Balochistan Independence Day: After human rights abuses and forced disappearances, Pakistan is restricting electoral freedoms of the people of Balochistan. (Image: Reuters)
Balochistan’s population was reduced deliberately so that it has less representation in the National Assembly and Shehbaz Sharif gets an edge.
The Pakistan government’s recently released census report revealed that Balochistan’s population dropped by 7 million in a span of four months. The population dip has led to protests in the region.
The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) in May said that the population of Balochistan had reached 20.6 million but the final results showed the province with 14.89 million people, according to a report by Nikkei Asia.
The disappearance means that Balochistan will have less representatives in the National Assembly as Pakistan heads towards elections. Balochistan, which has 14 seats in the National Assembly, would have had at least seven more seats in Pakistan’s lower house.
This would have reduced the number of seats of Punjab province which is the stronghold of Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
“In Balochistan and Sindh, the population was reduced and final results are based on assumed average percentage change calculations rather than census groundwork,” a Pakistan-based election analyst told Nikkei Asia.
Activists in the region claim that the population of the area was deliberately undercounted.
The Balochistan province’s local politicians have rejected the census and have protested against the figures. They passed a resolution condemning the reduction in the population figures.
Saadullah Dehwar, leader of the National Party, a Baloch ethnic-nationalist party, said the results are “grave injustice” towards the people of the region. “We were actively taking part in the census process and on May 20 we were told by the government that the population of Balochistan has crossed 22 million,” Dehwar was quoted as saying by Nikkei Asia.
“We will challenge the census results in a court of law and will carry out a full-fledged campaign against the injustices,” he further added, announcing the beginning of a “protest campaign”.
Pakistani officials told the news outlet that “population figures can’t be changed even if there are protests”.
Human rights violations continue unabated in Balochistan province in Pakistan as Baloch separatists celebrated ‘independence day’ in the restive province. Baloch separatists celebrate August 11 as Independence Day in the region.
Shortly after the Partition of India and Pakistan’s subsequent independence, Pakistan’s military and political establishment in April 1948 annexed the region and forced Mir Ahmad Khan to sign a merger agreement making Balochistan
Since occupying the region, Pakistan forces have subjected the people of the region to human rights abuses, forced disappearances, torture and kidnappings of political activists.
The situation in Balochistan has worsened following the introduction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The locals claim that telecommunication projects under CPEC are being used to attack dissidents and separatists by the Pakistan Army.
