Wednesday's inauguration by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of a 193km-long motorway in Balochistan marks the first important milestone in the progress of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. This Rs 13 billion Gwadar-Turbat-Hoshab road connecting western, central and eastern routes of CPEC with Gwadar port has been completed in 19 months. Which is no small accomplishment considering that the construction activity was attacked by miscreants as many as 207 times, causing the death of 20 members of the Frontier Works Organisation staff and 18 others working on the project.
The Prime Minister, arriving in Hoshab for the opening ceremony - in an unusual show of civil-military oneness of purpose - in a jeep driven by the CoAS General Raheel Sharif himself, said the project would open up new avenues of economic activity, generate employment and bring new businesses and opportunities for the local population. Much heartening as these assertions are, translating them into reality would be a big challenge. For, in order to benefit from these opportunities the local people need to have necessary education and know-how. Unfortunately, this sparsely populated but size-wise the country's largest province remains the least developed unit of the federation. Balochistan ranks lowest as compared to other provinces on almost all human development indicators. A large majority of the people lack access to basic education, clean drinking water and healthcare facilities. Many depend on smuggling to acquire basic necessities of life, including food grains and fuel, from neighbouring Iran. The resulting sense of deprivation has periodically been erupting into insurgencies. It is imperative therefore to focus on improving the prevailing conditions so as to prepare the Baloch people for the economic opportunities coming their way.
Things need to be handled with utmost care so as not to reinforce Baloch alienation. There are those who still think the Baloch people are incapable of managing major projects. Such individuals ought to be kept from planning and implementation bodies as far as possible. Local inhabitants must get priority over outsiders in all jobs that are to become available. True, due to decades of neglect there are not enough duly qualified people, but there are many highly capable Balochis who can take up senior positions in the new development projects. For other jobs manpower development programmes need to be initiated with a focus on education and technical training. Speaking a day earlier at a seminar in Quetta on "Prospects of Peace in Balochistan" Amy chief General Sharif noted that military-run institutions in the province are providing educational facilities to around 25,000 children. And that the Army and the Frontier Corps are running a large network of medical facilities across the province. It is even more important that the civilian government launches, on an emergency basis, a programme to help young Balochis acquire education in different disciplines so they can assume management and other important positions in the new development projects. It is about time the Baloch people feel they are getting their due rights as equal partners in the federation. Any misstep at this point can further aggravate inter-provincial distrust.
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