A dash of Colour -- Keeping the flame of art alive in Balochistan

Shazia Batool’s conversations – about Quetta, about the worsening situation and the burgeoning art scene – are filled with dramatic gasps and sharp intakes of breath but beneath her excitable exterior lies a steely resolve. This is evident in the stories she chooses to tell: How she wheeled herself into Quetta’s Serena Hotel and insisted that its managers let her exhibit her paintings; how, as a physically-handicapped person, she manages to live in an environment not exactly friendly to the disabled, how she migrated to neighbouring Iran with her mother but, after living there for two years, decided to return alone and resume her life in Quetta.
“I felt trapped there,” she says simply.

This sense of entrapment had begun to affect her art. The paintings Batool creates here, in her home city, are large and vibrant and full of colour; they examine individuals in a crowd. In Iran, on the other hand, her work was darker: In one painting, a solitary woman, her face somewhat obscured, glances out of a window. There appears to be a general air of suffocation.

I find this intriguing. Batool lives with close relatives in Mariabad. It is a beautiful locality, one of two neighbourhoods in Quetta dominated by the Hazara community. When I enter Mariabad, scores of large houses rise up before me, minute in perspective, like concrete ants on craggy mountains that, in turn, are swallowed up by a deep blue winter sky. It is remarkably clean: the geography of the place is such that rainwater and snowmelt come rushing down from the mountains and into Mariabad’s crowded streets — so drainage is essential. But Mariabad is also one of the most heavily guarded neighbourhoods in Quetta — I am only able to enter because I am accompanied by art students from the Hazara community. Caught in the crosshairs of growing sectarianism and easily identifiable by their Mongoloid features, the Hazaras find themselves physically and psychologically backed into a corner.

Batool, who teaches art to young children, shows me a drawing made by one of her students. It is a rough sketch – cartoonish almost – of a bombing at a local Imambargah. The four-year-old girl has depicted the bombers as Yazid. Quetta was a different place when she was at college, says Batool, a graduate of the University of Balochistan’s fine arts department; at the time, she felt comfortable venturing into the main city. Today, she sometimes can’t even buy her art supplies. In Quetta, there is only one art supply store, Hatim, and it is in the main town. “We feel scared to go there,” she admits.

“Even Hatim doesn’t have all that we need, actually, so we still have to order some of our supplies from Lahore.”

And yet — she came back. Whatever shape home may be in, or whatever it may turn into, its pull can be hard to resist. As I set out to explore the art scene in Quetta, I discover that it is populated by precisely such people: Individuals who decided to stay, and if they left at all, decided to return, lovingly carving out a sacred space of their own.

 
Thirty years ago, four recent graduates of the National College of Arts (NCA) in Lahore returned to Quetta and established the fine arts department at the University of Balochistan. Their careers and life paths have since traversed different trajectories — but at the time, Jamal Shah, Feryal Gauhar, Kaleem Khan and Akram Dost Baloch were united by a common desire to make something happen. “I was completing my thesis at the NCA and, in the interim, I happened to go to Quetta,” recalls Jamal Shah. The vice chancellor of the University of Balochistan at the time, Akbar Shah, happened to be his distant relative and he asked Jamal Shah what his plans were post-graduation. “I mentioned that, deep down, my desire was to start a fine arts department in Quetta.” Akbar Shah asked Jamal Shah to produce a feasibility report and gave him the go-ahead to return and set up the department.

“It was a great beginning and a beautiful time,” Jamal Shah says. “There was tremendous enthusiasm and energy. Despite multiple strikes at the university, we made sure that our department was kept open. We got the best possible students in the first batch.”

In retrospect, the setting up of the fine arts department can be seen as the beginning of contemporary art

practice in Balochistan — though, perhaps, ‘resurgence’ may be a better word for it. The history of art in the province is not very well documented: Cave art from the Upper Paleolithic Age, circa 18,000 BC, has been discovered in the Musakhel district of the province but the millennia that follow are more or less a blank canvas. Individual artists begin to appear in and around the 20th century: One Syed Aziz Jan in Pishin, who made small figurines depicting daily life – people offering prayers, watching cockfights – and murtis and colossal effigies, 30 to 40 feet high, for the Hindu festival of Dussehra; one Zainuddin, who would paint on glass; and one Deepak, originally from Bombay, who painted renowned personages, such as Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. But apart from these and a few others, until the 1970s and 1980s, the practice of art in Balochistan remained restricted mostly to signboard painters.
“Signboard painters had a major influence on the Balochistan art scene,” says Kaleem Khan. “Names such as Shafi Sahib, Lala Aziz and Khalid Mengal were important.” So were the NCA and Punjab University — the early teachers at the local arts council in the 1970s, before the founding of the fine arts department at the University of Balochistan, all had degrees from there.

“Sadequain used to live in Quetta before he became known. Saeed Akhtar, the renowned Pakistani portrait painter, spent his childhood here, as did Professor Ijazul Hasan,” says Kaleem Khan as he lists some of the earliest influences on artists and art practice in Quetta. Of course, there might be many other names, he notes, but we no longer know them. They are invisible, their voices diminished due to lack of interest and poor documentation.

Today, of the quartet that established the fine arts department, only Akram Dost Baloch remains at the university. I visit him on a cold winter morning at his office, which also serves as his studio — there are paintings all around. Our conversation is frequently interrupted by students and faculty members dropping in to say hello — the soft-spoken professor is clearly well liked. I can see the onset of age on his features, as well as the impact of working amid multiple challenges. His son was gunned down recently while returning to Quetta after attending a wedding in Noshki. The grief-stricken father hasn’t created any new art work since.

But the pride Akram Dost Baloch takes in the department he has established, and its contribution to the community at large, is nonetheless evident. “There are now three [fine arts] departments at the university level in Quetta,” he says. “And part of the faculty at these institutions are graduates of this department.”

Although Quetta is often perceived to be at the margin of the margins by the greater part of the world, it has managed to carve out a small but vibrant space for itself as far as art is concerned. Apart from the three university departments, there is the state-led arts council now known as the Idara-e-Saqafat, a sprinkling of art galleries, a roster of exhibitions as well as an artists’ society. Within Balochistan, the city serves as a centre for the arts world, attracting students from all over the province.

During my time in Quetta, I meet Naseeb Khan, a 27-year-old student in the fine arts department headed by Kaleem Khan at the Balochistan University of Information Technology and Management Sciences (known locally as the IT University). He will be part of the department’s first graduating class. Originally from Kuchlak, a small village north of Quetta, he has three young children and a wife, who, he says, remains rather concerned about his love for art. To support them, he paints signboards and trucks, sometimes for as low as 1,000 rupees. He hopes his children will follow in his footsteps — he has even named one of his sons Musawwir, which means ‘artist’ in Urdu. His own father was a truck driver.

