned to Quetta after cutting short his visit in view of the political development created by the no-trust motion against him. He later held a meeting with a delegation of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) led by its chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai and other MPAs.

Amanullah Notezai was among the signatories of the non-trust motion, while Sarfaraz Bugti had announced that he would resign in support of the motion. Minister for Fisheries Mir Sarfaraz Domki of the PML-N also decided to step down.

Zehri sacks home minister, special assistant; PkMAP chief Achakzai says movers of no-confidence motion should not play into the hands of non-democratic forces

Earlier in the day, former speaker Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo of the PML-Q and MPA Agha Syed Muhammad Raza of the Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen (MWM) submitted the no-trust motion to the assembly’s secretariat under Article 136 of the Constitution. They alleged that the chief minister failed to fulfil the commitments he had made with the coalition partners and other lawmakers regarding development projects in their areas as well as other issues.

The motion was signed by former chief minister and Balochistan National Party chief Sardar Akhtar Jan Mengal and its MPA Mir Hamal Kalmati, deputy opposition leader Engineer Zamarak Khan Piralizai, Mir Abdul Quddus Bezinjo, Mir Amanullah Notezai, Dr Ruquyia Hashmi and Mir Abdul Karim Nusherwani of the PML-Q, Mir Mohammad Khalid Langove of the National Party, Abdul Malik Kakar, Khalil-ur-Rehman Domar, Shahida Rauf and Husan Bono Rakhsani of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl, Agha Muhammad Raza of the MWM and Mir Tariq Magsi (independent).

Mir Quddus Bezinjo, who played an important role in mobilising the MPAs for signing the no-trust motion, said: “We had extended all help and cooperation to Nawab Zehri in forming and running the coalition government, but he did not fulfil the promises he had made with coalition partners.”

He told Dawn that the chief minister was taking all decisions alone without taking the coalition partners on board. “Officials and police officers were changed in the districts of many MPAs without their consent,” he said, adding that development schemes in their areas had been ignored in the budget.

“The entire development budget was allocated for only two districts — Khuzdar and Qila Abdullah,” Mr Bezinjo said, adding that 300 dams had been planned in the Gulistan area of Qila Abdullah alone, while other areas had been ignored.

He said the post of deputy speaker had been allotted to the PML-Q as a coalition partner but after his resignation, the chief minister decided to give the slot to the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party without consulting the PML-Q.

“When the chief minister is not giving any importance to the coalition partners, then why should we sit in the coalition government,” Mr Bezinjo said, adding: “Moving no-trust motion is our constitutional and democratic right and we have decided to exercise this right.”

He urged the governor and speaker to immediately call a session of the Balochistan Assembly to proceed with the no-confidence motion.

However, PkMAP chairman Mehmood Achakzai announced that his party would fully support Chief Minister Zehri. “We will go to any extent to foil the no-trust motion,” he said, adding that the motion would be foiled in a democratic way. He said the movers of the no-trust motion should not play in the hands of non-democratic forces.

National Party chief Mir Hasil Khan Bezinjo also announced that his party would not support the no-trust motion, though one of the party’s lawmakers signed the motion.

Published in Dawn, January 3rd, 2018