July 10, 2003	Thursday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 9,1424

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QUETTA, July 9: Balochistan Governor Abdul Quadir on Wednesday accepted the resignation of Provincial Home and Tribal Affairs Minister Sardar Sanaullah Zehri.

“My resignation has been accepted by the provincial governor,” Sardar Zehri told Dawn.

He said he had tendered his resignation two days back in wake of the bombing and firing in an Imambargah in which over 50 people were killed and 65 others injured. “It was a security lapse and the police is responsible for it,” he said.

“After such a big incident, morally there was no justification for me to remain the home minister anymore,” he said.

He said he had informed Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali and Chief Minister Jam Mir Mohammed Yousaf six months back that he could not work with the team.

He said the murder of the innocent people was shameful.

He said he had told the chief minister that he did not want to be a powerless minister and it was the right time for him to resign.

“Most of the ministers are powerless and they cannot make any decision,” he said. The decisions were being made somewhere else, he said.

He said he would speak at a press conference on Thursday in this connection.

Sources said the governor and the chief minister had asked Sardar Zehri to withdraw his resignation but he refused.