QUETTA: The Balochistan government has warned the federal government of dissolving the assembly if the province was not taken out of the financial crisis.
“Balochistan is grappling with the financial crisis. Chief Minister [Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo] told me that ‘if the Centre did not take us out of the economic crisis then why we are in the assembly, we should dissolve it’,” provincial Finance Minister Zmarak Khan Achakzai said while responding to a question during the Balochistan Assembly session on Monday.
The session began with caretaker speaker Babar Musakhel in the chair.
The resource-rich-but-backward province is reeling from the devastating impact of the floods triggered by rains. The deluge killed more than 200 people in Balochistan.
An IMF delegation visited Pakistan earlier this month and held meetings with top officials including Finance Minister Ishaq Dar. The delegation also spoke to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif via a video link. Talks centre around reaching an agreement on a reforms agenda under the country’s $6.5 billion bailout programme, which it entered in 2019. An agreement on the ninth review of the programme would release over $1.1 billion.
Achakzai informed that the chief minister’s message has been conveyed to the Centre.
In a long press conference a few days, Balochistan CM Bizenjo minced no words. He shared his grievances and concern that the provincial government would not beg for funds.
The situation in Balochistan is that the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) will be affected if the National Finance Commission installment is not received,“ the provincial finance minister said as he highlighted the province’s plight.
He warned that the province would further suffer from a financial crisis if funds were not given and stressed the need for coming to one page for provincial rights. “If this happens, you will see how the right is not given.”
Achakzai lamented that other provinces were benefitting from their resources and demanded that they needed control of their resources. “The people of Balochistan should get a subsidy on gas.”
He wondered why the federal government does not take the province on board for the negotiations with the international lender. “Not a single rupee was received from the federal government for the flood,” he said and questioned about the transparency of the international aid.
“Balochistan is not so weak that it cannot claim its rights,” the finance minister added.
