QUETTA: After getting support from the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and other allied parties, Mir Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo will likely be elected unopposed as new leader of the Balochistan legislature on Friday as he has emerged as a consensus candidate for the top position, according to analysts.

At a press conference on Tuesday night with Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani, Defence Minister Pervez Khattak had announced that Mr Bizenjo would be the joint candidate of PTI and the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) for the coveted post.

Balochistan Governor Syed Zahoor Ahmed Agha has summoned a session of the Balochistan Assembly on Oct 29 (Friday) for the election of the new leader of the house and its speaker.

BAP, which has 24 members in a house of 65, has already nominated Mr Bizenjo for the post of chief minister and Mir Jan Muhammad Khan Jamali for that of speaker, which has fallen vacant after the resignation from it by the former.

Earlier, the PTI’s parliamentary party in the house had nominated Sardar Yar Muhammad Rind as its candidate for the post of chief minister and Sardar Babar Khan Musakhail for the position of speaker.

However, speaking at a press conference on Wednesday along with Sardar Rind, Senator Saeed Ahmed Hashmi, acting president of BAP Mir Zahoor Ahmed Buledi and Mr Bizenjo, Defence Minister Khattak said the PTI would extend full support to the BAP candidate for the position of leader of the house.

“PTI is an ally of the Balochistan Awami Party and had supported it when coalition government was formed in Balochistan after the 2018 elections,” he said, adding that BAP and PTI were also allies in the Senate and National Assembly and BAP is a partner in the coalition government at the federal level.

Mr Khattak said he himself belonged to the PTI and would not tolerate that leadership of its Balochistan chapter is bypassed in policy matters. “I hope PTI will not be ignored as an ally of BAP in future as was done by the previous government and hope it will be given the honour and respect that it deserves as an ally,” he said.

He said that if the new government did not deliver on its promises then PTI’s provincial leader Sardar Rind would be free to take any decision, but “we hope that the new government will run its affairs with consensus and consultation”.

Mr Khattak also thanked Sardar Rind for accepting “our request to support BAP in the election of the new leader of the house and its speaker”.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Bizenjo said the previous mistakes would not be repeated and a good government would be formed in Balochistan to solve the problems of its people. The Awami National Party also announced its decision to support the candidatures of Mr Bizenjo and Mr Jamali.

Published in Dawn, October 28th, 2021