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      Coastal Communities of Balochistan vis–à–vis CPEC: Mapping Perceptions and Socioeconomic Issues

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            Abstract

            This study explores the perceptions of the coastal communities of Balochistan vis–à–vis China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a mega–development project in Gwadar. Understanding the socioeconomic issues of the vulnerable coastal communities of the province is critical for the policymakers to ensure an inclusive approach towards development planning. The volatile political situation of this province underscores the need to proactively address the socioeconomic impact of CPEC projects on the local populace by including them in the development process instead of allowing them to be marginalized and exploited at the hands of the forces which are averse to the progress. It attempts to map the expectations and apprehensions of the subjects vis–à–vis changes brought about by CPEC in their region, especially how they perceive their habitat and livelihood being impacted–positively or negatively. Finally, the study charts out a set of recommendations based on the first–hand observations, and advocates devising an integrated strategy at all policy levels for ensuring inclusion of these coastal communities as important stakeholders not only in the mega development taking place in the form of CPEC–led development projects but also in the maritime economy and security of Pakistan.

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            Author and article information

            Contributors
            Journal
            10.2307/j50009730
            polipers
            Policy Perspectives
            Pluto Journals
            1812-1829
            1812-7347
            1 January 2020
            : 17
            : 1 ( doiID: 10.13169/polipers.17.issue-1 )
            : 53-72
            Affiliations
            Associate Editor, Policy Perspectives; General Manager Operations, Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), Islamabad, Pakistan
            Associate Professor, Department of Government and Public Policy, National Defence University (NDU), Islamabad, Pakistan
            Researcher, Maritime Desk, Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), Islamabad, Pakistan
            Young Development Fellow, Planning Commission of Pakistan
            Article
            polipers.17.1.0053
            10.13169/polipers.17.1.0053
            168efe90-fe77-4bbc-a6b1-d7e9a1c2e546
            © 2020, Institute of Policy Studies

            All content is freely available without charge to users or their institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission of the publisher or the author. Articles published in the journal are distributed under a http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

            History
            Custom metadata
            eng

            Education,Religious studies & Theology,Social & Behavioral Sciences,Law,Economics
            Fisherfolk,CPEC,Balochistan,Gwadar,Lasbela,Coastal Communities

            Footnotes

            1. See, Ministry of Planning, Development & Reform, GoP, “Long Term Plan for China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (2017–2030),” China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Official Website (Government of Pakistan, n.d.), accessed September 28, 2018, http://cpec.gov.pk/brain/public/uploads/documents/CPEC–LTP.pdf. The long term plan for CPEC conceptualizes geographical framework. As an area divided into zones which determine spatial layout consisting of one belt, three axes and several passages. The three axes refer to specific routes: Lahore and Peshawar (axis 1), Sukkur and Quetta (axis 2), and Karachi and Gwadar (axis 3).

            2. Baloch sub–nationalism, staged in–land and rooted in colonial times, is argued differently than the surfacing militancy in the coastal belt of Balochistan. At this stage, it is enough to reiterate that the in–land sub–nationalists appealed against massive land acquisitions in Gwadar; and that mega projects to be initiated with the consent of all the stakeholders, wherein, benefits and profits are shared with the province.

            3. Hafeez Ahmed Jamali, “A Harbor in the Tempest: Megaprojects, Identity, and the Politics of Place in Gwadar, Pakistan” (PhD diss., Department of Anthropology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, 2014), https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstream/handle/2152/30322/JAMALI–DISSERTATION–2014.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y.

            4. Asad Hashim, “Gunmen Attack Hotel in Pakistan's Gwadar, Kill Five People,” Al Jazeera, May 12, 2019, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/05/gunmen–attack–hotel–pakistan–port–city–gwadar–190511134034253.html.

            5. Yaqoob Bangash, “Creating the State: Pakistan and the Accession of Kalat, 1947–48,” Global Village Space, March 18, 2019, https://www.globalvillagespace.com/creating–the–state–pakistan–and–the–accession–of–kalat–1947–48/.

