Petition filed in Balochistan court against fencing of Gwadar

Fencing of Gwadar will affect the lives of more than 300,000 people living in the city, a constitutional petition filed in the Balochistan High Court said. The court has admitted the petition.

It was filed by Vice-Chairman Balochistan Bar Council Muneer Ahmed Kakkar. It said that every citizen should have the right to live with freedom, access to education and owning a business.

The fence will affect the population of Gwadar of more than 300,000. Half of the population will be towards the inside of the fence and half the other side. This would affect education of students and mobility of patients to the hospitals. Sea routes will be blocked for fishermen, it said.

Kakar said last week in a joint press conference with the Balochistan Bar Council that the decision would be challenged in the court.

The Centre thinks it will control Gwadar once it has been fenced but we won’t let that happened, said the lawyer. “You can’t seal a city for its protection.”

Kakar said people in Gwadar don’t have access to clean drinking water yet funds are being spent on fencing the city.

A day before, Senator Mir Kabir Mohammad Shahi spoke against the fencing during a press conference. He said that a fence is being erected around Gwadar in the name of the Safe City project. This is a conspiracy to separate Gwadar from Balochistan, he added.

Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan has said that the opposition has been falsely claiming that the whole of Gwadar is being fenced. Barbed wire has been laid in some areas to provide additional security, he told journalists while speaking to them after a function on December 11.