Pakistan

Broken promises: Dr Malik threatens to halt exploration

Tells gas companies to hand over the province’s share

Our Correspondent March 07, 2015

Balochistan Chief Minister Balochistan Dr Abdul Malik Baloch. PHOTO: APP

QUETTA:

Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch on Friday threatened to pull the plug on oil exploration work if his province is not handed its due shares, as guaranteed by the 18th amendment of the Constitution.

“Under the 18th Amendment [of constitution], 50 per cent share should be given to Balochistan from OGDCL, PPL and all other companies,” the chief minister said on the floor of the Balochistan Assembly.

Dr Abdul Malik’s warning came during a debate on a resolution advanced by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MPA Samina Khan to shift the head office of Sui Southern Gas from Karachi to Quetta.

Dr Baloch said the failure to follow the 18th Amendment is tantamount to rejection of the Constitution.

While presenting the resolution, Samina Khan said large reservoirs of gas have been discovered in Balochistan and this gas was being delivered to every corner of the country from the western province, yet the administrative set-up of the company, including its head office, is in Karachi.

According to her, the location of the gas company’s head office is creating problems for the people of Balochistan as they have to travel to Karachi to redress several complaints, draining them economically and wasting their precious time.

She recommended that the provincial authorities formally request the federal government to shift the head office of the Sui Sothern Gas to Quetta. Her resolution was unanimously adopted by the house.

Speaking on the resolution, Dr Baloch lamented that the conduct of gas companies, including OGDCL and PPL, does not even match the behaviour adopted by Britain’s East India Company towards the Asian subcontinent.

“I have explicitly told the gas companies that they are [mainly] responsible for the political fire that flares up in Balochistan,” he said, adding that the same companies involved Nawab Akbar Bugti in unnecessary disputes.

“I have asked the companies to give Balochistan its due share as per the Constitution or else they won’t be allowed any further exploration,” the chief minister warned.

Dr Baloch also congratulated all the newly elected senators of Balochistan after they were elected peacefully.

Mama Qadir and Farzana Majeed issue

The chief minister said he would take up the issue of not allowing Baloch activists Mama Qadir and Farzana Majeed to board a New York bound flight from Jinnah International Airport.

The issue was raised by Balochistan National Party chief Sardar Mengal on a point of order during Friday’s session. Mengal said it is beyond comprehension how the names of the chairman and vice chairman of Baloch Missing Persons Mama Qadir and Farzana Majeed were put on the Exit Control List.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 7^th, 2015.

COMMENTS (17)

syed and syed | 9 years ago | Reply @Human:Allow Pakistanis from other provinces and you will enjoy a better life

Chachoo | 9 years ago | Reply @lohana: This is the Pakistan's internal issue. So why every Indian is jumping on those issues. You do not have any idea about 18th amendment. Also read my comment again as your comprehension skills seem to very weak. Kindly try to understand the difference in natural resources and those companies who are exploring those minerals.

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lohana | 9 years ago | Reply @Chachoo: Sorry but in India, coal blocks were auctioned and most of the earnings will be going to the states. Indian govt has increased share of States in central taxes from 32% to 42%.

lohana | 9 years ago | Reply @Jameel ur Rasheed: jameel bhai at least we r trying to improve ourselves in India. Modi as CM of Gujarat started coaching the dalits in religious rites and trained them to be priests. Two majot Dalit leaders, Paswan and Athavale are in coalition with BJP.

light | 9 years ago | Reply Baluchistan should be more prosperous.

Fairness | 9 years ago | Reply Thank you ET for covering news about neglected provinces and the injustice done against them by the Pakistani elite.

Raj - USA | 9 years ago | Reply @kulwant singh: @Jameel ur Rasheed: I grew up in Calcutta. During the late 60's and early 70's two of my friends and their families who were brahmins, changed their caste to scheduled caste (lower caste). They would issue a notification in newspapers (which was a requirement) that would say, for example, "I have changed my name from ........... Banerjee to ................ Das and henceforth, I shall be known by my new name "........... Das". Banerjee is a brahmin last name and Das is a last name used by lower caste also known us scheduled caste. They did it because they could get loans from banks without collateral or at preferential rates of interest and other benefits such as reserved quotas for government jobs. Family of one such friend started a transport business and another friend got a job in Auditor General's office. I left Calcutta in the mind 70's and do not know if this continued. My sister did not get admission in the medical college because of the quota allocated to lower caste. She was not an exceptional student but had better grades than minimum required and would have got the admission had there been no reservation for lower castes.

Fairness | 9 years ago | Reply Smaller provinces of Pakistan and their people are treated as stepchildren.

kulwant singh | 9 years ago | Reply @Jameel ur Rasheed: Dear Jameel you are not aware about the present situations after Independance the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes have been given reservation in all posts from class IV to Class I their childern get reservation in Medical Engineering colleges and they are required to obtain less marks in enterance exams, and in Panjab we share meals with them, though the conditions weree different 50 years ago.

zara haq | 9 years ago | Reply @Human: They aren't poorest. And they have richest sardars whose kids study overseas in best universities on the money which is the share of baloch people. They have been collecting royalties on natural resources for last 50 years yet people don't get their share. And i don't get is he asking for 50pc share in companies, has he lost his mind. I was reading funds and profit. Has he read 18th ammendment. This man doesn't let any development work go forward. Reko diq was wrapped up for unknown reasons. I think someday baloch ppl tired of these leeches, will give a huge kick to these nutjobs and then things will get to work.

zara haq | 9 years ago | Reply Never give a penny to these sardars . Give directly to baloch ppl. These usurpers never let the due share get to deserved

Tranquil | 9 years ago | Reply He has complete right to do so. He is representative of People of Bluchistan province. and all rights should be given to every single Baloch first than any other person. FYI I am punjabi from Sindh. Regards,

ali.baloch | 9 years ago | Reply ET you win, i always like u when you highlight such issues, concerning deprived ppl of provinces, the highlight of their issues in the main stream media is much necessary so that they could be well understood by the rest of the country...

Chachoo | 9 years ago | Reply 18th amendment does not give the right to any province to lay any claim on the Federal Exploration companies. Only the right to the indigenous resources is given to the provinces. There is a difference in these two terms. The companies that are extracting those resources are not a part of any Natural resources. Also no company will invest in Balochistan when they will realize that tomorrow that province will demand the 50 percent share in those companies. Nowhere in the world the region can lay claim on those companies. This practice is only witnessed in Veneuzela and afterwards Private companies left those regions. Because today the provinces are claiming the share in Oil and Gas companies and tomorrow the same claim could be witnessed in Cement and Fertilizer companies. Also Sui Southern's total share of Sindh's gas and condensate is around 70 percent while Balochistan is only providing 15-20 percent of the total share in that company. So shifting any headquarters from Karachi to Quetta based on the 15-20 percent contribution does not make much sense to me.

Human | 9 years ago | Reply Why can't Baluch enjoy the same rights? Why can't they have control over their resources? Why are they treated as second class citizens?

Human | 9 years ago | Reply Baluchistan is the most mineral rich province of Pakistan and yet its people are the poorest. This article explains why.

Jameel ur Rasheed | 9 years ago | Reply The people of Balochistan are to Pakistan what shooders in Hinduism. The Punjab dominated establishment thinks, including the Shareefs, that Balochistan is a dead province and there is no point in investing in the province. That's how you explain the changing of economic corridor route. So salvage whatever is available from the piece of land that forms 46.8 percent of Pakistan, and let it loose when the conditions are out of hand. That's the plan.

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