Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf will meet the cabinet members of Balochistan on November 09, 2012 (Friday) in Gwadar, says an announcement made by the provincial government. The issue took a new turn on Thursday when Speaker of Balochistan provincial assembly Aslam Bhotani turned down the chief minister's request to summon the assembly session in Gwadar.
Sources privy to the development claim that Bhotani maintained that after the Supreme Court's interim order, the chief minister had lost his constitutional position. Hence, there was no legal way to convene the assembly session on his request. The speaker provincial assembly had also reportedly said that under such circumstances, summoning of assembly session was tantamount to contempt of court. However, the latest development with regard to summoning the provincial cabinet meeting took place following Chief Minister Raisani's meeting with Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf here at the Prime Minister House. That meeting was also attended by Zamindar Action Committee.
During the meeting, the Prime Minister also announced a subsidy on the electricity supplied to 15,660 registered agricultural tubewells in Balochistan. The press release issued by Prime Minister House was, however, silent about the dramatic political events unfolding in Balochistan after the apex court order. On Thursday, Pakistan People's Party's (PPP) Kalat division suspended Raisani's membership for allegedly violating party's policies.
Talking to Business Recorder, Sadiq Umrani, Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Balochistan chapter president, said that after the Supreme Court's order there existed no Chief Minister, cabinet and government in the province. "The provincial setup has fallen into a serious constitutional crisis following the apex court order and it (provincial government) has lost its constitutional authority," he observed. Umrani defended the suspension of Raisani's party membership.
"As Balochistan is burning, Raisani, instead of taking serious measures to address the law and order situation, is busy in looting and plundering," he alleged. He said they had informed the central leadership of the situation. "We are hopeful that our central leadership would take a decision as per constitution and the law," he expressed the optimism. Business Recorder sought the opinion of PPP central leadership by phone, text messages and email but received no response till the filing of this report.