Poverty, exploitation adding to woes of quake-battered Baluchistan

ISLAMABAD/QUETTA, Pakistan, Nov. 2 Kyodo - The death toll from the magnitude 6.4 earthquake that struck southwestern Pakistan on Oct. 29 has soared to nearly 300 people, and as many as 70,000
people have lost their homes.

Paradoxically, even though Baluchistan, which bore the brunt of the
destruction, is rich in natural resources, it is the most impoverished province
in the country.
Damage from the earthquake was apparently aggravated as the region is full of
flimsily-built houses that buckle easily when jolted by a temblor.
The wreckage left by the earthquake, some people say, may stoke the anger of
militants who have been fighting for the independence of Baluchistan.
The destruction was most evident in Ziarat, the worst-hit area about 120
kilometers east of the provincial capital Quetta.
''My entire family was buried in the rubble and they have all died. What shall
I do from now on?'' asked Ziarat resident Haji Hasim tearfully.
The earthquake, which struck in the early hours of Oct. 29, shook violently
twice. Hasim's mud-hardened house collapsed instantly, killing his wife and
their children.
Hasim was unharmed as he somehow managed to escape from his house. Along with
his family, all the family livestock also perished in the earthquake.
In Ziarat, the temperature around this time of the year drops below zero, and
many victims of the earthquake sleep in the open, bundled together in blankets
rushed in by rescue workers.
Aid from the army and the international community has started arriving in the
disaster areas, but one local official says the quake victims do not even have
enough blankets and tents.
Aftershocks continue to rumble in the disaster area, damaging more houses that
escaped destruction in the initial quake.
Sana Baloch, 37, a former senator from the Baloch National Party, accused the
government in Islamabad of exploiting the mineral wealth of Baluchistan.
''Our people are forced to live in badly-built houses because the wealth of
Baluchistan has been sucked up by the central government,'' said Baloch, whose
party is seeking self-rule for Baluchistan.
Baluchistan is rich in copper, natural gas and other natural resources, but
Baloch says the natural gas consumed inside the province amounts to just 2
percent of its total gas output. Natural gas produced in Baluchistan does not
go beyond Quetta, he says.
Baloch says half of the revenues from minerals mined by foreign interests in
the province go to overseas operators while the central government takes 48
percent of the earnings, with Baluchistan taking the remaining 2 percent.
Against the backdrop of this economic situation is a violent insurgency, as
bomb attacks from pro-independence militants spread.
China has financed a project to build a deep-sea port in Gwadar on the southern
Baluchistan coast near the Iranian border as a midway point for the shipping of
petroleum from the Middle East to China.
The project, now almost complete, has been hit by militants who have slain
Chinese technicians and workers.
According to a local Pakistani journalist, so far only one ship has docked at
the newly built port. The construction of a road system linked to the port is
reportedly well behind schedule.
While Pakistan's President Ali Zardari has declared that the rights to the
mineral resources belong to the local people, the government has yet to draw up
concrete measures to implement and safeguard this policy.
Baloch says the anger of the people in Baluchistan has reached boiling point.
''If the government does not respond properly in earthquake rescue activities,
the operations of the militants will surely become more violent,'' he says.