QUETTA, April 7: Aslam Bhootani, who was elected unopposed as speaker of the Balochistan assembly on Monday, was born in 1960 in Dureji village of Lasbela district.

He obtained basic education in his village and Public School, Hyderabad.

He did graduation from the Karachi University.

Mr Bhootani served in police, FIA immigration and crime wing and Anti-Narcotics Force for 12 years.

He started his political carrier in 2002 and was elected member of the Balochistan Assembly. He served as deputy speaker of the Balochistan assembly for five years.

He is younger brother of caretaker Chief Minister Sardar Saleh Bhootani.

Mr Bhootani, despite holding the post of deputy speaker in the last assembly, always remained critical of the government’s policy on Balochistan.

He openly opposed the ongoing military operation in the house and outside the assembly.

He was the only member from the treasury benches to have condemned the killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti and raised voice against the arrest of Sardar Akthar Mengal and suspension of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhary. He even went to Islamabad to meet Justice Iftikhar.

In the 2006 Senate election, he cast his vote in favour of the candidate of a nationalist party.

It was Mr Bhootani who opposed ejection of the poor people from land along the Coastal Highway. He also got passed a resolution against the proposed Sonmiani port and succeeded in stopping the project.

Rejecting government pressure, he conducted fateha for Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti in the house after suspending the rules of business.

However, he refused to hold fateha for Raziq Bugti, spokesman for the Balochistan government, when a resolution was moved in the house by the treasury benches.

The National Accountability Bureau initiated an inquiry against him and he was also implicated in a bomb explosion at the house of Dera Bugti DCO.

Mr Bhootani refused to pass a bill regarding privileges of the deputy speaker.

He also played an important role in eliminating the PML-Q in the province after the 2002 election. He was the main hurdle in the way of PML-Q’s efforts to form government.

He made like-minded group in the party that elected him as parliamentary leader and he announced support for Nawab Aslam Raisani.

Mr Bhootani was instrumental in the formation of a PPP-led coalition government in

Balochistan.