PML-N’s Malir MNA Abdul Hakeem Baloch joins PPP

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz MNA Abdul Hakeem Baloch announced on Tuesday that he was leaving the party at joining the Pakistan People’s Party.

At a ceremony held at the Chief Minister’s House to welcome him into the PPP’s fold, Baloch said the PML-N’s federal government was focused on Punjab only.

“The prime minister had vowed to give a special development package to the Malir district but did not keep his promise,” he rued.

“It was Shaheed Benazir Bhutto who had created Malir district and now her government in the province was giving special attention to the area’s uplift.”

He announced that he was resigning from the PML-N and National Assembly and joining the PPP along with his tribe.

Senior minister Nisar Khuhro, the convener of the PPP coordination committee, welcomed Baloch into the party.

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said on the occasion that he was happy to receive Baloch into the party because had remained a member of his father Abdullah Shah’s cabinet.

“He was our old jiyala and had left us for some time, but his return to his family is a good omen,” he added.

Shah said Baloch had resigned from the ministry, the national assembly membership and the basic membership of PML-N, similar to the resignation of Imtiaz Shaikh who had also resigned from state ministry, the provincial assembly membership and the basic membership of the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional.

JUI-F delegation

A six-member delegation of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl led by the National Assembly standing committee on SAFRON’s chairman Maulana Mohammad Jamaluddin and the leader of the opposition in the Balochistan Assembly Maulana Abdul Wassey called on the chief minister.

During the meeting they discussed different issues, including sectarian harmony and also lauded the efforts of the chief minister to bring the religious scholars of different schools of thought on a single platform for unity.

They also discussed the issue of the registration of seminaries and urged the chief minister to take all religious scholars into confidence.

The chief minister said he had not introduced the bill in the assembly yet so that all religious leaders could be taken on board.

“We have already completed a lengthy consultative process and again on the request of some scholars and one more week have been given to them to submit their recommendations,” he added.