Baloch Being Converted Into Minority In Balochistan’ Bnp M Acting President Jahanzaib Jamaldini

“Besides formation of new provinces, the areas of Balochistan, including Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur, should be incorporated into the province,” he added.

* BNP-M says millions of Afghan refugees registered as locals

* Demands immediate cancellation of registration

QUETTA: Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) Acting President Jahanzaib Jamaldini said the Baloch were being converted into a minority in the province through a conspiracy.

“Millions of Afghan refugees have been enlisted as locals in the recent house-listing, which was rejected by the BNP-M, and the party will resist the conspiracies against Balochistan,” Jamaldini said while addressing a press conference at the Quetta Press Club on Tuesday.

He said that through a conspiracy on the part of Islamabad, Afghan refugees had been settled across Balochistan, and they had obtained NICs and passports without any hurdle. “There are more than four million Afghan refugees and most of them are not registered,” he said, adding that inclusion of Afghan refugees in the recent house-listing should be cancelled.

The BNP-M leader said the population of Pashtun districts had been increased manifold in the recent census as compared to the last census of 1998 to convert the Baloch populations into minority. “The population of Qila Abdullah district, according to the 1998 census, is 370,269, while the new population shows it to be 2,138,997, which shows a 447.7 percent increase,” he said, adding that they rejected the census and demanded immediate cancellation of registration of the Afghan refugees in the province.

Responding to a question regarding the new Pashtun province, Jamaldini said that they had no objection to formation of a Pashtun province consisting of Pashtun districts, however, the demand should be made from Islamabad, not from the Baloch. “Besides formation of new provinces, the areas of Balochistan, including Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur, should be incorporated into the province,” he added.

“The statistic secretary in Islamabad has confessed on record that big irregularities have been made in the recent house-listing in Balochistan,” he said, adding that they had great respect for Afghan refugees but they needed to be repatriated to their country.

To a query, he said that 70 percent Baloch lived in Sindh, 28 percent in Punajb and six percent in Kyber Pakhtunkhwa, but they never demanded that Sindh should be called a Baloch-Sindhi province or Punjab should be called a Baloch-Punjabi province.

“The Baloch are in a state of war. Thousands of people have gone missing and hundreds of bodies have been recovered. In such a situation, demanding a new province is tantamount to rubbing salt on the wounds of the Baloch,” the BNP-M leader remarked.

To another query about the upcoming elections, he said that BNP-M was a democratic party and would adopt all democratic means for the rights of the people of Balochistan.

Earlier, Fouzia Marri, along with her companions, announced to join the BNP-M.