Pakistan PM to decide on Balochistan CM’s fate

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is set to decide the fate of Balochistan chief minister Abdul Malik Baloch as a deal between the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) and the National Party to rule the underdeveloped province ends in December.

After the May 2013 polls, three major parties in Balochistan — the PML-N, the NP and Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) — signed a power-sharing deal in Murree on June 4.

According to the agreement, the chief minister would be from the NP, but he would step down midway through his five-year constitutional tenure to make way for another chief minister from the PML-N. Mr Baloch had taken oath as CM on June 9.

Sources said the PML-N Balochistan chapter was asked by the party leadership to wait till December 9 — the day Mr Baloch’s government will complete its two-and-a-half years.

“After the smooth transition of power, the PML-N government — led by Sardar Sanaullah Khan Zehri — will bring change in the province,” PML-N Senator Agha Shahbaz Khan Durrani said. He added that all activities of the provincial government had been paralysed due to the PM’s extended stay in London.