Provincial Government will establish Balochistan Bank soon Presumably the Balochistan Bank will be formally launched and an announcement is expected soon.

It will on the pattern of Punjab Bank and the Khyber Bank and it will function on commercial basis. In the past decades, we opposed it strongly merely because the war lords were a serious threat to its functioning on commercial basis. A Bank Manger fled from his bank branch in a remote region as one of the war lords demanded a loan of tens of millions.

Fearing that the proposed loan will definitely be a bad loan and is not recoverable and at the same time, he could not say no to the war lord, he preferred to leave the charge and rush to the Provincial Headquarters where he explained his difficulties and threat to his life.

On this basis we opposed the establishment of Balochistan Bank in the past which means risking the public money in presence of war lords and unscrupulous people wielding power and influence in our society. Now there is no such threat or risk of usurping the public money by the war lords. To be more precise, there is no war lord now.

Writ of the Government had been restored barring the corrupt functionaries who pose threats to public money in a different way. Hopefully, the powerful state functionaries will also be tamed with the passage of time. The present climate is radically changed in favour of investment, trade and business or even establishing industrial units in remote areas where Balochistan will require efficient banking services to the remote corners with an idea to serve and develop the local people.

There will be ample opportunities for making investment in Balochistan which will be safe and completely secure with the help of the people. Even the investors will be able to establish industrial units in remote areas with the support of the local people and the society protecting their investment besides boosting the trade and business activities.

It is due to awareness among the people after long suffering and also in absence of job opportunities to the villages.  The Balochistan Bank can itself initiate business, commercial and industrial activities besides offering loans to small and medium size organisations generating hundred percent employment in their respective locality.

Three sectors—agriculture, livestock and fisheries will get the needed boost as they remained ignored by the Quetta based Government for the past several decades. The three sectors are providing jobs and employment opportunities to 70 per cent of the Baloch population. The three sectors are the real backbone of the rural economy of Balochistan needing finances and resources for development as the local people possessed expertise to massive level.

Balochistan Bank can turn every house into a breeding ground for cattle developing herds of sheep and goat besides developing dairy products for the major population centres in all parts. It can also promote poultry farming in villages and remote settlements enabling the people to earn their livelihood besides earning their bread and butter on a small scale. Similarly,

the Bank can finance the fisheries sector, yet another sector ignored by the Quetta-based and highly centralized Government, generating jobs, meeting the growing demand for protein and also earning valuable foreign exchange. It can help developing a mechanized fleet of gillnetters and establishing fish processing plants all along the unending Mekran Coast.

Development of fisheries on Mekran Coast is the only guarantee to meet the growing need of protein of the population in Pakistan. It can also ensure an earning of billions of dollars by boosting export of seafood in a big way. The Balochistan Bank can play a big role in developing fisheries, livestock and agriculture generating millions of jobs in private sector.

Natural role of the Balochistan Bank will be to patronize small and medium size of farmers and small and medium size enterprises operating in remote areas having no access to banking system. The Balochistan Bank will definitely be a real game changer leaving much greater economic impact on the Baloch economy than the CPEC. CPEC is confined to a fewer uplift schemes while the Balochistan Bank will have vast scope for economic development, independent economists concluded.