 "The crowd" by Shazia Batool

 Tamseel graduated from the fine arts department at the Sardar Bahadur Khan Women’s University in 2009. She was lucky that the department, exclusively for women and the only one among the three in Quetta to have its own building, opened when it did — she says she didn’t feel very comfortable going to the University of Balochistan due to its history of political trouble and violence. Hailing from a family well-versed in Persian and other regional languages and literature and originally coming from Loralai, a small town located in the Pakhtun part of Balochistan, she now illustrates books on Pashto poetry. Initially, she was pressurised by relatives not to sign her name on to the illustrations but, she is quick to add, “When my father found out I was illustrating books, he was very proud of me. In fact, his main complaint was that I hadn’t signed my name.”

Despite the fact that an all-female arts department has made a difference, there still does appear to be a relative lack of female leadership within the local art world. Tamseel now teaches at the IT University. She is one of the four female teachers in the varsity’s fine arts department – a heartening sign – but the societal bias against art is something she and her students have to contend with on a regular basis. “Everyone is born drawing but then you grow up and are made to change it,” laments one of Tamseel’s first-year students. “I don’t have much value in society as a woman, but the way I make my art, that is my art,” she adds.

One of the biggest complaints in Quetta vis-à-vis other provincial capitals is regarding the lack of opportunity for up-and-coming artists, regardless of gender. Local students are regularly ignored in national shows, often without any explanation. One of Naseeb’s most striking paintings, titled Walwal, explores under-age marriage in Pakhtun and Baloch cultures: A faceless woman, presumably a child bride, is led across a vast landscape by an older man. It is an image that deserves a national audience — and yet, sadly, it may never find one. Khuda-e-Rahim, the current assistant director of the Idara-e-Saqafat (and a graduate of the University of Balochistan fine arts department) claims that his organisation has sent many proposals to the Pakistan National Council of Arts (PNCA) in Islamabad for an exhibit on contemporary art from Balochistan but has never received a response.
Interestingly enough, unlike in other parts of the country where lack of government patronage for art is the most common complaint, in Quetta – up until recently, at least – it was the state-led Idara-e-Saqafat, headed by the energetic and effusive Abdullah Baloch, that served as the focal point for art education and promotion. Many young aspiring artists have studied and trained here before securing admission to arts colleges elsewhere in the country. But, the organisation which once operated relatively more independently under the PNCA, now falls under the provincial Ministry of Cultural Affairs, and this has resulted in its own set of problems: The Idara-e-Saqafat appears to be bogged down by bureaucracy and there are whispers that Kaleem Khan, a Pakhtun, left it due to ‘ethnic issues’.

The only art exhibition opening that takes place during my stay in Quetta is under the auspices of the Idara-e-Saqafat. It is a showcase of calligraphy — the attendees and artists are all male. More problematically, some of the organisers have their work exhibited as well, a clear blurring of the lines between the promoters and the promoted. None of the work is sold.

There are also some private initiatives to promote contemporary art. The Shal Art Gallery, housed within the Brahui Academy, a beautiful sandstone building, was founded by Abdul Hameed Baloch, a fatherly figure from Kalat and once a student of Kaleem Khan. The academy faces serious problems – there is, for instance, no gas for room heating or electricity – but it offers a free space for artists to create works and exhibit them. It is also home to the city’s only artists’ society, created seven or eight years ago. “Our mission was to promote the arts in Balochistan,” Abdul Hameed Baloch tells me. “Paintings would never get sold here.” But the first time they held an exhibition, a showcase of artist Aziz Mengal’s works, almost a dozen paintings ended up being sold, he tells me with pride.

The Hazara community has its own initiatives. On the day I meet and speak with Batool, I visit one such community space. Amongst the mass of homes and shops and restaurants in crowded Mariabad, is a seemingly unassuming door with a small plaque that says, in a near-silent whisper, Sketch Club. The ‘club’ was started in 2008 by Fazil Mousavi, a respected elder of the community. For the very low fee of 1,000 rupees a month for each student, on the rooftop of a katcha house and surrounded by the panoramic view of mountains, local children are taught art. Some are being rigorously trained to sit the entrance exam for the NCA; others are much younger. I strike up conversation with a chirpy hijab-clad seven-year-old. Another young girl tells me how she protested to her family until they allowed her to start drawing. Yet another wants to go to Lahore and study miniature. As the sun starts making its lazy descent down the sky and the blinding light creates dark shadows, students sit around a still-life and studiously sketch. At the end of each year, the Sketch Club holds a student exhibition where the works are put up for sale. Mousavi believes that art should be accessible to all and the art pieces are thus priced accordingly — much of it ends up being bought. There used to be a local art gallery in Mariabad, a teacher at the Sketch Club tells me, but its owner shut shop and migrated to Australia.

 Left to right: Syed Sajjad Hussain in his studio; The fine arts and sculpture studio at IT University. 

“It is very easy for me to go to Australia — half my family is there already,” says Syed Sajjad Hussain, Mousavi’s son. A graduate of the NCA, he is a soft-spoken young man, with a tendency to wax philosophical about the meaning and purpose of art. On his face are visible scratch marks — as it turns out, Hussain was severely injured last year in an attack on a bus that was taking students from the IT University to Mariabad. Since the incident, says Hussain, his simple neo-miniaturist style has undergone a drastic change. The central locus of his work focuses on an individual in a meditative position, exuding calm. Upon closer inspection, however, all is not perfect: In one of the works, the face is masked by a bullet; in another, there is an eerie reference to overpowering blood. Is the individual transcending this world due to death or due to spirituality? In modern-day Pakistan, where Hussain’s community has been so heavily targeted on the basis of its sect, is it one and the same thing?

Despite this, however, Hussain chose to come back to Quetta after finishing his studies in Lahore — and refuses to leave, for Australia or elsewhere. “There is a bigger statement to make here,” he says. He then refers to big names in the Pakistani art world such as Imran Qureshi, R M Naeem, Rashid Rana, Salima Hashmi and asks how many people can such mentors accommodate in one year, in one batch. “Fifteen, 20 — maximum 40. So, what happens to the rest of the students? Are they not doing art?” Some others like him need to be here to lead and guide the rest.

Hareem Shairani also came back. So did Hammal Khan. Graduates of the NCA, just like Hussain, they appear to represent a new and important dynamism within the art scene in Quetta, which regularly loses its artists to other parts of the country. Indeed, a few students enrol in the University of Balochistan’s Fine Arts Department for a year and use it as a launching pad to obtain admission to the NCA. Shairani and Hammal Khan’s work, highly politicised, is also important for another reason: It is largely experimental, a shift away from the tendency to paint landscapes. (This tendency is, perhaps, linked to Baloch nationalism, as if by painting one’s land, one can assert ownership over it, but it may also be the lingering legacy of Kaleem Khan, who excels in landscape painting. It also stems from an inherent love for the land, former provincial legislator and one of the 18 Parsis still living in Quetta, Khursid Barucha, explains to me, proceeding to describe how beautiful the white snow looks as it falls on dark muddy mountains.)

 [L - R]: Naseeb Khan with his son at his studio in Kuchlak; A site-specific installation by Sahibzada Sardar at the IT University; Girls at the Sketch Club, an initiative of the Hazara community in Quetta. 

