- Zehri loses two more lawmakers to opposition group
- Fazl looking for bargain; wants FATA
ISLAMABAD: Rebellion against Balochistan Chief Minister Sardar Sanaullah Zehri escalated on Thursday when two more lawmakers of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) joined ranks of the dissenting group.
Lawmakers Saleh Mohammad Bhotani and Mir Jan Mohammad Jamali joined the rebel group in a visit to the residence of PML-N Senator Sardar Yaqoob Nasser to offer fateha for the departed soul of his sister.
They accompanied former ministers Mir Sarfraz Bugti and Prince Ahmed Ali who have recently tendered resignations after cropping up differences with CM Zehri.
Defending their right to express freedom as democratic leaders of the party, they told reporters that tabling a no-confidence motion was their democratic right and it should not be considered as a rebellion against the party leadership.
The fast changing political situation in the province forced Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to seek help from Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) chief Maulana Falzur Rehman to rescue Zehri.
In this regard, the prime minister on Thursday night visited the residence of Fazl and urged him to convince his party not to support the motion filed against Chief Minister Zehri.
A source privy to the details of the meeting informed Pakistan Today that during the meeting, the prime minister was also accompanied by SAFRON Minister Lt Gen (r) Abdul Qadir Baloch.
On the no-confidence motion against Balochistan chief minister, the source said that the Maulana told the premier that he would get back to the prime minister on his party’s decision.
The source said that Fazl also advised PM Abbasi that the ruling party needed to set its own house in order as difference within the PML-N parliamentary party in the assembly had led to the rebellion.
He also told the PM that the JUI did not want to detsabilise the provincial government despite being an opposition party; it strongly believed in democratic norms.
Asked to expound further on the issue, the source said that Fazl was angry at the federal government for putting the FATA mainstreaming bill in the agenda again in the upcoming session of the National Assembly with no regard for the fact that his party was an ally of the PML-N in the federal government.”
It quoted Maulana as telling the prime minister that the federal government was implementing ‘enemy’s agenda’ by merging FATA with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province.According to another source, Maulana was trying to use the no-confidence motion as a bargaining chip against the FATA mainstreaming bill.
“The Maulana wants to use the situation to blackmail the federal government. Like an old fox, the Maulana is using the situation to get the PML-N to a stage where it crumbles to his dictates and the FATA mainstreaming bill is shelved,” it asserted.
Chief Minister Sardar Sanaullah Zehri claims of having the support of 47 lawmakers as two major coalition parties, National Party and Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), have vowed to support the chief minister.
However, several lawmakers of the ruling PML-N along with their colleagues from the PML-Q, JUI-F and other smaller groups from Hazara speaking lawmakers have tabled the no-confidence motion.
The dissident group needs at least support of 38 lawmakers and it claims of having support of 40 members of the assembly. Assembly Speaker Raheela Durrani has convened the assembly session on January 9 for a vote on the no-confidence motion.