Despite having 19 MPs, including a dozen ministers, in the largest ever Balochistan cabinet, the Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) failed to get even a single candidate from among its three ticket-holders elected in the recent Senate election in the province. All of its three official nominees, including Naseebullah Achakzai, Pari Gul Agha and Dr. Noorjehan Panezai, were defeated in the March 4 ballot, analysts said. However, PML-Q Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain said that at least one of the four senators-elect, who returned as independents from Balochistan, stood with his party. Of them, three independents had been PML-Q senators during their just-ended term as members of the Upper House. Basically, it was because of regional and tribal persuasions and influence played a major role in the Senate election in Balochistan, Shujaat Hussain said. He said party affiliations have always not been important in this province. Senator-elect Kalsoom Parveen, whose name was earlier displayed as the PML-Q ticket-holder in the official Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) website, has now been shown as an independent after her election. Earlier, she had been the PML-Q senator. Of these independents, Nawabzada Akbar Magsi is the brother of Balochistan Governor Zulfikar Magsi and Hamayun Mandokhel is brother of Jaffar Khan Mandokhel, an old Leaguer. The fourth independent senator-elect, Mir Wali Badeni, had also previously been the PML-Q senator. In the 65-member Balochistan Assembly, a loner, Yar Mohammad Rind of the PML-Q, has created history by sitting on the opposition benches. He could not join the government for having a long running personal feud with Balochistan Aslam Raisani. In the current distabilizing political imbroglio created by Feb. 25 disqualification of the Sharif brothers and the subsequent imposition of the governors rule, top PML-Q leaders, including Chaudhry Shujaat and Mushahid Hussain Sayed, continue to complain that the PPP maltreated them by depriving their party of the right to a form government in Balochistan, although it had the largest force in the provincial assembly.
