Kamal retracts decision to resign from BAP presidency

QUETTA: Chief Minister of Balochistan Jam Kamal Khan Alyani on Tuesday evening announced that he has decided to take back the decision to resign from the presidentship of the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), days after stepping down from the office.

A few hours earlier, the party had appointed provincial minister Zahoor Buledi as the acting president to replace Aylani.

While announcing the decision to take his resignation back during a press conference at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat, Jam Kamal said that he does not want to step down from the post of the chief minister either.

He was accompanied by members of the Awami National Party (ANP), the Hazara Democratic Party, the Jamhoori Wattan Party, and supporting assembly members of the BAP. “I am ready to face all types of political crises and will continue to serve the post for the entirety of my five-year tenure,” the CM said, adding that the number game regarding the no-confidence motion will come to the fore soon.

“Except for one member of the PTI, all the members [of the assembly], as well as the allies, are with us,” he said. “I have asked the party’s chief organiser Jan Mohammad Jamali to hold a meeting with all the members of Parliament as we are ready for talks with them.”

Speaking about some other political matters pertaining to the province, Jam Kamal said that the provincial government is running [successfully], the cabinet has had meetings, and full measures are being taken to help the victims of the earthquake in Harnai and other parts of Balochistan. Answering a question, Jam Kamal said that he had not met PPP’s co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari in three years, therefore, the news in that regard is incorrect.

It should be recalled that Aylani, on October 1, had announced that he was stepping down after completing a “good” three-year term, as he asked BAP officeholders to organise a meeting and announce BAP party elections at the earliest. On Monday, the disgruntled members of the provincial assembly (MPAs) — including lawmakers from Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) and allied parties — had submitted a no-confidence motion against Alyani.

The motion, signed by 14 members, claimed that the provincial cabinet members had informed the chief minister about the issues of Balochistan but he did not pay heed to them.

Earlier on September 14, as many as 16 MPAs from the Balochistan Assembly had moved a no-confidence motion against CM Alyani, but it was later denied by the Governor House Secretariat on technical grounds.

In a press conference later on Tuesday, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry said that the Centre wishes for stability in Balochistan and that all political matters should proceed in line with the law. Balochistan’s governor has briefed Prime Minister Imran Khan on the political developments in the province and would play its role according to the law, Chaudhry added.