Volume 7, No. 2, February 2025
Editor: Rashed Rahman
It has always been alleged by the Pakistani authorities that the Baloch struggle is funded by foreign powers, that foreign hands are involved, India in particular and Afghanistan in passing. This has helped demonise not only the Baloch struggle but also the Baloch people in the minds of the majority brought up and raised in and indoctrinated via the education curricula and the media that India is a monster that wants to undo Pakistan and its achievements, if any. This demonising of the Baloch as being foreign agents legitimises the enforced disappearances in the cities and military operations in the mountains and far flung areas. This demonisation has served Pakistan well in the case of the Baloch and now also against the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), as it has served India in the case of the Kashmiris and Kashmir. It has also weaponised the discourse on Baloch issues and given the right to all and sundry to speak against the Baloch and their struggle for their rights. There neither existed the Indian RAW or the secret services of Afghanistan when the Baloch fought the British in Balochistan or in Sindh. This present day demonising has weaponised the discourse and the state’s response and has become increasingly brutal as the crescendo of allegations keeps mounting. The public doesn’t take much effort to convince for there have been seven decades and more of the state’s effort to lead them to the place where it would be easy and convenient for it to have public backing for its vile deeds.
The political class does not have the character or the will to redress the grievances of the Baloch and now, after the PTM’s creation and protests, those of the Pashtuns. The political class has allowed the army to outgrow the parameters of its mandated duties and thereby enhanced its influence as it has used the army as its crutches on which it hobbles into the corridors of power. The army uses them as hatchet men for its own purposes and motives and this results in the complete domination of the army over all affairs related to governance and even daily lives while the politicians remain content with a façade of them being in control. The charade of civilian supremacy stands exposed since Imran Khan was installed as their choice on the throne of bayonets.
Armies by training and aims cannot be alive to the problems of people or sensitive to their feelings and needs as they are indoctrinated in the resolution of all issues by force as the ultimate weapon. Here is what Edward Gibbon (1737-1794) has to say about armies: “The army is the only order of men sufficiently united to concur in the same sentiments, and powerful enough to impose them on the rest of their fellow-citizens; but the temper of soldiers, habituated at once to violence and to slavery, renders them very unfit guardians of a legal, or even a civil constitution.” The army needs an enemy to which it can direct people’s attention to make them amenable to its wishes and its control, for without an enemy, who would need to foot the debilitating expenses that armies need for their well-being and power over people. François-Anatole Thibault (April 16, 1844-October 12, 1924), was a French poet, journalist and novelist and he had this to say: “A people living under the perpetual menace of war and invasion is very easy to govern. It demands no social reform. It does not haggle over expenditures for armaments and military equipment. It pays without discussion, it ruins itself, and that is an excellent thing for the syndicates of financiers and manufacturers for whom patriotic terrors are an abundant source of gain.”
The extreme weaponisation of the discourse takes place when the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) trolls are let loose on the Baloch whenever some government installation is attacked. When the Karachi Stock Exchange was attacked on June 29, 2020, these trolls said that the attack was by ‘missing persons’, thus delegitimising the efforts of those families that strive for their dear ones abducted by the state, and in the same breath promoting and legitimising enforced disappearances. Those who point this out are termed traitors, exposing them to reprisals.
Exploitation and Deprivation
That Balochistan’s resources are exploited is hardly a well-kept secret. The world knows how blatantly its resources have been exploited. Gas was discovered in Balochistan in 1952. Not a whiff of gas was supplied to Balochistan for nearly three decades till 1982. This despite the fact that it was the sole provider of gas for two decades. Balochistan’s share of consumption was just two percent but rose to seven percent with the 900 MW gas-fired power plant at Uch in Dera Murad Jamali. According to Quesco, Balochistan provides 2,280 MW to the national grid, but its share is only 700-800 MW. The excise duty on gas that is transferred to the provinces is also flawed and eaten away by inflation. All told, if money is any indicator of injustices, just for gas Balochistan has been deprived of Rs. 7.69 trillion, which benefited the rest of Pakistan. Balochistan simply wasn’t allowed to prosper. If you deprive the people and region of Rs. 7.69 trillion (this is a conservative figure) and then blame the lack of development on the Sardars (tribal chiefs), who mostly are the state’s supporters, you are adding extreme insult to injury. This has been the case in Balochistan all along.
