Balochistan is a land blessed by nature but ravaged by the emphatic greed and criminal empathy of man. With its natural resources worth hundreds of billions of dollars it ranks amongst the world’s potentially richest regions, but its inhabitants live in abject poverty. Over 63 percent of its population languishes under the poverty line, 85 percent have absolutely no access to clean drinking water, and 70 percent have never seen the inside of a school. Natural gas from its fields powered the industrial and development juggernaut of the country for decades, yet it remains the country’s most under developed federating unit. It saw at least two major military actions (locals count six) against the people when they agitated for their rights. As if all this was not bad enough, those raising voices against this injustice have been going ‘missing’ by the hundreds. Consequently, the locals have turned upon ‘settlers’ who are predominantly of Punjabi origin, in a bid to settle scores with what they perceive as the oppressive Punjab-dominated establishment. Balochistan is caught in a vicious cycle of violent lawlessness http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=93097&Cat=9
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