QUETTA: Chief Minister Nawab Muhammad Aslam Raisani on Tuesday succeeded in obtaining the confidence of majority of the members in the Balochistan Assembly notwithstanding much political opposition, burying all the political speculation that a constitutional breakdown was possible in Balochistan.
Provincial Minister for Industries Syed Ehsan Shah moved the resolution, which read, “This august House expresses its full confidence in the leader of the House Nawab Muhammad Aslam Raisani.” Forty-four members stood on their seats when the chair put the resolution to vote. A total of forty-six members, including leader of the House Nawab Aslam Raisani, were present in the assembly while nineteen others were absent.
Before going abroad on a three-day visit Balochistan Governor Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Magsi called an assembly session for November 13 but Acting Governor Aslam Bhootani withheld it. He reasoned that the provincial coalition led by Nawab Aslam Raisani had lost its legitimacy to rule in the wake of the Supreme Court interim order, which declared it had failed to tackle the law and order situation and asked federal government to take measures under the constitution for improvement of law and order.
After the political stalemate created by the acting governor, the ruling coalition submitted a requisition carrying the signature of nineteen members of the assembly to call another session. Acting Speaker Matiullah Agha who belongs to Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl, while accepting the requisition, called the assembly session for Tuesday evening.
The chief minister after seeking a fresh vote of confidence from the House thanked all members of the House for again reposing their confidence in him and said that he would continue to have cordial relations with his colleagues whether he remains in power or out. Earlier, nineteen members, including Nawab Aslam Raisani, tabled a resolution saying that it should be adopted for improvement of law and order and to remove hurdles in the way of smooth development process in the province.
Almost all the members present spoke on the resolution condemning the speaker’s (now acting governor) move to block the way for holding a session of an elected body like the assembly and said that the chief minister was an elected leader of the House and if somebody does not want him see in the office, there are constitutional ways to remove him. They said that the present coalition government under the leadership of Nawab Aslam Raisani has been striving for the development of the province and for achieving the rights of the people of Balochistan.
Later, talking to media outside the Balochistan Assembly, Chief Minister Nawab Muhammad Aslam Raisiani said that by expressing their confidence in his government, the members of Balochistan Assembly had foiled the designs of those who wanted to dissolve the assembly. He said that a vote of no-confidence against Speaker Aslam Bhootani would be decided after consulting the allies. He expressed his gratitude to JUI, PML-Q, ANP-Awami, Awami National Party, and independent members for expressing their solidarity with him and added that such precedents of solidarity were seldom seen in politics. – Dailytimes
