Balochistan capital Quetta is set to host the first-ever federal cabinet meeting today (Wednesday) with a slight improvement in the law and order. It would be the 87th meeting of the federal cabinet of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani since March 31, 2008. Political observers, analysts and nationalist leaders of the province have time and again held the federal government responsible for its failure to implement the Balochistan reforms package, which they said had fallen short of the expectations of the people of the province.
A senior PPP leader said the government wanted to fully implement the Aghaz-e-Huqooq-e-Balochistan Package, but tribal chiefs of the province were against development in their areas as development would curtail their influence in their respective tribes. The nationalist leaders of Balochistan say such meetings would not be meaningful until the cabinet addresses their core problems. Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) Provincial Vice President Abdul Qahar Wandan said it was a surprise for the people of Balochistan to host the federal cabinet meeting, however, he said such meetings should be productive if the government meant business. “Balochistan is suffering from shortage of 600MW of electricity due to which all our lands, crops and fruit have been hit badly.
The cabinet should announce bridging this power gap. Moreover, small and medium dams should be constructed across the Pashtun belt of Balochistan, as seven million acre feet of our water goes waste every year and we face drought-like situations,” he added. Wandan said Balochistan was once called he food basket of Pakistan, but “there is no fruit and crops now due to which the crime rate in soaring and mafias are thriving”. A source told Pakistan Today that the cabinet would take up a brief agenda of expediting implementation on development projects, especially the Balochistan reforms package, law and order and the monitoring of development projects across the province.