QUETTA: Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch has claimed that crime graph in the province has dropped by 22 per cent during the current year.

He was speaking during a session of the Balochistan Assembly held on Friday with Speaker Mir Jan Mohammad Jamali in the chair.

Concluding the debate on law and order, Malik Baloch urged legislators not to hurl corruption allegations on him, adding that if any member had any proof against him he should present it before the public.

He said security situation in the province could not be improved overnight.

The house witnessed pandemonium when treasury and opposition members traded hot words on the Reko Diq gold-cum-copper project.

During his speech, the chief minister referred to his latest news conference at which he had presented details about the Reko Diq project and categorically announced that he would not compromise on natural resources of Balochistan.

On the law and order issue, he said in 2013 a total of 234 incidents of crime occurred, 357 people were killed. And in 2014, he added, 151 incidents of crime had occurred and 156 people were killed. Kidnapping and targeted killings have decreased by 30pc. He said there was reduction also in the cases of dumping of mutilated bodies.

The chief minister said that law-enforcement agencies had traced the people involved in burning of Ziarat Residency, killing of police officer Aamir Mohammad, bomb blasts on Alamdar Road, Sardar Bahadur Khan Women University and Taftan town.

He said 600 people had been recruited in law-enforcement agencies. Bullet-proof vehicles had been provided to deputy superintendents of police and hundreds of police personnel were being trained by the army, he added.

Dr Malik, however, admitted that there were law and order problems in Quetta, Panjgur and Turbat districts.

Treasury members traded barbs with opposition members Maulana Wasay and Zamarak Khan Achakzai when the latter referred to media reports accusing Dr Malik Baloch, Mahmood Khan Achakzai, Mir Hasil Bizenjo and Sardar Sanaullah Zehri of receiving commission in the Reko Diq project.

Sardar Sanaullah Zehri, Rehmat Baloch, Abdur Rahim Ziaratwal and Dr Shama Ishaq rejected the allegations and said opposition’s allegations were baseless.

The chair was helpless amid uproar and the order in the house was restored when Nawab Ayaz Jogezai, Jaffar Khan Mandokhel and Mir Sarfaraz Bugti played a conciliatory role between the treasury and opposition members.

The chief minister said he had told JUI’s MNA Maulvi Amir Zaman and MPA Gul Mohammad Domar that the JUI’s request to become part of the coalition government would be discussed with other allied parties.

Maulana Wasay rejected the chief minister’s claim and said that Malik Baloch himself had offered the JUI to join the government and to replace them with PML-Q ministers.

Published in Dawn December 13th , 2014