Balochistan Assembly Speaker Jan Muhammad Jamali and Deputy Speaker Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo who have been elected unopposed took oath of their offices on Tuesday.
Outgoing speaker Matiullah Agha took oath from Jamali who later took oath from Bizenjo. Almost all members, particularly lawmakers of PkMAP, made long speeches while congratulating the speaker and deputy speaker. They spoke about history, elections and wrongdoing of the previous government. While giving priority to deteriorating law and order of the province, they said the new government would work against target killings, abduction for ransom and corruption.
Dr Abdul Malik Baloch, the chief minister-designate, said, “We, all members of the House, should ensure our presence in the House as the people will keep a close eye on our each and every action. We will have to prove that we will resolve the problems of the province with sincerity and if succeeded, the people of the province would enjoy the fruits otherwise our failure will have a negative impact.”
PML-N parliamentary leader Sanaullah Zehri said, “For the resolution of problems, we would take all nationalities, including Baloch, Pakhtoon, Hazara and settlers along and provide opportunities to them for progress and development.”
JUI-F parliamentary leader Abdul Wasey said that the present assembly was like a national jirga for having representation of all nationalities, including tribal people. He said that it was the responsibility of all to implement what the assembly decided with consensus. Nawab Ayaz Jogezai of PkMAP assured the House that the new coalition government would make efforts to improve rule of law and governance. He said that some mistakes had been made in the past due to which parliamentary committees had not been formed and subsequently there was no check and balance on the government departments.
ANP lone member Engineer Izmarak Khan said that the previous government had not formed committees because of personal interests and enmity and even his party members were not allowed to speak over the genocide of Pashtun in Karachi.
Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen member Agha Raza suggested the House to take measures to improve law and order situation in the province. He said that illegal actions should be avoided on the government level to restore the confidence of the people.
Abdul Karim Nausherwani of PML-Q said that the people’s top-most demand from the government was to restore peace as businesses had already been shifted to other countries, adding that a large number of members of minorities left their hometowns.
