Mekran is a place where innocence is still alive and kicking
TRAVELLING through the Mekran belt is adventurous as well as fun. Full of diversions, one imbibes many things during the journey. Living in the age of millennium where the world is shrinking into a global village with all priority on the economic development, growth and modernization, a visit to Mekran belt is the other side of the coin.
It was early December. Travelling in summers and rainy seasons is not advisable due to the extreme heat, with normal daytime temperatures ranging anywhere from 43 to 53 Celsius. And the poor road conditions don’t help either.
Mekran is one of the six administrative divisions of Balochistan, a status it has been enjoying since 1977. It comprises of three districts; Panjgur, Turbat or Kech and Gwadar.It was one of the four princely states located within Balochistan and one of the 564 in British India. The other three being Kalat, Lasbela and Kharan. It was included in Balochistan soon after the partition and raised to a district level in 1955.
My first destination was 350km away from Quetta, in Panjgur. It took around nine hours to reach Panjgur, thanks mainly to the metalled road that ended at Besema, the last border town of Kalat district.
Panjgur derives its name from five graves of saints who reached the area centuries back. Mainly because of its elevation, Panjgur is the only cold place in scorching Mekran. A poor district, the people of Panjgur rear sheep, farming and are involved in smuggling for their livelihood. In fact the smuggling of Iranian petrol is the common source of livelihood. Outside the town, there is an open market where smuggled petrol is filled in tanks for sale.
Dates too are grown in abundance thanks to government loans to growers.
Life is quite and calm in the city. Though its climate is perfect for it to become a major tourist attraction, lack of communications and facilities, make this thought, inhospitable. After two fulfilling days, I left for Turbat.
With the exception of a 30km stretch of road, constructed with the financial support of ADB, the road to Turbat is shingle and without any maintenance. One can drive for hours without seeing a vehicle coming from opposite direction. Same is the case on roads travelling from Turbat to Pasni and Gwadar. But one can see new cars without number plates running on the broken roads as well! These are stolen vehicles that are used regularly in the area.
Turbat is the biggest of all cities in Mekran and was its divisional headquarters until 2001. The old city and government offices/colonies are spread over a vast area with two parks constructed over the past years. The two bazaars are commercially full of life with shops packed with smuggled items. There are nice restaurants and cafes that are crowded well into the nights, even in winters.
Turbat is officially called Kech — the famous river which then was out of water. The other of the two local rivers is Nihang. There are a few historical and archeological sites including the Palace of the Nawab (a sub-ruler under the Mughals) of Mekran; Nazim’s Mosque and Sassi Punu Fort. From the top of the fort one can see date orchards around. “The dates of Turbat are juicy and sweet like that of Basra,” said one who works in the date processing factory set up here few years ago.
The famous Zikri’s, a religious sect, are also headquartered in Turbat.
From Turbat, I reached Gwadar, one of the ancient seaports about which Dot Beatrice Nicolini writes that it played an important role in the “framework of slave, ivory, and spice trade coming from the Arabian Peninsula and from East Africa directed to Central Asia.”
The road distance from Turbat is 216km. But due to poor conditions of the shingle road it takes no less than seven hours even in one’s own pickup. Buses take much longer. From distance one could see the huts of the Gwadar town surrounded by the blue water at three corners.
TThe 600km long coastline of Gwadar is immense importance. “Development of the area soon after the partition would have brought a positive change on the economic development and growth of the area as well as country,” said Mr Gul Bani, a retired school teacher and nationalist whose knowledge about the area is impeccable.
He can trace his ancestral roots to Nasir Khan 1, the Ahmedzai ruler of Kalat who granted the port of Gwadar to Sultan bin Ahmed in 1784. It remained the part of Oman until September 1958 when it ceded to Pakistan. To him, Gwadar has a history which is largely misrepresented. He can trace the known history of the town back to Prophet David (Dawood) when people entombed themselves to avoid famine. They largely belonged to Kulanch and Dasht valleys, two important valleys of Mekran. Alexander landed here in 325BC on his way back from Multan to Macedonia. Mohammad bin Qasim marched through the area to Debal in AD712.
