QUETTA: Questions were raised in Thursday’s Balochistan Assembly session about ‘secret’ agreements the provincial government has allegedly entered with the Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) and other entities.

Sana Baloch, a vocal opposition member and a leader of the Balochistan National Party-Mengal, while speaking during question-answer hour, raised doubts about different agreements signed by the government, particularly with the PPL.

He voiced concern over the government’s alleged practice of “secretly” signing such agreements, asking why the House was not being taken into confidence on these accords.

Provincial Minister for Finance Mir Zahoor Ahmed Buledi rejected the allegations levelled by MPA Sana, saying all measures taken by the government were in the best interest of the province.

No secret agreement is signed against Balochistan people’s interests nor will it be done, assures finance minister

Zahoor Buledi challenged the legislator to prove the charges hurled by him and said: “Mineral resources of Balochistan are the wealth of the people of the province.”

The finance minister said that the agreement with the PPL had expired in 2015 and Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan Alyani was working on a new accord “according to current situation and conditions”.

“There is no secret agreement. Government of Balochistan will never sign any secret agreement against the wishes of the people of the province,” he added.

“Whenever the government has to sign any agreement, the people of Balochistan and their elected representative would be taken into confidence.

Jumping into the fray, Minister for Information Technology Sardar Abdul Rehman Khetran said that the resources of the province were property of the people of Balochistan. He assured the House that not a single agreement, which violated the rights of the people of Balochistan, would be signed.

“We the elected representative would never compromise over the rights of Balochistan at any cost,” Sardar Khetran insisted.

Opposition member from the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party Nasrullah Zeeray raised the issue of the recent killing of a man, Syed Ghousullah, at the hands of his kidnappers.

Four resolutions were unanimously passed by the House during the session.

The resolutions raised the demand for repair and renovation of Quetta-Chaman highway, addition of a circuit bench of Balochistan High Court for Rakhshan division and establishment of a medical college in Naseerabad division and condemned setting up of an “illegal” police check-post in the Samungli area on the ancestral land of Kasi tribe.

Later, Deputy Speaker Sardar Babar Moosakhel, who chaired the session, postponed it for an indefinite period.

Published in Dawn, November 22nd, 2019