Chief Minister Balochistan Mir Sarfaraz Bugti has appointed 11 dissatisfied members of the assembly as parliamentary secretaries, with 10 of them belonging to the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
Political analysts attribute the large number of parliamentary secretaries to the dissatisfaction among assembly members. They speculate that since both major parties had a significant number of eligible candidates who were unhappy about not being appointed ministers or advisors, there was considerable pressure on the chief minister. Therefore, in order to ease this pressure, 11 members were appointed as parliamentary secretaries, effectively placating their grievances.
Both major parties had also included some independent members under the condition that they would be given good portfolios along with inclusion in the cabinet. However, due to constitutional limitations, this was not possible, and hence, the discontent among assembly members persists. It is worth noting that while the Balochistan Assembly may be smaller in terms of numbers, its cabinet has often been sizable. Moreover, every member of the provincial assembly is a member of the provincial cabinet, as has been observed multiple times.”
