QUETTA: The Balochistan High Court ordered the government on Tuesday not to include Afghan refugees in the coming census and ensure the counting of internally displaced persons (IDPs) of Balochistan.

A division bench of the BHC comprising Justice Mohammad Hashim Kakar and Justice Abdullah Baloch issued the order on a constitutional petition filed by Mir Abdul Nabi Marri, a central leader of the Balochistan National Party-Mengal.

The petitioner argued that in the presence of Afghan refugees and hundreds of thousands of local people away from their home districts, holding of a transparent census was not possible.

He said thousands of Afghan refugees living Balochistan had obtained Pakistani identity cards and passports and feared that they might be counted as citizens in the census.

Advocates Mir Ataullah Langove, Agha Hassan and Jamil Ramzan appeared before the court on behalf of the petitioner. Officials of the bureau of statistics and other relevant authorities were present during the hearing.

A report submitted to the court by the bureau said that neither the Afghan nor other refugees were to be counted in the census. As far as the IDPs are concerned, it added, the National Database and Registration Authority had already devised a formula for their counting.

It may be recalled that Baloch nationalist parties have been strongly opposing the holding of census in the presence of Afghan refugees who, they say, have no right to be counted in the exercise.

They said hundreds of thousands Baloch people had left their home districts due to the law and order situation over the past many years and till their return transparent census was not possible.

Published in Dawn, March 15th, 2017