The Londoner

Some 1,036 million dollars would be invested in Gwadar till 2018 on different projects related to improving basic road infrastructure and power projects on the basis of grant and interest-free loans. Talking to The News, Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal said the projects to be completed in Gwadar included Gwadar Coal Power Project (360 million dollars), new Gwadar Airport (260 million dollars), construction of breakwaters (130 million dollars), water treatment plant (114 million dollars), state-of-the-art hospital (100 million dollars), Free Economic Zones (35 million dollars), dredging of channels (27 million dollars) and technical and vocational institute (10 million dollars). He said all the projects in Gwadar would be completed on the basis of loans that have been converted into grants and interest-free loans so the cost of the overall basket can be reduced to a considerable level. The minister said the bidding process for the China-Pakistan Economic Cor...

Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan, Sun Weidong has said that Gwadar is going to become an economic belt which would be connected with Middle East and Central Asia, bringing a great boost in economy of the region. He was addressing a gathering of media persons, businessmen, tribal elders and politicians, here on Thursday which was organised by Balochistan Economic Forum.  He said: "This year handling of capacity of Gwadar Deep Sea Port has been increased due to joint efforts of Pakistan and China. Gwadar is going to become economic hub of the region which would be connected with Middle East and Central Asia," adding that Gwadar should be connected with other parts of the world.  He said that Chinese companies have been working in different sectors in Pakistan including energy, fuel, establishing power generation plants, science, technology, agriculture and defence. "Chinese companies have been shifting Chinese technology to Pakistan which  would ...

By Sikander Hayat  Balochistan Elections have been a total success with 7000 seats being contested. Results are not out yet but overall peace has prevailed throughout the province. Out of 7000 seats, 500 seats were in the insurgency hit areas and elections may have to be held again in these areas. This is a successful show by the provincial government as these were the first local government elections after the 18th amendment which has given the provinces the power to have their own local bodies which are suited to their own local needs. Whats good for Sindh and Karachi may not work for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa . Provincial government of Mr Maalik must be congratulated on conducting an overall successful election. There were minor problems where voters at some polling stations voters names were not on the lists but these problems were few and overall satisfactory elections took place. Following websites have relevant information about the Balochistan elections: ...

Chief Minister Balochistan Dr. Abdul Malik told Dawn.com on Saturday that it was decided in principle to educate Balochistan 's schoolchildren on the history of veteran Baloch and Pashtun leaders. He said that the names and political struggles of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti , Mir Ghous Bakhsh Bizenjo, Khan Shaheed Abdul Samad Khan Achakzai, Mir Yousaf Aziz Magsi and other leaders would be included in the curriculum. Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, a Baloch nationalist leader, was killed in August 2006 in an explosion in a cave where he had taken refuge during a military crackdown ordered by Gen Pervez Musharraf , who was president and army chief at the time. Bugti had led an armed campaign to press for provincial autonomy and a greater share of profits from Balochistan’s natural resources. The death of the Baloch chieftain had sparked angry protests in parts of the country. “We cannot deceive our younger generations,” Dr. Baloch said. “We want our kids to know about their elders wh...

By Sikander Hayat This is an open question as he has not been a very effective figure in the past. Given the fact that governor rule will last just 60 days & than care taker interim government will take over to conduct the general elections, in essence Mr Zulfiqar Magsi has less than 60 days to make any impact. I very much doubt that anything will happen in these 60 days as he is not in charge because of design but because of an accident which has left Quetta & whole of Pakistan in absolute shock. The nationalist elements in the province who are presiding over a dying insurgency may want to take advantage of this situation but that is also very unlikely to succeed as government of Mr Raisani was not actually very competent any way and Frontier Constabulary was dealing with the insurgents directly without any oversight by Mr Raisani in most of the cases. Whole of Balochistan is looking forward to the elections which will bring in the actual Baloch leader...

