Daily Times

Balochistan is suffering once more. Water shortages have yet again hit the port city of Gwadar, pushing residents on to the streets to protest the government’s failure in tackling the crisis. Where the civvies failed the big boys of the Pakistan Navy were on hand to save the day, supplying some 1,200 tonnes of drinking water.

Gwadar is a port city. By definition it is surrounded by sea. Yet in today’s Pakistan — the poorest of all the country’s provinces has been robbed of self-determination to such an extent that it is dependent on having water being trucked in from other areas.

Sadly, this is nothing new. The Pakistani state, over the years, has done little to address Gwadar’s water crisis. Indeed, it has provided only a single desalination plant for the populations of the city and adjoining areas. In 2008, the then provincial government had decided to install four desalination plants in Gwadar, but work on the plants could not be completed on time. What is the government waiting for? Rendering these desalination plants functional should be undertaken on a priority basis.

This goes to show that the state apparatus is not serious about investing in Balochistan, despite all the tall claims of massive development in the city under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). If it were, it wouldn’t leave women and children with no option but to travel for miles in the scorching heat, armed with buckets in the hope of collecting a few drops of water.

The current government touts Gwadar as a major investment hub under CPEC — yet the ground reality speaks for itself. How will it ever be possible to turn Gwadar into a ‘mega city’ when residents do not even have access to the fundamentals? It is time to stop believing the hype.  *