Abdul Qadir Baloch (Urdu: عبد القادر بلوچ; born 9 April 1945) is a Pakistani politician and retired army general who served as Minister for States and Frontier Regions in the third Sharif ministry from 2013 to 2017, and in the Abbasi cabinet from August 2017 to May 2018. A leader of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), Baloch briefly served as the Governor of Balochistan during Pervez Musharraf rule in 2003.[2]
Baloch had been a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from 2008 to May 2018. He has four children named Aurangzeb, Jahnzeb, Fauzia and Nazia.
Early life
editBaloch was born on 9 April 1945.[1]
Military career
editBaloch was appointed as field operations commander of the XXX Corps where he oversaw the redeployment of the military troops near border with India.[3] In the wake of the 9/11 attacks in the United States, he was assigned as field operations commander of the XII Corps which had the area of responsibility of the Balochistan.[3]
Political career
editIn 2001, Baloch was appointed as Martial Law Administrator of Balochistan. In 2003, he received honorable discharge from the army and prematurely retired from the military as corps commander of Quetta to be appointed as Governor of Balochistan.[2]
In 2008 Pakistani general election, Baloch elected as member of the National Assembly of Pakistan from constituency NA-271.[2] In 2010, he joined the Pakistan Muslim League (N).[4] In August 2011, he was selected by PML(N) as the assistant secretaries-general of the PML-N for Balochistan.[2]
In 2013, the PML(N) allotted a party ticket to Baloch for the constituency NA-271 to participate in general elections. He performed well in the election and defeated Ahsanullah Raki of PPP. Later, he was appointed as Minister for States and Frontier Regions by the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and took oath on 8 June 2013.[5]
He had ceased to hold ministerial office in July 2017 when the federal cabinet was disbanded following the resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif after Panama Papers case decision.[6] Following the election of Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as Prime Minister of Pakistan, Baloch was inducted into the federal cabinet of Abbasi and was appointed Minister for States and Frontier Regions for the second time.[7][8] Upon the dissolution of the National Assembly on the expiration of its term on 31 May 2018, Baloch ceased to hold the office as Federal Minister for States and Frontier Regions.[9]
On 31 October 2020, Baloch decided to resign from the PMLN due to differences with the party's chief Nawaz Sharif and the party's decision not to invite former Balochistan Chief Minister Sardar Sanaullah Zehri, also a leader of the PMLN, to a public gathering of the Pakistan Democratic Movement. The reason the PMLN leadership cited for not inviting Zehri was his tribal differences with Sardar Akhtar Mengal of the Balochistan National Party. Ihsan Iqbal, a senior leader of the PMLN, said Mr. Baloch had the choice to resign if he wished to do so.[10]
Following his resignation, he stated that he could not hold long with the anti-military narrative of the party.
On 8 August 2021 he joined the Pakistan People's Party,[11] who has also held an anti-military narrative calling Former Prime Minister Imran Khan, as selected.[12]
Publications
edit- The Balochistan Conflict, Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency, 2007, 17 p.
References
edit- ^ a b "Detail Information". 19 April 2014. Archived from the original on 19 April 2014. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ a b c d Newspaper, the (6 August 2011). "Two ex-generals picked for key PML-N positions". Dawn. Archived from the original on 13 October 2016. Retrieved 12 October 2016.
- ^ a b Swami, Parveen (27 November 2013). "Troubled history hangs over Pakistan's new army chief". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 26 February 2014. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
- ^ Dawn.com (6 June 2010). "Sanaullah Zehri, Qadir Baloch join PML-N". Dawn newspaper, 2010. Dawn newspaper. Archived from the original on 15 October 2014. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
- ^ Hussain, Tayyab (8 June 2013). "25-member cabinet takes oath". Pakistan Today. Pakistan Today. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
- ^ "PM Nawaz Sharif steps down; federal cabinet stands dissolved". Daily Pakistan Global. Archived from the original on 28 July 2017. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
- ^ "New cabinet takes oath: Khawaja Asif foreign minister, Ahsan Iqbal interior minister". DAWN.COM. 4 August 2017. Archived from the original on 4 August 2017. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
- ^ "Pakistan Swears In New Federal Cabinet". Newsweek Pakistan. 4 August 2017. Archived from the original on 4 August 2017. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
- ^ "Notification" (PDF). Cabinet division. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 June 2018. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
- ^ "PML-N leader Abdul Qadir Baloch decides to resign from party". The Express Tribune. 2020-10-31. Retrieved 2020-10-31.
- ^ "'PPP is a family': Bilawal welcomes Zehri, Qadir Baloch and others to party fold". 8 August 2021.
- ^ "Bilawal declares people has rejected the 'selected' PM Imran". 10 March 2022.