Army, civil admin promoting sports in Gwadar

QUETTA: The Balochistan government must primarily focus on addressing the law and order situation, said the former Chief Minister of Balochistan and leader of the National Party Dr Abdul Malik Baloch while talking to Hamid Mir during the Capital Talk's special transmission on Balochistan.

He went on to add that he does not expect much from the leadership of Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) "as I know them but have attached all my hopes with the promising people of the province."

The programme surveyed the ground realities prevailing in different parts of Balochistan including Gwadar to understand the role of this in Pakistan's growth and prosperity. Dr Abdul Malik Baloch said during his two and a half year tenure as the CM of the province, "I tried my level best to address the major problems." The coronavirus is fast spreading in Turbat and there is an 18 per cent increase in its infection as per the reports of the day before, he said.

In Gwadar, there are as many as 3000 people skilled to build boats, but the major port city lacks schools, potable water, electricity and gas. Power remains elusive for as long as 12 hours.

Similarly, in Awaran, the people cited lacking road network, schools, potable water, electricity and gas as the nagging problems. They said the road network are in a state of high disrepair. There is virtually no road link from Awaran to Turbat. A teacher of a school built by FC Balochistan, Imranullah Khan said they have 485 students and 30 teachers, but we need more qualified teachers. Another teacher Hikmatullah said all the teachers belong to FC, we need local teachers who are not available.

Dr Amir Baksh Qambrani who heads the DHQ Hospital, Awaran said without lady doctors and gynecologists the labour room remains unused. Doctors are not prepared to be posted in Awaran though there is no security issue here, he said. The Pak Army helps to run the hospital, Dr Qambrani said and added we have five doctors but need five more and an equal number of lady doctors too. Dr Zeeshan , who is a surgeon at the DHQ hospital said the government must play a role to get lady doctors for the hospitals, which is its major lacking. Otherwise, under the umbrella of Pak Army we have everything in the hospital.

Turbat is not connected to the national power grid. The MPA from Turbat Syed Ahsan Shah said we have repeatedly taken up the matter with the provincial government to connect Turbat with the national grid but without any success. He said when the entire country was suffering from acute load-shedding our residential areas were getting uninterrupted power from Iran. However, that is not sufficient for the industrial sector. Now with the help of China, a 300 MW power plant is being installed for Turbat, Shah said.

In Gwadar, the civil and military are especially focussed to provide sports activities for the youth. The youth playing football at night closer to the sea reflects a good omen to the future prosperity of the country. The army has also built a cricket stadium where highly motivated and excited Balochi youth indulge in the sport.

The growth and development of Pakistan and that of Balochistan is interlinked and interdependent and it is imperative that the people of the province also have the same rights available to those of the other provinces.