Shairani, who is native to Quetta, specialises in printmaking, a rare field in Balochistan. (The University of Balochistan’s fine arts department has only one printmaker – which is broken – and no faculty that specialises in the discipline.) Her works deal with patriarchy: They cheekily show men standing in grim and grave poses, while the women are represented only by their shoes. Hammal Khan, who is from Turbat, perhaps the only artist from his district, is on the other hand experimenting with video art.

Originally trained in miniature, his recent video work deals with themes of self-identity and the anxious relationship of the Baloch people with the Pakistani state: Individuals with pained expressions on their faces rub off dust and dirt from their bodies, eventually appearing free of blemishes. In the future, Hammal Khan hopes to help establish a fine arts department back home in Turbat and spread greater awareness among the students there about the myriad art-related opportunities available in the country.

Shairani, Hammal Khan and Hussain all teach at the IT University. Instruction in art history and practice comes with a number of problems, they say: Due to the conservative nature of the province, it is impossible to show nudes in art history classes — which is, of course, one of the most central aspects of Western art history. Students regularly ask for lectures to be translated into Pashto or Balochi. Freedom of expression remains, as elsewhere in the country, a tricky concept and ethnic tensions abound. Two artists who agree to speak to me, one Punjabi and the other Urdu-speaking, request that I don’t use their real names. Moreover, students continue to gravitate towards landscape paintings and other forms of art that do no feature figures and are, therefore, deemed religiously acceptable.

 Female faculty at the IT University, 

Despite all this, the three are determined to stick it out. “No one else will come to these students, apart from us,” says Shairani. Their hope is that a new generation of art educators will sustain and boost the local art scene.

On the grounds of the IT University, I come across a site-specific installation made by Sahibzada Sardar, a third-year student from Kuchlak, the only work of public art that I see in Quetta. Sculptures are rare in Balochistan, for cultural and economic reasons; Sardar was paid a paltry 8,000 rupees for his creation, barely enough to cover the cost of the materials. But the work speaks volumes about his artistic skills, effectively capturing the spirit of the artists and art students I meet in Quetta: A figure of metal frozen in a moment of ascendancy, fist raised, one leg in a beautifully curved position, ready to take on the world. As I look on, the metal gleams in the wintry Quetta sun.

< Dawn >

Woes of Balochistan’s coalminers

Asmatullah narrates problems coalminers face during their work

QUETTA: In the vast expanse of Balochistan there is an arid area, its topography marked by low hills whose stones have been worn smooth by the millennia. Settlements are few and far between, the vegetation is sparse, and links to modernity next to non-existent — except, that is, for the dozens of trucks that ply the rough roads, billowing diesel fumes and thick black dust into the air.

This is Spin Karez, a 30-minute drive from Quetta and a hub of activity for labourers and truckers; deep under the earth lies coal. Spin Karez is where some 60 trucks a day are loaded to take to other parts of the country the coal that is increasingly in demand in a gas-starved nation.

The bustle of the loading station masks a world of inequity. In the coal mines of this area, hundreds of lives are put into daily jeopardy both by an exploitative system and the state’s silence.

One such miner is the grey-bearded Asmatullah. Face stained black, he spends his days in the dark, deep underground, digging for and then transporting coal. The working conditions for him are pitiful, severely compromising his health and quality of life. But “we earn in the day so we can eat at night,” he tells Dawn. “It is a very hard job, but poverty brought me here. What choice do I have?”

Like Asmatullah, hundreds of miners labour over 10 hours a day to earn their bread. Indeed, coal mining has become a family business: once too sick to work, the father is replaced by the son who is in due course replaced by the grandson. Most of the miners come from the Swat district, or from volatile southern Afghanistan. They start off in this line of work as young as 13 but their expected working life is only about 20 years — young miners with unpolluted lungs are always sent into the deepest part of the mines. By the age of 30, most have tuberculosis and can no longer work long or deep.

The beneficiaries are the owners of the mine; the miners themselves work for a pittance, with no safeguards in place. More than 40 miners died in a blast inside a mine on March 20, 2011, and official sources acknowledge that more than a hundred miners have died in such explosions over the past three years alone.

According to Iftikhar Ahmed, an official of the Balochistan Mines and Mineral Development Department and a former chief inspector of mines, there are about 250 coalmines employing over 12,000 people. This figure is disputed by labour leader Pir Muhammad Kakar, who puts the number at about 50,000. Other estimates put the number of mines at about 400 and the workers at over 100,000. Kakar alleges that official records show a low number of miners since most are uninsured and are not registered with employees’ old-age benefit institutions.

What there is no dispute about is that lives are risked every day even though — on paper — a supervisory system is in place. Ahmed claims that mines’ inspectors are bound to visit each mine 10 times a month. “Their job is to check the working conditions of the miners,” he says. “In case of violations, the inspector has the power to seal it.”

Nevertheless, he admits that mine-owners are influential people and the government department often faces political pressure over the closure of a mine. And the story told by the miners themselves puts into serious doubt the effectiveness of the supervisory system.

Miner Muhammad Shafi, for example, says that even over the course of a year, inspectors will not be seen at a mine. “Officials only show up if there’s a blast,” he says.

Alongside the men looking aged beyond their years are children collecting and transporting coal. Ten-year-old Azizullah says that he earns Rs200 a day, and goes to a mosque in lieu of school. The same story is told by 9-year-old Sher Ali, who has been working in Spin Karez for the past two years. There are dozens like them, mostly from Afghan refugee families.

What their future will be like can be gauged easily. Even leaving aside the brutal manual labour, coal mining is extremely hazardous. “The dust enters their lungs and results in several diseases, most commonly the inability to take a breath,” says chest-physician Dr Shireen Khan.

The Geological Survey of Pakistan says that coal is amongst the 106 minerals found in resource-rich Balochistan. But that matters little to the miners, in whose experience officialdom is unconcerned about the violation of labour laws and the abysmal working conditions in coalmines.

The trucks from Spin Karez lumber away to supply coal to industrial cities that have been badly hit by gas shortages; meanwhile, there is criminal silence over the exploitation that produced it

< Dawn >

Indictment Baloch Armed Groups

Balochistan has undergone several periods of open armed conflict since the Pakistani armed forces intervened to end Qalat’s independence in 1948. Fighting resumed again in 2004. Since then, this region has been turned into one of the world’s most dangerous regions for journalists by you, the armed separatist groups and the militias created to defend the central Pakistani government.

Reporters Without Borders accuses you, the Baloch armed groups, of the following crimes:

• Imposing terror, creating information “black holes” in southwestern Pakistan and turning the city of Khuzdar into one of the world’s most dangerous places for the media.

• Constantly threatening news providers and their families in order to force them to censor themselves.

• Threatening news media and their reporters with reprisals if they give you “negative” coverage or if they refuse to report your activities and public statements.

• Carrying out bombings, the aims of which have included killing journalists who go to cover the targeted events.