            6. Azhar Ahmad, Gwadar: Balance in Transition (Kunming: Yunnan University Press, 2018), 107–111.

            7. Naimat Khan, “Arab Legacy Lingers as Pakistan's Gwadar Grows from Tiny Fishing Town into Port City,” Arab News, April 29, 2019, https://www.arabnews.com/node/1489531/world.

            8. Safdar Sial, and Abdul Basit, “Conflict and Insecurity in Balochistan: Assessing Strategic Policy Options for Peace and Security,” report, Conflict and Peace Studies 3, no. 4 (2010): 7–90, https://pakpips.com/web/wp–content/uploads/2017/11/207.pdf.

            9. Ibid.

            10. Hashim, “Gunmen Attack Hotel in Pakistan's Gwadar, Kill Five People.”

            11. Safdar Sial, “The China–Pakistan Economic Corridor: An Assessment of Potential Threats and Constraints,” Conflict and Peace Studies 6, no. 2 (2014), http://pakistanhouse.net/wp–content/uploads/2016/11/cpec.pdf.

            12. The two attacks on Chinese workers were carried out in Chagai (August, 2018), Chinese consulate in Karachi (October, 2018), security forces at coastal highway (April, 2019) and PC Hotel in Gwadar (May, 2019).

            13. “BLA Releases Video Message Warning China Against Its Presence in Balochistan,” Asian News International, May 12, 2019, https://www.aninews.in/news/world/asia/bla–releases–video–message–warning–china–against–its–presence–in–balochistan20190512205126/.

            14. The fisherfolk across Hub River towards east – in a number of villages from Mubarak village (Hawksbay) till Maripur, Lyari and Manora – in the Sindh province are also ethnically Baloch.

            15. Two coastal districts of Balochistan are targeted in the present study i.e. Gwadar and Lasbela. From Goth Haji Alano in Gadani tehsil of Lasbela district bordering Sindh province to Jiwani of Gwadar district in tehsil Jiwani bordering Iran, it took twelve days from April 19 to 30, 2019, and interaction with a total of 78 members of the coastal communities of Balochistan in a qualitative landscape, to figure out what the fears and hopes are of coastal communities of Balochistan about CPEC related development in their region. Sampling is snowball as adequate list of coastal population was not readily available. The people who participated in interviews have their livelihood, directly or indirectly, dependent or linked to the coastal or marine resources. Identified as locals, part of the society and residing in the area for at least three generations. This would not include people associated with the services sector or other businesses as long as they are native to the area and they themselves or their forefathers have had the livelihood connection with the sea at some stage.

            16. “Lasbela,” Pakpedia.pk, November 23, 2017, https://www.pakpedia.pk/lasbela; and Dismas Reinald Apostolis, ed., Lasi (Tribe): Khoja, Brahui People, Samma Dynasty, Samma (Tribe) (DIC Press, 2011).

            17. The coastal population of Balochistan belongs to different castes and is divided on religious grounds into Sunni Muslims and Zikri. Some studies claim that the term Med is only reserved for Sunni fisherfolk, named locally as Namazi by the Zikris who are called instead Padi (one who paddles to fish).

            18. “Balochistan's Kund Malir beach featured among Asia's top 50,” Pakistan Today, January 1, 2019, https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2019/01/01/balochistans–kund–malir–beach–featured–among–asias–top–50/.

            19. Pakistan's coastline is among the most deprived areas in terms of education facilities with literacy rate at the lowest in the country. On the eastern side, Indus delta and the coastline primarily house fisherfolk mostly not facilitated with proper education and training infrastructure which leaves them and their children either uneducated or below grade five. On the western side, i.e., Makran coast, the situation is even worse; socioeconomic status of the populace is weak to a level where they are unable to afford any paid education for their children.

            20. Xu Yao, “China–Pakistan Faqeer Primary School Project, report (Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 2018), http://pk.chineseembassy.org/eng/zbgx/CPEC/t1627110.htm.

            21. PN enjoys a good rapport with the locals, community leaders, teachers, and Imams in Ormara. Almost 500 locals are employed with PN at Jinnah Naval Base (JNB), Ormara. Bahria Foundation school is operational in Ormara as well as the Cadet College of Navy. The Cadet College accepts 50 percent enrollment from Balochistan with a full scholarship, out of which 50 percent quota is reserved for students from the coastal belt. In conclusion, Navy serves as best example for other departments of Pakistan; teaching a unique model that comprises inclusivity of locals in the development process.

