QUETTA: Fifty-eight out of 60 newly elected members of the Balochistan Assembly took the oath on Monday.

Outgoing Speaker Raheela Hameed Khan Durrani administered the oath.

Former chief minister Sanaullah Zehri of the Pakistan Muslim League-N and Nasarullah Zerey of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party did not take the oath.

Mr Zehri did not attend the session, while Mr Zerey was there but did not come in the assembly hall when the oath-taking ceremony was held.

Nasarullah Zerey of PkMAP says he is not taking the oath in protest against poll ‘rigging’

Mr Zerey said he did not take the oath to lodge his protest against rigging in the July 25 polls.

“I will take my oath in the next session,” he said, adding that the protest against rigging would continue.

Prominent among the 31 MPAs who have been elected for the first time are Balochistan National Party-Mengal’s Ahmed Nawaz Baloch, Jamhoori Watan Party’s Gohram Bugti, Balochistan Awami Party’s Zia Langove and Mir Sikandar Umrani and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s Umar Jamali and Mobin Khan.

BNP-M chief Akhtar Mengal retained his National Assembly seat and vacated the Balochistan Assembly seat, while the Election Commission of Pakistan has barred the final notification on PB-26 and PB-41. One seat reserved for women is yet to be decided by political parties.

Welcoming the new members, Speaker Raheela Durrani said: “I am sure you all will follow the rules and customs of this honorable house in next five years.”

Sana Baloch of the BNP-M on a point of order said that the chaos in Quetta city for today’s session disturbed many MPAs as they were stuck in traffic for hours,

PTI’s provincial chief and parliamentary leader in the house Yar Mohammad Rind said that his party would continue to strive for the rights of the people of Balochistan.

Chief minister-designate Jam Kamal Khan Alyani told reporters after taking the oath that “today is a blessed day for the people of Balochistan”.

He said Quddus Bizenjo was the candidate of BAP for the office of speaker, but “we have kept the deputy speaker’s slot for our collation parties and it will be announced in the next two days”.

“People have reposed their trust in us and we have to deliver, otherwise, they will reject us in the next elections,” he added.

Gohram Bugti said the provision of health, education and clean drinking water facilities would be his priority in his constituency of Dera Bugti.

Published in Dawn, August 14th, 2018