Progress without peace not possible
While the country is in turmoil, security wise and economically, there is no way out of this mess without an economic stimuli, but economic progress depends largely on the prevailing security situation. That the government is more than eager to make a push for economic stimuli in the country is evident through numerous projects, some large scale, that it has announced or intends to undertake. In this connection, the announcement of an energy park in Gadani in Hub, Balochistan, with a capacity of 6600MW of energy seems like a daring project, one that will not only provide economic benefits but also create jobs and will help in overcoming energy shortage problem all at once.
However, as things aren’t mostly as simple as they seem to be, so is the case with this announcement. Balochistan is a resource rich province; it is also the one most strife riven. Only the other day, Quetta and some other cities faced a shutter down strike on the call of Balochistan National Front which claims that the bullet-riddled dead bodies of its two political workers, who were kidnapped by security agencies, were found recently. The province is being pulled in multiple directions by separatists, extremists, sectarian militants, Taliban, Al-Qaeda and by some counts, security agencies. The new political dispensation hasn’t yet been able to resonate with the public sentiment. Devoid of their rights, the public wants to get rid of all who create problems in the way of peace. In this background, government’s announcement of Gadani Power Park sounds like a good one though its implementation is not going to be a walk in the park. For this to happen there needs to be peace in the province, all the more important considering Pakistan and China have agreed to build an economic corridor between Gwadar and Kashgar. Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline and a proposal envisaging Hong Kong like status for Gwadar are also dependent on peace in the restive province, without which these projects would have no chance of being completed, much less getting operational.
The issue isn’t just a lack of economic activity or security in the province, it is more than that. It is about the perception that prohibits international investors to come to the country and invest in projects. It is this perception of an unstable country that needs to be addressed first, which is not possible by denying the Baloch people of their rights. When their grievances are addressed and peace returns to the province, the groundwork for mega projects will automatically be laid, convincing international investors and IFIs to invest in projects such as Gadani Power Park.