            22. See for instance, Saadullah Akhtar, “CM Directs PHE Department to Expedite All Water Projects in Balochistan,” Daily Balochistan Express, February 8, 2019, https://www.bexpress.com.pk/2019/02/cm–directs–phe–department–to–expedite–all–water–projects–in–balochistan/; and ——, “CM Balochistan Directs PHE to Convert Water Supply Schemes on Solar System,” Daily Balochistan Express, April 11, 2019, https://www.bexpress.com.pk/2019/04/cm–balochistan–directs–phe–to–convert–water–supply–schemes–on–solar–system/. By now Chief Minister of Balochistan Jam Kamal has conducted two important meetings with PHE to expedite water related projects in Gwadar and Lasbela.

            23. It is interesting to note here that illegal jetties, established on the coastal belt of Balochistan, are causing a loss of around PKR 5 billion annually to the national exchequer; as revealed by the Maritime Affairs Parliamentary Secretary Capt. (r) Jameel Ahmed Khan in a letter written to the Federal Board of Revenue chairman.

            24. Mohammad Aslam Khan, The Environment and Climate Change Outlook of Pakistan, report (Peshawar: University of Peshawar, 2013), https://www.uncclearn.org/sites/default/files/inventory/unep25082015.pdf.

            25. There is much graffiti in the town stating the need for jobs in Gwadar according to the Environmental Impacts and Mitigations Report (2019). It is interesting to note here that the restriction on smuggling activities has also reduced a source of income for the locals.

            26. The fish catch, presently, is physically taken to the facility in Karachi for processing. The coastal communities seek besides the uplift of fisheries and aquaculture in Ormara strong governance against the frequent intrusion of Sindh trawlers.

            27. Given their present condition, they may conveniently be exploited and switched to indigenous rights under instruments of international law fare. While free, prior and informed consent is specific to indigenous people, it empowers them to give or withhold consent to a project that may affect them or their territories.

            28. Besides all the apparent developmental enthusiasm, Gwadar project is also the epicenter of the sub–nationalist narrative resisting the CPEC as part of the ongoing militancy in the province brewing on the grounds of marginalization of fisherfolk and coastal communities of Balochistan. The coastal belt thrives on non–tribal structure, with ethnicities and people from different backgrounds, however, united by their functionality in terms of earning livelihood and dependence on coastal habitat. They have alienated themselves from main–stream Baloch hierarchies and groups and remained the most vulnerable and detached among the broader Baloch landscape and sub–nationalism.

            29. See, for example, Maqbool Ahmed, “The Mysterious Case of Land Acquisitions in Balochistan,” Herald, November 23, 2018, https://herald.dawn.com/news/1398696.

            30. For instance, PN has “Regional Maritime Security Patrol” to protect national and international shipping in the Indian Ocean and to neutralize the threats of piracy, maritime terrorism, drug trafficking as well as gun–running and human trafficking in the marine waters of Pakistan.

            31. For reasons strategic to simple law and order, multi–layered security instituted the presence of Balochistan Levies, Frontier Corps, Coast Guards and Police on the coast and PN, Pakistan Maritime Security Agency to police the adjacent waters and deep sea.

            32. The private sector is also an essential stakeholder in the CPEC project. Rafi Group is developing a real estate project, approved by Gwadar Development Authority (GDA), located on the major artery of Gwadar, the Makran Coastal Highway, known as “Green Palms Gwadar” akin to the megalopolis of Shenzhen – the city in China. Once the infrastructure is placed, industrialization and services shall follow.

            33. The administrative changes introduced by the devolution plan after the 18th Amendment in the fisheries sector has also obscured the issuance process of fishing license in the coastal waters and beyond. The federal government is responsible for policymaking at the national level as well as international coordination, management of fisheries and other living resources beyond territorial waters, import/export of fish and fisheries products, management of federal harbors and research and training. It may be useful to mention that inland fisheries including fishing in territorial waters and aquaculture, domestic marketing, management of provincial fish harbors etc. is the responsibility of provincial governments.

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