Census: Afghans in Balochistan won’t be counted

PESHAWAR (Pajhwok): The Balochistan High Court (BHC) has ordered the exclusion of Afghan refugees in Pakistan’s 6^th census and a count of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the southern province.

Tuesday’s short order was issued on a constitutional petition filed by Mir Abdul Nabi Marri, a leader of the Balochistan National Party. The ruling came on the eve of the largest-ever census in Pakistan’s 63 districts.

In his petition, Marri argued holding a transparent census was next to impossible in the presence of Afghan refugees in Balochistan, where hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced from their homes.

Justice Mohammad Hashim Kakar and Justice Abdullah Baloch handed down the judgment on the constitutional petition, which claims thousands of Afghan refugees in Balochistan had obtained Pakistani identity cards and passports.

Pakistan Bureau of Statistics official assured the court neither the Afghans nor other refugees would be counted in the census. A plan had already been devised for counting IDPs, they said.

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