By Fehmeeda Khairullah

Jinnah University for Women. Business Administration (BBA)

Balochistan largest province of Pakistan in terms of land mass and least populated area is considered as land of natural resources but poorest province of Pakistan-Worst Kept Secret. Remonstrations of Baloch people are multifarious. Core protest of Baloch nation has always been that regional sovereignty promised in 1973 Constitution has not been recognised and basically its non-existent till today.

Baloch people have demanded right of self-administration to province through a process of complete decentralisation of powers, act of government against Baloch nation has always been seen as colonialism of state.  Balochistan’s main protest and objection relates to Pakistan’s local natural gas industry, local people come with concern that gas industry’s well-paid management were almost drawn from outside of Balochistan. Natives of Balochistan were mostly hired in low end jobs as workers. No effort were made to solve unavailability of theoretically skilled Baloch such as providing government funding of technical training foundations in Balochistan. Balochistan get only around one-fifth payment as other two gas generating provinces. 

Crises of Balochistan are beyond uncertainty, there is no doubt that province has been ignored for six decades, basic amenities of life hood including health, education system and substructure are poor in condition, illiteracy rate is highest in both male and female,   Natural resources and development projects in region have never provide benefit to natives of Balochistan, example is natural gas Sui money received by this venture fails to reach general public, central government provides only one percent to Balochistan from what it earned through Sui gas extracted from province.

Present developmental problems are construction of Gwader Port as a shipping hub with Dubai, project was proclaimed in 2001 and now under construction by china, natives of Gwader were excluded from construction of venture.

There are many other developing projects which were under construction such as India gas pipeline and many more these projects were embattled numerous time by Baloch people to show their disagreement with government in their exploitation of Balochistan’s natural resources. Natives of Balochistan protests that they are economically demoted and poor as compare to rest of Pakistan and its hundred percent accurate that Balochistan is most ignored  and backward in every aspects if we talk about health sector so in Balochistan health sector is very poor, In rural areas there is shortage  of clean drinking water, because of which people are forced to use polluted water from tarns and lakes which cause to rise to number of hepatitis cases, there is no proper hospitalisation facilities as well.

Education division is also deserted as there are more than 12,500 primary schools in province among them more than 7,000 schools remain deprived of access to basic educational amenities which include power supply, shortage of teachers, classrooms and proper infrastructure etc. Industrial sector is also neglected. Government of Pakistan has repetitively indicated its intent to bring industrial development to  Balochistan and continue to claim that evolvement has been made by ‘Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan’  this is challenged by Baloch natives who dispute benefits of these strategies have not accumulated to native Baloch of province. Baloch people endure to highlight pulling out of natural resources, especially natural gas from Balochistan without distinct financial remunerations to Baloch people but government of Pakistan uninterruptedly claims that industrial sectors are planned along Gwadar-Karachi Highway.

Balochistan is a suppurate wound. A naturally rich province that is also upsetting poor, its also home of a series of multibillion dollar substructure ventures, projects have enhanced many people outside province, this has formed lot of discontent and annoyance among locals. State refuses to show definite situation of province instead they plummet in influencers to show you how beautiful land is and fascination is meant to make you forget about problems of Balochistan. Current day Balochistan is a black hole of information.

Last year province was smashed by earthquake and recently its being emaciated by floods but you won’t know lot about it because broadcasting on Balochistan is such a ‘touchy subject’ it is like Balochistan does not even exist in countrywide discussion. 

Published in The Daily National Courier, October, 22 2022

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