NAME

IMRAN-ALI

REG NO # 657-FBAS/BSBT/f-14

DEPARTMENT: BIOTECHNOLOGY

FACULTY OF BASIC AND APPLIED SCIENCES

INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY ISLAMABAD

• Baluchistan

Baluchistan Issue

Introduction

Map, Importance and Resources

The Baluchistan

History

Introduction

Baluchistan is one of the provinces of Pakistan

Located in the southwestern region of the country.

Its provincial capital and largest city is Quetta.

It shares borders with Punjab and the Federally Administered Tribal

Areas to the northeast,

Sindh to the southeast,

The Arabian Sea to the south,

Iran to the west, and

Afghanistan to the north.

History

Baluchistan marked the western most extent of the Indus Valley

Civilization.

Centuries before the arrival of Islam in the 7th Century, parts of

Pakistani Baluchistan was ruled by the Paratarajas, an Indo-

Scythian dynasty.

At certain times, the Kushans also held political sway on parts of

Pakistani Baluchistan

During the period of the British Raj, there were four Princely States in

Baluchistan Makran, Kharan, Las Bela and Kalat.

In August 1947 the Chief Commissioner's Province of

Baluchistan immediately became part of Pakistan,

Followed by the princely states of Makran, Kharan, Las Bela, and

the Khanate of Kalat, who decided to accede to Pakistan in March 1948.

The Khan of Kalat agreed to join Pakistan under the condition that

defense, currency, foreign relations,

And finance would be controlled by the federal government, but

that the province would remain otherwise autonomous.

The four princely states together formed the Baluchistan States

Union in October 1952.

The enclave of Gawadar was excluded from this as it was still part

of the Sultanate of Oman

At time of line of creation of Baluchistan it was divided into 2 parts

Gawadar was part of sultanate of Oman and was purchased on Sep 1958

and was made part in 1977

Baluchistan's share of Pakistan's national income has historically

ranged between 3.7% to 4.9%. Since 1972,

Baluchistan's gross income has grown in size by 2.7 times.

Outside Quetta, the resource extraction infrastructure of the

province is gradually developing

But still lags far behind other parts of Pakistan.

Baluchistan province came into being on July 1st 1970

Baluchistan Natural Resources

There is a large quantity of natural resource in Baluchistan

Including Chromite, Fluorites, Barite, Asbestos, Marble, Garnet, Vermiculite, gold, copper, Iron, Gas, Petroleum, and etc.

Which are of great importance in today’s world.

750 kilometer long coast and area of Baluchistan has been declared the gateway of economic welfare.

Baluchistan has a great agriculture potential, but the low rains and

shortage of water is big hurdle in the way of taking full benefit from

this agriculture potential.

At present the total arable Lang in province is 1.8 million acres.

Besides agriculture potential

It also has potential of livestock production because it has the 93

percent rangeland of country.

Asbestos:

Asbestos occurs in two main spinning and non spinning fiber types.

Occurrences of Asbestos are known in the Zabar Creek area 8 to 10 Km

North of Muslim bagh.

Natural Gas:

Natural Gas was accidentally discovered in 1952 near the town of Sui,

Baluchistan.

In 1995, Baluchistan was contributing nearly 56% to Pakistan’s total output

of natural gas

But by 2007 its shares had dropped to 22.7%, and that same year it consumed

only 5.81% of the country’s total output.

Copper

The significance of copper resources of Baluchistan is widely known

because of huge investment made in development of Saindak copper

deposit.

About 500 million copper has been found from Chaghi district in Western

Baluchistan.

Besides Saindak, huge reservoir of copper has been discovered in Rekodiq

area, located near the Saindak.

This is including amongst the 10 biggest copper reservoir of the world.

Vermiculite:

Large deposits of Vermiculate found from Doki river area, south of

Dalbandin based in reconnaissance of the area.

Magnetite:

Magnetite occurs at Wad in Khuzdar district and Muslim bagh area

of Qila Saifullah district.

Total estimated reserves are not exactly known.

Fluorite:

Substantial reserves of fluorite are found at Maran,

Phad- i – Maraan and Dilband areas of Mastung district.

The total estimated reserves about 125,000 tons.

Iron Ores

Chaghi, a mineral rich area, possesses nearly 30 million tonnes of iron ore

There are 1 to 7 meters ( averaging about 2 meters) thick hematite

sedimentary ironstone bed of Jurassic age

(150 million years old)

Iron Ore

More than 600 million tons of Iron Ores are found in Baluchistan.

The large portion of Iron Ores has been found nokundi, Chilghazi and

Dalbandin areas of Baluchistan.

Some of the good quality Ore found in Chaghi and Dalbandin areas of

Baluchistan.

Chilton Limestone,

Sember formation of Cretaceous age (150-65 million years old) near Johan in Dilband area of Mustang district.

The reserves have been tentatively estimated at over 200 million tones.

The Geographical Survey has discovered iron Ore deposit with initial

estimated reserves of

200 million tones at Dilband, 90 kilometers Duddar id located about 135

kilometers north of Karachi.

SulphurSulphur deposits are available at Koh-e-Sultan in District Chaghi.

Three main deposits are clustered around the Southern half of the

extinct volcano, Koh-e-Sultan.

The deposits are of fumaroles origin and native Sulphur is found in

cracks and as impregnation in volcanic tuffs.

The Chief use of Sulphur is the manufacturing of Sulphuric acid etc.

CoalBaluchistan coal can cater to the existing and future energy requirement of

our country to a great extent.

More than 90% of coal is dispatched to other provinces for use in brick

kilns.

Chromite

Sizable deposits of this mineral are found at Muslim bagh, district

Killa Saifullah Lasbela, Khuzdar, Kharan and Chaghi districts have

Chromite reserves.

Private sector has been engaged in mining this

mineral.

Barytes

The biggest deposit of Barytes is located near Khuzdar with a total

reserve of over 2.00 million tones.

Scientific mining as well as grinding of this mineral started in

1976.

Almost the entire production of barites is consumed locally by

OGDC and other oil drilling companies

Marble

Large commercially exploitable deposits are found throughout

district Chaghi, starting from Dalbandin and extending to the borders

of Iran.

Some deposits are located close to Pak-Afghan border areas namely

Zardkan, Siah-Chang, Jhulli, Patkok, Maskichah, Zeh, Chilgazi and

Buttak.

LimestoneSeveral hundred meters thick layers of limestone, at places dolomitic, occur

in Chiltan Formation of Jurassic age in Quetta and Kalat.

Limestone of Cretaceous age, 300 to 50 meters thick, is widely found in

Balochistan. Harnai, Sor Range, and Spintangi areas have reserves of

limestone.

QuartziteThis is a relatively newly discovered mineral.

Its deposits are found in Lasbela district.

Quartzite is a non foliated metamorphic rock composed almost entirely

of quartz.

It forms when a quartz-rich sandstone, is altered by the heat, pressure,

and chemical activity of metamorphism