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Islamabad: Poor governance is the primary reason behind instability and deprivation in Pakistan’s Balochistan province as the Federal government regards the province as a security issue and does not address the social, economic, and political causes of the crisis there, a report said.

People of Balochistan do not get benefits despite the province being resource-rich, according to the report in Afghan Diaspora Network.

The majority of development projects in Balochistan, including the strategic Gwadar port and the Saindak copper and gold mine, have been operated by China. Chinese or people from Pakistan’s Punjab and Sindh provinces earn profits from Balochistan’s resources instead of people from the province. The have-nots of Balochistan often take up militancy to fight for their rights and express their anger towards the foreigners in Balochistan, it said.

The majority of people in Balochistan live in extreme deprivation of resources, human rights and education, though Pakistan denies that people of the province are discontented. Its approach towards Balochistan has been security-centric while the development and governance agenda have taken the backseat. Currently, Balochistan faces the highest poverty in Pakistan, with 47 per cent of residents living below the poverty line. The province does not have basic infrastructure, employment opportunities, gas connections, and clean drinking water despite being a hub for extraction and mega projects, according to the Afghan Diaspora Network report.

“Experts blame the poor governance as a main culprit behind instability and deprivation. Quick to resort to repression, the state has considered Balochistan unidimensional as a security issue, ignoring the underlying social, economic, and political causes of the crisis. The ongoing ‘Operation Shaban’ might hit the headlines for killing terrorists, but it fails to ensure any sustainable peace and stability. The experts argue that the military cannot lead to durable peace without addressing the root causes of Balochistan’s unrest, including federalism, identity, and the fair distribution of resource wealth,” Kadeem Baloch, a freelance journalist based in Pakistan, wrote in the report.

Saturday, the Baloch Republican Guards (BRG) claimed responsibility for destroying two electricity towers in the province’s Nasirabad, local media reported.

BRG spokesperson Dosteen Baloch said in a statement that the members of BRG blew up two 220 kV electricity towers going from the Och Power Plant to Punjab at the Piru Pul area near Mir Hassan area of Nasirabad, The Balochistan Post reported.

Two towers collapsed, and two more sustained severe damage as a result of the explosion. The spokesperson stated that BRG accepts responsibility for this attack and noted that such operations will continue until the independence of Balochistan from Pakistan.

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