• Killing many journalists, including Mehmood Ahmed Afridi of the newspaper Intikhab, Abdul Haq Baluch of ARY News TV, Abdul Qadir Hajizai of Vsh TV, and Faiz Muhammad Sasoli of the daily Aaj Kal and the Independent News agency.

You should be called to account for these gross violations of freedom of information, which contravene article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

< Reporters Without Border >

An erudite presentation of seven millennia of Balochistan

Karachi: It was a highly informative and revealing sojourn in the non-linear dimension as the guests were catapulted back in time seven millennia.

Dr Ute Franke from the Museum of Islamic Art in Berlin took the guests on a journey of Balochistan as it was 7,500 BC.At the residence of German Consul-General Tilo Klinner on Monday evening, Dr Franke’s lecture enlightened the gathering on the highly advanced civilisation that Balochistan was.

The event, titled ‘Balochistan Evening’ and showcasing Balochi culture and cuisine, featured the erudite lecture by Dr Franke, followed by a performance of Balochi folk music featuring noted Baloch instrumentalist Sachu Khan, who captivated the audience with his mastery over the suroz, a bowed string instrument similar to a sarangi.

The lecture was accompanied by slide presentation featuring artefacts from the millennia gone by discovered in Balochistan from tombs and digging at other points. These included items of jewellery and pottery.

Dr Franke said interest of archaeologists in Balochistan began to be aroused in the 1920s after the discovery of the Indus civilisation.She said the first discovery was the Mehrgarh civilisation, dating back around 7,500 BC, and later Khuzdar. She termed Balochistan the cradle of civilisation.

She said many of the artefacts found were traced to have been brought in from Afghanistan, which was indicative of the large trade network that existed in the region even in that “primitive” era.

Dr Franke said that it was in the third millennium that pottery and jewellery with geometric and figurative art flourished in Balochistan.She said that it was a mystery as to how such sites, connotative of an advanced civilisation, flourished in a province like Balochistan, arid as it is, with hardly any river worth its name.

She said an interesting discovery was the find of bones and skeleton of a brown bear, something that could not even be thought of in the present era.

Dr Franke also mentioned the fruits that were found in the province in prehistoric times, like figs and jojoba, and farm produce like sesame and millets. She exhibited slides of wells and dams, the latter being around 70 to 80 metres wide.

Her lecture was followed by a performance by Sachu Khan on the suroz. The tunes and the tone of the instrument were evocative of the rural and pristine component of Baloch civilisation, in quick time, oozing verve and vivacity.

Sachu Khan demonstrated complete mastery over his suroz. The instrumental performance was followed by four vocal renditions by Khadim Hussain.This was then followed by two dances, one of them being the Balochi lewa, by a quartet of four male dancers.

The dances comprised highly rhythmic and artistic movements but also incorporated a significant element of vigorous physical exercise and semi-acrobatics.Welcoming the guests earlier, CG Klinner said what had led the German government to work for the conservation of this priceless heritage was the confiscation by the Pakistan Customs of 804 genuine artefacts from the ancient civilisation that were being smuggled into a neighbouring Middle Eastern country.

Besides, he said, they were enthusiastic about Balochistan and Pakistan because they had changed the narrative.He said Pakistan had many positive aspects to it and it was his government’s endeavour to project only the positive aspects of Pakistan’s rich cultural heritage and Pakistan as such.

< The News >

Special report: The Awaran earthquake – Fear in a handful of dust

Dust and dust storms are all that one sees in Awaran. When the haze clears, it is only to reveal abject poverty, lawlessness, an utter lack of governance and, of course, the death and destruction caused by the recent earthquake. This is one of the most neglected parts of Pakistan’s most neglected province, and the fruits of that neglect are bitter indeed.

Some journalists call Awaran ‘the hotbed of the biggest insurgency in Pakistan’, with the army and separatists being the ‘real’ stakeholders. Each has its own wins and losses to proclaim and its own version of events to disseminate to the media, and thus on to the people. The fog of war hangs in the air, making it hard to see those who pay the price: the inhabitants of this forsaken land.

They hardly feature in these conflicting narratives, these dispossessed that do not conveniently fit into either the ‘traitor’ or ‘patriot’ category. What they do is that they feel. They feel hungry, they fall prey to not just disease, but also frustration at the lack of opportunities and the lack of hope that someday, something may change for the better. And when you ask them about their lives, the first emotion they express is surprise.

“Are you really going to write about me?” This is what Amina, an expecting mother said when asked about her losses in the September 24 earthquake. After getting an affirmative response, she looked towards her mother-in-law. Once the ageing matriarch gave her approval, Amina spoke at length about living in a tent, separated from the elements by only a thin sheet of fabric, like so many other earthquake survivors.

“I have been getting relief goods but so far no one has come forward to help us in rebuilding our homes,” she says. A resident of Jakaro, she says that they had barely fixed their home which was damaged by the preceding years’ heavy rainfall. Then the earthquake struck, and all was reduced to rubble.

Seeing Amina talk, other women in the cramped examination room of District Headquarter Hospital Awaran also began to speak up about their ordeal. Some had lost homes, others lost family members.

Even the men accompanying them, frustrated with a lack of jobs and steady income, admit to feeling emasculated. They are unable to provide for their families, and the fear of more devastation — whether natural or manmade — is etched in their weary eyes.

Falling through the cracks

A month has passed since the earthquake rocked the Awaran and Kech districts of Balochistan, an expanse with a total area of 40,000 square kilometres. Measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale, its epicenter was 120km south-west of Khuzdar in district Awaran. Some 386 people died in the quake, and thousands of homes were destroyed. So intense was the quake that it was felt in many cities of Pakistan and resulted in a new island emerging near Gwadar.

Balochistan is no stranger to natural disasters. Earlier this year, an earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale hit Southern Iran, with the tremors causing substantial damage in Balochistan’s District Washuk’s Tehsil Mashkhel. Thirty-five deaths were confirmed by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) back then. Then there were the quakes in 2007 and 2009 in Ziarat and the floods in 2010 onwards. Much before that, there was the 1935 Balochistan earthquake, where in Quetta alone over 20,000 casualties were reported. That toll in a single quake remained unmatched until the 2005 Kashmir Earthquake, in which some 90,000 people lost their lives.

But it isn’t just the relatively lower casualty count that makes the response to the Awaran quake different from the others.

The area features lowest on all development indicators, be it education, health, food security or the economy. It is also arguably the least governed place in Pakistan.

In the crosshairs

Then there is the fact that it happened in an area that is the hometown of Dr Allah Nazar, a Baloch separatist leading the Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF).

“Awaran was an ungoverned space for the last ten years and providing relief and following it up with rehabilitation is a difficult task, which requires massive planning and finances,” says Dr Mohammad Akbar, Commissioner Kalat.

He stressed that security remains the biggest issue with insurgents “doing anything and everything possible to stop aid delivery and rehabilitation. But that does not mean we stop and give up.”

