Daily Times

Prime Minister Imran Khan’s decision to replace sitting Balochistan Governor retired Justice Amanullah Khan Yasinzai because the political landscape has transformed is very unorthodox and will no doubt raise a number of very important questions. Number one, of course, will be the fact that if the incumbent was doing well enough for the chief executive of the country to be happy with him, and the PM said so much in the letter that also demanded the governor’s resignation, then why show him the door in favour of someone else? Number two no doubt will be about the jurisdiction of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) because it is, according to the constitution of Pakistan, the president’s prerogative to appoint and/or replace governors of any and all provinces. Yet presidents are clearly selected by PMs and they have very good understanding in this Islamic Republic, so it isn’t at all clear why the PM couldn’t get the president to do this one for him.

People are also already wondering about what kind of changes have taken place that need a new governor or even a new administration. All this no doubt follows his recent day-long visit to Quetta where he was briefed on all outstanding development and welfare programs of the government and where this idea of a new landscape most likely originated. The PM was also very upbeat about CPEC and its role in stimulating Import Substitution Industrialisation (ISI); something that he’s been talking about all the time since he came back.

It seems Prime Minister Imran Khan has hit upon a brand new plan that involves setting up new industry in Balochistan, alongside all the infrastructural upgradation that is taking place because of CPEC, to breathe new life in the economy and provide unprecedented job opportunities to local youth. But all that, impressive though it might be, still doesn’t explain why the sitting governor is going to be a hurdle in the whole process. And why did the PM have to bypass the constitutional route, which mandates that the president take action in such matters, and demand the Balochistan governor’s resignation himself, that too after praising his work for two paragraphs. *