I have just arrived at my desk after a breakfast meeting with Mr Hidayatur Rehman, the founder of the Gwadar ko haq do(Give Gwadar its rights) Movement and couldn’t resist penning down my impressions. We were more than 20 professionals on the table and probably I was the one with the maximum questions about his dissatisfaction with the development of Gwadar, contrary to repeated claims in the media by both Pakistani and Chinese officials about the advancing of fundamental facilities for local residents. Usually there is a gap between narratives and ground realities, but in this case I found lack of coordination among relevant stakeholders and a bit of mismanagement that is causing real discomfort, which needs elucidation.
There is a strong need for coordination among all relevant stakeholders to appropriately implement the envisioned plan and immediately take corrective measure to stop bleeding out of such an important initiative of CPEC which promises growth and development of not only China and Pakistan but all nations across the One Belt One Road initiative
I was surprised to hear that for any medical complication people of Gwadar travel to Karachi with only ambulance charges Rs 15,000 for the round trip apart from other expenses of treatment, hospitalization and staying of attendants in the city, coupled with the loss of income due to the absence from their fundamental source of earning, which is fishing. If we envision making Gwadar an international city and a hub of global trade, then we need to start from the building of modern infrastructure for basic facilities including health, education, sanitation and water supply. We heard so many times in the media about the establishment of schools and hospitals in the city of Gwadar, but the fact remains that people of Gwadar travel to Karachi in June 2023 for treatments of fundamental nature.
Desalination of water in port cities is a common phenomenon around the world, and even countries like Barbados and Algeria, let alone Australia, Germany and Israel, are operating water desalination plants quite efficiently. Conversely, in Gwadar the water desalination plant is lying abandoned, even though it was installed at a cost of billions of rupees. Initially there wasn’t any supply line to the city of Gwadar from the desalination plant and now probably there is a problem of silting at the origin; in both cases it is sheer mismanagement and incompetence to be unable to operate the water desalination plant considering the value of providing clean drinking water to the people of Gwadar; those who are at the helm of affairs need to give it a top priority to ensure that water desalination plant starts working immediately and remains operational without any disruption.
To the question that why don’t people of Gwadar take benefit from the commercial aspect of CPEC by exporting agriculture goods, especially nuts, to China to get economic prosperity, he instantly replied, “Our mainstay is fishery, we export fish to eight countries but we are not allowed and importantly we are not being facilitated to export fish and its by-products to China. We don’t have any fish processing facility at Gwadar, therefore we can’t contribute to the expected economic gains of CPEC”. It should be a matter of serious concern especially for those who envisioned CPEC and equally for those who are now implementing the project. It is just a simple commonsense that promoting and facilitating fishery can contribute significantly to engage the people of Gwadar; policy makers and frontline managers of CPEC need to give immediate attention to develop modern fish processing infrastructure in the city.
Probably, one of the most strategic comments of the guest was, “We are dwellers of sea waters but we are not being represented in the Pakistan Navy. I think those who can endure the rigours of water are much suitable for jobs in the navy, but none of us is employed in the Pakistan Navy”. I remember a door-to-door campaign of the Pakistan Army in the entire province of Baluchistan to recruit soldiers from every tribe and corner of the province. In the same manner if the Pakistan Navy can employ young children of the local fishermen that can boost ownership and confidence of inhabitants of shores throughout the sea belt of Balochistan.
Responding to one of the questions Mr Hidayatur Rehman said that the urgent need of the people of Gwadar is a rehabilitation centre for drug addicts. He said that every family in the city is a victim of narcotics, parents especially mothers are terribly frightened for the future of their children due to the widespread prevalence of narcotics in the city. The interesting thing is that those among local residents who are closely allied with the administrative setup are actually linked with the business of narcotics, thus betraying the confidence of authorities while selling them their false patriotism. Instantly, a number of participants extended their interest in facilitating establishment of a rehabilitation centre for drug addicts in the city of Gwadar.
Establishment of “Gwadar Desk” was announced by the hosts, Think Pakistan and Lahore Leads University, to facilitate the people of Gwadar in particular and Baluchistan in general in meeting their existing economic and strategic challenges besides promoting their voice in rest of Pakistan and all possible international forums, integrating them in the national and global mainstream for the prosperity and success of relevant stakeholders.
When there was an emphasis on learning Chinese language, the guest suggested educating Chinese counterparts to learn the Baluchi language to better understand the people of Gwadar and eliminate the existing communication gap, because it is more than important for Chinese companies to be aware of the sentiments of local population while operating in this part of the world. One of the participants added a hadith narrating the importance of learning languages to understand the deep-rooted dynamics of any society.
It was indeed a memorable meeting with sumptuous breakfast, insightful discussions and a selfie session at the end of the programme. However, it left an impression that there is a strong need for coordination among all relevant stakeholders to appropriately implement the envisioned plan and immediately take corrective measure to stop bleeding out of such an important initiative of CPEC which promises growth and development of not only China and Pakistan but all nations across the One Belt One Road initiative.
