QUETTA: After detailed negotiations among the coalition partners, three members of Balochistan Assembly took oath as provincial ministers on Wednesday evening. Governor Balochistan Muhammad Khan Achakzai administered oath to the newly appointed members of the cabinet.
Provincial President of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Sardar Sanaullah Zehri, Abdul Rahim Ziaratwal of Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) and Nawab Muhammad Khan Shahwani of National Party (NP) were sworn in as members of the new cabinet in Balochistan.
Earlier, sources in the chief minister’s secretariat told Dawn.com that six ministers would take oath, but at the eleventh hour the decision was changed.
Some sources, who did not want to be named, told Dawn.com that there was a deadlock among the coalition partners in terms of distribution of ministries. “Every political party wishes to keep important portfolios,” they said, citing this as the main reason behind delay in announcement of names of cabinet members.
According to the 18th constitutional amendment, the size of Balochistan cabinet would be 15 including advisers. The constitution has created problems for the political parties where every member wants to be in the cabinet.
Former chief minister Nawab Raisani established a precedent of an overflowing cabinet where more than 50 out of 65 members were either ministers or advisers.
