Balochistan Politics Can Act as a Harbinger of Change

Balochistan is usually referred to as the indictor of trends of national politics and recent episodes of instability in the province may hint an upcoming political crisis. The pilot of what has evolved into a political crisis started with the budget session of the Balochistan Assembly on June 18.

Upheaval before budget

The Balochistan Assembly witnessed a rumpus last Friday when the opposition lawmakers staged a protest outside the assembly and locked all of its 4 gates just when the provincial budget for the next financial year was about to be presented in the legislature.

The provoked lawmakers of opposition were baton-charged by the police when they tried to stop Balochistan Chief Minister (CM) Jam Kamal Khan and other members to enter the building.

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The demonstrators were of the view that the government gave them the go-by in the provincial budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

But, the police armor vehicle rammed into it to open it and the budget was session was held with empty benches of opposition.

Minister’s resignation

Recently, the trouble swelled for Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan as a key member of his cabinet, Provincial Education Minister Yar Muhammad Rind,who belongs to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), resigned.

Notably, Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) and PTI are in a coalition in the province.

The resignation is a sign of swelling differences between the constituents of the coalition government.

Before Yar Rind, the local bodies minister had also bid farewell last month.

Dubious death of former senator

Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) leader and ex-senator Usman Khan Kakar died in Karachi on Monday.

However, the death caused unrest in Pashtun areas and nationalist circles in the province who alleged the former senator was murdered.

His funeral was one of the largest mass gatherings in the history of the province and people from different parts of the country participated in it.

The relatives of PkMAP leader also alleged that he did not die a natural death but was murdered.

The calls for inquiry into the incident also echoed in the Senate and several senators demanded a probe into the matter.

Seeking thaw in relations

The June 18 row spoiled the relations between government and opposition.

Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan has suggested the formation of a parliamentary body comprising members of opposition and government to smooth over the ties between both sides.

He is still of the view that the opposition hurt the sanctity of the assembly when it stopped the lawmakers from reaching the house for the budget session.

The provincial government had filed a complaint against 17 opposition MPAs, including opposition leader Malik Sikandar Khan following which the police registered a first information report (FIR).

A strike was observed on Friday in different parts of the provincial capital Quetta and other cities against the FIR.

The lawmakers reached Bijli Road police station to surrender before the police. However, the police refused to do it without the speaker’s ruling.

The opposition parties filed an application in a local court on Thursday requesting it to order the police to register an FIR against Chief Minister Jam Kamal Alyani and Quetta SSP Operations Ahmed Mahyuddin.

Later, Speaker Balochistan Assembly Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo gave a ruling regarding the withdrawal of FIR registered against opposition members.

After it, the speaker hoped that the opposition legislators would join the proceeding today (June 26).

Talking to the media, Speaker Abdul Qaddos Bizenjo said that he had no role in what happened outside the legislature on June 18.