QUETTA: Balochistan lawyers have claimed that the decision to fence Gwadar is a conspiracy against the province and its people. The decision will be challenged in the Balochistan High Court and province-wide strikes will be held too, Quetta Bar Association Vice-Chairperson Muneer Kakar said while addressing a joint press conference with the Balochistan Bar Council on Saturday.

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. On Friday, Senator Mir Kabir Mohammad Shahi spoke against the fencing during a press conference. He said 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 said 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.