‘Unfair distribution of resources Balochistan’s primary problem’

Karachi
A mineral rich province, Balochistan’s current predicament stems from an unjust distribution of its resources rather than a lack of them, claimed advisor to chief minister Balochistan, Dr Kaiser Bengali, on Wednesday.
He was speaking at a talk held as part of the Dr Ahsan Rasheed memorial lecture series, titled ‘Development, vision and strategy for regional development: Case of Balochistan’, at the Applied Economics Research Centre at the University of Karachi.
Citing the province’s abundant coal reserves as an example, he said Balochistan’s electricity problem could easily be solved by making efficient use of that one natural resource.
According to the advisor, the province could not progress due to a lack of political balance. “No political party could attain a simple majority to form a government due to the socio-political divide.” Dr Bengali added that both Sindh and Balochistan’s politics did not focus on service delivery and was inherently feudal in nature.
The elimination of the feudal mindset, as he put it, lay in providing basic employment opportunities to the people of the province, which he added would further the way for sustainable development.
Spread on an area comprising of 45 percent of Pakistan, the province houses only five percent of the total population to whom providing basic facilities was not an uphill task, Dr Bengali said, although emphasising on the leadership being visionary enough to fulfil the task.
“A large proportion of the budget allocated for development projects in Pakistan is wasted due to improper planning and incompetent policy makers.”
He cited local body elections in Balochistan as evidence of the province’s political maturity.
Apprising the audience of the present government’s priorities with respect to the province, he identified transportation, infrastructure development, energy, education and health among the sectors specifically being focused. The session was presided over by Dean Faculty of Social Sciences, KU, Prof Dr Moonis Ahmar.