This is apropos a Business Recorder news item carried by the newspaper on its front page yesterday. That Balochistan has come under investor focus is a fact that has found its best expression of the announcement of investment plans by five major business groups of Pakistan - Lake City Holdings, Fatima Group, Deen Group, Hilton Group and Surti Group.
The market value of these groups is USD5 billion. Needless to say, Balochistan is a province rich in mineral resources and the investment by these companies in this province will certainly usher in an era of development and prosperity. However, security factor could pose a serious challenge for the prospective investors.
The government will, therefore, be required to take all the needed steps aimed at creating a conducive security environment for the execution of the planned mining projects.
Politically speaking, the government needs to reach out to the disgruntled Baloch people who are involved in low-level insurgency in the province for quite some time with a view to easing all their legitimate concerns and grievances.
In other words, the government must prioritize political solutions, good governance, and economic development as relying solely on military force cannot be a solution.
Unfortunately, however, successive governments have relied, albeit counter-intuitively, on tactics that caused negative consequences in the country’s largest province in terms of area, which has been enduring negative situations for long periods of time.
Abdul Basit Mandokhel (Quetta)
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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