By Sardar Shoukat Popalzai
The reported concerns expressed by the World Bank over the diversion of funds from a rehabilitation and resilient housing programme intended for flood-affected communities in Balochistan are extremely serious and deserve immediate attention from both the Federal and Provincial Governments, the report says the World Bank warned that capping housing assistance and redirecting funds could leave 119,049 verified eligible households without identified financing, with 84% of eligible beneficiaries described as ultra-poor or vulnerable.
Balochistan is already Pakistan’s most development-deficient province, where poverty, inadequate infrastructure, unemployment, recurring natural disasters and limited access to basic services continue to place enormous pressure on ordinary citizens.
Resources specifically committed for the rehabilitation of vulnerable and disaster-affected communities must therefore reach their intended beneficiaries and should not be diverted in a manner that compromises the original purpose of such assistance.
The World Bank’s warning that thousands of verified and eligible households could remain without identified housing assistance is particularly disturbing. These are not merely figures in a development programme; they represent families who have already suffered displacement, loss of property and economic hardship and who are looking towards the state and its development partners for rehabilitation and dignity.
The Balochistan Economic Forum has consistently maintained that the legitimate economic and developmental interests of Balochistan must never be overridden, diluted or ignored in national or provincial decision-making.
For decades, Balochistan has contributed enormously to Pakistan through its natural resources, strategic geography, minerals, energy potential, coastline and connectivity opportunities. Yet its development indicators continue to remain disproportionately weak.
This imbalance cannot be corrected if funds allocated for Balochistan are diverted, priorities are changed without adequate consultation, or vulnerable communities are deprived of resources committed specifically for their rehabilitation.
Development funds are not accounting entries to be shifted from one head to another without consequences. Every rupee committed to the people of Balochistan carries an obligation of transparency, accountability and delivery.
We therefore urge the Federal Government and Government of Balochistan to immediately review the matter in consultation with the World Bank, ensure complete transparency regarding the utilisation and restructuring of the programme, and protect the legitimate entitlements of verified flood-affected families.
Balochistan does not seek preferential treatment. It seeks fairness, protection of its legitimate share and the assurance that resources committed in its name are actually spent for the benefit of its people.
Ignoring Balochistan’s development priorities ultimately carries a cost far greater than the financial value of any project: it weakens public confidence, discourages investment and widens the development gap.
Balochistan’s interests must be protected not as a concession, but as a national responsibility.
Writer is President – Balochistan Economic Forum
