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POSTGIRO
141 24 05- 1
Anjouman
TAFTAN SWEDEN
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POSTGIRO
141 24 05- 1
Anjouman
TAFTAN SWEDEN
Broken promises
An anthology of 23 research papers examining the
various facets of sustainable development in South Asia.
Nizamuddin Nizamani explains why
resource-rich Balochistan remains so poor.
BALOCHISTAN, the country’s largest province, covers 347,188
kilometres or about 47 per cent of the total area of Pakistan. It is
a conflict-ridden, rich in natural resource,
geographically
important territory. However, according to the provisional results
of the 1998 census, in terms of population, it is the smallest with
a population of 6.5 million, just five per cent of Pakistan’s total
population.
Balochistan mainly consists of barren mountains, arid valleys and
sandy deserts. A large percentage of the province’s inhabitants are
nomadic pastorals, raising camels, cows and, especially, sheep and
goats. The mean annual rainfall in Balochistan ranges from two
inches in the west to about 16 inches in the north-east. Some areas
do not get any rain for nearly two years and in some cases the
entire year’s rainfall comes in a single downpour.
For centuries now the Baloch have struggled against the forces of
nature and developed a way of life peculiar to them. They are a
people spread in Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan. In all three
countries, the territory is arid and poor, and has remained for many
centuries in comparative isolation from the major economic and
political centres of the region.
The Baloch identity is symbolised in their language, oral literature
and code of honour. These nomads are important for the local economy,
both for what they produce and as a source of seasonal labour. They
are also agriculture producers. Much of the subsistence crop
production of the area depends on unpredictable river flow and
runoff, which they alone know how to use. These semi-nomadic tribes
have, for centuries, managed their resources on more or less
sustained levels and led a subsistence-level, but contented and
life. As seems to be the case among most nomads throughout the
world, the Baloch today are faced with economic, political and
social realities, which endanger not only their way of life but also
the resources on which they have depended for a living.
The study of institutional aspects of the problem is extremely
important because it was through institutional mechanisms that these
resources were traditionally managed. It is not uncommon for
intellectuals and government officials to ignore institutional
aspects of development, based on the assumption that since common
property rights systems exist among isolated ‘unimportant’ tribal
groups, they are not worth understanding.
The tribal system constitutes a system of law and order,
administration, and other functions regulating economic, social and
political activities of the Baloch community. The members of the
tribe share interests in community self-defence, collective grazing
rights, facilitation and coordination of movements within tribal
lands, and in regulation of resource utilisation. Chiefs and
sub-chiefs are equal to all other tribesmen with respect to rights
to use the resources in their inspected rangelands. Everyone,
therefore, makes collective efforts to cooperate with others and
follow the tribal laws and the chief helps to ensure that this is
done by everybody including his own family.
The economy is basically subsistence-oriented and animal raising is
not done on a commercial scale. This, accompanied by the general
isolation, lack of outside contacts and limited consumption needs,
has a conservative influence on the use of the rangelands. The
ecology of Balochistan, and the nomadic way of life of its people
necessitates the raising of small animals, mainly sheep and goats.
In the tribal areas of Balochistan, the government intervened in the
past to abolish tribalism, with the objective of benefiting the
common tribesmen, but as the political functions of tribalism,
ceased, so did the resource-regulating functions. In tribal areas,
tribal organisation as a whole is stronger; any institute aimed at
replacing tribalism must ensure improved resource use and
productivity. Cooperatives or other forms of farmer organisations
that may utilise the concept of traditional institutions will help
achieve these objectives. The Baloch pastoral sees market centres
and agriculture as a resource on a level with the range. He wants
more in return for his product, but his first priority is the
security of his social life. Human beings with culture, have rights
— not only human rights but civil rights. The ecological dimension
of the problem can be resolved only as part of a comprehensive
resolution of the whole problem, including its moral and political
dimensions.
The government established small-scale carpet and rug-making
industries in several towns of Balochistan. These cottage industries
use raw material like wool and mohair that is produced in
animal-raising areas but employment in these industries was given to
town people. Had those industries been established in the tribal
areas, the people there could have found employment which would have
helped alleviate pressure on the rangelands. The pastoral lands and
ranges are probably the only resources controlled by the Baloch.
It appears to be true that Balochistan has substantial unexplored
mineral resources. According to the ex-Khan of Kalat, Mir Ahmed Yar
Khan, “A Baloch child may be born without socks on his feet but when
he grows up, every step he takes is on gold.” Experts agree that
Balochistan has iron ore deposits totalling 10 million tons at
Nokundi and proven reserves of at least 13 million tons in the
Chaghi district. Some experts believe that potential reserves at
Chaghi exceed one hundred million tons.
Geologists also agree that there are large deposits of
metallurgical-grade fluorite in the Kalat district and chromate at
Muslimbagh, as well as the potential for expanding the existing
production of limestone, magnetite, marble, sulphur and barite.
Scattered gold deposits have been discovered in various parts of
Balochistan including the Saindak Metal Project but it is yet to be
confirmed whether it is worth $5 billion or more as some experts
have assumed.
At the time of independence, Pakistan was producing only five
minerals apart from cement raw material. Three out of five chromites,
sulphur and coal were mined in Balochistan. At present, Pakistan is
producing 40 minerals out of which 20 are being mined in Balochistan.
