QUETTA, Dec 2: Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Mir Mohammad Yousaf took vote of confidence from the provincial assembly, here on Monday.

Maulana Abdul Bari Agha of MMA and Amanullah Notizai of PML-Q jointly moved a resolution for vote of confidence in the assembly session. Speaker Jamal Shah Kakar presided over the session.

Forty-five members belonging to PML-Q, MMA, National Alliance and Jamhoori Watan Party expressed their confidence in Jam Yousaf through show of hands. Jam Yousaf had bagged 47 votes in the election for the leader of the House held the other day.

Two members — Mir Jan Mohammad Khan Jamali and Mir Abdul Rehman Jamali — could not attend the session due to death of their relative, while Mir Nusrat Ali Khan Jamali was in Rojhan Jamali. Another member, Haji Jumma Khan Bugti, was also not present in the House, which reduced the number of votes bagged by Jam Yousaf to 45.

Members belonging to Pashtoonkhawa Milli Awami Party (PMAP), Balochistan National Party (BNP-Mengal), Balochistan National Movement (BNM) and People’s Party Parliamentarians did not vote for Jam Yousaf.

Earlier, parliamentary leader of BNM, Kachkol Ali, on a point of order urged the speaker to amend the resolution moved in the House for the vote of confidence. He suggested that the line “Balochistan Assembly expresses confidence in Jam Yousaf” should be amended as “majority of the members expresses confidence in the leadership of Jam Yousaf”.

However, Speaker Jamal Shah Kakar did not accept the suggestion of Kachkol Ali and asked the members to express their will through show of hand.

After securing vote of confidence, he announced that all nationalities living in Balochistan would be given equal status.

He said that hatred and bias were harmful for the country. “We must remove ethnic bias and hatred for the uplift of Balochistan,” Jam Yousaf said.

Jam Yousaf said that success of his party in the election was not due to help of any agency. “We have won the election on our own. It is not a gift of any agency,” he said and added that his coalition government would work for removing sense of deprivation from the people of this province.

He said his government would make all possible efforts to eliminate unemployment and would create new jobs for the educated youth. In this connection a comprehensive plan would be made through which youth would be provided jobs. He said that he was planning to allocate huge funds for the purpose.

The chief minister said as far as law and order was concerned his government would make allout efforts for upholding the rule of law. “I need help and cooperation of all members of the assembly and tribal elders for maintaining law and order in the province,” Jam Yousaf said and added that Kalashnikov culture and drug Mafia could be controlled with strict steps and he would not hesitate to adopt such measures in this connection.