“Balochistan Pakistan kay mattay ka jhoomar hai”, “Balochistan is the glimmering jewel on Pakistan’s forehead”. A fancy phrase very often used with a bursting tune in the corridors of power. Behind such hollow slogans and jargon, no leader, military or civilian, has been honest enough to soberly inquire into, understand, and heal the deep-rooted wounds of the “jewel”.

For years, Balochistan’s underdevelopment has been insufficiently discussed, reluctantly acknowledged, and then quietly set aside. Instead, the Baloch themselves have been blamed for their underdevelopment. Their political voices are silenced through political engineering, and peaceful movements have been suppressed through the use of brute force.

However, in the last few years, several reports published by reputable organisations and government institutions have quantitatively validated that Balochistan is not lagging due to socio-cultural reasons but because of systematic and structural policies that excluded the province from Pakistan’s development trajectory.

The recently published District Vulnerability Index for Pakistan (DVIP), by the Population Council of Pakistan, provides a very bleak and worrying portrait of Balochistan’s development landscape. In fact, the DVIP is a softer version of a “Black Book” on Balochistan. Heavily laden with facts, the report substantiates the Baloch people’s claim of systemic underdevelopment and a discriminatory regime that has been in place since the inception of the country.

The report places 21 districts, nearly two-thirds of Balochistan, in the most vulnerable category nationwide. This is not a marginal difference from other provinces. It is a profound divide that shapes how people live, work, learn, and survive. Nearly half of the province’s population resides in districts where deprivation is not episodic but permanent. This is not a story of one missing road or one underfunded hospital. It is a story of cumulative neglect, where........

© The Friday Times