I RECENTLY returned from a trip to Thar. This was my fifth trip since 2013. I have seen Thar grow from arid brown to a reasonable green during this period. This green shade was never there earlier. The trees used to be green only after rains. This time, however, they were green even though there have been no rains in recent times.

One must appreciate the great job done by the government and the private coal mining company operating in the area. In 2013, the cows I saw were all bones. They had huge bells hanging around their necks and walked slowly, tolling the bells after long intervals.

It sounded like the drum beat before death. Now they are well-fed, and walk proudly. Small-structured long-haired goats have been replaced by Sahiwali goats in their hundreds. They are well-fed and strong, and crisscross the roads and jump around in joy like gazelles.

A non-profit organisation is operating a school that was established in 2018. It was the first high school in a 20km area. The special thing about this school is cent per cent female Thari teachers. The move aimed at encouraging girls’ enrolment. The school currently has 651 students, with 431 of them being non-Muslims. More than half the teachers are non-Muslims.

Tharis are truly peace-loving people believing in perfect coexistence. The campus is totally solarised, and has sufficient supply of potable water. Since distances are huge, students get picked and dropped by buses, and teachers by vans. A batch of 31 students graduated last year.

With many more passout batches in the pipeline, we will soon see them knocking the doors of the country’s prestigious educational institutions to become future leaders of government and the corporate world. We need to see more of this in Balochistan around copper and gold mining areas. Are the Balochistan government and NGOs willing to emulate the model?

S. Nayyar Iqbal Raza
Karachi

Published in Dawn, May 19th, 2025