The Balochistan provincial assembly elected Mir Jan Mohammad Jamali as its assembly speaker on Saturday.
Jamali, who is also the chief organiser of the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) was elected unopposed as no nomination papers were filed for any other candidate, the provincial assembly’s secretary said.
The assembly speakers post had become vacant earlier this week following the resignation of the previous speaker Mir Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo who was being considered for the post of the provinces chief minister. Bizenjo was sworn in as the Balochistan chief minister on Friday.
According to the Balochistan Assembly secretary Tahir Shah, nomination papers for the vacant post could have been submitted from 8:30am to 12pm on Saturday. During that time frame, five nomination papers were submitted all of which nominated Jamali.
Mir Jan Mohammad Jamali was born on May 23, 1955 and belongs to a Balochi political family. His father Noor Mohammad Jamali was a tribal leader as well as a politician.
Jamali obtained a bachelor’s degree from Balochistan University and started his politics with the local body elections in 1983. In 1988, he became a member of the provincial assembly on the ticket of the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad.
In 1990, he yet again became a member of the Balochistan Assembly as an independent candidate and became a provincial minister in 1993.
Jamali won the 1997 elections on a PML-N ticket. He also served as the chief minister of Balochistan from June 15, 1998, to October 12, 1999.
He participated in the 2013 elections on PML-N’s ticket and was successful. From June 2013 to 2015, he was the speaker of the Balochistan Assembly. He also served twice as deputy chairman of the Senate. Jamali joined the BAP in 2018.