The Saindak project in District Chagai in Balochistan 670 km west of Quetta was based on estimated ore reserves of 412 million tons containing on average 0.5 gram of gold and 1.5 grams of silver per ton. It was expected to generate about $ 65 million annually. The 1970s UN-assisted study estimated its worth at more than $ four billion. The technology then was comparatively primitive and the prices too have risen dramatically. Copper prices in 2009 stood at $ 3.162 per lb; then it was $ 1 per lb. The prices of gold and silver have gone through the roof. So, deals based on old estimates make them doubly unfavourable.
The project was revived by Pakistan and China on March 22, 2002, with $ 350 million earmarked for development. The terms were exceptionally unfavourable for Balochistan and its people. MRDL, a subsidiary of the Metallurgical Construction Company of China (MCC) runs it in return for 50 percent of total revenue from mineral sales and was to pay $ 500,000 monthly to Pakistan over the next 10 years. Balochistan was to receive only $ 0.7 million per year as royalty. These figures expose the total disregard of Baloch rights by the Centre.
In 2009 Syed Fazl-e-Haider, a respected development analyst, said, “The Saindak saga is also a story of financial mismanagement and administrative mishandling by government planners and economic managers in Islamabad. A project originally estimated to cost Rs six billion ended up costing more than Rs 14 billion.” Syed Sahib in a piece titled, “China digs Pakistan into a hole” (Asia Times, October 2006) had exposed an ominous aspect of this project. He revealed: “The Rs 18 billion ($ 297 million) Saindak copper-gold project in the Pakistani province of Balochistan has been run by a Chinese contractor on a 10-year lease without any independent monitoring for the past three years. Higher-than-anticipated production of blister copper at the site in the Chagai district may reduce the estimated 19-year life of the mine. If the rate of mining continues unchecked, the Chinese contractors will exploit all the resource within the 10-year lease period, leaving no copper or gold for Pakistan to mine from Saindak after the lease contract comes to an end.” He had said: “According to official estimates, the project has the capacity to produce 15,800 tonnes of blister copper annually, containing 1.5 tonnes of gold and 2.8 tonnes of silver. The reported production results, however, have generally remained on average more than 2,000 tonnes per month, which means that more than production of 24,000 tonnes per year has been taking place, i.e. some 8,000 plus tonnes more than the estimated target and this means reducing the life span of the mine radically.” MCC has been given carte blanche and the situation remains unchanged. They are, as Syed said, “simultaneously the producers and buyers of Saindak copper.” Monitoring is literally non-existent as two non-executive Islamabad-based directors of the Saindak board are responsible for monitoring. Not only are the reserves being depleted at an alarming rate, the environment is being irreversibly destroyed. To quote him again, “The smelting of the copper ore emits arsenic and carbon monoxide, which pollutes the air and water near the mines. Most threatened is the atmosphere in the immediate vicinity of the copper mine.”
Marcel Claude, vice-president of the international environmental group Oceana says, “Gold mining dumps 79 tonnes of waste for every 28 grams of gold, and produces 96 percent of the world’s arsenic emissions.” A ton is 1,000,000 grams, so extracting 7.746 tons would result in a colossal 218,547,857.14 tons of waste, quite enough to swamp Saindak and its environs. The arsenic emissions are a hazardous and noxious gift of predatory mining companies to the world. A few facts about cyanide would not be out of place here. The discoverer of cyanide Carl Wilhelm Scheele found that it could dissolve gold in 1783 but it was not used until 1887. Though there are alternatives to cyanide, including starch and sulphur dioxide, cyanide is preferred as it readily bonds with gold. Approximately 1.4 million tonnes of hydrogen cyanide is produced annually worldwide, with approximately 13 percent, i.e. 182,000 tonnes, being used to produce cyanide reagents for gold processing. Recent studies show that residual cyanide trapped in the gold mine tailings may cause persistent release of toxic metals (e.g. mercury) into the groundwater and surface water systems. Cyanide poisoning can occur through inhalation, ingestion, and skin or eye contact. One teaspoon of a two percent solution can kill a person.
