PM in Turbat

Balochistan has long been licking wounds of neglect and underfunding by federation. The provincial leadership and politicians based in the province have over the years been airing grievances about deprivation of their people, especially the youth. Education is an area where the province rightfully feels left out. Even as students in other parts of the country make progress in this age of information technology, Balochistan’s students are set back by the dearth of such fundamental resource as internet access. Perhaps to right these wrongs, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday reached Turbat in his first-ever visit to the district in south Balochistan, and gave the students the good news that the Punjab government had more than doubled the number of higher education scholarships for Baloch students – from 135 to 360.

Addressing Turbat University students, the PM promised to provide “maximum funds” for Balochistan’s education sector. Calling students the country’s “asset and future”, he said that the government wanted “an intellectual base [to] be prepared in Balochistan [which would be] ready to meet the challenges” of the modern world. “You are the future leaders of Pakistan and the intellect which will lead the country’s journey towards prosperity,” he told the students. While the PM admitted the importance of internet in this hi-tech era, it is hoped that the government will not waste any more time in providing internet facilities in remote areas of the province.

A prosperous Balochistan is vital for a prosperous Pakistan. This was the message that the PM conveyed through the various engagements he had during his visit to what is indeed the most deprived province of the country. The PM assured that his government is making all-out efforts to bring Balochistan on a par with other parts of the country in terms of development, insisting that the “strength of the federation depends on equal level of progress in all federating units”.

The PM opened Darul Ehsas for orphans and poor children in Turbat, and inaugurated work on various projects, including Turbat Airport expansion, 200-bed teaching hospital in Makran, second phase of Turbat University, 146-km Hoshab-Awaran section of the motorway – in what shows his seriousness towards the uplift of Balochistan.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, November 16^th, 2020.

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