CPEC, Ecological Disaster and Societal Crisis in Balochistan - News18

Over a couple of years, a wave of protests has been going on in Balochistan by the common people against the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project. The dry spell and reduced water availability have destroyed crops and threatened livestock survival.” The report of UNOCHA was substantiated by Balochistan’s Food Minister Zamarak Khan Piralizai as reported in the Pakistani newspaper Dawn, titled “Balochistan sends SOS as it runs out of wheat.” As stated by Piralizai, “We are facing a very serious crisis and need 600,000 bags of wheat on an emergency basis.” He further highlighted the discrimination meted out to Balochistan as the “federal government has given 400,000 flour bags to utility stores but no share to Balochistan.” This shows apathy on the part of the federal government of Pakistan towards Balochistan. As per a study by the Pakistan Institute of Developmental Economics and quoted in an article titled ‘Climate Change: The Troubled Waters of Balochistan’, published Dawn, “nearly 41 percent of households in Balochistan live below the income poverty line.” The alienation of the Baloch people was aptly explained by Akthar Mengal, the head of the Baloch National Party and quoted by Moonis Ahmer in an article titled “Why is the current Baloch nationalist movement different from the rest?” published in 2016 in Dawn. As studies suggest, there are multiple factors which cause insurgency in Balochistan, ranging from step-motherly treatment of Baloch people by the federal government of Pakistan, ecological crisis and lop-sided economic development, which increases the social vulnerability of the common people of this region as well as to the negative social impact caused by the CPEC project itself. The report highlights that the “failure to provide Gwadar the benefits of CPEC development is heightening hostility toward Islamabad and Beijing.” A Baloch columnist Jamal Baloch also shares a similar view in an article titled “China’s Debt Trap Diplomacy,” published in Balochistan Post on 4 January 2023.