Unrest in Balochistan

the frontier post


The political volcano is active in Balochistan and can erupt any time to emit lava.
The army is busy in military operations which the government had denied many times in the past. Now the facts have come to light and the whole nation knows about the army action.

Balochistan has never enjoyed its political and economic rights since the birth of Pakistan. It was always treated as a colony of the federal government whose bureaucrats ruled over it from Islamabad.
Finally our prime minister started political dialogues with its nationalist leaders for peace in war torn Balochistan which was a wise step. His meeting with Sardar Ataullah Khan Mengal has brought to light many facts. He informed the Prime Minister that the nationalist forces were in the mountains who demanded complete provincial autonomy. They demand the ownership of their natural gas, gold, copper mines and marble, as well as Gwadar seaport. The federal government always denies them and argue that there are no experts there to run these organizations. Thus it sends people from all the provinces especially from Karachi to try their luck who get lucrative jobs there while the Balochis go to other cities to work as labourers in their industries whose wheels are run by their natural gas.
Balochistan is the biggest province of Pakistan but is the least populated where there is always scarcity of water. There are no irrigation canals and the river Indus is of no benefit to it while the Punjab, Sindh and the Khyber Paktunkhwa utilize its water by deriving canals out of it and constructed hydro-electric stations which illuminate the houses of the cities and villages of the other provinces. The Pakhtunkhwa does not get its net profit according to G. N. Qazi formula. The WAPDA denies it under one pretext or another.
Now Awami National Party government should forget net profit income. It should demand the complete return and ownership of electricity to this poor province which will become the most prosperous province of Pakistan in future with the income of electricity. Electricity was purely a provincial subject. After the dismemberment of one unit, it was not returned to it and handed over to the WAPDA.
God has bestowed upon barren Balochistan all its kindness and riches in the form of minerals like gas, gold and copper mines whose income goes to the federal treasury. Then Balochistan begs its own generated money from it.
When complete ownership of the Gwadar sea port is demanded, the federal government argues that there are no expert there. Therefore, employees of the Karachi seaport go there to get good jobs while the Baloch youth work as labourers there. This has created sense of deprivation in them which has given birth to nationalist movements there. Seaports are maintained by the city corporations and municipalities in other countries of the world. The examples of Hong Kong, Singapore and others are there which maintain them efficiently.
If complete provincial autonomy with financial powers is given to Balochistan, it will become the richest province and its government will spend its own generated money according to its own priorities. The separatist movements started by them will come to an end. They want to live a prosperous and respectable life in the federation of Pakistan.
Give them the ownership of their gas. Their faces will smile when its income pours there. Then there will be no need of packages like Aghaz-e-hukaoaka-e- Balochistan. The peace will return to it. The industries run by gas will appear and investors from other provinces will rush to peaceful Balochistan to establish industries which will wipe out the unemployment of the Balochis.