For the past few days, the Pakistan Army has been conducting operations in different areas of Zamran and Tigran. There is an atmosphere of fear in the area.
Zamran and Tigran are among the most neglected areas of Balochistan where people are facing destitution while there are frequent reports of military operations in the area.
According to sources, during the last few days, the ongoing military operation in the village of Geshtardaan, the central area of Zamran and Tigran has been cordoned off by the army and people are being threatened to evict the village.
As per the residents of the area, some families of the village have been forced to relocate to the surrounding areas of Nowano and Koochak.
Residents of Geshtardan are living in a distressful state due to the military siege. However, government officials have not yet commented on the matter.
It should be noted that similar incidents have been reported in different parts of Balochistan before. The forceful ejection of the populations near the CPEC route by the forces has also been in the headlines previously.
In September last year, four thousand residents of Kalanch area of district Gwadar were notified for eviction.
Related: Gwadar: Kalanchi Town residents protest against eviction notice
“There is no electricity or water in the area right now but we are somehow putting up with these problems. Moreover now the Gwadar Development Authority has ordered us to evacuate the area,” a woman from Kalanch told the media.
CPEC, or China Pakistan Economic Corridor is a multibillion-dollar project, which would form part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative and would revolve around the development of a huge port in the coastal city of Gwadar. CPEC is known as the part of China’s ‘One Belt Road’ initiative. The center of CPEC is Gwadar but the route passes through a large part of Balochistan. Baloch nationalists and underground organizations opposed the CPEC from the beginning, on the grounds that it would turn the Baloch people into a minority in their own land. They threatened attacks on any CPEC project anywhere in Balochistan.
However, in various parts of the Balochistan, Chinese authorities had been attacked by Baloch militants in the past, most notably the Baloch Liberation Army’s Majeed brigade, which has carried out suicide attacks on Chinese engineers in Dalbandin, Karachi and Gwadar.
The state authorities have not only evicted the locals from their heritage but interdicted the coastal residents from fishing in the region, which is the only way of livelihood.
The coastal length of Balochistan is 770 kilometres, and the source of income of the people living on this strip is dependent on fishing. 80 percent locals are linked with the profession of fishing to earn their bread.
A student organization, Baloch Students Organization Azad (BSO-A) termed the Gwadar Port and the Expressway projects as exploitative state projects which are committing economic murder of the fishermen.“The safe and important hunting spots of the fishermen have been completely destroyed due to such exploitative projects”, statement read.