By: Aziz Lashari
Jhal Magsi, a parched, quiet, and long-neglected district in Balochistan, lies not only at the margins of Pakistan geographically but also at the periphery of government attention. Yet beneath its barren soil rests a treasure — natural gas. The bitter irony is that while this land fuels industries and homes hundreds of kilometers away, its own people remain thirsty, hungry, unemployed, and in darkness.
The first discovery here came on January 1, 2005, when the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) announced commercially viable reserves from Jhal Magsi South Well No.1, with a daily capacity of 11 million cubic feet of natural gas. A year later, on September 9, 2006, Dawn reported another major find in the district, with a potential of 15 million cubic feet per day. At the time, these figures raised hopes among the people of Jhal Magsi — perhaps their lives would finally change, perhaps they too would share in the progress.
But those hopes quickly faded. The discoveries remained limited to press releases; projects stalled, deadlines slipped, and the locals slipped back into despair.
Nearly two decades later, in July 2023, OGDCL finally announced that the Jhal Magsi Gas Processing Plant had been completed and had begun production. The facility now produces 13.7 million cubic feet of gas per day, along with 45 barrels of condensate. From there, the gas travels through a 98-kilometer pipeline into the SSGC network, powering households and industries in Karachi, Hyderabad, and beyond.
The project is owned by OGDCL, with Pakistan Oilfields Limited (POL) and Government Holdings Private Limited (GHPL) as partners. The shareholding is clear: OGDCL 66.5%, POL 28.5%, and GHPL 5%. The investments were made, machinery installed, and production started — yet the people of Jhal Magsi remain untouched by this wealth.
There are no household gas connections.
No industrial zones.
No new doors of employment.
Instead, firewood still burns in kitchens, gas cylinders are bought at high prices, young men migrate to cities for labor, and women walk miles every day to fetch clean water.
OGDCL points to corporate social responsibility initiatives — an ambulance, a water filtration plant, the renovation of a few schools — but these remain token gestures. When gas worth millions of rupees flows out of this land daily, its people deserve not charity but their rightful share.
This is not only the story of Jhal Magsi. Across Pakistan, resource-rich regions face the same fate: wealth is extracted locally, but development flows elsewhere. The stoves of Islamabad and Lahore burn brightly, while homes in Jhal Magsi are left in the dark. For those in power, “development” seems to mean budgets and mega projects, not human lives.
The questions are unavoidable:
Were the people of Jhal Magsi created only to give up their land?
Do they not have the right to a better life?
If this gas is a national asset, then the people living next to it are also part of the nation. If officials claim the right to production, they must also accept the responsibility of equitable development.
