March 17, 2006	Friday	Safar 16, 1427

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QUETTA, March 16: MPA Mir Bakhtiar Khan Domki has said that interests of Balochistan and its people were more dear to him more than being a minister. Mir Domki, who was removed from the cabinet on charges of violating party discipline in the Senate election, said: “I can not compromise on the interests of Balochistan and its people.”

He said that in the Senate election he was asked to vote for an independent candidate who did not belong to the PML and was not from Balochistan. “I refused to vote in his favour and cast my vote according to my conscience,” he said, adding that the ministry had no importance for him.

Mir Bakhtiar Domki, who is grandson of Nawab Bugti, said that he had expressed his reservations about Chief Minister Jam Yousuf three years ago and wanted to resign from the ministry, but his friends stopped him from doing so.

He said that as a provincial minister he had opposed the military operations in Kohlu and Dera Bugti districts.

He demanded that government should end the military operations in Balochistan and resolve all issues through negotiations.

“Three years of my stay in the ministry has harmed my political career,” Mir Domki said.

Meanwhile, Balochistan Assembly Deputy Speaker Mohammad Aslam Bhootani, who also contested the Senate election as an independent candidate, said that he would face no-confidence motion with courage.