Bakhtawar Baloch Rakhshani
Awaran is a deprived district in Balochistan whose existence came into the limelight when it was hit by a disastrous earthquake in 2013. The district which is located in the South of Balochistan is home to an estimated 121,680 people, who are surviving there without the basic needs for living. In the 21st century, where the other parts of the world have touched the sky with technological progress, unluckily, people of Awaran are waiting for basic facilities. Be it quality education or health care facilities, inaccessibility of internet service or proper roads and highways, unavailability of electricity or unemployment.
In this fast-moving world, education is the main weapon that helps someone to be the better version of oneself and to walk with the world step by step, but unfortunately, people who belong to the richest province of Pakistan are deprived of this weapon. In Awaran, there are basically 380 schools according to the education management information system, but you can merely find a few of them active. on the other hand, in these active schools, most teachers are not qualified enough to teach students, particularly, higher classes. In addition, in most of the schools, you can find replacements for teachers. For example; the posted teachers who do not live in Awaran anymore, so they have kept someone else to teach students on behalf of them. I have even witnessed such replacements in my own school. Now, the misery is that the educational officers, too, are involved in such illegal replacements. Moreover, the basic facilities which are required in a school like: library, laboratory, washrooms and access to clean water are not present in all schools. After grabbing a certificate, it is a desire of every student to go to a college for further education. However, there is a one-degree college in Awaran, but neither teachers nor students are present in college due to security threats. As a result, students rely on cheating in intermediate examinations.
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District headquarter hospital is the only hospital in Awaran. One cannot find a single female doctor there. Patients with gynecological problems have no option left, but to travel to Karachi for their treatment. Many pregnant women have died during delivery due to this issue. Hence, many doctors have transferred themselves to other cities because of the inaccessibility of basic facilities in the town. The outbreak of Covid-19 made the situation worst for residents as in case of being symptomatic, one has to send one’s blood sample to Karachi for being tested, given the lack of facilities in the hospital.
In this modern world, where life halts without internet facility, people of Awaran have no access to the internet. It has been more than four years since the internet connection has been abandoned for security concerns. when we made a visit there during the Covid-19 vacations, we couldn’t carry on with our studies, given the absence of the internet service. One can estimate how much difficulties other localities are facing due to the inaccessibility of internet service.
The distance between Awaran to Lasbela is 211 km, but due to the hustling and bustling road that has not been reconstructed for decades, it will take you hours to reach lasbela. Many patients have lost their lives on the way to Karachi because of this bumpy road. When you travel through this road, you come to know none of the officials have ever made a visit to Awaran. Apart from that, roads and highways within the district are also in poor condition. It takes hours to cover minor distances within the district.
In Awaran, you will find every next person jobless. There are very few opportunities for jobs for people. People are compelled to move to other countries like UAE and Iran to seek sources for livelihood. Most of the people have migrated to other cities for an earning life. However, the qualified ones are never able to get jobs because jobs are mostly distributed to those who have money to offer in bribery.
The district belongs to a province full of natural resources whether coal or gas, copper, or gold, but still the residencies of Awaran are living in full darkness. The district has been facilitated with power generators more than 15 years ago. Now, these generators are too fragile to supply electric power to masses. In addition, every next day, they are out of order and it takes weeks to repair them again. People have no option left other than spending weeks without lights.
It is the time to realize that a country cannot step on the ladder of prosperity and progress until it’s all provinces are getting the equivalent attention, rights, and resources, so how will Pakistan step into a brighter future unless its least developed parts remain at the last category in every aspect of life.
The writer is a student from Awaran.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article are those of the author and Balochistan Voices not necessarily agrees with them.
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