By: Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur
Politics is all about perception, if people believe that a policy is detrimental to their interests then not even a deluge of spin, arranged news conferences, full page advertisements and assurances by its advocates is going to change that perception.
A majority of people in Balochistan view mega-projects with extreme suspicion and certainly not without a reason. The gaping divide between the proclaimed intentions and reality completely undermines the already zero credibility of government's assurances in Balochistan regarding the people and its vast resources.
Gwadar located on the southwestern coast of Balochistan was granted to a Muscat Sultan by Khan of Kalat in 1783 and transferred to mother province for £3 million in 1958. Presently some 13 million barrels of oil daily pass near it. Its strategic importance and economic potential has made it a favourite of many contending interests.
Interestingly it is a classic example of all that is wrong with the mega-projects policies in that God forsaken province and makes it a useful guide book to what not to do to for successful mega-projects.
Inaugurated last year it is supposed to handle transit trade with landlocked Central Asia, Afghanistan and western China. Port of Singapore Authority has an unbelievable 40 year tax holiday for its management but to date not a single ship has berthed there because of tariff settlement. More interested in other jackpots they have neglected essentials of marketing.
The people of Balochistan in all forums have expressed resentment against the building of cantonments and naval bases. There are already four major cantonments and 59 mini-cantonments along with approximately 600 check posts in the province with 6 bases PAF and 3 bases of PN. Yet the government in utter disregard of the wishes of people relentlessly pursues this policy. We find a deliberate disregard for wishes of people in Gwadar as well.
The Gwadar port is latest after Pasni and Ormara. Its14.5 meter channel allows not only ships of up to 50,000 DWT to berth there but also super-sized aircraft carriers. Most people believe that this port is to become a naval base for the superpower which eyes the Gulf oil. These bases deprive the people of natural harbors and physically hinder fishing, severely affecting their livelihood while the Coast Guards also make their lives miserable.
The comparison of fish catch in Sindh and Balochistan in the year 2004 will prove that the grievance is genuine.
|
Province |
Coast Length
km |
Fish catch metric tons |
Shrimp catch metric tons |
|
Balochistan |
770 |
202 |
1.3 |
|
Sindh |
330 |
770 |
83 |
Moreover disregarding the normal procedure for purchase of 6500 acres for the new Gwadar airport the Rs.1.05 billion were released to the Military Estate Officer (MEO) in Quetta instead of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). Any land acquired by the Military Land and Cantonments (MLC) makes it the property of Pakistan Army and this fact alone thoroughly exposes the claim that Gwadar is an exclusively commercial project.
The area of land acquired is by itself of importance because the JFK airport New York, one of the largest in world, covers only 4930 acres. There in November 2006 alone the total number of flights was 34,361 and the number of passengers 3,484,448. It is also twice the size of London's Heathrow (2965 acres) where a plane lands or takes off every 46 seconds at peak time and handled 128 million passengers in year 2005. The volume of air traffic at Gwadar can easily be calculated, this oversized place is obviously required for objectives other than publicized.
When Gwadar was earmarked for the Mega-project, it prompted a mad rush for the real estate and the land mafia made billions in process. They not only deprived the inhabitants of their land but more ominously also created a situation where demography was rapidly changing; a fact which rankles most Baloch people.
In October 2006 Justice Javed Iqbal and Justice Raja Fayyaz Ahmed decreed that, "The allotment of land in Gwadar has been made in violation of the policies formulated by the government itself. The discretionary power has been exercised in an arbitrary and capricious manner which has been cited as a clear example of abuse of authority and misuse of power. Nobody knows how the settled land owned by the state has been transferred to private sector, that too on peanut price which depicts lack of transparency and mismanagement".
They ordered cancellation of allotment of residential and industrial plots in Gwadar. It observed that the Balochistan government is not competent to allocate land quota for politicians, ministers, elected representatives, high civil officials and provincial judiciary without having a proper legislation on the subject. They also observed that 'every allotment, sale and disposed of land appears to have been made in a dubious and suspicious manner.'(Emphasis mine)
The violations must have been extraordinarily brutal and blatant to have evoked such a reprimand. For a moment consider what the already alienated people must be thinking of vicious depredations against their rights and resources. It is doubtful if the implementation of these directives has even remotely been followed; by-passing laws and rules and making a mockery of them have been raised to art-form in the 'land of pure'.
The government doesn't seem to tire of pledging the opportunities that mega-projects create. They erroneously believe that menial jobs alone will satisfy the aspirations of the people who are demanding control over their own destiny. The Baloch are demanding their inherent rights and not an opportunity to be menial servants; all the governments have failed to comprehend and redress this justified demand. Oddly when these injustices are opposed people are labeled as anti-development and misguided and that certainly amounts to adding insult to injury.
But Gwadar is not the only problem; the injustices, real and perceived, are just too many and immediate redress is required if the already alienated and deprived people are not to be further alienated. Though Balochistan has suffered the most, other minority provinces too have had a fair share of injustices because the policy makers of this country have been indifferent, inefficient, arrogant and compassionless.
The great reformer Sheikh Saadi wisely advised that:
Na Dahad Hooshmand Roshan Rai
Ba Faromaya Kar Hai Khateer
Booriya Baaf Agar Che Bafinda Aast
Na Barandish Ba Kargah e Hareer
(The wise entrust not incompetents
With tasks of momentous nature
Sack-weavers though weavers too
Are never asked to weave silken vesture.)
The affairs of state and governance are too vital to be left in hands of those who till now have been disastrously running the show here. It is time that civil society accepts the challenges and takes over the running of the country because only the conscientious sections of society can be expected to defend and care for the rights of those who have long been trampled upon.
The writer has been associated with the Baloch national struggle. |
