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In Balochistan's drought-stricken sub-tehsil of Pir Koh, over 50,000 residents are in the grip of a deepening humanitarian crisis triggered by an acute shortage of clean drinking water.
Despite lying adjacent to Sui, home to one of Pakistan's largest natural gas fields, the people of Pir Koh are facing the unbearable irony of resource-rich poverty, as the state fails to provide them with their most basic necessity, water. This is not a natural disaster, but a man-made catastrophe, born of decades of state neglect and systemic underdevelopment. With summer temperatures soaring, families are either abandoning their homes in search of water or protesting in the streets. Many have reported serious health complications due to the consumption of contaminated water sources. The crisis has been exacerbated by the Public Health Engineering Department's (PHE) failure to restore or maintain basic water supply systems. Despite Pir Koh being the electoral constituency of the current Chief Minister of Balochistan, no urgent relief efforts have materialised. Instead of addressing the immediate crisis, the CM's office appears more focused on political optics and criminalising peaceful dissent. In a post on X, the Baloch Yakjehti Committee condemned this negligence, stating, "The water crisis in Dera Bugti's Pir Koh is a direct result of state abandonment. Thousands are suffering while their elected representative remains silent." This latest tragedy fits into a broader pattern of institutionalised discrimination and deprivation faced by the Baloch people. From enforced disappearances to collapsing infrastructure, the state's role in Balochistan remains one of coercion and indifference. The Baloch Yakjehti Committee has called on the United Nations, UNICEF, Amnesty International, and other global humanitarian organisations to intervene immediately and ensure the people of Pir Koh receive emergency water relief. Access to water is a basic human right, one that the people of Balochistan can no longer afford to be denied. (ANI)
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