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“The foremost important thing is how we can make sure that we secure the whole mechanism which exists in Balochistan. Security is not only just keeping people with arms and few police stations and FC (Frontier Constabulary) and many other forces; the real security is when the people of that area have a kind of faith within the state and with the government. We need the tools that can support the local people to make sure that things are going fine.”
Dr. Pirzada: You are the Chief Minister of Balochistan for more than two and a half years; Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest province in terms of area but the smallest in terms of population. How do you see the challenges of this province?
Jam Kamal Khan: As you said it yourself, Balochistan is the biggest province in its landmass and the smallest in terms of its population. And with this, I would like to add one more thing; it is one of the most deprived in socio-economic development. I’ve been here for a very long time. My father, grandfather, and other family members were born in Quetta. So, we all were quite acquainted with what Balochistan is all about. But after coming into the government definitely, the perspective has changed a lot – especially after looking at Balochistan from a governance point of view. I see it very differently now.
The far most important thing I’ve come across is that Balochistan is not well connected with the whole nation, whether it’s socially or in terms of trade or other such challenges, which has alienated the province in many ways. On top of that, governance has become one key factor that has erupted within the last two decades in Balochistan. Governance is not very well embedded in many parts of Balochistan due to it being so huge. So the services and delivery, which people want from the government or a state, has not gone to them. So, since the first day I took an oath and after I was there for a few months, I observed that Balochistan is suffering from an administrative governance issue that has not been addressed properly. Because of this lack of governance, many other challenges have emerged over the last 30-40 years.
Dr. Pirzada: Could one of the reasons, which is not understood across Pakistan and the world, is that you have such a large landmass which is almost 40% of Pakistan’s geographical landmass, but your population is hardly 10 million, and in 1947-48, at the time of the independence, Balochistan had the same landmass, but the population was less than 500,000. One of the crucial problems in governance is that you couldn’t have easy connectivity between the scattered people and their resources.
Jam Kamal Khan: We always talk about how Islamabad is the epicenter of all administrative politics and many other things all across Pakistan. The same applies to Quetta as the capital of Balochistan. So, most governments that have come in have restricted themselves by spending most of their time in Quetta or Islamabad, having very little chance of really knowing Balochistan. Yes, they know Balochistan. Every person belonging to Balochistan knows what Baloch is, what Balochistan is, our culture, how we associate, and what our cultural habits are. We all know that, but do we know what issues an area is facing? What does it need? This is never really understood because nobody approached those areas.
Any government that came in had a very short tenure. There were many political changes to be made within those systems for which they did not have much time and hence could not explore and understand the real issues, apart from knowing them because they were Baloch. Also, now technology has paved the way for better communication Now we have WhatsApp, Instagram, and Twitter – electronic media has spread out, and people can communicate. Imagine twenty-thirty years back when there was nothing like that.
Read full interview...
Exclusive: CM Balochistan Jam Kamal explains challenges and government’s priorities
“The foremost important thing is how we can make sure that we secure the whole mechanism which exists in Balochistan. Security is not only just keeping people with arms and few police stations and FC (Frontier Constabulary) and many other forces; the real security is when the people of that area have a kind of faith within the state and with the government. We need the tools that can support the local people to make sure that things are going fine.”
Dr. Pirzada: You are the Chief Minister of Balochistan for more than two and a half years; Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest province in terms of area but the smallest in terms of population. How do you see the challenges of this province?
Jam Kamal Khan: As you said it yourself, Balochistan is the biggest province in its landmass and the smallest in terms of its population. And with this, I would like to add one more thing; it is one of the most deprived in socio-economic development. I’ve been here for a very long time. My father, grandfather, and other family members were born in Quetta. So, we all were quite acquainted with what Balochistan is all about. But after coming into the government definitely, the perspective has changed a lot – especially after looking at Balochistan from a governance point of view. I see it very differently now.
The far most important thing I’ve come across is that Balochistan is not well connected with the whole nation, whether it’s socially or in terms of trade or other such challenges, which has alienated the province in many ways. On top of that, governance has become one key factor that has erupted within the last two decades in Balochistan. Governance is not very well embedded in many parts of Balochistan due to it being so huge. So the services and delivery, which people want from the government or a state, has not gone to them. So, since the first day I took an oath and after I was there for a few months, I observed that Balochistan is suffering from an administrative governance issue that has not been addressed properly. Because of this lack of governance, many other challenges have emerged over the last 30-40 years.
Dr. Pirzada: Could one of the reasons, which is not understood across Pakistan and the world, is that you have such a large landmass which is almost 40% of Pakistan’s geographical landmass, but your population is hardly 10 million, and in 1947-48, at the time of the independence, Balochistan had the same landmass, but the population was less than 500,000. One of the crucial problems in governance is that you couldn’t have easy connectivity between the scattered people and their resources.
Jam Kamal Khan: We always talk about how Islamabad is the epicenter of all administrative politics and many other things all across Pakistan. The same applies to Quetta as the capital of Balochistan. So, most governments that have come in have restricted themselves by spending most of their time in Quetta or Islamabad, having very little chance of really knowing Balochistan. Yes, they know Balochistan. Every person belonging to Balochistan knows what Baloch is, what Balochistan is, our culture, how we associate, and what our cultural habits are. We all know that, but do we know what issues an area is facing? What does it need? This is never really understood because nobody approached those areas.
Any government that came in had a very short tenure. There were many political changes to be made within those systems for which they did not have much time and hence could not explore and understand the real issues, apart from knowing them because they were Baloch. Also, now technology has paved the way for better communication Now we have WhatsApp, Instagram, and Twitter – electronic media has spread out, and people can communicate. Imagine twenty-thirty years back when there was nothing like that.
Read full interview...
Exclusive: CM Balochistan Jam Kamal explains challenges and government’s priorities
