QUETTA: Opposition parties in Balochistan have threatened to launch a protest movement against the provincial government if the development schemes proposed by them are not made part of the upcoming provincial budget for 2021-22.

Speaking at a joint press conference on Friday, opposition leaders Advocate Malik Sikandar Khan, Nawab Aslam Raisani, Nasarullah Zerey of PkMAP and Malik Naseer Shahwani and Akhtar Hussain Langove of BNP-Mengal said that development schemes proposed by opposition members had been ignored in the last three budgets presented by the provincial government.

They alleged that provincial governments instead of including development schemes of opposition MPAs in the budgets, spent huge funds through no-elected people who had been defeated in the last election.

The opposition leaders gave three days’ time to the provincial government to include their development schemes in the next financial year’s budget or they would launch their protest movement after Monday.

“We have no other option but to launch a protest movement against the discriminatory attitude of the Jam-led coalition government,” they said.

Say schemes proposed by opposition members in Balochistan have been ignored in last three budgets

They said that 23 opposition members had been elected by the people who represented half of the province and those people wanted their problems to be resolved.

Malik Sikandar said that the opposition would not bow down to the government’s tactics and it would continue its struggle for protection of the rights of all people.

Referring to the issue of long hours of load-shedding being faced by the people of Balochistan, they said that the provincial government and its many departments were defaulters of the Quetta Electric Supply Company and they had not paid around Rs55 billion dues of the company, which in turn had increased the duration of load-shedding in the province.

Malik Naseer Ahmad Shahwani, parliamentary leader of the Balochistan National Party, said that the attitude of the provincial government was inappropriate.

“As MPAs we have funds, but the government is not spending these funds according to our suggestions,” he said.

PkMAP’s Nasarullah Zerey said that whenever the opposition got the support of required numbers, it would not hesitate to move a no-confidence motion against Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan Alyani.

Published in Dawn, June 12th, 2021