QUETTA: The Baloch­istan-based six-party alliance has nominated Baloch­is­tan Awami Party (BAP) president Jam Kamal Khan Alyani for the slot of chief minister and agreed that the speaker and deputy speaker of the provincial ass­embly should also be from the newly formed party.

The decision was made at a joint meeting of the parliamentary leaders of the allied parties — BAP, Awami National Party (ANP), Pak­istan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), Hazara Democratic Party (HDP), Balochistan National Party (BNP-Awami) and Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP) — here late Thursday night.

The founder of the BAP, Saeed Ahmed Hashmi, presided over the meeting whi­ch was attended by Jam Kam­al, Sardar Yar Muham­mad Rind (PTI), Asghar Khan Achakzai (ANP), Abdul Khaliq Hazara (HDP), Syed Ehsan Shah (BNP-Awami), Nawabzada Gohram Bugti (JWP), besides others.

After his nomination for the CM’s office, Jam Kamal held a press conference where he said that the BAP and its allied parties had obtained a simple majority of 33 members in the house of 51.

“Moreover, negotiations are under way with the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) and the BNP-Mengal over their joining the BAP-led alliance.”

Jam Kamal said that the joint parliamentary meeting had nominated him for the office of chief minister and Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo for the slot of speaker of Balochistan Assembly.

He said that the parliamentary leaders of the would-be coalition partners had also agreed to welcome the MMA if it wanted to join the six-party alliance.

Replying to a question, the BAP chief said that the alliance leaders would hold more meetings in the coming days to finalise a formula for distribution of ministries.

After coming to power, he said, they would focus on eradicating corruption from society and on ensuring good governance in Balochistan.

Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2018