QUETTA, 1 March 2010 (IRIN) - Significant development and poverty challenges in Balochistan Province, southwestern Pakistan, are being exacerbated by growing security concerns, according to aid workers.
Decades of nationalist unrest, underdevelopment and the scaling down of UN and NGO activity have left residents feeling neglected and fearful for their safety, they say.
President Asif Zardari on a recent visit to the province, which is nearly as big as Germany but has a population of only 10 million, said he was aware of the problems but urged people not to resort to violence.
In April 2009 ethnic violence led to a wave of killings and riots.
"We know there is a feeling of sadness in Balochistan. The people here do not sob, and prefer to pick up guns," he said in a statement on 25 February. He called for patience: "I have good knowledge of the problems of Balochistan. I need some time to solve these problems. There might not be any immediate relief, but over a period of time, you will witness significant change in your lives."
Abductions
In recent years, there have been a number of abductions of aid workers, causing the UN and many NGOs to scale down operations, making life even harder for the most vulnerable. There have also been recent media reports of Taliban militants operating in the province.
"A few years ago, many NGOs were active here, running schools or offering aid. Now many have pulled out," said Naimat Khan, 60, a resident of a village a few miles outside Quetta, the provincial capital. "This has also led to unemployment, because some NGOs have let local staff go."
The head of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) office in Quetta, John Solecki, was kidnapped in February 2009 and released a few months later. Because of concerns over the safety of its staff, the UN scaled back operations in Balochistan in July 2009, and in October the World Food Programme (WFP) closed 20 food hubs, though Amjad Jamal, a spokesman for WFP in Pakistan, told IRIN WFP projects in the province were continuing "as usual".
The reported abduction on 18 February 2010 of four Pakistani employees of US-based NGO Mercy Corps while visiting projects in Balochistan has added to concerns.
"Our programmes in Balochistan have been temporarily interrupted as we determine the nature of this incident," Joy Portella, director of communications for Mercy Corps in Seattle, told IRIN.
Impact on health care
Access to health care is limited in Balochistan and officials in Islamabad and Quetta accept there is a need to improve the situation.
"There was good work going on for us here. Doctors came in to take care of women, but now after this latest incident where people have been abducted, we are worried no one will come," local resident Azmatullah Jalal told IRIN from the town of Zhob, some 300km north of Quetta.
"Security concerns further handicap people, since few volunteers or NGO activists are now willing to travel in Balochistan," said Robina Mughul, who runs a voluntary clinic in Quetta.
Meanwhile, I.A. Rehman, secretary-general of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, told IRIN: "The problem in Balochistan is the perception of injustice as well as the reality of deprivation that people suffer."
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