Centre urged to announce Rs7 trillion 20-year package for Balochistan’s uplift

A comprehensive development package worth Rs7 trillion by the federal government should be announced for Balochistan for the next 20 years and amendments should be made in the electoral system to end injustices meted to the province for the last 70 years.

These suggestions were made by Dr Kaiser Bengali, former adviser to the Balochistan chief minister, here on Tuesday. Speaking at the launch ceremony of his book, “A Cry for Justice: Empirical Insights from Balochistan”, organised by the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER) at the Arts Council of Pakistan, Dr Bengali said a large-scale transfer of assets, especially Sui gas, had been happening rapidly from Balochistan to other parts of the country.

Karachi and Lahore were developed from the gas of Balochistan, but the province did not receive gas till 1984, he added. He dispelled the notion that Sardars were impediments in development, saying that less than one-third of Balochistan was under the Sardari system where there was no Sardari System. He remarked the majority of the Balochistan population belonged to the middle class, who wanted development in the province., and it was the propaganda of Islamabad to hold control of Balochistan.

“There was no role of the provincial assembly in change of the chief minister; the decision was made somewhere else,” he added. Providing an overview of his book, Dr Bengali said there had been wide spread injustice to Balochistan, especially in natural gas. The total resource transfer from Balochistan between 1965 and 2014 was Rs7 trillion, which should be paid back, he said.

He said the average share of Balochistan in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth between 1970 and 2000 remained 4.1 percent, despite the fact the population of the province was 5 percent. The growth rate of the remaining three province remained 4.7 percent, he added.

The author pointed out injustice to the people in the electoral process, which was based on constituencies and population. The average constituency size is spread over 24,799 square kilometres, whereas the total constituency size of the other three provinces jointly is less than 2,000 square kilometres.

“It is impossible for a candidate to reach most of the areas for election campaigns as there is no road network there,” he said, adding that there was a need to introduce electoral reforms to increase the seats in both the Balochistan Assembly and the National Assembly.

Providing the statistics of allocations of funds under the Public-Sector Development Programme (PSDP), he said that from 1990 to 2001 the share of Balochistan in the PSDP was 3.9 per cent and 0.18 per cent in the GDP growth rate. During the period 2002-2016 Gwadar came into focus and Balochistan’s share in the PSDP increased to 7.6 per cent and 0.2 per cent in GDP growth.

From 1990 to 2016, not a single scheme had been developed for civilian housing in Balochistan, he said, adding that due to the CPEC, foreigners were not finding residence or an office building for them. He said the National Highway Authority (NHA) was working in a colonial style, and it had neglected both Balochistan and Sindh in its projects.

Giving statistics, Dr Kaiser Bengali said historical neglect indicated by the absence of road communications in the 347,000-square kilometre province till the discovery of Gwadar. Till 2004 the residents of Gwadar and other coastal towns were travelling to Karachi via a dirt track, and the trip required 2-3 days to cover, compared to seven hours currently, with passengers having to spend nights in the open. It required carrying spare tyres and a spare axle to attend to breakdowns.

Even today there was not a single dual carriage way in the province, he said, suggesting that at least 44 per cent of the NHA budget be allocated for Balochistan for the next 20 years. PILER Executive Director Karamat Ali said that the people of Balochistan deserved restoration of their rights and resources.