Women and children joined the continuing protests in Pakistan's port town of Gwadar seeking increased rights over local resources in the region which has witnessed growing Chinese footprints through a range of projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).  Locals have been protesting for the past three weeks demanding clean drinking water, ending trawlers’ mafia, and protection of small fishermen in Gwadar, a strategic port in the country’s restive Baluchistan province. 

The town is among the important sites of the CPEC. On Tuesday, women, and children also joined the protest which is being led by  Maulana Hidayat-ur-Rehman, a local leader of the Jamaat-i-Islami. 

So far the government has held three rounds of talks with protesters. However, authorities have failed to break the deadlock. The removal of increased security checkpoints, which creates trouble for the locals, are among other demands. 

Mir Zahoor Ahmed Buledi, the provincial planning minister, who is negotiating on the government side, termed their demands “legitimate” and “pro-public”. Acknowledging the deficiency in service delivery, he said the government would soon resolve it. 

On CPEC projects, Maulana Rahman said the locals have been cheated. When projects were started, he said, the government had promised that it would change the lives of people in the region, would bring jobs and prosperity.

“But the residents in Gwadar do not have water, electricity, education, medical treatment or employment nor are they being respected ... not a single penny of CPEC was spent on Balochistan. We got dead bodies instead,” he was quoted as saying by Dawn.  

Significantly, Pakistan officials have recently stepped up security in the areas housing Chinese nationals and workers, following frequent attacks by Baloch insurgents who accuse China and Pakistan of colonizing their land. Top Chinese officials in recent meetings had insisted on “enhanced security measures” for their nationals in the country.

There is also anger among people for diverting their water and electricity to the areas housing Chinese workers and engineers in the port town. Some areas in the region have been facing electricity cuts, sometimes for more than 21 hours a day.

Gwadar Port holds strategic significance due to its prime location in the Arabian Sea and the massive investments by China to provide world-class facilities of docking at the port. The port has increased the existing economic and strategic interdependence between China and Pakistan, according to analysts. The port has been described as the "second great monument of China–Pakistan friendship after the Karakoram Highway".

(SAM)