QUETTA, June 26: Dr Jehanzeb Jamaldini, acting president of the Balochistan National Party-M, has alleged that a conspiracy is being hatched to turn the Baloch majority in the province into a minority through a bogus census.

Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, he said the BNP-M would foil the conspiracy to change the demography by unfair means.

On the occasion, Fauzia Marri of the PPP announced that she had decided to join the BNP-M.

Mr Jamaldini said the census showed that the population of Pakhtun-dominated districts of Qila Abdullah, Pishin, Ziarat and Qila Saifullah had increased dramatically.

He said construction of Gwadar port and Ormara naval base and Afghan refugees were the main factors aimed at turning the Baloch into a minority.

He stated the BNP reserved the right to protest and could also approach the courts for cancellation of the bogus names included in the census.

He said a Pakhtun party demanding a separate province for the community should raise the matters before the rulers at the centre.

Mr Jamaldini said the BNP-M supported re-demarcation of provinces on a linguistic, historical and cultural basis and the Baloch would back the Pakhtun of Balochistan if they wanted to join Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He said there was no dispute between the Baloch and Pakhtuns as both nationalities had been living on their own lands for centuries and enjoying brotherly relations since the time of Ahmed Shah Abdali and Mir Nasir Khan Nuri.

He justified his party’s boycott of the 2008 elections, saying the policies of the government had proved that the so-called rulers were helpless before the powerful establishment to resolve the contentious issues.

The BNP-M leader condemned military actions, throwing of mutilated bodies and enforced disappearance of people and vowed to continue struggling for the rights of the Baloch people.