QUETTA: A minister in Chief Minister Mir Qudoos Bizenjo’s coalition government staged a walkout from the Balochistan Assembly session on Monday, alleging irregularities in the recruitment process in the agriculture and food departments.

Mubeen Ahmed Khilji, Minister for Science and Technology who belongs to the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), stood up on a point of order soon after the start of the session which was presided over by Deputy Speaker Sardar Babar Khan Musakhail.

He diverted the attention of the house towards the recruitment process, claiming that corruption and irregularities had been committed.

“Deserving youths were deprived of selection by adopting discrimination in the recruitment process,” he said. He claimed that the agriculture and food departments hired outsiders whose names were not included in the list of candidates.

“As a protest, I walk out against this discrimination and injustice,” he said, adding that if a notice was not taken, he would hold a press conference to disclose all wrong doings committed in the recruitment process with proofs.

However, after some time he returned to the house and explained that he had protested over recruitments made by the said departments before the change of government in the province. “I protested over recruitments made by the previous government,” Mr Khilji clarified after Agriculture Minister Mir Asadullah Baloch clarified position of his ministry on the issue.

Asad Baloch said Mr Khilji mentioned the name of the agriculture department, but he did not mention the period when these wrong doings were made in the recruitment process.

“I’m not accountable for what happened in the previous government,” Mr Baloch said.

Senior Finance Minister Noor Dummar agreed with Mubeen Khilji and said that interferences were made in every constituency and “maybe these posts were booked”.

Minister for Planning and Development Zahoor Buledi said that the allegations of irregularities in the recruitment process had come to light which was a matter of concern.

“Millions of our children are unemployed and we have 20,000 to 30,000 vacancies. Immediate relief can be given to the unemployed youth from government jobs,” he said.

Published in Dawn, January 25th, 2022