National Party chief Dr. Malik Baloch nominated as Balochistan CM

PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and the high command of his party have decided to elect Dr. Abdul Malik Baloch, President of the National Party (NP), as the Balochistan chief minister.

Dr. Baloch has been an MPA in the Balochistan Assembly thrice, and has also served as a senator for six years in Islamabad. He was a member of the cabinet in Nawab Akbar Bugti’s cabinet and served as provincial education minister.

Baloch’s name for the slot of chief minister has been proposed by Mehmood Achakzai, the chief of the Pukhtukhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP). “We have decided in principle to support Dr. Malik as the Chief Minister of Balochistan,” PkMAP Central Secretary Akram Shah told Dawn.com. He said Achakzai had made it clear before PML-N leader and former Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif that PkMAP was backing Dr. Baloch as the chief executive of the province.

NP and PkMAP enjoy the support of 18 members in 51 general assembly seats. With the support of PML-N, which has 14 members, Dr. Malik can easily be elected as the leader of the house.

Analysis

The decision is being considered a positive step towards normalising the situation in Balochistan, a province plagued by sectarianism, terrorism and an insurgency that’s been continuing for more than 12 years now.

The need of the hour for Balochistan is a non-controversial, unarmed and middle class Baloch leader to win the ‘hearts and minds’ of the people – and Dr. Baloch is considered to enjoy all these qualities.

The move to nominate Dr. Baloch as CM is also considered positive because hypothetically, the PML-N could even form the provincial government in Balochistan without the support of NP and PkMAP – since other evergreen politicians were ready to extend their support to the party.

Dr. Baloch will not be able to abridge the existing gulf between the Baloch people and Islamabad overnight. However, being a political worker, he understands the complexities and sensitivities of politics and insurgency in Balochistan. The NP chief can play the role of a firefighter to bring an end to unrest in the volatile province.

Dr.Baloch can also convince the ruling PML-N to take confidence-building measures to restore the lost confidence of the people of Balochistan. As promised by his party, the recovery of missing persons and ‘kill and dump’ operations must be stopped. Internally displaced Marri and Bugti tribesmen must be rehabilitated without wasting any time.

What is hoped of Dr. Baloch is that he is able to strengthen the middle class Baloch community and perhaps weaken the grip of strong tribal chieftains.

Syed Ali Shah is DawnNews' Quetta bureau chief.

He tweets @alishahjourno

Khalid

May 25, 2013 06:04pm

A very sensible decision. It is need of the hour. The sardars has done more damage in Baluchistan than Islamabad. A CM from the people will be go a long way. Dr. Baloch is a person with lot of political sense. One of the few Balouchs who enjoy good reputation all over Pakistan. I hope this will usher in a new era in Baluchistan. All the best Dr. sahib.

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Ahn

May 25, 2013 06:06pm

Excellent Decision. No Nawab or Sardar ,\. Good start NS.

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azhar zahoor

May 25, 2013 06:14pm

quite a statesmanly decision by MNS , inspite of having the mandate to bring CM frm his own party , he has done the best thing possible by bringing a nationalist who is both, a progressive and a non-feudal , so he knows reality from the basics .. plus probably for the first time in history . a middle class non-tribal chief would be the chief executive of the province... hopefully this will be a watershed moment in centre-balochistan relations.. again thanks MNS

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Zahoor

May 25, 2013 06:45pm

A positive move by PMLN. lets hope its own member Mr. Sanaullah Zehri will cooperate with new CM Mr. Malik Baloch.

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babbaral

May 25, 2013 06:51pm

Well done Nawaz Shareef

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gangdin

May 25, 2013 06:53pm

Well done. Great choice for Baluchistan. Let's fix Sindh also. Get Ishratulabad out of the governer's house. What a disgrace that was.

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ARIF

May 25, 2013 06:55pm

Good news and positive steps. We all love you for this positive steps. Good work Mr. Nawaz & Shahabaz Sherif + Mehmood Achakzai. We hope all positive steps in future also from Muslim League noon.

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Shahid

May 25, 2013 06:57pm

Allah Almighty willing, we pray for his success and keeping the right path of wisdom.

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Malik

May 25, 2013 08:03pm

Great Decision, I hope in one year time all Pakistanis will be able to visit Balochistan which is part of Pakistan and uncertainity and law & order didn't allow us to visit like we visit Karachi or Lahore..... we hope Balochistan grows above the rest of Pakistan so does the whole country...

