Posted 13/02/2010
- Development
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Exploitation
Blog: diagohmurad.info.tm
 Every
Government in Pakistan whenever comes to power start grieving about the
mishandling the rights of Balochistan and want to nurse these grieving
wounds with the new wave of development projects, even if Baloch nation
rejects these new plans of developing their status, which in the earlier
were (Saindak, Rekodek, Dudder Zinc Project, Chamalang Mine Project,
Gwadar Deep sea port & Mirani Dam project) the government whether
military or civil never recommend Baloch nation in agreements with the
companies be it local or international, for them Baloch nation doesn’t
exist when they are negotiating with investors to put in their efforts
in finding more areas where new mineral resources could be shaped up and
be utilized.
Today mostly the development projects can be seen as
non-profitable for local Baloch population as neither these development
projects are made considering Baloch nation nor local Baloch were given
priority over it as well Baloch population are being rejected as
unacceptable to perform such kind of jobs where they needed
professionals or experienced ones. So not only these development
projects meant to invite money investors but also to settle employees
from other provinces, these projects whenever comes they are bound to
come with serial of abduction of Baloch youths who try to befoul the
true scheme regarding these newly found projects as totally anti Baloch.
These sentiments are not only factual in today’s circumstances but can
be also observed if take a profound look at the blueprints of these
development projects as from where they were taken and whom will profit
more and whom will develop more from it.
As
structure wise these development projects seems to be for the welfare of
Baloch nation to give the local Baloch a opportunity to acquire a job to
setup a good living standard, But like said that when ever local Baloch
attempt to obtain the job opportunity, the higher ups regard them
useless to the job position as they are unskilled to perform and with
these reasons employees are extradited from other provinces, they never
tried to identify as to what should be done to address their grieving
regarding them as the locals and giving them a opportunity to learn
something but even if the local Baloch are passed as qualified enough to
apply for the odd job they consider them too lazy or clumsy for that
matter or better yet the investors concerned their own employees rather
than appointing new ones from the locals which is as disappointing as it
can be that in the name of development the local Baloch are being
suppressed by the company which wouldn’t appoint the locals as they
seemed satisfied with their chosen employees which are mostly acquired
from the outside. For instance in the district of Hub most of the
companies are locals (They are PVT LTD companies registered from the
central government) but the workers most population is from the
neighboring city Karachi.
These
projects neither succeeded developing better life for local Baloch
population nor are they to stable the economy of Balochistan as there
affairs are being handled in the ministries of central government where
not only the total audit of these companies are calculated but tax
payment, sales tax revenues and import & export taxes are also audited
which in turn makes Balochistan economy to depend mostly on the central
government which by far doesn’t give authority to the local Government
to even look into what the companies are offering to the local Baloch
population regarding their health and medical treatment or how many
local Baloch are occupied in the companies key positions. These facts &
figures might give an overview as to who and how has the grip to turn
the movement of the wheels, because not only the local population is
ignored but Balochistan local Government body is not counted either to
even show their views or recommendation as to what projects should be
opted and what should be scrapped up. Rekodek was the one which scraped
up due to the failure in the given time frame of the agreement with the
companies which was given the task to complete the exploitation process
but as the company didn’t seemed to be fit to fulfill the agreement
which brought to the cancellation of the agreement.
Australia's Tethyan Copper Company (TCC) a joint
venture between Canada's Barrick Gold and Chile's Antofagasta Plc which
was given the task for exploration during the tenure of former dictator
Gen. Parvez Musharraf, had an exploration license for the copper mines
at Rekodek, which has an estimated 3.5 billion tones of low-grade copper
and gold, in the district of Chagai, a place where Pakistan conducted
its nuclear tests back in 1998. Due to the time frame expired
Balochistan government declare the agreement as invalid after which
Balochistan government assured the people of Balochistan that provincial
resources are under control of the government as the representative
didn’t see fit to let a company exploit the resources with the maximum
share that is of 75 % percent and Balochistan was to receive 25%
although it is still clear that these 25% share was for the interest of
Pakistani government rather than given to provincial government but
still it was to give a picture that all control of the resources
handling has been handed over to the provincial government but this soon
begin to melt down when the cancellation of the agreement became public,
The Government of chili & Canada discussed this issue with Pakistan’s
foreign ministry and conveyed them the doubts of their firms.

The Federal government also
sought to have a clarification from the provincial government for a
reason of the cancellation of agreement for which Prime minister Yousuf
Raza Gillani met Chief minister Aslam Raisani in Islamabad. During the
discussion Aslam Raisani said that his government wont review its
decision to cancel the former agreement as they didn’t struck any deals
with the Trading Corporation of Pakistan on mining of gold & copper
through Rekodek, some doubts also became clear when American ambassador
Anne Patterson issued a statement in which she deliberately accused
provincial government by saying
“Multinational
corporations will not invest in a country where deals are canceled”.
After the action the reaction was sure to follow as federal government
and TCC haven’t received any notifications regarding the cancellation of
the project as the public relations manager of the company Samia Ali
Shah said “TCC itself has not yet
received any cancellation notice for the Rekodek project from the
government”.
Which itself clears that neither the power nor the decision meant
anything of the provincial government which have vowed to protect the
national interest of the local people but haven’t got powers to do the
impossible, the only reason government cancelled this agreement was to
appease the Baloch nationalists who were against these development
projects as they see them anti Baloch.
