https://arab.news/cmvkw
- Sarfraz Bugti resigned on the weekend as caretaker minister since caretaker setup members are barred from contesting national polls
- The former caretaker minister was previously part of the Balochistan Awami Party when he became a senator in 2021
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s former caretaker interior minister Sarfraz Bugti announced to join the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) at a ceremony in Turbat, Balochistan, on Monday after stepping down from his post over the weekend to contest the next general elections.
According to Pakistan’s legal framework, members of a caretaker setup are responsible to organize free, fair and transparent election and cannot participate in the national polls.
Bugti, who previously belonged to the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), had been elected to the Senate in 2021.
“The Pakistan Peoples Party is not a new political faction for me,” he told the ceremony in Turbat in the presence of the top PPP leader and former Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari.
“When I was born, I was part of the same party,” he added. “My father launched his political career from the PPP and continued to remain part of it until his death.”
The former interim minister said Balochistan was an underdeveloped province where people rightly complained of their deprivations.
He also acknowledged the province had been grappling with significant security deficit, hoping that the situation would soon improve under the PPP leadership.
Addressing the ex-president, Bugti emphasized the need for proper road network for enhanced connectivity within the province and called for more hospitals and medical facilities in remote areas.
He also said the PPP government in the province would counter nationalist politics and deal with the specter of separatism by carrying out development work in Balochistan.
Bugti, who resigned from Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar’s cabinet citing “personal reasons,” previously served as Balochistan’s home minister after winning the 2013 elections as an independent candidate.
Soon after, he joined the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) which has traditionally been PPP’s rival party.