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Mohammad Bari

May 25, 2013 08:31pm

Never heard of Dr Malick involved in corruption or other bad things. I hope he puts the governance in Balochistan on the right track, Please let him be CM for full 5 years, if he doesn't break the law.

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PakFan

May 25, 2013 09:42pm

Heartfelt congratulations to Mian Saab for being chosen the prime minister third time making history in Pakistan. May Allah bless him and his team! The PMLN seems on the right path keeping in mind the tragic end of PPP who was not tired of boasting completing five years in government. But they were forgetting the main reason of this success was due to the fair play of PMLN during these years. Should PMLN had wished to destabilize PPP government they could have done it easily. Time is the best teacher and surely PMLN has learnt a lot during all these years. The proof they have begun to show in true spirit:

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Shahid Rafiq

May 25, 2013 10:25pm

Good Luck to Dr. Malik!

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pakistani

May 26, 2013 01:04am

Good luck Dr. Sahab. pray for your success.

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Adam Malik

May 26, 2013 01:15am

That is good decision and according to the report the decision is from within Balochistan by PkMAP and NP duly endorsed by its ally PML-N. All political stakeholders are moving forward in good spirit. The provincial cabinet under the leadership of Dr Abdul Malik will have political understanding and will.

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Punjabi

May 26, 2013 01:58am

Excellent, we really like to see real Bloch leader taking care of the wonderful province. Please put people of Baluchistan and Pakistan first and then personal interests of your party. We all want to see Baluchistan peaceful and prosper. Every Bloch child should be getting education and gas and electricity should be in every town of Baluchistan without any interruption. Please also eliminate the crime mafia of Afghanistan from Quetta. We love Bloch and would stand by our brothers and would want their support to resolve our problem in Punjab. We are also victim like everyone else. Long Live Pakistan.

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Shah Nawaz

May 26, 2013 02:33am

We congratulate Dr. Baluch and hope he will preach love instead of hate and help unite the country. None of our leaders should become ammunition for the other countries and play in the hands of our enemies. This destroys all

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fida sayani

May 26, 2013 02:48am

If Dr. Baloch sincerely believe that he can restore normalcy to Baluchistan than his first act should be to ask Pakistani Army to leave the province. At the same time his government should release all the Baluch political prisoners from the Pakistani jails and restore normalcy to the economic activity in the province.

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Dr. Malek Towghi/Tauqee

May 26, 2013 05:15am

Dear Syed Ali Shah, Congratulations for writing this brilliant piece, and thanks for the sympathetic treatment of Balochistan. Dr. Abdul Malik Baloch's nomination as Chief Minister of Balochistan is welcome news particularly because he will be the first Non-Sardar Non-Jagirdar CM of the province. Like most of his NP colleagues, Dr. Baloch is a sincere, clean and nice person and a principled politician. I wish him good luck. Also, as a concerned Baloch, I thank Janab Mahmoud Khan Achakzai for his magnanimity, and congratulate the ML-N leaders for making the right decision. However, Nawaz Sharif as Prime Minister will be doing a disservice to this nice person (Dr. A.M.Baloch) if he (Nawaz) allows the horrible extrajudicial acts and gross violations of human rights in Balochistan to continue -- and, most importantly, if some top figures responsible for the above-mentioned abuses are not punished.

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Mohammad Haque

May 26, 2013 05:54am

Brilliant choice! It certainly shows the wisdom of Nawaz Sharif to not just seek political gains, as all the parties since inception of Pakistan (including previous NS governments) have been doing so far, but to do nation building and pragmatic politics. Nominating Dr. Abdul Malik is an excellent decision; he is a middle class true Baloch and understands the problems of Sardars and Sarkars. Above all, his past is untainted and even enemies acknowledge his political integrity and honestly. Godspeed to Dr. Malik and Nawaz Sharif! God save Balochistan and Long Live Pakistan!

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Syed Raza Abbas Shah

May 26, 2013 12:01pm

Great going . Keep up the good job

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Khan of Kalabagh

May 26, 2013 08:10pm

A great step toward solving Balochistan's longstanding issues and problems, my all prayers and hopes that the new government will address all the issues and will do steps for the betterment of the common people

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