Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and its allied parties in Balochistan held a meeting on Thursday and authorised PML-N President Nawaz Sharif to nominate a consensus candidate for the new Chief Minister of the province and an announcement in this regard is expected soon.
The meeting, which was also attended by veteran Baloch leaders of other parties including National Party, discussed the formation of the new provincial government. The newly-elected Balochistan Assembly will be convened on Saturday. Later‚ Mir Hasil Bizenjo of National Party said that the PML-N‚ National Party and Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party would form the new government in Balochistan. He said there was no deadlock on the issue of nominating the Chief Minister. He said National Party had authorised to President PML-N‚ Nawaz Sharif to decide about the candidate.
He said that a session of the Balochistan Assembly had been convened on Saturday so there was a need to make a prompt decision regarding the nomination of the Chief Minister. Bizenjo rejected reports regarding differences within the ranks of the PML-N on the issue of choosing new Balochistan Chief Minister and said that Dr Abdul Malik was the joint candidate of allies in Balochistan and a nationalist Chief Minister would be able to tackle challenges in Balochistan.
He said that all Balochistan-related issues had been discussed in the meeting. Sources claimed that the meeting was informed that the PML-N believed in maximum provincial autonomy for all provinces in accordance with the vision of the founding father and as had been set forth in the Constitution.
PML-N's Charter for Inter-Provincial Harmony chalks out a two-pronged strategy: firstly, identification of initiatives which need to be undertaken across all provinces for equality, bonding, harmony and peace. Secondly, launching province-specific initiatives, to bring all province at par with each other. The meeting was also informed that the PML-N would ensure that the autonomy envisaged in the 18th Amendment was fully implemented in the shortest possible time.