QUETTA: A two-judge bench of the Balochistan High Court (BHC) has issued notices to the attorney general for Pakistan and the provincial advocate general in a case against the formation of the interim cabinet.

The appointment of some ministers in the int­e­rim provincial cabinet was challenged on Monday.

After hearing initial ar­­g­­­uments, the division ben­ch comprising Chief Just­ice Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Justice Gul Hassan Kasi issued notices and adjou­r­ned the hearing till Aug 30.

The petitioner pleaded that some of the interim ministers had “political af­­filiations” which nega­ted the concept of a non-political interim government.

Petitioner raises questions over impartiality of some members

Interim Minister for Education Dr Qadir Bakh­­sh Baloch is the vice chancellor of Chakar Khan University in Sibi and a resident of Dera Ghazi Khan, the petition stated, adding he had already been punished in a case of illegal requirements in a university in Mardan.

The petitioner also objected to the appointment of Shania Khan as an advisor to the caretaker CM on social welfare and women’s development.

Ms Khan was removed from the post of coordinator of former CM Mir Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo on August 9 after the BHC declared the appointment of at least 32 coordinators void, according to the petition.

The petitioner also clai­med that Jan Achakzai, the caretaker information minister, had defended various political parties in the past on TV channels and had dual nationality while retired captain Zubair Jamali, the interim minister for home, tribal affa­irs and prison, was a close relative of the Balo­chistan Assembly speaker.

According to the Elec­t­i­ons Act, 2017, a person who does not fulfil the criteria laid down in Articles 62 and 63 of the Consti­tu­tion of Pakistan can not be­­come a member of the na­­tional and provincial asse­­mblies, the petition stated.

Some ministers and advisors inducted in the interim Balcoshitan cabinet didn’t fulfil this criteria, the petitioner pleaded and urged the court to stop them from working and declare their appointment as illegal.

Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2023