QUETTA: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and allied parties’ nominee Dr Abdul Malik Baloch was elected as Chief Minister of Balochistan unopposed on Saturday.
Nomination forms for the post of chief minister were to be submitted on June 8 in the Balochistan Assembly secretariat from 10am to 2pm and the election was to be held on Sunday. However, as no one filed a nomination challenging Dr Baloch, the National Party candidate was elected to the slot unopposed.
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) which had nominated Abdul Rehman Khetran as its candidate for the top slot in the province but after talks it decided to not field him and supported Dr Abdul Malik.
It is pertinent to note that Dr Abdul Malik is a joint candidate fielded by PML-N‚ National Party and Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party.
Dr Abdul Malik Baloch is the first chief executive of the province who is neither a tribal chieftain nor member of any family of former rulers of princely states.
A medical doctor by profession, he belongs to a middle-class and educated family of Kech district.
Born in Sigenisar village near Turbat in the family of Haji Abdul Salam, a zamindar, Dr Malik got his early education from a village school and did his intermediate from the Government Collage, Turbat.
He completed his MBBS from the Bolan Medical College and later specialised in eye surgery. He ran a clinic in Turbat for a brief period before entering active politics.
DND
