Pak PM urges people of Balochistan to ensure safety of ‘friendly’ foreign investors
Highlight
- Pak PM urges people of Gwadar to ensure safety of “friendly” foreign investors
- PM Shahbaz visited important areas for the second time since coming to power in April
- China has invested billions of dollars in several development projects in the region
Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif has urged the people of Gwadar in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan to ensure the protection of “friendly” foreign investors, including China, who are investing heavily for the development of the poor but resource-rich province. Gwadar is known for its strategic port, developed and operated by China, where foreigners including Chinese workers were recently attacked by terrorists. Shahbaz visited the prime area for the second time since coming to power in April and addressed a gathering of fishermen and others at the Gwadar Business Center on Friday.
According to a report in Dawn newspaper, he said that the friendly countries want to help Pakistan and it is their responsibility to provide them security. “China, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Turkey, Qatar and other countries have been providing financial and diplomatic help and support to Pakistan for 75 years and getting the country out of difficult times. “If we don’t fulfill our responsibility to ensure the safety of their investors, engineers and employees, they will go back,” he said.
China has invested billions of dollars in a number of development projects in its “all-weather ally” Pakistan. The ambitious China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which connects Gwadar Port in Pakistan’s Balochistan with China’s Xinjiang province, is a flagship project of China’s ambitious multi-billion dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). CPEC is a collection of infrastructure and other projects under construction across Pakistan since 2013. Originally valued at US$46 billion, the projects were valued at US$62 billion as of 2017.
Balochistan is a mineral-rich and volatile region of Pakistan that has been witnessing a low level of insurgency for years. Baloch nationalists frequently attack security forces and Chinese workers, warning Beijing to halt its investment activities. There have been targeted attacks on Chinese civilians in Pakistan in recent months. On April 26, three Chinese teachers were killed when a burqa-clad female suicide bomber of the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) detonated a van of the Confucius Institute in Karachi’s prestigious university.
The Prime Minister said that during his visit to Beijing, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang had assured him of financial help and cooperation and on the second day an agreement was signed under which China will give a soft loan of USD 2.3 billion to Pakistan. While Saudi Arabia and the UAE also provided assistance, he said these countries had not placed any conditions for investment in Pakistan and the development of “our agriculture, industry, energy sector”. “Unfortunately, their engineers, employees and others who are helping us in development are being targeted,” he said. Sharif also expressed displeasure over the delay in completion of development projects started five years ago in Gwadar. Referring to the demands of the fishermen, he said that steps are being taken to address the issues of displacement and difficulty in accessing the sea which is affecting the fisheries sector.
He said that the establishment of Gwadar University has been included in the public sector development programme. Earlier, Sharif signed an MoU between Gwadar Development Authority (GDA) and Indus Hospital for setting up a 100-bed hospital in Gwadar. Meanwhile, a prominent local leader organized a protest on the occasion for the rights of the people, especially those who had gone missing over the years.
The Gwadar rights movement, led by Maulana Hidayat-ur-Rehman, and family members of the forcibly disappeared held protest rallies in Gwadar while Prime Minister Sharif was in the port city. Hundreds of people associated with the “Gwadar Ko Haq Do” (Give Rights to Gwadar) movement and members of various political parties and civil society gathered at Y-Chowk carrying placards and banners with their demands. Marching on various streets of the city despite tight security, they raised slogans against the federal and Balochistan governments and in support of their demands. As per the Dawn report, another rally was also taken out by the heirs of the missing persons.
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