These mega developments projects as clarified are not
under the control of the Balochistan government but are being negotiated
by the federal government as they have already handed over Saindak
project which is also another gold and copper reserve inside the region
of Chagai on leased to Metallurgical Construction Company of China (MCC)
for 10 years on September 2002 over mining in the area at the cost of
the mine's estimated life of 19 years, It started production from August
2003. This project will generate 2.5 billion annually & will pay
$500,000 monthly to the government of Pakistan over next 10 years plus
50 per cent of the total revenue from mineral sale & on which
Balochistan would receive 0.7 million dollars as annual royalty.
Although 0.7 million doesn’t count if you generate 2.5 billion annually
from it but as they say what comes is wish of the God but in Baloch case
what comes around is the wish of Federal Government as this project
seems to be producing 15,810 tones copper, 2.8 tones silver, 1.5 tones
gold, and 30,000 tones iron annually for 19 years which means that
Balochistan would receive 13.3 millions totally in the 19 years of
utilization and production and Pakistan will receive 60 millions totally
for 10 years with the exception of 50 percent of the total revenue from
the exporting of mineral resources.
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On
the other hand Federal government wants to keep these
development projects ongoing as already Rekodek & Saindak have
been explored and producing mineral resources from these two
sites have started and more investors are gathering around the
door of the federal government to put their investment on the
other mega projects likewise Dudder Zinc Project, Gwadar Deep
Sea port are on the next round although the cancellation of
Gwadar deep sea port project agreement with the Singapore firm
was recommended by the provincial cabinet of Balochistan and
Federal government also took notice of the cancellation but it
isn’t yet confirmed that Gwadar Deep sea port project with the
Singapore firm has been scraped up or is it still intact, But
the Dudder Zinc project which was started in April 2007 has
since been handed over to the Chinese firms whom have a joint
partnership to work on the project which annual output is
expected to be 100,400 tons of zinc concentrate and 32,600 tons
of lead concentrate according to sources:
“The banking loan
makes up about 80 percent of the total investment of $72.6
million in the project. The MCC Dudder Minerals Development
Company will fund the rest 20 percent of the investment from its
own capital. China Metallurgical Construction Group Corp holds
51 per cent in the consortium. Hunan Zhuzhou Non-ferrous Metals
Smelter Co Ltd takes a 34 per cent share and Hunan Huangshaping
Lead and Zinc Mine Company holds the remaining 15 percent. The
project in Lasbela district has mining and concentrating
capacity of 660,000 tons a year, according the companies’
sources. Once completed, the mine will be able to enhance its
production to 100,354 tons of zinc concentrate and 32,584 tons
of lead concentrates annually”.
Although
if we assume that these projects are there to develop the economy but
one with a common sense will surely figure out what kind of development
is going on inside Balochistan as neither Balochistan has been given the
equal share and nor the government of Balochistan play a role in the
agreement or negotiation of the revenue distribution which clear cut
that Balochistan Government has been put aside when negotiation over the
project were being discussed with the foreign investors because the
total production value of these projects is much expected to develop the
region and give the economy of Balochistan a big boost but for 62 years
nothing can be seen that have helped develop Baloch standards of living.
Baloch are still living a slum life’s in which they have problems of the
daily life activities, the infrastructure of Balochistan is backwarded
as no educational facilities, health care facilities, Clean drinking
water or gas has been supplied to them and neither the annual revenue or
economic loan is being spent over the locals population.
The federal government do not discuss on these basic
issues (Education, Health, Water, Electricity, Gas) which are very much
important when you want to shape up a society in which a human being can
survive but it has been busy to develop the mega projects ignoring the
infrastructure of Balochistan, some question rise if we give a deep look
on it
1- Does Development
means to exploit resources and give ways to companies that could
alter the economical structure of the region?
2- Does Development counts
only economy not social living standards where Education and
Healthcare Facilities and other natural things are concerned?
2- Is it duly correct to
exploit a region like Chagai where Pakistan has tested its
nuclear weapons & will this exploring (exploitation) wont
jeopardize the life of the inhabitants, as there were news that
the environment in the locality of the mine is being
irreversibly destroyed?
These questions are vital when
the life of Baloch nation has been put to risk for making millions
through such mega projects which are solely meant to exploit the
regional resources and leave it to dry up after the exploitation. As the
altering of economical structure concerned Balochistan mineral resources
are for limited time period as already said that Saindak project will
last up to 19 years, Rekodek will last for 50 years or maybe less &
Duddar Zinc exploitation in the region of Lasbella is estimated to be
another 14 years with the economical structure washed up Balochistan
will be a dry land which will be of no use after all the mineral
resources have been extracted out of it. Balochistan regional resources
have the potential to build up a strong economy on which the life of the
inhabitants will become much better and the Government will prosper too
but this cannot go in present circumstances as the share are not equally
distributed, Like in these 62 years the federal administrators never
took notice of Baloch nation it will likely be the case in the future
also and for Baloch nation to survive it must be liberated from the
clutches of the evil or else like Balochistan is being plundered from
its resources there will be a time when Baloch nation wont be seen on
this part of the earth. As Balochistan is drying up of the resources it
once stored underneath there comes a time that nothing will be left
accept the dry land.
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