QUETTA: Business tycoon Mohammad Abdul Qadir, who has again submitted his nomination papers, this time as an independent candidate, after withdrawal of his party ticket by the Pakistan Tehreek-i- Insaf (PTI), has succeeded in mustering support of the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) for contesting the Senate election.

This was announced by Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan Alyani on Wednesday.

Talking to journalists at Chief Minister House, Mr Alyani also congratulated mixed martial arts player Ahmed Mujtaba, who knocked out an Indian player in a contest held in Singapore recently. Mr Mujtaba belongs to Quetta.

The chief minister denied the reports that Mr Qadir had given funds to the BAP and said that earlier he was a joint candidate of the PTI and BAP for the Senate election, but later the PTI withdrew its ticket for him and now he was contesting the Senate election on a BAP ticket from Balochistan.

Mr Alyani said Mr Qadir belonged to Quetta and since 2004 he had been filing his nomination papers for the Senate election from Balochistan.

He said the word “parachutist” should not be used for Mr Qadir. “Parachutist is a strange word which has recently been introduced in Pakistan’s politics. If you look at the history of the Senate, then everyone is a parachutist,” he added.

CM Alyani said the BAP had awarded tickets to the candidates after taking interviews from them in a systematic way.

Replying to a question, he said Pakistan’s politics was nowadays focused on the “wrestling ground” of the Senate.

Published in Dawn, February 18th, 2021