QUETTA: The PML-N is finding it difficult to pick a suitable candidate for the post of speaker of the Balochistan Assembly lying vacant after resignation of Mir Jan Mohammad Jamali.

Mr Jamali quit about a month ago because of his differences with the PML-N’s central leadership over a controversy sparked by the allocation of party ticket for a Senate seat from the province.

Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo has since been presiding over the assembly sessions as acting speaker.

Coalition partners in Balochistan — PML-N, National Party and Pakhtun­khwa Milli Awami Party — have failed to reach consensus on a candidate for the post of speaker. But they have agreed that the new speaker should be from PML-N as was the previous one.

Several names have been considered for the office in meetings of the coalition partners.

Initially, the central leadership of PML-N proposed the name of Sheikh Jaffar Khan Mandokhel, the PML-Q parliamentary leader in Balochistan Assembly, for the post. But he rejected the offer because of his friendship with the former speaker and also because he would have to quit the offices of the parliamentary leader and the provincial president of PML-Q as well as the post of excise minister to become the speaker. He believed that as a minister he could solve problems of people in a more effective way.

Some quarters started lobbying for Mir Quddus Bizenjo, who also belongs to PML-Q, and suggested his name for the office. But the proposal was rejected by the PML-N leadership, particularly on the report of federal Minister for Railways Saad Rafique that Mr Bizenjo had refused to support and vote for PML-N candidates in the recent Senate elections.

The central leadership of PML-N started looking for a candidate from its members of the provincial assembly and floated the name of Rahila Hameed Khan Durrani for the post. But some senior leaders of the party from Balochistan countered the move by floating the name of Samina Khan.

“The provincial leadership of PML-N has sent a proposal to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to appoint MPA Samina Khan as the speaker,” a senior leader of the party told Dawn.

But sources suggest that the name of Rahila Durrani has not been dropped from the list of probable candidates and she is still in the race for the office of the speaker.

Political observers are of the view that the PML-N leadership is looking for a “loyal” candidate for the post.

Published in Dawn, June 21st, 2015

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