GWADAR: Balochistan National Party-M chief Sardar Akhtar Jan Mengal has said that the situation is not conducive for conducting census in Balochistan because hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees are living in the province and tens of thousands of local people have migrated to other areas of the country due to the worst law and order situation.

Speaking at a public meeting in Turbat on Saturday evening, he termed holding of census in the presence of over half a million Afghan refugees a conspiracy to convert the Baloch population into a minority in their own province.

Sardar Mengal said that in the presence of the Afghan refugees and till the return of the people who had migrated from various Baloch areas to cities and towns in Punjab and Sindh in a large number, the census would not be acceptable to his party.

He said tens of thousands of Baloch people, including women, had not been issued national identity cards.

He said about 90 per cent people of Awaran, Turbat and Khuzdar had migrated and the same situation was prevailing in Kohlu and Dera Bugti districts.

The BNP-M chief said the law and order situation in the province was deteriorating and the government was not even able to recover a kidnapped deputy commissioner.

He said the rulers were pleading that they could not disobey the decision of the Supreme Court of Pakistan regarding the census but the federal government had filed a review petition against a verdict regarding a ban on hunting houbara bustard.

He said the court had withdrawn its decision about hunting and it should also take into account the situation regarding holding of census.

Mr Mengal said the CPEC had become “China Punjab economic corridor” as all development projects were being launched in Lahore and other areas of Punjab, while the people of Gwadar were deprived of drinking water and other basic facilities.

Published in Dawn February 13th, 2017