“Gwadar ko haq do!”

For the past month, protesters have filled the streets of the Pakistani city of Gwadar—home to a Chinese-operated port—chanting “Gwadar ko haq do!” (“Give Gwadar rights!”). Among their many demands: an end to the illegal trawling devastating the livelihoods of local fishermen, the relaxation of restrictions on trade with nearby Iran, and the easing of security checkpoints in the city.

Situated in Pakistan’s Balochistan province along the Arabian Sea—outside the Strait of Hormuz and a few dozen miles from Iran—Gwadar has been pitched as a key node of the Belt and Road-linked China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Pakistani officials have claimed that Gwadar and CPEC will transform the region’s economic geography by providing China’s landlocked Xinjiang region with an outlet to the Indian Ocean. But in discussions on Gwadar’s future, the city’s Indigenous ethnic Baloch population has largely been invisible.

The land of Balochistan consists of an area over 500, 000 rectangle miles in the south- eastern portion of the Iran level, south of the main deserts and the Helmand stream. The Baloch are the primary cultural group in the region, followed by Pashtuns. The larger part of the population is Sunni Muslims. Some Shias and Hindus also live in the region.

The region is separated between three countries: Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The biggest portion of Balochistan is associated with Pakistan. It is rich with natural wealth such as chromites, fluorite, stone, silver, gas, metal and oil; yet the province has failed to keep the pace of socio-economic development and modernity with other provinces in the federation of Pakistan. This is primarily because of their political disorganization and segregation and economic backwardness.

The saga of economic and social backwardness of Balochistan province is a big sudoku. A section of the local political elite and scholars believe that the centralist nature of Pakistani federation is such that small nationalities like the Baloch and Pashtoon would find it hard to get their due share within the federation. That is because, the resource distribution and representation to both elected bodies and state institutions are based upon population, and Balochistan in spite of having 44% of Pakistan territory accounts for just 5% of country’s total population.

Another view is that the nature of geo-economics and historical perspective of the province hinder the pace of economic development.

The Pakistani state engages in torture, forced disappearances of those suspected of opposition to the military, ill treatment of captured combatants or criminals, and extrajudicial killings. Estimates of the number of disappeared in Balochistan “are between hundreds and several thousand.” According to Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) around 5,228 Baloch have gone missing from 2001 to 2017.

Resources and Economic Development Issues

The current resentment among the locals is against Chinese presence. China is developing the Gwadar port and is also involved in infrastructure projects.

Locals have been saying for long that jobs in these vital projects are being offered to outside labour and locals are left without employment. Locals also allege that they are being marginalised.^[1] They have already given up some of their regular fishing spots due to development work of the port. Now the unequal competition with Chinese trawlers has added to their difficulty.

People are also protesting against unnecessary checkpoints on main roads, severe shortage of water and electricity.

The protesters have rallied under Gwadar Ko Huqooq Do Tehreek (Rights to Gwadar movement). Hundreds of local residents including women, civil society activists, lawyers and journalists have been participating in the massive non-violent sit-in protests. The protestors, who also include Ormara and Pasni residents, have blocked the Makran Coastal Highway passing through Gwadar.^[2]

The protesters have put forth the following 19 demands

End to illegal trawlers
Freedom for fishermen to go to sea
Elimination of unnecessary checkposts on major roads
Closure of wine shops in Gwadar All wine shops closed on government instructions
Elimination of interference in cross-border trade with Iran
Establishment of a university in Gwadar
Appointments on empty seats of education department’s non-teaching staff
Curtailing the sale of fake medicines
Waivers and subsidies on utility bills
Release of seized cars and boats by coastguard
Provision of clean drinking water
Priority to locals on jobs for development projects
Implementation on agreement with Dar Bela affectees
Compensation paid to Expressway affectees
Removal of cases on protest leaders and names from Fourth Schedule
Damages for losses due to storms and illegal trawlers
Removal of DG GDA, DC Gwadar AC Pasni
Implementation of quota for disabled people
Open Kulki point for transportation of oil and essentials

The sit-in and the protest rattled the government and forced the authorities to deploy thousands of additional police in the region. Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has been forced to tweet, “I have taken notice of the very legitimate demands of the hardworking fishermen of Gwadar. Will be taking strong action against illegal fishing by trawlers & will also speak to CM Balochistan.”^[3]

Chinese mechanisations

China lacks direct access to the Arabian Sea. It will be able to do so via Gwadar. Chinese goods, and even oil supplies will then be able to bypass sea lanes in the Indian Ocean dominated by the Indian Navy and other powers.

China’s plans are to connect its Xinjiang province with the CPEC network of roads and railways in Pakistan. Gwadar port has long been portrayed as the jewel in the CPEC crown, but in the process, the city has become the very embodiment of a security state. The protests in Balochistan are part of growing discontent with China’s presence in Gwadar

Pakistani State Reaction

The issue was examined by a Senate Standing Committee, which confirmed that Chinese ships did not seek permission to enter Pakistan’s waters and “did not respond to the mandatory very high frequency calls.”

The importance of the whole issue was evident when Lijian Zhou—spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry—saw fit to denounce it as ‘fake news,’ and said that no Chinese trawlers had been involved. Baloch resentment, however, is not limited to this. They have received no benefits from the Chinese entry—not even jobs—despite promises. Meanwhile, it is Pakistan’s real estate tycoons who are making a fast buck.

Islamabad says that it has agreed to two demands. One, a notification transferring Pakistan-Iran border affairs from the Frontier Corps—which makes quite a buck out of it—to the district administration. Two, it agreed to joint oversight of the foreign trawlers by the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA), the district administration, and the fisheries department.

These claims are not true, as proven by the continuing sit-in. The protesters refused to move out.

Imran Khan’s government has now taken to old tactics of human rights abuses. It targeted Mir Yousaf Masti Khan, a respected politician of the Baloch Muttahida Mahaz. The arrest was condemned by rights groups and on social media.

Pakistan‘s Opposition Leader in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif has described the Gwadar protests as a “watershed event” in the struggle for basic rights in the country.^[4]

Strangely, however, the whole issue has been shelved by the Pakistani media, even though the protest is acknowledged to be one of the largest held in Balochistan for decades.

For now, the Gwadar residents have called off their protests after the government assured them that all their 19 demands will be accepted. The Balochistan chief minister visited the site of the protest and informed them that their demands had been accepted.

Addressing the protesters, Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo said that a complete ban had been imposed on illegal fishing and directions had been issued to the departments concerned. But that remains to be seen. (POREG)