Balochistan Assembly session for no-trust motion against CM Kamal on Oct 20

• Governor Balochistan Syed Zahoor Ahmad Agha summons session at 4pm.
• Political crisis in Balochistan is deepening as BAP, allied parties are seeking CM Jam Kamal's removal.
• CM Kamal has completely refused to step down from office.

QUETTA: A Balochistan Assembly session for a no-confidence motion against the province's chief minister Jam Kamal has been summoned on October 20.

Disgruntled members of the provincial assembly — including lawmakers from CM Kamal's own party Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) and allied parties — had on October 11 submitted a no-confidence motion against him.

The disgruntled members, in the motion submitted to the assembly secretariat, said during the three years of Kamal's term as the chief minister, there has been unemployment, unrest, and frustration in the province.

A similar move was made back on September 14, when as many as 16 MPAs from the Balochistan Assembly had moved a no-confidence motion against CM Kamal, but it was later denied by the Governor House Secretariat on technical grounds.

Governor Balochistan Syed Zahoor Ahmad Agha has summoned the session at 4pm, where the motion against CM Kamal will be tabled, as the political crisis in the province deepens.

The onus to produce at least 51% of the total members of the Balochistan Assembly is on the movers of the no-confidence motion for its success against CM Kamal, The News reported.

Of the total members of the provincial assembly, only 14 have sponsored the resolution, and they need a minimum of 19 lawmakers more to carry it.

The chief minister has dismissed the calls of the sponsors of the motion belonging to his own BAP and its allied parties to stand down as he knows that it is the responsibility of the dissidents to present a majority of the legislators on the floor against him.

As the situation stands now, the Opposition holds the trump card because if its members back the no-trust motion or some BAP legislators still supporting CM Kamal slip away, he will be ousted.

On its part, the Opposition has so far kept its cards close to its chest.

Jam Kamal had on October 14 refused to step down as the chief minister of Balochistan after he held a meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan.

The disgruntled BAP lawmakers on October 13 told Minister for Defence Pervez Khattak that they would accept no option other than "minus Jam Kamal" after he asked them to resolve matters amicably.

Meanwhile, CM Kamal said that BAP General-Secretary Manzoor Kakar's letter to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for appointing Buledi as the party's acting president holds "no legal value", as he rejected the move.

Provincial minister Buledi was appointed as the acting president of BAP on October 11, but CM Kamal took back his decision to step down from the office a day after.

On the other hand, BAP's spokesman Sardar Abdul Rehman Khetran accused the chief minister of horse-trading as he demanded that Kamal tenders his resignation.

Buledi seeks PM's intervention

Meanwhile, just a day before CM Kamal's meeting with the premier, Buledi had sought the prime minister's intervention into the province's political issues.

"The prime minister, being an ally, should play a positive role amid the political crisis in Balochistan [...] we seek his intervention so that matters do not deteriorate and [we have to choose to move] the no-confidence motion," he said, while addressing a press conference.

Buledi noted that a PTI lawmaker had also signed the no-trust motion submitted to the secretariat of the Balochistan Assembly. He added there was a disagreement within the PTI about Kamal continuing as the chief minister.