Echoing similar sentiments is Major Gen Samrez Salik who is leading the relief and rehabilitation operation in Awaran.

“The army is here to help our fellow Pakistanis and we do not intend to carry out an operation,” he said.

He was one of the army officials to have survived an attack last month when rebels fired rockets at a helicopter carrying the NDMA chief Major General Saeed Aleem.

Despite what the army claims as repeated attacks on security personnel as well as on the local population who were allegedly beaten by insurgents for taking relief goods, the army says it has exhibited maximum restraint while the ISPR also denied conducting an operation in Awaran and Mashkey.

Stressing repeatedly that the army would not indulge in combat, Major General Aleem was however unable to give a timeframe as to when the army would move out.

“The armed forces of Pakistan are mandated to assist in natural calamities and that is what they are doing in Awaran as well,” says Brig Mirza Kamran Zia, spokesperson of the NDMA.

Naturally, there are dissenting views. A Baloch Students Organisation representative insists that the army has its own plans and goals, and that these do not include caring for the wellbeing of the Baloch people.

“The government should allow international aid to come and let impartial NGOs carry out relief and rehabilitation work. We do not need the army’s aid and time and again our people have refused it,” he says.

He also alleged that an operation was being conducted and that “people are being forced out of the area.”

“Large numbers of people are leaving Mashkay and other areas. These people are already hard-pressed for food and aid and now they have been forced to leave their homes,” he said.

When questioned if there is a solution to this mess, a BLF supporter, on condition of anonymity, said: “The democratic set-up must be allowed and civil administration must be empowered. It’s fine if the army is doing relief work but it should now leave. Military and intelligence agencies must back off and let government rule prevail.” This is clearly not the official line of the BLF, which otherwise claims it wants nothing short of an independent state.

The past is not another country

“On March 12, I move my camp some 18 miles down to the rest house of Awaran, situated on the left bank of the Mashkai river at an elevation of about 1,750 feet where the direct overland line of the Indo-European telegraph running from Karachi to Panjgur and Kirman passes,” wrote explorer and surveyor Sir Aural Stein in the year 1929 in ‘An Archaeological Tour to Gedrosia’. In the chapter titled ‘Ruined mounds of Buzdad and Awaran’, he described the town’s poverty and dependence on the vagaries of climate for its survival.

Little has changed since then. In fact, poverty has increased and so has the remoteness of the area due to the utter lack of a communications network. Add to this the fact that there has been no governance for over a decade now, rehabilitating Awaran remains a tough task.

Development agencies say that even if the number of affected population is low, some 200,000 people as compared to the 2005 Kashmir earthquake (3.5 million) and the 2010 floods (1.5-1.8m), the situation is no less horrible.

A rapid assessment conducted by 11 non-governmental organisations across 296 villages in Awaran and Kech districts, states that 80 per cent of the houses have been damaged or destroyed. Due to widespread poverty across villages, only 7pc of the affected households have adequate resources to buy food. In terms of health, 54pc of health facilities are destroyed and 46pc are partially damaged. Malaria, respiratory tract infections, diarrhoea and skin diseases are widespread.

No Entry

The biggest criticism the government has received so far is based on its not allowing international NGOs (INGOs) in the area and instead relying on the Army and, to a lesser extent, local NGOs.

This was not the case in 2005, when Pakistan was widely praised for its relief activities, not just by local and international NGOs but also the UN.

Back in 2006, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Abu Diek commented: “Cooperation between [the] UN and [the] military has been exceptionally unprecedented. The UN has to rewrite its books about civil/military cooperation.”

This time around however, the decision to involve the army and the exclusion of international agencies was critiqued, with nationalists accusing the army of occupying Balochistan in the garb of providing relief. “At this point, we are more focused on delivering aid,” says a government official in response to a question about INGOs access. “The government can manage the disaster on its own and that’s the reason why we did not appeal internationally for assistance. Getting INGOs onboard would mean diverting our human resources towards their protection,” a government official said.

He recalled that all United Nations operations were shutdown after the kidnapping of UNHCR sub office Chief John Solecki in 2009. Solecki was said to be kidnapped by the Balochistan Liberation United Front while the then interior minister Rehman Malik had alleged that Brahamdagh Bugti was behind the move. “Unicef had stopped its relief activities in the earthquake stricken districts of Ziarat and Pishin and the communities there were left in a lurch,” he recalled.

“Awaran is a difficult area. If something happens to a relief provider of an INGO, all of them will shut down operations and leave. We cannot afford to have that happen. The government is committed to help alleviate the status of the people in Awaran and our development roadmap is taking shape. The local NGOs have shown remarkable bravery in working in a hostile area,” he added.

None of the local NGO workers have been attacked so far by the insurgents.

In response to Dawn’s question about the aid flow that seems to be decreasing and the challenges that the people would be facing, UN OCHA representative Dan Teng’o said that in addition to continuing the current relief work, it is crucial to take a special notice of the expected drop in temperature in winter (potentially to extreme low) and the impact this is likely to have in terms of further worsening the conditions of affected communities.

It is worth noting that a Dawn report published earlier highlighted that the UN had no physical presence in the area and there were no projects by UN development agencies.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) or Doctors Without Borders is an INGO that was denied access in Awaran despite the fact that it has many programmes running in various districts of Balochistan. Like the UN, for MSF too Awaran is alien territory.

In a recently published column, Chris Locklear, MSF’s head, cited security as a reason for not being allowed in the area.

Meanwhile, security sources say another possible reason for not allowing foreign NGOs in the area has to do with ‘digital mapping by vested interests’.

In the aftermath of the 2010 floods, the Ministry of Defence came up with the proposed Land Surveying and Mapping Bill 2012, according to which drafting a map by any unauthorised person is an offence.

A salient feature of the bill reads: (iv) to stop unqualified/unregistered firms from taking part in surveying and mapping activities that could pose a security risk to the state.

“During the 2010 floods, several NGOs used their relief workers in mapping information all over Pakistan, including sensitive spots. Balochistan is a sensitive zone and we cannot take any risks,” the source said.

A Dawn news report dated 19th November 2012 quotes the NDMA chairman Zafar Qadir as saying that an INGO named the Information Management and Mine Action Programmes (iMMAP), continues to map flood devastated areas using the Geographic Information System (GIS) despite having been declared a ‘security risk’.

“Despite a lapse of 11 months, the iMMAP has failed to develop the web-based programme in accordance with the NDMA’s specifications. The NDMA disassociated itself from the iMMAP in January,” Dr Qadir said at the time.

The foreign ministry in a letter on April 12, 2012 said: “Presence of iMMAP in Pakistan will not only give an incorrect message internationally but can also pose serious problems for Pakistan at international fora and create confusion among the stakeholders.”

It said the mission statement of the iMMAP focused on mines clearance and it usually operated in conflict zones, and thus had no business conducting mapping in flood-affected areas.

The same report quotes an official in the economic affairs division as saying, “There is no monitoring of NGO personnel once they are given permission to help the government in emergency situations.” This, at least, is part of the reason the government is refusing to allow INGOs into Awaran.

