Balochistan: Refugees listed as voters, says PTI

QUETTA: The provincial chief organiser of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Sardar Yar Muhammad Rind has said that when PTI talks about transparent elections, it essentially talks about the rights of 180 million people of Pakistan. However, thousands of foreigners and refugees have acquired CNICs and even managed to get themselves registered as voters, Rind said. “Census should not take place in Balochistan in the presence of foreigners (living as Pakistani citizens),” he said talking to the media. Unless the names of refugees and foreigners were extracted from the voters’ lists, the results of the elections would remain dubious and unacceptable, the PTI leader said. He said PTI was a democratic party and, “We never talk anything extra-constitutional.” Rind said that PTI was gaining ground in Balochistan and the February 7, convention at Dera Murad Jamali will set the pace for PTI’s politics in the province.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 17^th, 2016.