The Reko Diq gold and copper mining project has been renewed and resettled with certain modifications in terms of policy and conditions by the federal government, and with this has ended the long investment dispute with Tethyan Copper Company (TCC).
Relevant to this development is the newly-adopted Foreign Investment (Promotion and Protection) Bill, 2022, passed recently by both houses of parliament. A few sections of the legislation are seen with a grain of salt by the people of Balochistan.
There is no denying the fact that Balochistan is a relevant stakeholder in Reko Diq, and it is essential that any agreement or deal signed with any foreign company or investor should be shared with the provincial hierarchy, and all the genuine reservations of the people need to be addressed.
The pathetic developmental landscape of Balochistan is a convincing proof of the bitter reality that the province has not received its due over the years. It is the least developed, the poorest, the most illiterate province whose growing population has been reeling from abject poverty, lack of food, clean drinking water and modern and innovative learning techniques.
The youths of Balochistan run from pillar to post to get a job or a livelihood, but due to low economic activity and business in the province, they end up dejected. The health structure is in a shambolic state. The people are at present enduring the worst form of gas, water and electricity shortages. The hapless people of the province are shown the sky and then find themselves languishing under open skies; homeless and shelterless. They are told tales of billions of dollars coming in worthy projects, but are left to fend for themselves because the province never gets its due share in such projects.
The promised benefits that projects like the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and Saindak were supposed to bring to the province have failed to bring prosperity in the life of the common man in the province. One wonders what good the Reko Diq project will be for the masses. There is a justified feeling of distrust among the people of Balochistan in this regard.
If the federal government is sincere about dispelling the impression, it needs to make genuine effort and go a long way to assure the people of Balochistan not through words but through actions that this time no injustice would be done to them, and that any benefit accrued from Reko Diq would be spent on the develop-ment of Balochistan and its people, too.
ASMA QASIM
QUETTA
