BALOCHISTAN, the largest province of Pakistan, produces about 25pc of natural gas from its district of Sul (Dera Bugti).

Besides, more than 40 minerals are available in the province from chromites and coal in the north; barite and antimony in the south, and copper, marble and gold in the west (Chagai district).

Despite all these potentials, Balochistan is one of the most backward regions of the world.

Illiteracy, lack of health and sanitation facilities, poor agriculture, mining, commerce and industries, small population, poor human index, and fragile infrastructures are the major factors responsible for its poverty.

The ratio of poverty and unemployment is on the rise. Day by day poverty and unemployment are increasing and the poor are getting poorer while the rich are getting richer by the day.

Everybody in the province wants to know why the federal government has turned a blind eye towards the miserable life of the Baloch. Why can`t it end the menace of poverty and unemployment when the province has an abundance ofresources? Why can`t it give the people their basic rights? Ghulam Ali Bugti Jaffarabad