PTI in talks with BAP for coalition government in Balochistan

In this file photo, Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan, center, addresses participants at the start of the Tehrik-e-Ehtesab rally in Peshawar on Aug. 7, 2016. (A MAJEED/AFP)

• Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), with 18 out of 51 seats in Balochistan assembly, has started negotiations with different political parties to form coalition government
• BAP government may face an opposition from heavyweights such as former Chief Ministers Sardar Akhter Mengal (BNP) and Sardar Sanaullah Zehri (PMLN) and the outspoken politician and intellectual Sanaullah Baloch

KARACHI: Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), founded by political dissidents of the Pakistan Muslim League (N) and the Pakistan Muslim League (Q) in March this year, has emerged as the largest party in the province but has failed to win a clear majority.
The situation is leading the southwestern Pakistani province toward a coalition government.
Three out of four independent members of the Balochistan Assembly — Mitha Khan Kakar, Sardar Masood Khan Looni and Mir Arif Jan Muhammad Hassani –- have joined the BAP, taking its numbers to 18 in a house of 51 members.
The fourth independent candidate, Naimatullah Zehri, is highly unlikely to join the BAP owing to his serious differences with its leadership. However, after getting reserved seats for women and minorities, the party’s strength will get a further boost.
Patron-in-chief of the BAP Saeed Hashmi saidon Saturday that being the largest political party in the province, they have to be allowed to form the government in Balochistan.
Meanwhile, the Awami National Party (ANP), which has three members in the new assembly, and the Hazara Democratic Party, which has two legislators, have also shown their willingness to join the coalition government.
“The majority of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) Balochistan leaders are also in favor of joining the government as their previous experience of remaining in opposition was not good,” Raza-ur-Rehman, a senior journalist in Quetta, told Arab News.
The BAP is interested in forming a coalition government with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, which has won four seats in the province.
These four seats, which will increase after the announcement of reserved seats, are enough for the BAP to form a government in the province.
When asked about the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) condition that the slot of chief minister should be given to it and the PTI’s Balochistan President Yar Muhammad Rind, Qasim Khan Suri, the PTI Balochistan general secretary, said: “Everyone wants an effective and good position, and if the PTI take the driving seat it will benefit the province.”
The BAP’s members of the national assembly have already announced their support for PTI in the center, Suri told Arab News. “We have yet to start formal talks with BAP but the process has started and I have briefed chairman PTI Imran Khan about the likely coalition government in Balochistan.”
Jam Kamal Khan, chief of the BAP, who has won his PB-50 by grabbing 36,885 (58.76 percent) votes, is the main contender, whereas Muhammad Saleh Bhootani, who has 30,007 (56.34 percent) votes from BA-49; former CM, Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo, who has been elected as an assembly member by getting 8,055 (34.28 percent) votes from PB-44; Mir Jan Muhammad Khan Jamali, who has been elected as member of the Balochistan assembly by getting 19,092 (31.23 percent) votes from PB-14 from the platform of BAP, are also in the race, whereas Nawabzada Tariq Magsi, who has won PB-16, is among the aspirants, making it difficult to form a consensus.
“There were several aspirants for the slot of party president but they agreed on one. They will do the same now as the decision is taken somewhere else,” Arif Baloch, editor of the Balochistan Express, told Arab News.
Saeed Hashmi, the BAP’s patron-in-chief, says the leading party deserves top slots.
“We are negotiating with different parties and will soon reach a decision regarding the future government,” Hashmi told.
This time several high-profile politicians have made it to the Balochistan assembly and their presence will be felt.
Former Chief Minister and leader of Pakistan Muslim League (N), Sardar Sanaullah Zehri, who got 11,814 votes from PB-38; Muhammad Akhtar Mengal, former CM and chief of the Balochistan National Party (BNP), who has been elected member by getting 22,114 votes from PB-40; and the BNP’s Sana Ullah Baloch, who has got 15,354 (60.04 percent) from PB-4, will be part of the house.
Party Position in Balochistan: The MMA is the second largest party with nine seats, the BNP has six seats, the PTI has four seats, the ANP three seats, Balochistan National Party (Awami), three seats, Hazara Democratic Party (HDP) two seats, and Jamhoori Wattan Party, Pakistan Muslim League (N) and Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party one seat each.