‘Not imported’: PTI says no plans to quit Balochistan Assembly

Umar announces party to continue holding office in the province, says missing persons ‘big problem’ in Balochistan

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) General Secretary Asad Umar on Sunday said that the Balochistan government was “not part of the regime change conspiracy operation” and therefore the party will continue to hold office in the provincial government.

Yesterday, announcing his much-awaited final date to dissolve the two provincial assemblies where his party is at the helm of affairs, PTI chief Imran Khan had revealed that the party will dissolve assemblies in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) on December 23 (Friday), staking his hard-earned political ground on a bid to trigger early elections.

Speaking to journalists in Quetta, Asad Umar said that the Balochistan government was “no imported government” even though “it may have its own pros and cons but it is the result of the internal democratic process here”.

“Therefore we are part of Balochistan Assembly and part of the government here,” Umar explained adding that the federal government’s case was different because “over there, a regime change operation conspired and we refuse to be a party to that”.

Responding to another journalist’s questions, the PTI leader said that “no decision has been made” about dissolving the Balochistan Assembly.

Nonetheless, he stressed that assemblies in Punjab and K-P will be dissolved on December 23, as announced by Imran. In that same vein, he said he had been directed by the former premier to visit Balochistan and take notice of the preparation for elections in the province.

“People are joining [the] PTI because they saw that with [the] PTI in government, for the first time an attempt was made to give Balochistan its full rights and I am very proud that when we drafted the yearly Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) two years ago, the allotted funds for Balochistan exceeded those for Punjab,” he said reflecting on the initiatives taken by the ousted government in development projects.

“Elections will be held in Balochistan in 2023 and God willing, [the] PTI will form the government here and this is Imran Khan’s promise that I communicate on his behalf that within the first year of being in government, the people of Balochistan will also benefit from the Sehat Card,” he added.

Earlier, rifts had emerged in the PTI Balochistan chapter over the issue of en masse resignations from the provincial assembly as the party appeared to be divided into two factions – one led by Sardar Yar Muhammad Rind, the ex-provincial party chief, and the other by former National Assembly deputy speaker Qasim Suri.

Rind claims to enjoy the support of four out of a total of seven lawmakers in the Balochistan Assembly.

Currently, PTI Balochistan chief Qasim Suri is less influential regarding the seven party lawmakers except for Mobeen Khilji and Naseebullah Marri, the party’s provincial ministers in the Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo-led coalition government.

“We have yet to make a decision about tendering resignations from the assembly,” Rind had told reporters in Quetta.

However, Naseebullah Marri, the PTI lawmaker and the Balochistan education minister, had said the lawmakers would quit the assembly after the announcement of the party chief.

“We will not practice any delay if the party chief asks for resignations,” Marri had said.

Missing persons

Speaking to journalists, Umar said that enforced disappearances were “absolutely unacceptable”.

“When we speak of ‘true freedom’ (Haqeeqi Azadi) then there is no room for enforced disappearances in that,” Umar added.

“This problem prevails across Pakistan, but for the people of Balochistan, missing persons are a big problem,” he continued, “and it is a fact that during Imran Khan’s tenure as prime minister the large number of missing persons that were recovered was unprecedented”.

“However,” he added, “it is pertinent to nip this evil in the bud”.

“We don’t think that further laws need to be drafted on this matter, but if there is a need then make new laws; but it simply cannot be that people are picked up against the law,” he furthered.