‘Roadmap Awaran’

The government has stated that the rebuilding phase will be carried out by the Army in collaboration with the Balochistan government and NDMA.

With an area of 21,630 km², Awaran is much bigger than FATA. The metalled (black top) road that connects Awaran to neighbouring districts is 49km in length. In district profiles done by the government and NGOs, Awaran, which was turned into a separate district in 1992, has always been classified as 100 pc rural.

The area is prone to natural calamities, with earthquakes and flash floods being the most hazardous. In 2007, Awaran was affected badly after heavy rains and flash floods swept through it, leaving behind a trail of broken mud homes.

No relief package has been announced so far by the government of Balochistan or the federal government following the earthquake. A similarly apathetic attitude was shown when over 700 houses collapsed in Mashkhel earlier this year.

“The Initial Damage Assessment is almost complete and so far the numbers are pretty similar to the figures we have released in our daily reports,” says Brig Zia.

The figure released by NDMA on Oct 21 stated that 32,638 houses have been badly damaged while 14,118 suffered partial damage.

Getting Awaran back on its feet will be a Herculean task given that most of its government offices are non-functional and the place had negligible economic activity to begin with.

Schools exist on paper but not in reality. The few that do are barely functional, like the public school in Labach, a village 6km away from Awaran town, which has a badly damaged building. That does not mean that the desire to be educated does not exist. In fact, villagers stressed that they would like their children to go to school even in an open field, so long as there were teachers.

The DHQ Hospital Awaran is another badly neglected place. On paper, it has a staff of 20, including doctors and paramedics, but none of them actually stay in Awaran. The Medical Superintendent lives in Quetta while the paramedical staff, usually from other areas of Pakistan, is too scared to work due to safety reasons.

The entire district has only one lady medical officer, Dr Rahat Jabeen, who works as a General Practitioner and a gynaecologist. Though the DHQ Hospital has no medical equipment, Dr Jabeen says she often ends up carrying out ultrasound examinations on patients at her maternity home, a few minute’s walk away from the public facility. If one is to listen to the NDMA, all that may change for the better.

“We are working on the Early Recovery Plan (ERP) which envisages functional schools, hospitals, Basic Health Units (BHUs) and Rural Health Centres (RHCs) to facilitate people. Half of the water supply schemes in the area have been made functional as well,” Brig Zia claimed.

“After the early recovery plan, we will start with the Comprehensive Reconstruction Plan which will at least take two to three years. Compensation for the affected families will be decided and the focus will remain on uplifting the area,” he added.

Building without blocks

As always, this is easier said than done.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction policy stresses on strengthening community participation and resilience but in Awaran that has never happened to date. The NDMA and PDMAs work all over Pakistan with community based organisations (CBO) and NGOs but that is an unlikely case in Awaran.

“There are no NGOs working in Awaran. Some CBOs exist but they are unable to get necessary funding from donors and do not have the capacity to run advocacy campaigns let alone participate in rebuilding projects. The concept of Disaster Risk Reduction is not something the CBOs here are familiar with,” a local journalist said.

The rehabilitation efforts and rebuilding after the 2005 Kashmir Earthquake and the Attabad Lake are proof that an area can be turned around after disaster. However, the technical expertise of many NGOs that were part of the operations back then, remain unutilised.

When contacted for comments, staff at the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA) said they were not in a position to speak about Awaran. While the authority did some good work, it is now on the verge of being closed down by the government.

A consultant for ERRA stressed that low-cost quake-proof housing was essential. “Mud and unbaked bricks along with wooden beams and date leaves are used for construction of homes in Awaran and most rural areas in Pakistan. A reason for the low death toll, despite the severity of the quake, is that people were living in mud houses. Those with better finances go for concrete housing but that does not mean that it is safe,” the consultant said.

On an average, constructing a proper housing unit using bricks, cement, iron beams, etc. would cost at least Rs100,000 to an individual. State run low-cost housing schemes and indigenous construction methods along with modern techniques can bring down the costs drastically.

With winter approaching, it’s crucial that for the people living in tents, some shelter is quickly made available.

Architect and ERRA board member Yasmin Lari says that it’s a must to focus on vernacular architecture and strengthen structures. “Learn from tradition, bring in innovation” is her logic.

She is currently training a team of Balochistan University teachers and students who have the goal of rebuilding model houses in Awaran with a grant from the Heritage Foundation. Given her experiences in the 2005 earthquake and later the floods, she has been able to come up with low-cost housing that can withstand major damage.

“Lightweight structures are essential as these are less likely to fall. Also, avoid using heavy materials for roofing. At this point I suggest 10ft x 15ft one-room units with retrofitted walls and roofs. These can be built within three weeks,” she says, stressing that work must be expedited or “the fast approaching cold weather will slow down the brick drying process and increase construction time”.

She also stresses that the community must be involved in the rebuilding process. “It’s cathartic. It’s not just the physical challenge but the psychological challenges as well that need to be considered. You build houses with them and their spirits are lifted,” she says.

Out in the cold

The residents of Awaran and Kech don’t hold out much hope. A month after the quake, their biggest concern is getting adequate supplies for the coming winters.

It is worth noting that according to an integrated food security phase classification (a set of tools and procedures to classify the nature and severity of food insecurity) conducted in March with the participation of public officials, UN agencies and other organisations related to food security, the districts of Awaran and Kech were classified Phase 3 (crisis or highly food insecure). With the impact of this earthquake, it can thus be estimated that the affected areas are now in Phase 4 (emergency) as per the classification criteria, which makes a case for immediate need of humanitarian assistance.

“Winters will make the communities vulnerable. The government needs to devise a way to provide immediate shelter or infant and child deaths will be the next big news. The media has already forgotten our plight and the aid flow is now decreasing,” says Zahid Baloch, focal person of the Awaran Disaster Response Forum, the coordinating agency in the affected area.

For now, though not being led by the dreams of a better future, the residents of Awaran and Kech are rebuilding their homes on self-help basis, ready to face the harsh winter and harsher realities as the dust around them refuses to settle.

< Dawn >

Punjab stands by Balochistan

Shahbaz Sharif, Chaudhry Nisar visit quake-hit area to review relief operation in Balochistan

LAHORE - Reiterating Punjab’s resolve to stand by Balochistan in its hour of need, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif vowed to continue with help for rebuilding of the quake-ruined areas.

“Help and assistance is being extended to Balochistan earthquake-affected people and relief goods are being dispatched to the affected areas daily,” he told a delegation of lawmakers on Thursday. “The provincial government has donated Rs100 million to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund for Rehabilitation of Earthquake survivors while Punjab lawmakers donated one-month salary to the fund. Lawmakers are leading the supply-and-distribution process and reporting to him daily" .He added that his helicopter was also being used for the cause while his government planned to construct a hospital in Awaran, the worst hit area.

