A good move for Balochistan

Prime Minister Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain's decision to form a Senate committee to find a political solution to the issues agitating Balochistan deserves to be welcomed. Speaking in the upper house on Monday, the prime minister said the committee would be constituted by Senate Chairman Mohammedmian Soomro in consultation with the leader of the house, Mr Wasim Sajjad.

The redeeming feature of the scheme is that the committee will include senators from the opposition benches. In a country where parliament has never been accorded the position it deserves, Chaudhry Shujaat's announcement is a whiff of fresh air. For that reason, let us hope that this is not going to be a one-time affair, and that the present government will continue to follow the lead taken by the prime minister.

Endowed with natural resources, Balochistan is Pakistan's largest province in terms of territory. Much of these resources - especially those buried underground and the tourism and fisheries potential along the Mekran coast - have largely remained unexploited.

A harsh climate, the absence of an irrigation system, and a small population stand in way of its socio-economic growth. Because of the low literacy rate and the absence of industrialization, the province lacks a sizable middle class.

The influx of Afghan refugees has also affected the province politically and threatens to create demographic pressures. Side by side, Baloch leaders have been accusing the federal government of neglecting the province and running it in a manner that practically neutralizes whatever provincial autonomy the Constitution provides for.

Of late, the federal government has been paying attention to Balochistan's economic development, and some mega projects are under way. These include the Gwadar port, the Saindak copper project and the Mekran coastal highway.

The completion of these projects should lead to an economic turn-around and create employment opportunities for the local people. However, Baloch leaders have voiced concern over the way some of these projects are being run.

They fear that local professionals and labour may be ignored, and people from outside the province may be employed. These fears are not altogether baseless. As far as Gwadar is concerned, one is appalled at the way its development is advertised.

Must it become a 'gold mine' for the benefit of real-estate developers? The Baloch people feel this could lead to a land-grab race, and those in a position to invest and reap profits are most likely to be non-Baloch. Gwadar is a project of national importance.

For that reason, the government should see to it that it does not become a tool for profiteering and palace-building at the expense of the local people. The emphasis should be on the economic well-being of the people of Balochistan.

Here one also notes with regret that the companies working on the oil and gas projects have failed to help the local people in a meaningful way. They might have built some roads or perhaps an air strip or two, but they have not undertaken social welfare projects like setting up vocational training and health-care centres.

One hopes that the Senate committee will study all these issues in detail and recommend remedial measures. The province's political problems cannot be solved without a reference to Balochistan's economic backwardness.

The two are inter-linked. The senate committee should talk to all sections of Balochistan's political and social leadership and come up with solutions that will satisfy the Baloch people's yearning for a better life.

Thar relief package

Regardless of the circumstances under which it is happening, the fact that Tharparkar has made it onto the radar screens of decision-makers in Islamabad is good news. The decision by prime minister-designate Shaukat Aziz to prepare a comprehensive development package for this area is encouraging.

Under this package, the government plans to provide water, power, roads, education and health facilities to the people in this area. While this is indeed a tall order, one can only hope that the provision of these facilities becomes a reality over the next couple of years since Tharparkar is one of the most backward areas of the country.

Its people largely live in abject poverty and under harsh conditions. Most of these unfortunate inhabitants eke out a living though subsistence farming or by raising livestock.

On many occasions, these meagre means of livelihood are disrupted by the drought-like conditions that plague the area. When this happens, the hapless Tharis leave their areas and look for work elsewhere. In many cases they end up becoming bonded labourers after being forced into exploitative agreements that are forced on them by feudals in the neighbourhood.

The miserable conditions in which the Tharis live need to change. The government should ensure that the development package it plans to offer is implemented in the best possible manner.

At the same time, steps should be taken to initiate some economic development in the impoverished area. The Thar coal project should be commissioned soon so that employment is generated in the area. Micro-credit facilities should be extended to villagers so that they can develop some alternative means of income and their dependence on land is reduced to some extent.

Thar also holds potential for tourism and in this regard, the government needs to resume train services to the far-flung areas of Thar, besides investing in infrastructure. It is a combination of these measures that will bring well-bring that has eluded the people of Thar for several decades now.

Better anti-polio campaigns

There appears to be an alarming gap between target and performance in the government's campaign to tackle the scourge of polio in Sindh. Only 35 per cent of the 1.3 million children - under one year old - that the government sought to immunize against the disease in the first half of this year, have received the polio vaccine, exposing the rest to the risk of a debilitating illness that can cause paralysis, even death.

Unfortunately, despite an all-out effort by international bodies and local health departments to counter the polio virus, Pakistan remains one of the seven countries in the world where the disease is still endemic.

While its incidence has been drastically reduced ever since Pakistan joined the global anti-polio campaign in the last decade, new cases continue to crop up, and it seems unlikely that the country will achieve its goal of totally eliminating the disease by the end of this year.

During the current round of national immunization days, the provincial health authorities must reflect on where they have gone wrong, keeping in mind that, besides the problem of reaching those living in remote areas, poor public awareness is one of the main reasons for inadequate vaccination coverage.

Immunization teams encounter suspicion when they turn up at people's homes, while often parents fail to have the full dose administered to their children. Doctors also say that children under five need more than the mandatory anti-polio doses, as their weak immune system can mitigate the vaccine's effect.

Unless the virus is completely eliminated, it can spread to others in the community through fecal-oral contact. Perhaps, it is a community-oriented approach that needs to be emphasized, as opposed to one that stresses the dangers of polio to the individual. Unless each and every child in the country receives a sufficient dose of the vaccine, polio will be there as a lingering threat.