Balochistan

In Balochistan: ‘Closing Save the Children a conspiracy’

Save the Children has played a significant role in improving the education and health of children in Balochistan

Mohammad Zafar June 29, 2015

Save the Children has played a significant role in improving the education and health of children in Balochistan. PHOTO: EXPRESS

QUETTA:

Balochistan’s Health Minister Rehmat Saleh Baloch on Sunday condemned the closure of Save the Children NGO’s operations in the province, terming it a ‘conspiracy’ to keep the region backward.

“Funds which were supposed to be spent on the education sector of Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa through Save the Children have now been transferred to Punjab and Sindh,” he said at a news conference in Quetta. He called on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to take notice of the closure.

Read: Save the Children offices still closed in Pakistan

“Save the Children has played a significant role in improving the education and health of children in Balochistan. I personally appeal to the prime minister to allow this organisation to continue to work in the province,” Rehmat said.

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

COMMENTS (4)

ahmad | 9 years ago | Reply children should be taken care of by their close families. this is pakistan a moslim country which has strong family values. there are no chidren without parents or close relatives. so no need of any NGO taking care of our children. This is not a 3rd grade country. I have myself applied for adopting a child in a foreign country but was refused being a moslim and chidren are christian. So how can our governments do this criminal negligence of allowing foreign groups basically working to christianize.

atherkhanturi | 9 years ago | Reply kp, balochistan and fata are the most backward places of this country and need all the help it can get to improve the pathetic situation in these areas. but instead of diverting foreign help to these areas, govt, bureaucracy and now army is diverting the foreign helps from these areas to punjab. this will not only create huge sense of deprivation but also hatred toward punjab and state of pakistan. for the sake of unity please let ingos to operate in these areas or ban them all over pakistan.

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Khan | 9 years ago | Reply It is unfortunate that Mehmood Khan Achakzai who is one of the most powerful leaders of Pashtuns of Balochistan is a close ally of the central government. He is keeping complete silence on such issues, probably for the apparent reason not to upset the Prime Minister. There is no doubt that this decision would alienate the Pashtuns of Balochistan who already are suffering from the destruction of agriculture in their areas because of continues drought and unjust power shortages. It looks like such policies would increase their sense of deprivation

Quetta Gul | 9 years ago | Reply Hard to believe that all Save the Children office are being closed in the province indiscriminately. Out of these eight offices, five are in the Pashtun region where there is no insurgency and these areas are comparatively peaceful and as such could not be rated as sensitive areas. It looks like, by closing Save the Children offices in the peaceful Pashrun region of Balochistan the government is sending a clear message that it's not only the Baloch population which should suffer because of the insurgency, the Pashtuns of Balochistan, despite their loyalty to Pakistan, are being punished. These blind policies are alliniating Pashtuns as well. What if Pashruns of Balochistan take their arms against such injustices?

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