Qillah Saifullah, Loralai, Musakhel, Barkhan and Nushki come in line of deprivation after Dera Bugti (Status-wise: 113th position), Kohlu (111) and Chagai (110) with Balochistan being the most deprived province.

“Thus Balochistan has eight in the list of the first ten most underprivileged districts,” said an official while handing over the document to The News here on Friday. Pakistan has total 113 districts at present and Dera Bugti is at the last.

Health, education, housing, inhabitants’ economic condition and access to other basic amenities are the base criteria to judge the standing of the district on national and provincial level, said the report, compiled by the officials at federal and provincial level. The report, updated till June 30, 2012, was presented before the Senate’s Functional Committee on Problems of Less-Developed Areas in its last meeting held on July 5 with Senator Wali Muhammad Badini in the chair.

Quetta, the capital city of Balochistan, is fifth among the privileged districts at national level and at number one at provincial level. Comparatively developed Pishin, Harnai, Ziarat, Qillah Abdullah, respectively, stand at number 13, 25, 32 and 41 at national level. The official compilations clearly provide that Karachi, Lahore, Gujranwala, Gujrat and Sialkot, respectively, are the most privileged ones enjoying the basic services and civic amenities as well as luxuries.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Kohistan and Sindh’s Tharparkar districts are also the poorest standing at number 112 and 103 in the deprivations ranking at district level. The next most deprived province seems to be Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where Buner and Shangla districts are at 90 and 91 place whereas Haripur, Peshawar, Nowshera, Bannu and Abbottabad are privileged ones and are at 11, 14, 20, 23 and 28th place. The next comes Sindh province where Thatta is at 102nd position in the national ranking and its most deprived district of Tharparkar (103).

In contradiction, Karachi, Hyderabad, Larkana, Shikarpur and Sukkur are its best districts enjoying the basic amenities better than others and stand at 7, 19, 29, 31 and 33rd place at the national level. Rajanpur, DG Khan, Muzaffargarh, Rahim Yar Khan and Pakpattan are the most destitute districts in Punjab as they respectively stand at 97, 94, 77, 76 and 70th position in national ranking.

Obviously, Lahore is the most privileged one in the province but at second position in national rating (after Karachi). Gujranwala, Gujrat, Sialkot, Rawalpindi and Mandi Bahauddin are next five availing the basic facilities.