Provincial Assembly of Balochistan

The Provincial Assembly of Balochistan is one of the four provincial assemblies of Pakistan. The Balochistan assembly is the unicameral (single chamber) legislature of the province of Balochistan. It was set up by Article 106 of the Constitution of the Pakistan. The Assembly has 51 directly elected Members of the Provincial Assembly, representing constituencies from each district, as well as 11 seats reserved for women and 3 for non-Muslims.It was made by NAP president Khan Abdul Wali khan by merging the British and union of states Balochistan into each other in 1970.

The most recent election in Balochistan was 2013. Turnout was 43% of registered votes according to the Provincial Election Commission, much lower in Baloch areas such as Kech, Panjgur, Awaran "because of a strike call given by the Baloch National Front". The Express Tribune called the turnout "record", despite threats of violence by Balouchistan nationalist militants, while another source (defense.pk) said that in some districts (PB-41, Awaran), turnout was as low as 1.18% and "only 22 candidates could obtain more than 10,000 votes in Balochistan" (the districts mentioned had as few as 32,000 and as many as 75,000 registered voters). According to journalist Malik Siraj Akbar, "most" Baloch voters boycotted the 2013 general election "on the call of the separatist groups".

Balochistan

Balochistan or Baluchistan (Balochi: بلوچستان, lit. Land of the Baloch) is an arid desert and mountainous region on the Iranian plateau in south-western Asia, northwest of the Arabian Sea and the national homeland of the Baloch people. It stretches across southwestern Pakistan, southeastern Iran, and a small section of southwestern Afghanistan. The southern part of Balochistan is Makran.

The second most populous linguistic group in the region is the Pashto-speaking Pashtun people. Brahui is spoken by the Brahui people. Punjabi and Sindhi are also spoken as first languages in Pakistani Balochistan and by Hindki in Afghanistan. Urdu is used as second language in Pakistan. Persian is used as a second language in Iran and Afghanistan.

Etymology

The Baloch people once referred to their land as Moka or Maka, a word which later became Makran. Moka might have been an adaptation of Mahi-khoran, Persian for "fish eaters," an appellation used by the Persians of the west for the people of coastal Balochistan. Arrian, in his Anabasis Alexandri, referred to the people of the region as the ichythophagi, a Greek translation of Mahi-khoran.

Balochistan (disambiguation)

Balochistan or Baluchistan or Baluchestan (Balochi: بلوچستان) is a region that covers parts of southwestern Pakistan, southeastern Iran and southern Afghanistan. It can also refer to one of several modern and historical territories within that region:

Baluchistan (Chief Commissioner's Province)

The Chief Commissioner's Province of Balochistan (Urdu: بلوچستان ,چیف کمشنر صوبہ) was a province of British India, and later Pakistan, located in the northern parts of the modern Balochistan province.

History

The province was originally formed over the period 1876–1891 by three treaties between Robert Sandeman and the Khan of Kalat, Khudadad of Kalat. Sandeman became the Political Agent for the British-administered areas which were strategically located between British India and Afghanistan. A military base was established at Quetta which played a major part in the Second and Third Afghan Wars.

The province became part of Pakistan in 1947 and continued to be administered by a Chief Commissioner. It was dissolved in 1955 when most parts of the western wing of Pakistan became the new province of West Pakistan. West Pakistan was dissolved in 1970. Khan Abdul Wali Khan intended to transfer political power to the Pashtuns. The former Chief Commissioner's province was combined with the former Balochistan States Union and the enclave of Gwadar to form a new, larger Balochistan Province, with a Governor, a Chief Minister and a Provincial Assembly.