The Baloch Students Organization (BSO) organized a seminar titled “Gwadar: Development Claims and Reality” at the Gwadar Press Club. The event was presided over by BSO Chairman Balach Qadir, with the special guest being BNP’s Central Joint Secretary, Mir Nazir Baloch.
The seminar’s first session featured a panel discussion on Gwadar fencing and the issues the local population of Gwadar faces. Panelists included former MPA Gwadar Mir Hamal Kalmati, BNP Gwadar President Majid Suhrabi, and former BSO Central Committee member Karim Shambay. BSO Central Committee member Karam Khan moderated the panel discussion.
In the second session, speakers included Balach Qadir, Mir Nazir Baloch, former BSO Chairman Advocate Saeed Faiz, BNP Research and Publication Secretary Dr. Qudoos Baloch, and Gwadar political leader Abid Rahim Suhrabi.
The speakers said that the Baloch people would never compromise on their right to sovereignty and national identity. They criticized the state’s policies as ‘colonial’, noting that powerful elites of the country have been exploiting the region’s resources for the past seven decades.
They claimed that the development promises for Gwadar are far from reality and amount to the ‘exploitation’ of the Baloch people. The so-called development, they argued, aims to oppress and marginalize the local population, turning them into a minority. For decades, false promises of development have been used to displace Gwadar’s indigenous population. The city’s fencing is turning it into a security zone, restricting access even for locals, they said.
Speakers highlighted that when the Gwadar Port was inaugurated, Baloch nationalists feared that it would lead to the ‘occupation’ of the Baloch coastline. They warned that in the name of development, locals would be displaced from their ancestral lands to make way for non-native settlers, transforming the local Baloch into a minority.
Today, these fears are being realized one by one, the speakers said. There are also concerns that Gwadar may be separated from Balochistan and given a special status in the future. To address these issues and protect Gwadar, all Baloch parties and student organizations must unite and struggle together, the session concluded.