Karachi: The state plans a fence around four sides of the Gwadar port city and to steal land from locals, says Dr Mahrang Baloch, a prominent activist and leader of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC).
This year, she led a sit-in Islamabad demanding the release of missing persons from Balochistan whom she said were abducted by the Pakistani state. Since then, she has been vocal for the Balochs.
On May 12, the local population, along with the BYC, led a protest against the fencing of Gwadar. In addition, a campaign against it was led on social media.
In 2020, Pakistan’s government announced plans to make Gwadar a ‘safe city’ by erecting wires around it under the pretext of ensuring security.
Plans were on to fence off 24 square kilometres of Gwadar city, which is a hub of the $50 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project.
The city was to have two entry points and more than 500 surveillance cameras were to be installed.
The government has started working on this fence but denied that any construction had taken place after the protest.
Locals believe that the main purpose of installing the fence in Gwadar is to cordon it off and make it easier for the government to control who enters and leaves.
Mahrang states that elite projects like the CPEC turn against locals, adding that the CPEC has not provided drinking water facilities and is now taking their land.
For over four years, the Balochs have opposed the CPEC, and protests by locals had initially pushed the government to pause work on the project. However, the government later resumed work on the project.
Locals ask how the state can prevent Balochs from stepping on land that they own.
CPEC snatches everything, now Gwadar port city too
Mohammad Amir Rana, a security analyst and columnist, expressed his concern about the state planning to place a fence in a city like Gwadar, noting that while it is understandable for countries to erect fences on their borders, this move will be disadvantageous.
He said it is the Chinese who are pressuring for Gwadar to be fenced. In 2020, he predicted in his column that Gwadar would be the first ‘sealed city’ in Pakistan. He also stated that the sealed city would not benefit anyone.
K.B. Firaq, a local activist in Gwadar, expressed his disappointment, saying that the city’s planned fencing made him feel like he was being thrown in jail and then being told that he has freedom. He stated that the government had a plan to separate Gwadar from the surrounding areas and locals.
“It does not seem like development; instead, it embodies a human rights violation,” said Firaq.
Some have argued that the government was creating obstacles for local residents in Gwadar, forcing them to leave their houses and land.
During torrential rains this year, locals were submerged in rainwater and no official authorities assisted in protecting them.
Mahrang said that the locals struggled to survive upon losing everything. She added that farmers did not have enough water to do agriculture in the Gwadar area and that the military completely controlled fishing, which is the primary source of income for Balochs living here.
She further stated that the military had conducted search operations in different areas of Gwadar, harassing and abducting residents.
She said the small town of Surbandhar in Gwadar was besieged by the military and that over 20 residents had been abducted. “Now, no one knows where they are. The state uses every brutal tactic to force people to leave their land.”
When asked about the Baloch’s grievances over Gwadar, Amir Rana responded that they cannot be ignored and that it seems obvious that locals will be “eliminated” because the Chinese are controlling the city. He claimed that the entire Balochistan coast was under military control.
Voices against Gwadar’s fencing are pressured
Even as locals and the BYC were on the ground this year protesting the fencing of Gwadar, the condemnation of the fencing has overall been less intense than in 2020, when political parties in Pakistan’s parliament also protested it.
Additionally, when the BYC announced a conference on the issue this month, it was prevented from holding it at the Quetta Press Club.
In a video posted on social media, Mahrang said the administration was taking orders from military officers not to allow the BYC to hold its conference.
“If the government claims that no fencing in Gwadar is being carried out, then why are they afraid of intellectual debate and why has the press club president been detained? she asked.
She added: “This situation highlights the state of press freedom in Pakistan.”
Firaq’s voice was confident as he said that local residents would not let Gwadar be fenced and that they would resist the government and pressure it to change its plan.
“When the European Union objects to fencing on its borders because it affects the local population, the government in Pakistan is fencing in the city, which obviously hurts the local population.” Mahrang says. “But Pakistan never cares about Balochs.”