He told the delegation that a team under Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Sher Ali Gorchani has been monitoring relief activities in Lasbela while another squad reached Rahim Yar Khan where a base camp was set up. Shahbaz said the Punjab government has sent 20 truckloads of 10-tonnes relief goods to Lasbela from Rahimyar Khan.

Inspecting the relief activities, PDMA Director General Asif has said 1,896 food hampers and 600 water bottles have been transported to Balohcistan. He said trucks are parked at roadside of helipad at Awaran from where relief items are transported to affectees by helicopter.

He said the schedule of flights from Karachi to Awaran by helicopter has been set as per the weather conditions according to which three sorties are made from morning to evening. Asif said the Punjab chief minister directed to dispatch 90 trucks from Rahimyar Khan to Lasbela and 3,000 food hampers will be dispatched daily by three trucks.

 He said the Punjab government has dispatched 20,000 food hampers for the help and assistance of earthquake affectees.

< The Nation >

None but army working in quake-hit areas of Balochistan

Balochistan earthquake survivors being taken for medical treatment by Pakistan's military

ISLAMABAD: While none of the disaster management institution is functional in the country, only Pakistan Army is working on ground in Balochistan after Tuesday’s earthquake for rescue and according to ISPR the actual figures of causalities would only come to light today (Wednesday).

There is no provincial cabinet in Balochistan, its chief minister is in London to attend Faiz-Aman Mela and provincial disaster management authority was non-existent till the last reports came in.

According to ISPR sources, given the very few sources of communication in different areas of Balochistan, only FC was reaching the earthquake hit areas and exact facts and figures would only be confirmed on Wednesday. ISPR officially released the details of its prompt action in the natural calamity hit areas of Balochistan.

Officials, however, are sure that there would not be some huge figure of causalities as if there would have been any such major tragedy in some far-flung area of the province, the same could have reported till late night on Tuesday.

Almost all of the officials of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) went into hiding right after the disastrous earthquake at 1629 hrs on Tuesday and all its offices were closed. No one from NDMA came online even till late at night. All official numbers remained unattended till late night. However, an official while talking to The News said that NDMA in fact is simply “a policy making body” and it has nothing to do with any “on-ground operation” right after any such tragedy. “NDMA only devise policies for ‘risk reduction’ so the damage could be ‘as minimum as possible’ after any such disastrous situation and on-ground operations for rescue are to be carried out only by the concerned district and provincial authorities, an official said adding “NDMA as no role after any disaster has taken place and generally people misunderstand because of the nomenclature of name of the institution”. It was interesting however as according to some reports the government has immediately appointed some Hafiz Basit as Director General of Balochistan’s provincial disaster management authority, a position vacant since long, right after the earthquake on Tuesday.

NDMA is headed by a serving army general Maj Gen Muhammad Saeed Aleem and mostly serving army officials run the show in the authority.

On the other hand, after army’s rescue operation started in Balochistan, ISPR continuously updated media about different relief activities. Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA) also started working on ground. According to Brig Syed Wajid Raza of ERRA, his organisation started working for initial assessment, survey and damage need assessment which is mandatory for it under ERRA law. ERRA officials told The News that basic function of ERRA is reconstruction and rehabilitation after rescue phase is completed. Officials said that ERRA has no role in initial rescue operations.

Interactions with all these institutions establish that there is not a single civilian institution for the rescue operations and after spending huge amounts of money organisations like NDMA, having dozens of officials enjoying high perks and privileges (at least higher than normal government officers), simply have a role of coordination between provincial disaster management authorities, and other government departments. NDMA was not there even for this function on Tuesday evening. In absence of chief minister, provincial cabinet, no disaster management institution at provincial and federal level, some jawans of FC and on some places, jawans of army were conducting operation. Only one army helicopter having medical staff was sent to Awaran.

Awaran city has population of 350,000 and there are eight villages around this small city. Khuzdar was also badly hit. According to ERRA sources, some areas of Dalbadin were also badly affected. Interactions by The News proved the fact that every organisation was working separately in tragedy-hit areas with no central control.

It was not clear that new government has any intentions to improve the institutions like NDMA.

Officials told The News that even with the given mandate NDMA could have trained staff of different departments to work during disastrous situations; it could improve its role of coordination at the time of such tragedy; but there is nothing except lip service.

< The News >

A lesser known Quetta

QUETTA: Despite being wracked by violence, Quetta remains famous for its hospitality. Back in the day, it also used to be famous for peace – but gone are those days when that was the city’s claim to fame.

In fact, religious, tribal and political norms used to be a source of protection for the most vulnerable sections of society. Quetta’s strong tribal traditions prevented minorities like Hindus and Christians from being targeted.

But now, a contradiction has emerged – In the shadow of violence, tolerance now lurks in the background: still existent, but in pockets. Because women still enjoy freedom and protection for example, minorities are turning to women and using them as protectors while traveling to sensitive parts of the city.

Quetta is surrounded by mountains, which form a natural ‘fort’ – the name of the city itself originates from Kwatta, meaning fort in Pashto. To the north lies Zarghoon Mountain, Murdar in the East, Chiltan in the South and Takatu in the West. The urban centre is multi-ethnic and multi-linguistic. For centuries, Quetta housed people of all ethnicities, religions and sects with an open heart.

Despite the unrest and bloodshed, people try to find happiness where they can. Recently, Basant was celebrated – proof of citizens’ courage in efforts to bury sorrows and hatred. From grandson to grandfather, everyone participated in the kite-flying. Shutter down strikes continue, yet people come out and go to picnic spots on the eve of such strikes.

Despite these strands of resilience, Quetta’s natural beauty and vibrant culture has been overshadowed by suicide attacks, target killings and violence.

It started in the 1980s, when the CIA-backed Mujahideen (today’s terrorists) were harbored and protected here. The mercenaries not only brought weapons here, but they also introduced the curse of narcotics. Now, the most sparsely populated province of the country has become a corridor for drug smugglers.

Picnicking in the shadow of check posts

A nomad family migrating for the season in the suburbs of Quetta.

Ordinary citizens of Quetta are aware of the contradictions they live with. “Security forces’ check posts have surrounded picnic points everywhere,” says Dr. Irfan Tareen, who has been practicing medicine for the last 25 years. He adds that the closure of several roads for security reasons means it’s difficult to move around the city.

 Tareen points out that every Friday, a crowd gathers at Ayub Stadium and Sadiq Shaheed Park to dance to the beat of drums. Meanwhile, markets, hotels and shopping centres remain packed with people.

Baldia Hotel, an old meeting place in Quetta, still hosts a crowd of academics, politicians and literary figures. Located opposite a district court constructed during the colonial era, Baldia Hotel is always packed.

Here, Khalid Noorzai, a well-known photographer, sips and cup of tea and explains how the hotel provides an opportunity to meet with different people. “Here, everyone speaks about politics”, Noorzai says. “You can see all the old comrades here,” he adds.

Seasoned politicians like Khan Abdul Samad Khan Achakzai, Mir Ghous Bizenjo and other politicians would come here to talk shop. Without doubt, political awareness remains high in Balochistan.

