Balochistan Assembly session: Legislators demand ‘flawless’ electoral rolls

QUETTA:

Lawmakers in the Balochistan Assembly on Saturday demanded that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) rectify mistakes in the electoral rolls in different parts of the province.

During a session of the provincial assembly – which started after a delay of 40 minutes – Minister for Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) Habibur Rehman Mohammad Hassani drew the attention of the house towards flaws in the voter lists.

“Voters of one constituency are registered in another. Previous mistakes have been repeated in some lists displayed by NADRA at its centres. My name is also missing from the list,” he said.

Speaker Muhammad Aslam Bhootani demanded of the government to extend the deadline to finalise the lists. He said a deadline set by the Supreme Court would expire within three days and the ECP had still not displayed lists in the remote areas of Kharan district.

Other provincial ministers, including Mir Asim Kurd, Abdul Khaliq Bashar Dost, Basant Lal Gulshan, Nasreen Kethran and Sultan Tareen – endorsed Hassani’s concerns.

The health minister, Ayenullah Shams, who belong to JUI-F, said that more than 4,000 people from his constituency were registered in the Dukki area.

However, Finance Minister Asim Kurd said verification of voter lists was affected by threats from Baloch insurgents in some areas.

Speaking on another point of order, provincial ministers Basant Lal Gulshan and Jay Parkash condemned the abduction of Hindu girls followed by their forced conversion to Islam in Sindh.

They also demanded that efforts be made to recover abducted Hindu pharmacist Rajish Kumar.

Hassani also tabled the Balochistan Zakat and Ushr Bill 2011 in the house.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 18^th, 2012.