QUETTA: The Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) on Monday suspended the party membership of its Balochistan Assembly member Mir Zabid Ali Reki for violating party discipline by presenting a garland to Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti after the passage of the provincial budget.
JUI-F Provincial Emir Senator Maulana Abdul Wasay announced the decision at a press conference alongside Opposition Leader Mir Younis Aziz Zehri and MPA Fazal Qadir Mandokhail.
“Action against Reki regarding his assembly membership will be decided by the party’s central command whom the case has bee referred to for further action,” Mr Wasay said and termed the presenting of garland to the chief minister as contradiction to the party’s political stance.
He said that JUI-F is an ideological party where decisions are made through consultation and within party lines.
“No member is allowed to adopt a stance against the party or pursue personal interests at the cost of party discipline,” he added.
Mr Wasay also opposed the recent approval of the Mines and Minerals Act in the Balochistan Assembly and claimed that it was passed secretly without consultation with all political parties.
He announced the party’s plan to challenge the act in court, the assembly, and the court of public opinion.
“We demand its immediate repeal,” he stressed.
Maulana Wasay affirmed the party would resist any attempts to roll back the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award or the 18th Amendment, which he said have greatly benefited Balochistan.
“JUI-F will never allow their reversal,” he added.
Mr Wasay said that JUI-F rejected the results of the 2018 and 2024 elections and highlighted contradictions within the Pakistan Democratic Movement where its leader sits in the opposition while its component parties are in power.
Rejecting the allegations of militancy, he said that JUI-F has always stood by the military and the people, and that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first attack on a religious seminary clearly revealed the real enemy.
The senator described the current security situation in Balochistan as alarming.
“In areas like Surab, groups of 800 to 900 armed men carry out attacks and walk away freely,” Mr Wasay said.
Published in Dawn, July 1st, 2025