However, no serious efforts are being undertaken to develop
institutions and training centres to promote and train human
resource in this sector. Provinces were forced to adapt the
National Mineral Policy after 1999 under which the federal
government was given complete authority to control the mineral
resources of provinces.
Natural resources and minerals such as gold, platinum, coal, iron
ore, marble, natural gas, chromate, sulphur, copper, aluminium, lead,
zinc and black pearls have already been located and extracted.
According to unconfirmed reports, uranium and other resources have
also been spotted but due to local resistance are yet to be explored.
Balochistan is the driest province of Pakistan with very little
irrigation and farming and in terms of infrastructure it is the
poorest. It is also the most impoverished province of Pakistan with
the lowest per capita income in comparison to the other three
provinces. In the eyes of the Baloch what previous regimes have done
was exploitive. In the case of the Marri areas, nationalists contend
that Islamabad’s oil development programme is exploitive in nature
since the would-be-profits would go mainly to the Pakistani
government coffers and to foreign oil companies rather than to the
Balochistan treasury.
* * * * *
Apart from other issues of discontent, the development of the Gwadar
Deep Seaport is a major bone of contention between the province and
the central government resulting in socio-political unrest in the
coastal regions of Makran. Balochis are sensitive to new
developments on their coast without their consent and have
registered their disagreement through various methods of agitation.
The name Gwadar is, in fact, a combination of two Balochi terms
Giwat = Air (Oxygen) + Dir = door. Gwadar means a ‘door or passage
for oxygen’. The head office of Gwadar Deep Seaport is located in
Karachi, outside Balochistan. Pakistan presently has two commercial
ports, Karachi and Bin Qasim catering largely to its domestic needs.
About 2,000 ships including 200 oil tankers visit the Karachi coast
each year.
This is a century of globalisation, made so by easy access and
exponential trade through the sea. The size of a country’s sea-borne
trade is the size of its economy, and trade starts when the Gross
National Product (GNP) of a country reaches $17.5 billion and
increases by 116,000 tons for each $1 billion increase in GNP. It is
further contended that the bigger the economies the more likely they
are to generate trade, and Pakistan, with a GNP of over $60 billion
and a trade volume forecast of 78 million tons, has embarked upon
this maritime venture of building the Gwadar Port.
Although the federal government has been presenting a rosy picture
of Balochistan after the development of this port and other mega
projects, people on the ground do not take these forecasts and
promises seriously due to bitter past experiences and broken
promises.
* * * * *
Literature review and historical archives show that the federal
government has failed to keep its promise to the Baloch people on
various occasions. They feel that Punjab and Karachi dominate the
economy and their resources, and that their attitude towards them is
of a ruler and servant. Evidence reflects that to some extent the
apprehensions of the Baloch people carry weight.
During the development phase of the special plan at the cost of
$1.97 billion unveiled in 1980, the most ambitious was the $300
million Saindak copper-mining venture. Back then officials had
announced that during the first stage, 1,000 mining jobs would be
created for the locals. This was to be followed by 9,000 more jobs
in the smelting and processing sectors. The nationalists wanted
assurance that these smelting and processing industries be
established in Balochistan. But the cost-conscious Islamabad
planners objected that this would necessitate the construction of
new townships and other costly infrastructure to make the desolate
Saindak area suitable for industrial activity.
According to a UN-assisted study, the Saindak ore deposits are
likely to yield not only 412 million tons of copper, but also gold,
silver, pyrite and magnetite with an overall potential value of at
least $4 billion. Sulphuric acid can be obtained as a by-product of
the copper-smelting process. Production was expected to reach 22
million tons of finished blister copper per year and bring an
estimated $92 million annually in foreign exchange, assuming a $1
per pound copper price and a $70 per ton price for sulphuric acid.
Officials of the American Smelting and Refining Company (ASARCO)
dismissed the UN study as being “extremely over-optimistic”,
pointing to the low grade (0.4 per cent) of Saindak deposits and the
high production costs likely to result from the isolated location of
the mine. They pointed out that revenue would not exceed $60 million
per year. US Geological Survey aerial studies had revealed the
existence of significant copper prospects in the vast belt to the
west and north of Saindak reaching as far as the Cheshmeh area of
Iran, where Iranians found high grade (two per cent) copper deposits.
There is a popular joke regarding the destruction of Afghanistan —
King Zahir Shah and Daud brought the Mercedes-Benz to Afghanistan
but prepared no roads for those cars to run on. A similar situation
appears to prevail in Balochistan. The government has been
introducing mega projects, but has not developed the environment/infrastructure
for them. Balochistan’s problems are therefore purely socio-cultural
and politico-economic, a result of many decades of distrust and
broken promises between federal and provincial authorities.
Excerpted with permission from At the Crossroads: South Asian Research, Policy and Development
in a Globalized World
Sustainable Development Policy Institute
# 3, UN Boulevard, Diplomatic Enclave I, G-5, Islamabad, in
collaboration with
Sama Editorial & Publishing Services, 4th Floor, Imperial Court,
Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Road, P.O. Box 12447, Karachi-75530
ISBN 969-8784-50-0
412pp. Rs795
Nizamuddin Nizamani, a social researcher, has been active in
volunteer work since 1990.
geographically
important territory. However, according to the provisional results
of the 1998 census, in terms of population, it is the smallest with
a population of 6.5 million, just five per cent of Pakistan’s total
population.
National Mineral Policy after 1999 under which the federal
government was given complete authority to control the mineral
resources of provinces.