THERE is always an uproar that Balochistan has been kept deprived. Why should it not be? Where local sardars, politicians and feudal lords roam around on main roads of the provincial capital, with the airconditioners turned on for hours in their Land Cruisers lined behind them are tens of Toyota Hilux Vigos, with large contingents of guards, their vehicles mostly parked in no-parking areas. Their children follow in the footsteps of their parents. The fuel burned by each of the vehicles is acquired by misappropriation of taxes, paid by their very own local Baloch subjects.

On the other hand, Baloch children spend most of their time playing marbles in the streets – an option preferred by their parents rather than admitting them to schools. Drug trafficking, as well as theft, is considered to be a shortcut to becoming rich overnight, avoiding the long route of education. A place where rounded moustaches and ‘patiyala shalwars are compulsory; it doesn’t matter whether an ordinary citizen dies of hunger; or where votes are cast on the affiliation with so-called, self-created and deeply corrupt ‘sardars’, who misrepresent the Baloch population in assemblies, and satisfy themselves with a ministry or a seat in the assembly. They do not care even for their people dying with hunger. In a nutshell, why should Balochistan progress?

A citizen

Quetta

Published in Dawn, July 28th, 2016