National Security Workshop: Rs5 billion needed for development, says CM Baloch

Says sectarian violence has declined in Balochistan

QUETTA: Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch has sought additional funds for development programmes in the province.

Addressing the National Security Workshop in Quetta, the chief minister said, “There is a need to allocate four to five billion rupees for the development of Balochistan.”

“A prosperous and peaceful Balochistan is linked with the continuation of democracy,” Baloch emphasised.

Commenting on the myriad of challenges, he said that the people of Balochistan always felt a sense of alienation from the centre with a tense relationship with the establishment.

It is unfortunate that among the 40 state owned corporations, none is headed by a person from Balochistan. Same is the case with Foreign Service where one can hardly find any official from the province, he said, citing several examples of centre’s discriminatory attitude towards Balochistan.

“Our elders have struggled and made unspeakable sacrifices for democracy in the country. They strived against military rulers and martial law and their struggle was dubbed as anti-state,” he told the participants during the question and answer session.

Dr Malik Baloch said his government has allocated a separate budget for the provision of basic facilities for Dera Bugti district which is home to the Sui gas field.



On the future of the resource rich province, CM Balcoh said that his government has increased the education budget from four per cent to 24 per cent and has initiated the construction of six new universities, three medical colleges, eight cadet colleges and five residential colleges.

“For the first time in Balochistan, recruitment of teachers was made through National Testing Service. We introduced a monitoring system of the schools through which ghost teachers and schools were located,” the CM asserted.

Trumpeting his government’s record, the CM said, “There is a sharp decline in sectarian violence, the highways are far safer than they were two years.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 29^th, 2015.