Chief Minister Balochistan Nawab Mohammad Aslam Raisani sued his cabinet minister and demoted Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Balochistan head Mir Sadiq Umrani for alleging the CM siphoning out Rs 810 million from a secret fund to his younger brother.
Additional District and Session Judge Quetta-IV Nauroz Hoath on Saturday issued notice to Sadiq to explanation the allegation that CM Raisani siphoned Rs 810 million from his privy fund to his younger brother and former PPP Provincial President Senator Haji Lashkari Raisani. Despite the court notice, respondent Sadiq Umrani failed to present himself before the court. The suit filed by CM Raisani demands Sadiq either prove his allegations, tender an unconditional apology or pay Rs 1 billion for failing to prove the allegation.
The CM and the PPP Balochistan head have been embroiled in a tussle after Raisani deprived Umrani of the lucrative Communication and Road ministry after he hurled abuses at Nawab Raisani, currently second in the Baloch tribal hierarchy.
The CM in a calculated move had allotted the department to PPP ministers Agha Irfan Karim and Haji Ali Madad Jattak by bifurcating it. The CM had forgiven Umrani after Balochistan Governor Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Magsi intervened before the fuel became tribal. Umrani, one of the oldest PPP workers and a loyalist of Bhutto family, ran pillar to post seeking the intervention of party’s Co-Chairperson and President Asif Ali Zardari but failed.
It is hoped the suit will not be pursued and either the Governor or PPP high ups will intervene but the precedent has been set in Balochistan that a sitting CM filed a law suit against his own minister and party head to demand Rs1 billion in civil libel. Raisani is supported by the majority of thirteen PPP MPAs/ministers for the action against PPP Balochistan head Sadiq Umrani, who had annoyed both party members and coalition partners due to his habitual use of objectionable language. Umrani demands he be re-allotmented his portfolio by merging the two ministries again, claiming the party and not the CM was responsible for allotting portfolios.
However, Raisani is adamant that since the C&W department was bifurcated and re-allotted between the PPP ministers, he will not revoke his decision. Both Agha Irfan and Ali Madad, who is also party provincial general secretary were supporters of Sadiq Umrani. However, after getting the portfolios, they put all their weight behind the CM, and countered Umrani inside and outside party as well in the press.