Sakura Saunders, Northern editor of www.protestbarrick.net and a director of Prometheus Radio Project, says the 7.746 tons of gold would result in 15,740,598.8 tons of waste and 11.046 tons of silver would produce 7,482,169.33 tons of waste. Even if extracted from the same ore, the resultant waste would be 15,740,598.8 tons. She says these estimates are of ore-body waste, which is the portion of waste that contains many of the toxins such as arsenic, sulphides, cadmium, etc. It is a disaster for the people anyway you may see it. This amount of waste would swamp the place even if safety and disposal protocols were observed diligently, while here there is no protocol in place and the MRDL does what it wants. Moreover, its contract was extended to 2022 and then under threat of stopping work it recently extracted the concession of exploration. The Balochistan government has now allowed Chinese firm MCC – registered locally with the name of Saindak Metals Limited (SML) – the exploration and development of East Ore Body in the Saindak lease area and the company has been issued an NOC for the purpose. This means China is not going to leave until every ounce of gold, silver and copper is extracted and sent to China while Pakistan is satisfied with a pittance from the returns while Balochistan get only a few crumbs. SML used to give figures about the metals extracted but now has become wise and posts only the supposed losses it suffers. In May 2009 the figures it released said, as reported by Daily Times, May 11, 2009, that 7.746 tons of gold, 86,013 tons of copper, 11.046 tons of silver and 14,482 tons of magnetite concentrate (iron) worth $ 633.573 million were produced during 2004-08.
There are 32,150 troy ounces in a ton. At the May 2009 price of gold at Rs 38,319 per tola and $ 1,199.22 per oz as on December 1, 2009, a ton of gold would cost $ 38,554,923 and 7.746 tons would cost a staggering $ 298,646,433.55. With silver at Rs1,622 per tola and $ 18.61 per oz, a ton would cost $ 598,311.5 and 11.046 tons would sell for $ 6,608,948.82. Copper was priced at $ 3.162 per lb and $ 6971.017 per ton and 86,013 tons is equal to 189,626,152.08 lbs. So the copper would sell for $ 599,597,892.90. With magnetite at $ 200 per ton, the grand total would be $ 907,749,675.29. These were the figures of May 2009 at the metal prices of that time. Now things would be very different as gold per ounce on July 23, 2020 was $1891.25/ounce. The gold rate in Pakistan on July 23, 2020, as per the Saraf Jewellers Association, was Rs 100,933 for 10-gram 24K and the gold price per tola was Rs 117,083. Silver was $ 23.18 per ounce on July 23, 2020, while in 2009 it was $ 17 per ounce. Copper per ton at $ 6,495.26 remains in the environs of the 2009 prices. With new mining in the East Ore Body, production will increase as will the profits, but Pakistan will be paid a pittance and Balochistan a pittance of that pittance.
A few words about Reko Diq, which was in limbo and Pakistan was hit with a penalty of $ six billion by an arbitration court for breaching the contract with Barrick Gold. Barrick Gold is a notorious mining company that has vast concessions around the world and is resisted by locals while governments patronise it for kickbacks. Credible international surveys indicate the wealth of resources and suggest that the area (Reko Diq) is home to one of the biggest copper reserves in the world with over 11 billion pounds of copper and nine million ounces of gold. The Australian firm Tethyan, which entered into a joint venture with the Balochistan government, estimates an annual production of 200-500 million pounds of copper from the Reko Diq mining project. A large number of porphyry rocks (porphyry is a textural term for an igneous rock consisting of large-grained crystals such as feldspar or quartz dispersed in a fine-grained silicate rich with generally aphanitic matrix or groundmass. The larger crystals are called phenocrysts. In its non-geologic, traditional use, the term porphyry refers to the purple-red form of this stone, valued for its appearance, which are also known to exist at Reko Diq.
The interests of the Australian company Tethyan in Reko Diq and its neighbourhood were taken over by the Toronto-based Barrick Gold Corporation and the Chilean Antofagasta Minerals. These companies were handed a very lucrative deal. The terms agreed upon show that there is more to the issue than meets the eye. Royalties were reduced from the initial four to two percent. Terms for the provision of cost-free land for an airport and a 400 km Reko Diq-Gwadar road were accepted. An unjust clause is that a 25 percent share will be paid to the Balochistan government but only after it invests 25 percent in the project.
According to Rob Maguire of the Dominion paper, “Barrick is the foremost gold mining corporation in the world, with sales exceeding $ 2.6 bn in 2005 and the largest reserves in the industry, at nearly 90 million ounces. They plan to mine gold under the Andean glaciers at Pascua Lama (Chile) and in order to process the ore there, Barrick will use 7,200 kg of cyanide and 10 million litres of water per day. Cyanide contamination of water resources can be devastating – cyanide concentrations as little as one microgram (one-millionth of a gram) per litre can be fatal to fish.” The people at Pascua Lama are resisting Barrick’s operations. So, if Barrick get the contract again, it will be a disaster, but then no mining company cares either for the environment or the people.
(To be continued)