By Sikander Hayat It has been a trend now for few years that Shias are killedin Pakistan . Their mosques are attacked and their general life & well being is under threat. Groups like Sipah-e-Sihaba & Laskar-e-Jhangvi are wreaking havoc all over Pakistan . But the killings of Hazras in Quetta have reached a level where it is no longer possible for the people or the government ofPakistan to ignore the problem. Pakistan is generally stuck in a downward spiral but sectarianism is reaching the heights where it should never have been allowed to reach. It is easy to blame this and that for this issue and some would say that army is responsible for Pakistan's ills. Mullahs are blamed. From A to Z, from heavens to earth everything is blamed for the ills of Pakistan. Some would blame Saudi Arabia & Iran for fighting a proxy war in Pakistan. I agree with all/most of these reasons but I also want of bring your attention to another very important reason for the ills of ...

QUETTA: Balochistan government is planning to purchase 1,000 megawatts (MW) electricity from Iran to overcome the power shortage in Balochistan besides ensuring uninterrupted power supply to tube-wells in agriculture sector of the province. Talking to the visiting under-training officers at Civil Service Academy Lahore here on Monday, Balochistan Chief Secretary Ahmed Baksh Lehri said work on solar energy project is also in progress, which on completion would generate additional power for the province. He said Gwadar deep-water port is also being made operational besides organising the mines and mineral sector of the province on modern lines. Referring to irrigation sector schemes, he said work on Kachi canal, small and medium dams projects is also in progress which on completion would bring over one million acres of barren land under cultivation across the province.  Read the full story here. 

Growth potential of a country devoid of natural resources remains seriously handicapped, but is less vulnerable to foreign intrigues and intervention. Conversely, a country rich in resources remains vulnerable to foreign intervention. Imperialist powers greedily searching for more resources mark the resource rich countries and go to the extent of waging wars in pursuit of their mercantile interests. They feel no compunction in stealing mineral resources of weaker nations incapable of fighting bigger powers. Geostrategic importance of a country/region is another factor which becomes an attraction for expansionist powers with imperialist agenda.  Read the full story here.

Talking to newsmen here on Thursday, she said serious efforts and consultations were needed to resolve the problems being faced by the province. However, she said the authorities empowered to initiate talks with the angry Baloch leaders and other stakeholders should consult the members of the provincial cabinet because the ministers had the right to know about the fate of their province. “Some members of the Balochistan cabinet have blood relations with those leaders and they can play a pivotal role in the talks.” The provincial minister, who belongs to the PML-Q, praised President Asif Ali Zardari’s move of giving the task to Balochistan Governor Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Magsi and Chief Minister Aslam Raisani to hold dialogue with the estranged leaders for bringing them into mainstream politics. She praised the government’s decision regarding withdrawal of cases against Baloch leaders Nawabzada Brahamdagh Bugti and Hyarbyar Marri and expressed the hope that it would help improve...

“President Karzai has promised to stop infiltration of militants from Afghanistan into Pakistan ,” Malik told reporters on Sunday, in a first instance of a senior Pakistani official saying on the record that the insurgency in Balochistan was being aggravated because of Afghanistan . Last month, Pakistani officials complained to Karzai on the issue while he attended a trilateral summit hosted by Pakistan and attended by Afghanistan and Iran . Balochistan officials have also raised the issue of cross-border infiltration into the province . Last month, Afghan security forces , chasing militants, also intruded inside Qilla Saifullah and killed two men. In response to Islamabad ’s request, Kabul has formally given its assurance to stop the infiltration of militants from Kandahar to Balochistan ’s border district Chaman . But, on the other hand, Afghan security forces have also been blaming Islamabad for clandestine support to Taliban militants. Pakistani officials have a...

BY SIKANDER HAYAT Balochistan is not getting resolved and there are no signs that it will get anywhere near resolution in near to medium term. Looking from the Baloch militant 's point of view,  it is very clear that they are not getting their goals nor there is any hope of achieving them. They are disrupting the march of advancement in Baloch dominated areas of the province and killing both frontier corps and ethnically non Baloch residents of the province. In all this killing, there is an exception and that exception is of Baloch militants not touching the Pashtuns of the province. According to Wikipedia, Balochistan is only 50% Baloch and the rest is mostly Pashtun with other smaller ethnicities making up the rest of the population.  If they start fighting Pashtuns, they know they will be routed and without taking on the Pashtun they cannot achieve there goal, which is primarily to make the province a Baloch dominated land. This is a catch twenty t...