Politics, nature, and festivals aside, there’s always food. Quetta’s famous for mutton roast in Kuchlak, and Lehri Sajji is always packed with people eager to have their version of the traditional Balochi dish.

Not too long ago, these were the things that kept Quetta in the limelight – its culture, its vibrancy. While a handful of people have tried to distort that image, many citizens in the violence-stricken society try to hold on to, and actively take part in the Quetta they once knew.

< Dawn >

In Pictures: Sibi Mela 2013

Sib Mela, where tribesmen flock from all over Baluchistan, parts of Sind and Punjab with their animals. The salient features of this “Mela” are horse and cattle and cultural shows, tent pegging, camel races. Animal markets and exhibitions o handicrafts, tribal dresses and folk dances.

Britishers quote in 1885 that a horse fair was first held at Sibi in the month of February, which was fully availed by them during the Afghan war. Whatever the hypothesis, the Sibi Mela provided a greater opportunity for people to get together and the increasing items of games and events aggrandized the interest of the common masses into the festivals of Sibi. The cooperation of the people of the adjoining areas in the sale and purchase of cattle’s was also vitally important in its organization.

Balochistan Times Report on Sibi Mela-2011.

Percentage-wise, Balochistan trumps others in aspiring entrepreneurs

KARACHI: Among the four provinces of Pakistan, Balochistan has the highest percentage of residents, who expect to start a business within the next three years, according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2011, which was released in a ceremony at the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) on Wednesday.

About 36.3% people in Balochistan reported that they expected to set up a business in the near future in contrast to 34% in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 26% in Sindh and 23% in Punjab, the study said.

The study was carried out in 54 countries of the world to gauge entrepreneurial attitudes, activity and aspirations besides uncovering factors that determine the nature and level of entrepreneurial activity in a nation.

While 32.2% Pakistanis said they personally knew someone, who started a business in the past two years, the percentage of such people in Balochistan was 42.2%, highest among all provinces, reflecting the increased entrepreneurial activity going on in Balochistan.

Similarly, while 39.7% people reported on a national level that good start-up opportunities existed where they lived within the next six months, the percentage of Balochistan-based respondents with awareness of start-up opportunities in their neighbourhood was 56.6%.


Moreover, 85.1% people in Balochistan think that those successful in starting a new business have a high level of status and respect in society as opposed to the people of Punjab, for example, where 67.3% people relate entrepreneurship with status and respectability.

The report says that the number of people in Pakistan with a positive attitude towards entrepreneurship is less than the average of its factor-driven peer economies, which depend on subsistence agriculture and extraction of natural resources.

The total early-stage entrepreneurial activity (TEA) rate, which is the sum of nascent entrepreneurship rate and new business manager rate, in Pakistan is 9%, according to the GEM 2011 report.


This is lower than the average TEA rates for the factor-driven economies (14.2%) and efficiency-driven economies (13.8%), which have a higher degree of industrialisation and economies of scale.
However, Pakistan’s TEA rate is greater than the average TEA rate of innovation-driven economies (6.9%), which are research-oriented with expanding services sectors.

Given that the TEA is classified into two types – opportunity-based TEA and necessity-based TEA – roughly 4% of Pakistanis are involved in opportunity-based early-stage entrepreneurial activity, the report says, which is considerably less than the average of factor-driven economies (8.5%) and efficiency-driven economies (9%).

The male TEA rate in Pakistan is more than eight times that of the female TEA rate. The gender gap is pretty high as compared to other factor- and efficiency-driven countries.

The report says that the established business ownership (EBO) rate in Pakistan is 4%, which is lower than the average EBO rates for Pakistan’s peer factor-driven (6.2%), efficiency-driven (7.5%) and innovation-driven (7.2%) economies.

Also, the report states that over 9% of the adult population in Pakistan is trying to start a business (nascent entrepreneurs) – a ratio that is lower than the average of factor-driven economies (14.2%).

Speaking on the occasion, IBA Dean and Director Ishrat Husain said the findings of the GEM report would help policymakers devise better strategy to understand the dynamics of entrepreneurship in Pakistan.
“It’s heartening to know that some people still pay attention to research,” Husain said, adding that most guests on TV shows express strong views, which are based on emotions rather than empirical evidence.



< Express Tribune >

BUITEMS Admission Policy

Vice Chancellor BUITEMS: Engr. Ahmed Farooq Bazai

They are provided opportunities to equip themselves with knowledge and confidence of facing and handling the challenges of practical/professional life. With a vision for being among one of the leading universities of the world accessible to all, BUITEMS clearly devised its admission policy allocating 90 per cent seats reserved for the students of Balochistan and 10 per cent on all-Pakistan open merit basis.

This policy has been duly approved by the statutory bodies of the university. The candidates hailing from Balochistan, who fulfill the basic eligibility criteria for admission, if not admitted in programme of their first choice, are allowed admission in other programmes of studies relevant to their qualifications.

As such, the candidates from Balochistan who meet the minimum criteria of Pakistan Engineering Council and other accreditation councils are not denied the privilege of the university.

Thus 90 per cent of BUITEMS’s student intake is from Balochistan including the remote areas. After graduating from BUITEMS, these students have brought significant change in living standards of their families and are seen as role models by youth of their areas, motivating them for acquiring higher education and improving economic profile of their region.

BUITEMS was ranked fourth in computer science and IT category by the HEC and earned ISO 9001-2008 certification in 2011. All academic procedures are automated by campus management solution. Every third student gets financial assistance. A farm is dedicated to research in life sciences at its Chiltan campus.

BUITEMS has maintained steady growth in physical facilities, human resources, nature and number of laboratories, number of programmes of study and the student body.

A sizable number of faculty members have been awarded scholarships for MS, MS leading to PhD and PhD studies in reputed national and international universities, either sponsored by faculty development programme of BUITEMS/HEC or by winning Fulbright scholarship, while some of them have been awarded scholarships either by the Australian or the Chinese government.

In the short span of 10 years the university has won seven Best University Teacher Awards, two international awards, one regional award and one national award. Three thousand alumni are serving in national and international organisations. Over 6,000 students are enrolled, and BUITEMS has the credit of being the largest engineering university in Balochistan in terms of numbers of study programmes.

The vice-chancellor of BUITEMS, Ahmed Farooq Bazai, is an internationally acclaimed educationist in the fields of engineering, management and academic administration. He has been recently conferred three prestigious international awards: Visionary Leader Award by Asian Confederation of Businesses, Outstanding Contribution to Education Award 2012 by World Education Congress, and International Socrates Award by Europe Business Assembly which has also chosen BUITEMS as one of the best representatives of national education.

He is a fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers. As vice-chancellor of BUITEMS, he introduced good governing practices, hierarchical administrative and academic structures in the university.

BUITEMS has emerged as a beacon for the youth of Balochistan and is being recognized as a premier seat of learning in the region.

M. ASLAM NASIR
Public Relations Officer
BUITEMS, Quetta

< Dawn >