No-confidence motion: Alyani’s goose seems cooked

ISLAMABAD: Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Alyani’s goose is apparently cooked if the number of backers of the no-confidence resolution against him is indicative of his parliamentary standing. In a 65-member provincial legislature, at least 33 lawmakers are required for the success of the no-trust motion. The members behind the move have met the requisite tally if they stand behind it at the time of voting on Monday.

While the disgruntled elements of the ruling Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), which appeared dramatically on the political horizon of the province in early 2018, have shown their cards as far as their parliamentary support is concerned, the chief minister is yet to do so and is hoping against hope that he will triumph. Obviously, he would have produced his legislators publicly had he possessed a majority.

Under the rules, it is the obligation of the movers of the resolution to present at least 51 percent lawmakers in their support otherwise it will be doomed. As a result, the chief minister’s position will be somewhat strengthened. Beleaguered Alyani will be the winner even if the required members do not turn up for any reason in the assembly. Every chief minister faced with such a situation in the past has created roadblocks through different tactics in the way of the legislators to reach the venue on voting day.

The federal government, enmeshed in its own pressing affairs, has hardly done anything consequential that might have lent a hand to Alyani to salvage his position. Alyani met Prime Minister Imran Khan last week with a request to rescue him from the tough situation. The parliamentary party of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is a disjointed entity. Its chief Yar Muhammad Rind, who has always been uneasy with the chief minister as he cherishes to replace him, and has quit his cabinet slot more than once, is abroad at this crucial juncture. It is not known whether or not he has received any instruction from the central party leadership to fly back.

The BAP is clearly divided into two factions as it had been from the very beginning, one moving the no-trust motion and the other siding with the chief minister. Serious internal strife and dissensions are its hallmark as some of its leaders want to become the chief minister. Among them, Speaker Abdus Qaddus Bizenjo is a leading contender. The parliamentary berth he holds is important especially while taking up the no-confidence motion.

The emerging scenario has proven that nobody is at the helm of affairs of BAP. This kind of mess should not come as a surprise for political parties that are made in the way BAP was mysteriously formed overnight. When it was decided to hit the then besieged Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif hard to amplify his sufferings by taking away the Balochistan government and thus deprive him of any Senate seats from Balochistan in March 2018, the drama of booting out Chief Minister Sanaullah Zehri was successfully staged through a no-trust motion against him. Within no time, Zehri succumbed to the threats of ruthless accountability if he resisted, by resigning from his office without facing the no-confidence resolution. The entire parliamentary party of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) was hijacked and converted into the BAP. Abdus Qaddus Bizenjo became the chief minister.

Alyani was made the BAP president, an office he recently relinquished under pressure from the estranged party lawmakers who had threatened to move the present no-trust motion against him. Zahoor Buledi was crowned as its acting president. However, the chief minister later retracted his resignation as the party chief. A dispute is going on between him and Buledi on the stewardship of the BAP.

Abdul Rehman Khetran, who is still a member of the Alyani cabinet, moved the no-trust motion against his boss. His group alleged that five of its members were taken away and some others were being pressured by the chief minister to change their loyalty, a common accusation hurled on such occasions. The decision of all the supporters of the move against Alyani to confine themselves at Speaker Bizenjo’s official residence till the voting day to avoid being stopped from reaching the House on D-Day reflects the ugly dimenstion of Pakistan’s politics.

The opposition, especially Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUIF) lawmakers have now come out in the open to announce that they would vote against the chief minister. They had earlier declined support to Alyani. Previously, they had been somewhat indecisive. Their own no-trust resolution against Alyani had been knocked out on technical grounds.

The chaos created in Balochistan, which is otherwise unstable because of recurring terrorist attacks, has been thrown up by the BAP itself because of the power tussle between its different groups. The movers of the no-confidence resolution have not come out with any cogent and convincing grounds for tabling the resolution, which shows that the move is just a fight to grab the office of the chief minister from Alyani. The conclusion of the present motion is unlikely to result in a stable Balochistan government.