Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal on Friday stepped down from the presidency of the Balochistan Awami Party, an alliance of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf led government in the Centre.

In a series of tweets, Kamal said it was an honour for him to be the first president of the party as he held the position for three years.

"The BAP has shown great democratic values and space for all its members. No party has so much space of freedom as the BAP has," said Kamal, adding the party provided a platform to every member for expressing views, suggestions and criticism openly without fear.

The Balochistan chief minister said he would ask BAP's Central Organiser Jan Jamali and General Secretary Manzoor Kakar to hold a meeting and announce the party elections at the earliest.

Kamal also expressed faith in the youth, saying the upcoming members of the party would make its foundations stronger.

It is pertinent to mention here that in mid-September, 16 members of the Balochistan Assembly submitted a no-confidence motion against the chief minister.

Quoting MPA Naseer Ahmed Shahwani, a report by Geo said the motion against the chief minister was based on four points and Kamal had no rights to rule the province after his performance.

Citing the points from the document, a Dawn report said Kamal's bad governance caused disappointment, unemployment and unrest in Balochistan as well as it badly affected the performance of institutions.

It also added the Balochistan chief minister had violated Article 37 (promotion of social justice and eradication of social evils) and 38 (promotion of social and economic well-being of the people) of the Constitution. Moreover, he passed budgets due to which poverty, deprivation and unrest had increased in various areas of the province.

According to the motion, people of Balochistan were feeling unprotected because of increasing incidents of robbery, kidnapping, murder and terrorism.

The no-confidence motion further said the chief minister had adopted non-serious attitude towards problems related to ensuring fundamental and constitutional rights of people. It added that this attitude led to gas, electricity and water shortages in Balochistan.

In 2018, shortly before the Senate elections the dissidents of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and independent candidates formed the BAP.

Kamal, who was then serving as minister of state for petroleum and natural resources under the PML-N government for four and a half years, was appointed president of the new party.