Gwadar is a small district and thinly populated. Its total population according to the latest census is 160,980, 98 per cent of whom are Baloch. The building of the Gwadar Port by China ensures massive changes in the area by restructuring city into a huge international port. This, however, has been a concern for many nationalists to whom it will diminish the indigenous character of the town and its people.
Gwadar bazaar and a majority of the houses are at twenty to forty yards distance from the sea. Fishing is a major source of livelihood for the local persons. The fishing is controlled by the Provincial Department of Fisheries. They have a small guest house from where the sunset over the sea is a spectacular scene. Similar is the case of its three ports, Ormara, Pasni, and Jiwni. It is particular about Jiwni where the sunset is worth watching.
“It cannot forget the sunset. As the sun sets, the whole town looks like a painting with changing colours until its dark,” said a visitor from Karachi. Fish caught from the area is supplied to Karachi from where it is exported.
Fishers constitute a sizable population of the Gwadar, Pasni, Jiwni and Ormara, particularly in Gwadar and Pasni. They have been engaged in the profession without any generation gap. The ratio of education amongst them is nominal without social mobilization. Many of them cannot speak Urdu and find it hard to communicate with an outsider. The fishers live a life away from modernity. They spend their pastime chatting about their day to day fishing experiment, enjoying town restaurants where an essential item is halwa, and sleeping in their houses until next visit.
Another pastime which probably poor fishers cannot afford frequently is boozing. It is mostly due to the fact that smuggled whisky is available in the area at very cheaper rates.
Smuggled Iranian items are frequent in the area. They vary from dishwashing powder to milk. During Ramazan, Iranian ice-cream is commonly available.
I travelled from Gwadar to Pasni in a double-cab, charging each Rs300 for a journey of 100 kilometres. The road was shingle but is expected to replaced by the mega Coastal Highway under construction. The Coastal Highway is a great project which, in coming years, will have a positive influence on the economic development of the area. To many it looks a dream. The 635 kilometre coastal highway is being built in phases by the FWO. It will shorten the distance by mobilizing people. The Coastal Highway travels parallel to sea but not in close distance. With the exception of two points the seaside is not visible.
In between Gwadar and Pasni there is a point where with the help of a strong binocular, one can see the Astola island. A military installation, it is controlled by Coastal Guards. A similar island exists near Pasni with a centuries old abandoned Hindu temple.
I spent the night in Pasni with one of my students serving as ADO. His house, like many other houses was at twenty yards from the shore. Pasni was initially a seaport inhabited by fishers. The Portuguese occupied the port and used it for few years until they burnt it in 1581.
It is a small beautiful sea town; the summer nights are cool and windy. The setting up of harbour and big ice factory to preserve fish in 1970, with the help of Asian Development Bank, spurred an economic growth in this small town. On the right is officers colony and garrison for the Coastal Guard. Locals are neither allowed to go near the base nor they dare.
Pasni, like Giwni and Ormara, has a small airport with long runway to facilitate naval planes.
Having spent a night in Pasni to reach Ormara by pickup next morning. I reached Ormara in around five hours. Ormara is a small tranquil town but is looking forward to rapid expansion due to the Jinnah Naval Base constructed in one kilometre distance. The naval base, the biggest in Pakistan, is designed to accommodate troops, fleets, crew and their family which in estimate can raise upto a populace of around one hundred and fifty thousand. I climbed the famous mud mountain called Koh Tungi from where a visible view of the town and its surrounding is possible. The only rest house in the town I was put in, is about to be auctioned to repay the mortgage amount to a local contractor. From Ormara I rode a double cabin pickup for Karachi. Double-cabin pick-ups are a quick and rather comfortable source of transportation in the area. The completion of Coastal Highway phase between Ormara and Lyari has facilitated the fish dealer’s rapid means of transportation for marketing their fish in Karachi. The pickup jolted and rattled on the rough dirt road for an hour until it reached the constructed portion of the Coastal Highway (the whole phase completed now). It suddenly changed its speed limit from 40 to 120 kph. Moving out of Mekran into Karachi was now a couple hours away. I had made a journey through the backyard of Pakistan with its sublime beauty of blue shores and spectacular sunsets.
Mekran is a place where innocence is still alive and kicking 
