Islamabad, 17 June 2020 – Mudasser Chudhary:
The federal government was dealt a blow on Wednesday as Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) leader Akhtar Mengal announced that they are breaking their alliance with the ruling party.
“Today, I announce in the Parliament the separation from PTI’s alliance,” said Mangal while addressing the National Assembly. However, he clarified that they will continue to be part of the National Assembly and keep talking about their problems.
“If our demands were illegal and unconstitutional then we are ready to face even death. But then all those who have put their signatures on these accords should also face the same,” he said.
The BNP-M and PTI had signed a six-point memorandum of understanding (MoU) in August 2018 for an alliance at the Centre. The six points included:
- recovery of missing persons
- implementation of the National Action Plan
- implementation of six per cent quota for Balochistan in the federal government
- immediate repatriation of Afghan refugees
- construction of dams in the province to resolve the acute water crisis
The alliance with the PTI was only at the Centre, while the BNP-M’s alliance with the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl in Balochistan continued at the provincial level.
Numbers in NA
Before the BNP-M’s withdrawal, the PTI enjoyed majority in the National Assembly with 156 seats while along with all its allies it had a total of 186 seats in the lower house of parliament. The MQM has seven, PML-Q has five, Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) five, BNP-M has four, Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) has three and Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP) and Awami Muslim League have one seat each besides four independent lawmakers.
On the other hand the opposition has 156 seats, as Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has 84 seats, Pakistan Peoples Party 55, Mutahidda Majlis-i-Amal Pakistan 16 and Awami National Party has one seat.
