It seems the months-long Balochistan political crisis is nearing its end as a group of disgruntled Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) lawmakers with their allies have submitted a no-confidence motion against Chief Minister Jam Kamal Alyani, which may very well seal the deal for his ouster. Alyani faces a rebellion after failing to pacify 14 parliamentarians from within his own party, which was formed out of a coalition of independents after the 2018 general elections, putting the PTI in power in the province. The BAP is therefore an important ally that not only has a place in the Federal Cabinet, but it also has the Senate Chairmanship in Sadiq Sanjrani. Although Senate Chairman Senate Sanjrani has tried his best to quell the uprising, flying into Balochistan last week to convince his party’s MPAs to retain Jam Kamal, it has not helped. Given how Balochistan faces a variety of issues ranging from lawlessness, terrorism, poverty and lack of basic infrastructure, that the CM of such a difficult province to govern is running from pillar to post to save his job, he is unlikely to be actively looking for solutions to the people’s problems. While the challenge to his post is only a few months in the making, Mr Alyani’s incapacity to deliver in the province through resolute leadership and a clear strategy in mind on how to turn around Balochistan, has been there since he took office. It was perhaps only a matter of time before the cracks within the Balochistan government began to appear, considering how fragile the alliances built to produce the requisite numbers are.
One lesson to be learned here is that it is near impossible for a relative political novice to simply be thrown into the deep end and be expected to learn the ropes on the job. While not immediate, the backlash is bound to follow and it usually comes from more experienced aspirants for the post, or members of the same party to whom the choice of leader was simply unacceptable to begin with, but could not openly air their opinions and grievances until an appropriate opportunity presented itself. Evidently, that time has arrived for the Balochistan government and could not have come at a worse time for the PTI government as a whole.
