PAKISTANIS FIGHT FOR THEIR LIVELIHOOD IN GWADAR

In the name of security of shipping lanes and port development, rich fishing areas belonging to the locals were taken away and given to the Chinese.

- MAJOR AMIT BANSAL

For more than a month, the people of Balochistan protested at Gwadar in large numbers before Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan Niazi sent his ministers to broker a peace deal. Finally the protests were called off on 16 December, Thursday. The people were not protesting for any special privileges but for basic amenities and livelihood due to the dark shadows of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which not only snatched their livelihood but their very basic right to live. The peaceful protests were named Gwadar Ko Huqooq Do Tehreek” which means give Gwadar its rights”. The town which was promised would become the Dubai of Pakistan was in the doldrums, with the locals struggling for even basic needs. They had strong reasons to protest. When Chinese companies were given over 2,000 acres of land to develop a Special Economic Zone (SEZ), rosy promises were made by the Pakistan government. The Chinese were not only supposed to employ over 40,000 locals in the project but also were to provide drinking water and other basic amenities to over 2.5 lakh people living in and around Gwadar Port City. None of this materialized.