File photo of Ali Mardan Khan Domki
Balochistan Governor Malik Abdul Wali Khan Kakar on Friday approved a summary recommending Ali Mardan Khan Domki as the caretaker chief minister of the province, a day after it was forwarded to him.
In a statement, the Public Relations Officer to the governor said Kakar had approved the recommendation forwarded by a parliamentary committee following a late-night sitting. Earlier, outgoing chief minister Abdul Quddus Bizenjo and opposition leader Malik Sikander Khan had failed to achieve consensus after three days, passing the matter for deciding the name of the caretaker chief minister to a parliamentary committee with equal representation from the treasury and opposition benches.
Domki hails from the Lahri area of Balochistan and is the son of former senator Mir Hazor Bakhsh Domki, who was a lawmaker from 1975-1977. He is expected to take oath of office shortly.
The Balochistan Assembly, on Aug. 12, became the last elected assembly to be dissolved, following earlier dissolutions of the National Assembly and the Sindh Assembly. The Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa assemblies have both been dissolved since January. The caretaker setups must now oversee general elections, though it is likely that the polls would be delayed beyond their constitutional deadline of 90 days, as the Election Commission of Pakistan on Thursday issued a schedule for fresh delimitation, spanning Aug. 17-Dec. 14.