BALUCHISTAN: TALES OF DEPRIVATION IN MINERAL-RICH PROVINCE

Current affairs

11 Mar 2010, NewAgeIslam.Com

BALUCHISTAN: TALES OF DEPRIVATION IN MINERAL-RICH PROVINCE

By Md Hashim Noshki Baluchistan was once a haven of peace. Today the situation here is extremely bad. The operation is going on in Dera Bugti, Koblo, Awaran and Jhalawan and the inhabitants of Baluchistan demanding their rights are being put into jails. The world has an eye on the natural resources of Baluchistan. There are projects like Sendak Rekodik where the gold and copper mines have been outsourced to the companies of China and Australia. The manpower in these two companies belongs to the rest of the states. Only a handful of sentries and peons have been employed from Baluchistan though hundreds of the engineers in Baluchistan are unemployed. Punjab sells its Malye and Keno at Rs 30 per kilogram in Baluchistan whereas the high quality Gypsum from here is sold at Rs 6 per kilo in Lahore. Good quality green marble is extracted from Wadh and Naal while the world's largest oil reservoir is located in Koblu which has been given in contract to the international companies despite opposition. Muri tribes who are the original inhabitants of this region are not happy with the present method of extracting oil and are being subjected to oppression. Innocent women and children have been starving and are at the mercy of God. It's the policy of the government to turn the Baluch community into a minority, make the mineral-rich  vast area of Baluchistan a colony by rehabilitating one crore people here in the name of mega projects and development. As a result, the 65 lakh strong Baluch population will automatically become a minority and the land will go out of their hand. This land will meet the same fate as Palestine is doing at the hands of Israel. God has bestowed this infertile and arid land with wealth. Truckloads of marble, chromites, gypsum, gold and copper pass before our eyes. The Baluch community has now woken up to the reality that this land belongs to them and they are its real owners. They have all the rights on the minerals which come out here. They do not beg for alms but assert their rights. Cooking gas is available in every corner of the rest of Pakistan while gas is actually produced in Baluchistan. It doesn't even exist in Koso, Ziyarat, Qalat and other districts. When the nationalist political parties of Baluchistan demand their rights, severe actions are taken against them and their activists are sent to jail. Four thousand Baluchis are languishing in jails on false charges of terrorism. Hundreds are missing. The Baluch movement has got a shot in the arm with the martyrdom of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti. It has now become stronger. The rulers accuse us of terrorism. The people who cannot even afford two square meals cannot buy bombs. The Baluchis were a united community in the past. Today the government has caused breaches in them in the form of the district system. The Bloch can march forward when all the Baluchis come under one banner. Then only they can become invincible. The Bloch are famous for their valour. Whether he is a nonagenarian or a seven year old kid, he happily embraces death for the sake of his land or his honour but does not bow his head. The gates of Delhi still have the imprints of their swords. We, the Baluchs of today, are their sons but are paying the price of disunity. So the Baluch community should sacrifice their present for the future of Baluchistan. Translated from Urdu (The Daily Tawar) Source: The Daily Tawar, Baluchistan URL: http://www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamCurrentAffairs_1.aspx?ArticleID=2563

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Asadullah Syed