Plot against politician President of Pakistan

By Siddiq Baluch

The President, Asif Ali Zardari, has revealed that some elements are conspiring against him for conceding the inalienable Baloch rights. Addressing a big public gathering on the occasion of groundbreaking ceremony of Vindar Dam Project of the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) at Vindar, he said that some unseen elements were unhappy or highly annoyed for conceding the Baloch rights recently announced by the PPP Government. He offered his apologies again for the past injustices done to the Baloch people saying that late Shaheed Benazir Bhutto had also spoke at length when she visited Balochistan last before her martyrdom. He implicitly left the message that a politician President is not acceptable to certain elements for obvious reasons and presumably they want a yes man of the establishment only.

The President said that his Government was committed to develop Balochistan, develop its resources and hand over the same to the just claimants of those resources. Referring to the construction of Dam on Vindar River in Lasbela District, he announced that his Government would construct one thousands such dams for developing the local economy or the entire national economy bringing a green revolution. The President said that the Dam would irrigate the private land of the people under its command area and the remaining state land would be distributed among the landless peasants of the area. He said he would personally come after three years and hand over the State land to the deserving landless peasants by sowing their fields physically. On the issue of plugging the leakages of public money, he said he would personally watch and monitor the pace of work by obtaining satellite pictures and would make payment to the builders or contractors afterwards ensuring transparency in construction quality.

It was the first public function of the President of Pakistan in Balochistan. The Provincial Governor, Chief Minister, Speaker of the Balochistan Assembly and Cabinet Ministers were also present on the occasion. Thousands of people attended the ground breaking ceremony laying the solid foundation for economic development of Balochistan. If fact, it was the first gift of the New Year to the people of Balochistan from President Asif Ali Zardari and his populist Government in Pakistan. The Dam will go a long way in catering the needs of the people making Balochistan self sufficient in food production. At present, Balochistan is a food deficit province of Pakistan and the province had to depend on the food imports from Punjab and Sindh to cater its needs at the end of year.

Vindar Dam will go a long way in providing a huge green belt to the entire coastal region of Sindh and Balochistan, particularly the two port cities of Karachi and Gwadar. Vindar Dam and its vast command area will be the greatest source of supply of primary produce from Vindar to Karachi and Gwadar port cities. The Provincial Government had earlier announced to build four major dams during the current fiscal year or lay foundation stones of those dams this year for which allocation of resources had been made. The President of Pakistan had performed the groundbreaking ceremony for one of the major dams in Vindar the other day and similar ceremonies will be held in due course of time. The present Government is laying greater emphasis on developing the agriculture sector on priority basis in an attempt to make Balochistan the food and fruit basket of the entire region. In all, the Government plans to construct more than 200 dams, small and medium size, to develop water resources and ultimately use it to bring more arable land under cultivation in shortest possible time. It will generate resources and create jobs for millions of jobless people in Balochistan. Such public oriented economic development projects will make people independent and sovereign not to depend on the Government for jobs and employment opportunities. Development of primary market or boosting primary produce will go a long way in creating a solid basis for industrial development of Balochistan. It will ensure availability of raw material for industries. To this date, agriculture is a primary source of employment of the Baloch people. It is being supplemented by livestock development in a big but in a traditional way. The Government will have to intervene in livestock development or dairy development by making a significant intervention of making available resources and technology for the indigenous breeder and producers.

(The writer is the editor-in-chief of Daily Balochistan Express and Daily Azadi, Quetta)