ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday separately engaged with Chief Minister Balochistan Jam Kamal and members Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Atif Khan and Shahram Khan Tarakai as part of his efforts to ensure smooth sailing of provincial governments of these provinces.

The ongoing development projects and different affairs of Balochistan were discussed during Jam Kamal’s meeting with the prime minister, says the PM’s media office in a release issued here.

The prime minister’s meetings with these leaders came after he managed to forestall a serious crisis to the provincial governments in the two provinces.

In Balochistan, the ruling PTI had to quickly move on last weekend and averted the serious crisis when Speaker Balochistan Assembly Abdul Qadoos Bazinjo announced to remove Jama Kamal from his office through a vote of no confidence.

Both the leaders were elected on the tickets of Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) which is also an important coalition partner of PTI.

However, timely intervention by the PTI leadership had helped to remove differences between the two leaders.

After meeting the prime minister, Chief Minister Jam Kamal is also reported to have held a meeting with PML-Q leaders but no details were immediately available. 

Separately, the prime minister also had a huddle with the estranged old party comrades Atif Khan and Shahram Khan Tarakai who were sacked few days ago along with another provincial minister from cabinet reportedly on the recommendation of KP Chief Minister Mehmood Khan.

Although, there has been no serious threat to the government of Mehmood Khan because of the PTI’s overwhelming majority in the provincial assembly, their meeting with the prime minister is being seen as part of some backdoor rapprochement efforts.

Both the PTI leaders had been one of those pioneer members who had worked hard in making the party a potent political force in the province.

Party insiders are attaching significance to their meeting with the prime minister as part of his renewed efforts to forestall further damage to party.

It was further learnt that the prime minister expressed his displeasure over the manner the intra-party differences were brought open in the media. However, he also heard them and pacified them to ensure unity in all rank and file of the party in Khyber Pakhtukhaw.

Earlier, Sindh IGP Syed Kaleem Imam called on the prime minister here and briefed him about the law and order situation in the province.

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Though official sources did not share more details of the meeting, it was reliably learnt that the prime minister had asked the Sindh IGP to be ready to relinquish his charge as he would be given an important role in the federal capital.

Later, it was learnt that the prime minister is likely to post the incumbent Sindh IGP one of the related ministries including Narcotics Division.

Earlier, chairing a meeting to devise a course of action regarding wheat situation in the country, national demand, and available stocks and future requirements, the prime minister directed for taking all possible steps to meet wheat requirements of the country to ensure that no complaint over wheat or flour shortage could surface from any part of the country.

He said that flour is a staple food and people should not face any difficulty in its availability.

During the meeting, Imran Khan also emphasized to give special attention on checking the hoarding and profiteering of wheat.

The prime minister directed for advance planning to meet the wheat requirement in the coming months and to finalize the estimates and procedures on fast track basis.

The meeting was briefed on the overall wheat situation, wheat production in previous years, national consumption, import and export of this commodity in the past and the prevalent situation.

The secretary of ministry of food security apprised the meeting in detail about the overall situation of wheat, its production during the previous years, domestic consumption, and its import and export in the past.

A briefing was also given highlighting the reasons and the situation, which has emerged recently over the wheat and flour.

The prime minister was apprised that for meeting the domestic requirements, the Economic Coordination Committee had given approval for the tax-free import of wheat.

It was further told that the crops reporting system in the country was being upgraded for the availability of data over the yield.

The meeting was attended by Minister for Food Security Makhdoom Khusru Bakhtiar, Minister for Planning Asad Umar, Minister for Energy Omar Ayub, PM’s advisor