14 MPAs take oath as members of Balochistan cabinet

QUETTA: Fourteen members of provincial assembly have been sworn in as members of the Balochistan cabinet on Friday.

Balochistan Governor Abdul Wali Kakar administered the oath to the provincial cabinet around two months after the elected representatives took oath as members of the assembly and more than one-and-a-half months after Sarfaraz Bugti was elected as the chief minister.

Those who took the oath included Sadiq Umrani, Ali Madad Jattak, Zahoor Buledi, Zia Langau, Saleem Khosa, Asim Kurd Gello, Noor Muhammad Dumar, Sardar Faisal Jamali, Sarfraz Domki, Abdul Rehman Khetran, Bakht Kakar, Tariq Magsi, Shoaib Nosherwani and Raheel Durrani among others.

Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Sarfaraz Bugti, the newly-elect MPAs, and IG police attended the ceremony.

CM Bugti had taken oath of his office on March 2, but it took him more than three weeks to form a cabinet and start running provincial affairs smoothly.

The province's chief executive had announced on March 22 that two more weeks were required to form the cabinet. Provincial lawmakers earlier linked the delay in the formation of cabinet with the Senate's April 2 elections.

Following their win in the general elections, a total of 57 lawmakers in the province were administered oath by Zamrak Khan Achakzai, who was appointed the presiding officer for the maiden session of the provincial legislative on February 28.

Members who took oath included the elected lawmakers from Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl, Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) and others.

Bugti was elected for the coveted CM post unopposed facing hydra-headed affairs as the province remained badly impacted by terrorism.