Islamabad is Depriving Balochistan of its Rights – Hidayat ur Rehman
Balochistan’s Development budget only 206 billion pkr, less than Orange Train of Lahore that was built with CPEC money of 260 billion pkr
Points out “Acceptance” in Province – The bureaucracy takes home a major chunk of development budget
Tazeen Akhtar
Member Balochistan Assembly from Gawadar , Hidayat ur Rehman of Jamat e Islami lambasted Islamabad for depriving the province of its rights, in his address at the floor of the assembly while the provincial budget was presented for approval.
Former CM Dr Abdul Malik Baloch , sitting beside, kept smiling and seconded him with his body language. No other member intervened even from treasury benches during his speech that was clearly a demonstration of extreme anger and dissatisfaction of the representatives of the people of this most backward province of Pakistan.
He said Islamabad took our Natural Gas, Gawadar, Riko Dik, Sandak, CPEC and now Prime Minister says additional income from Petrol prices will be given to Balochistan for infrastructure development.
Here it is worth mentioning that Senator Dinesh Kumar a couple of days ago, pointed out on the floor of the Senate that Islamabad has cut 60 Billion rupees from the development budget of Balochistan that was 250 Billion rupees only, less than Lahore.
Hidayat ur Rehman MPA raised the question what Balochistan got from CPEC phase 01? Gwadar port, airport, expressway, where I can not go. What did Punjab get? Sahiwal, Jhelum Power Plant, Orange Train Lahore and Motorways.
He said the total development budget of Balochistan is 206 billion rupees while only one project in Lahore (Orange Train) cost 260 billion rupees. This amount has been provided from the budget of CPEC. Motorway in Punjab was constructed with 5 thousand billion rupees. How much has been spent in Balochistan?
He asked why you do not give us the share of Balochistan in CPEC? Why did you not construct Motorway , Energy projects, Power stations in Balochistan? He challenged a federal minister who said Balochistan should increase its population to get more share from the National Finance Award.
He said you got CPEC thanks to the population of Punjab or for the territory of Balochistan?He pointed at some members and criticized tham , you admire Islamabad, thank you Islamabad, for this and that. He asked them, “Why do you live on charity?
He said, the rulers of Islamabad hate the people of Balochistan. They are biased against the people of Balochistan. They are not like federal rulers. He called upon the members why you welcome them in their tours to Balochistan?
He crushed the bureaucracy and elite of Gwadar and Balochistan as well saying we have problems on our part as well. He asked what is “Acceptance” and what is “Ring” , the two words that are used in Balochistan for “Commission and KickBacks”. He said, the whole bureaucracy of Gwadar is corrupt and they have received Acceptances in the projects. This dirty thing goes from Assistant Commissioner to the Secretary level.
He asked , how much goes into the pockets of the bureaucracy in the name of Acceptance from the already lesser development budget (206 billion rupees) and how much is spent on the projects?
He challenged all the present MPAs to negate him but no one said a single word to contradict him.He shared personal experience when a Tehsildar (a sub divisional revenue officer at local level) came to him and offered to allot thousand kanals of land in his (Hidayat) name.
Hidayat ur Rehman questioned, do the MPA’s get vehicles , drivers, guards from the government? These privileges are available for officers only. He said, there are no medicines available for the patients in hospitals, no education for the children but they throw away millions of rupees on fire play.
Overall , he elaborated , that Balochistan has received no benefits of CPEC and major share of development and funds of this project have been awarded to Punjab. As he hails from the end point of CPEC, that is Gwadar, his observations and reservations can not be ignored declaring them with rhetoric (anti Pakistan).
If Balochistan and Gwadar are not satisfied, no one can benefit from the so called Game Changer Project. This is not the only thing to worry about. It is about the bilateral relations of Pakistan and China as well. Sweeter than honey, deeper than oceans, higher than Himalayas friendship can be jeopardised if not negatively affected.
