Balochistan’s Feudal Cabinet

The Baloch Hal

The Balochistan government made history for wrong reasons by delaying the formation of a full cabinet for more than four months. Last week, the National Party-led coalition government inducted eleven new ministers in the hitherto three-member cabinet. Now, the cabinet comprises of five ministers from the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (P.M.L-N), four from the Pakhtunkhawa Milli Awami Party (Pk.M.A.P.) and the National Party (N.P) respectively and one from the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-e-Azam. The reason for the inordinate delay in the completion of the cabinet was a blend of rifts among the coalition partners and some constitutional restrictions. Differences broke out between the P.M.L-N, which has the largest number of seats (22) in the provincial assembly, and the nationalists over the distribution of ministries. For obvious reasons, the local leadership of the P.M.N-N. is displeased with the undue influence of Prime Minister Nawaz Shrif over the politics of the province. Mr. Sharif, they whine, has been “too generous” in patronizing the Baloch nationalists. For instance, he nominated Dr. Malik Baloch as the head of the provincial government although his party has only 10 seats in the legislature as compared to 22 of the P.M.L-N. and 14 of the Pk.M.A.P. As a quid pro quo, the P.M.L-N.’s local leadership has asked for a greater representation in the cabinet. The new cabinet has attracted criticism for genuine reasons because it has completely excluded women and religious minorities from the elite-decision making body. Although under the 18th Amendment the government is required to limit the number of ministers to 15, a small cabinet is still not a valid pretext for not including even a single woman and non-Muslim. In addition, the cabinet’s composition also comes as a setback for all of us who cheered the election of Dr. Malik Baloch as Balochistan’s first middle class chief minister. On the contrary, more than 90% of the ministers inducted in the cabinet come from a feudal background. They have been awarded key portfolios not based on their political credentials but tribal influence. With a middle class representative leading the provincial government, progressive circles in Balochistan have legitimate expectations that Dr. Malik will sincerely strive to weaken the tribal structure and liberalize the Baloch society. In order to empower every citizen with education and economic opportunities, the government should consistently follow a policy that overtly isolates greedy and corrupt tribal chiefs. If that is not done, it is futile to anticipate a different outcome from Dr. Baloch as compared to his predecessors. While we emphasize the need for reviewing the composition of the cabinet, one should also be mindful of the fact that the chief minister enjoys too little authority over his own government. At all times, he is expected to respect the wishes of his coalition partners. It is not very easy to persuade him to oust tribal chiefs from his cabinet. However, what he can do is to make his own party’s representation in the cabinet more democratic. The National Party of the chief minister has always flaunted its middle class credentials. But its decision to offer ministries to so many tribal notables, instead of members of the middle class, women and religious minority groups, is in stark contradiction with the party’s mission. In order to make his government truly democratic, the chief minister must immediately include at least one female and a minority minister in the cabinet and reduce the presence of feudal lords. In Balochistan, women and religious minorities and even minority sects, such as the Shias, regularly face extraordinary challenges. While a large number of Hindus has been compelled to flee the province owing to security problem, the state of women’s rights and their representation remains absolutely abysmal. Access to education and health facilities also remain underachieved goals of Balochistan’s women. By accommodating women and minorities, the chief minister will be making a much-needed commitment to protecting their rights and also encouraging them to actively participate in daily affairs of the province. A government that snubs the rights of women and minorities merely to please or patronize tribal chiefs will not be deemed sufficiently democratic or representative of all sections of the population.