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The Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) organised a press conference at the Gwadar Press Club on Wednesday, putting forward its assessment of the damage suffered by the Gwadar after the recent floods. The conference underlined several challenges, struggles, and the reasons behind them.
During the press conference, prominent Baloch leader Maharang Baloch stated that BYC had surveyed the port city, including areas like, Gwadar Old City, Pishukan, Dagaro, Passo, Jiwani, Paleri, and others, for five days. She further stated that, according to their survey, these areas are especially affected by the floods. The flood has now created a life-threatening problem for the locals of these areas, she added. She further stated that "several people in these areas are now facing survival problems and are forced to live their lives under the open sky, and Paleri is the most affected area currently. And several people belonging to the areas of Jiwani, Paleri and Pishukan are forced to live under the open sky and the local fishermen community has suffered extreme financial losses, as fishing is now impossible in Gwadar for local fishermen, which has been the source of income for this community for hundreds of years". "The water after these floods has entered the civilian areas, because of which relief, food, and drinking water supplies is not reaching these areas. The people living in these areas are now forced to drink the flood water" Maharang Baloch stated at the BYC conference. She stated, "The flood that has hit Gwadar this time is not at all natural, but is a result of wrong policy formation and infrastructure development. Additionally, this flood is also the fault of the weather department of the area, as they had failed to provide this critical information to the locals on time. After witnessing the condition of life in Gwadar, it can be deduced that only the sea is important for the government in Gwadar and not the people.". "The claims of infrastructure development made by Pakistan internationally are totally baseless. And the policy that the country implemented in Gwadar is not for the locals, but is just for the flourishing of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects. These policies have been destroying the lives of locals and are just supporting the suppressors. The infrastructure for CPEC is of such high quality that the poor infrastructure given to the locals is now destroyed. All this is happening when the foreigners are enjoying the rain sitting in their lavish rooms of the Pearl-Continental Hotel Gwadar," Maharang stated during the press conference. According to the survey done by BYC, people are helping each other by themselves in this time of desperate need. The height of irresponsibility on the government's part is that the locals had to manage fuel by themselves, for the machines that were given to pump out water from their homes. Still, there are many areas where these machines have not reached up to now. "All the aid and income that is generated with the help of Gwadar reaches directly to Islamabad, where the ruling consumes it, and ultimately nothing reaches to the people who need it. We further demand that the world please send the best possible help by themselves, and don't believe the government. Because if you give your aid to the government, it will be consumed in acts of corruption. And we also demand that the so-called mainstream media now concentrate on the existing problem in Gwadar," Maharang Baloch stated during the press conference. (ANI)
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