ISLAMABAD    -   Pakistan Army has been contrib­uting a lot for a secure and sta­ble environment in the country, especially Balochistan to ensure the completion of the socio-eco­nomic development projects.

The Pakistan Army provided assistance and security in vari­ous projects. It established bor­der markets in Badini, Chaman and Kech in Balochistan prov­ince to increase economic activ­ities and employment of the lo­cals. It also oversaw execution of 510 new clean water projects worth Rs 8.837 billion and facil­itated completion of 1,320MW Coal-Fired Power Plant in Hub which is operational from 14th August 2019.

The Pakistan Army under the brilliant leadership of Chief of Army Staff Gen. Qamar Javed Ba­jwa laid the foundation stone of the desalination plant in Gwa­dar. The project will fulfil a long-awaited demand of the lo­cal population and will provide them with 4.4 million gallons of water per day with a capacity to increase the production to 8.8 million gallons per day. Frontier Corps Balochistan (North) and dis­trict administration actively facil­itated the resettlement process of  around 2,000 local families, who had been displaced by trib­al conflicts and unrest, have re­settled in tehsil Kahan, Kohlu district of Balochistan. Electric­ity provision was enhanced un­der the Roshan Pakistan pro­gramme from 12 percent to 57 percent and LPG from 61 percent to 100 percent of the households.

Pakistan Army also sponsored educational development proj­ects in Balochistan. As many as 113 schools are supervised by Pakistan Army / FC and approx­imately 40,000 students across Balochistan are being educat­ed in these schools. Established 12 Army Schools and Colleges, 32 FC Schools and Colleges, and 9 cadet colleges in Sui, Pishin, Mastung, Panjgur, Jaffarabad, Kohlu, Turbat, Noshki and Awaran are functional. A total of 2622 Balochistan students are currently studying in 8 Cadet / Military Colleges. Seven lat­est educational projects include NUST at Quetta, Quetta Institute of Medical Sciences, Military College Sui, Sui Education City, Balochistan Public School Sui, Balochistan Institute of Techni­cal Education, Gwadar Institute of Technology, and Army Insti­tute of Mineralogy.

The Pakistan Army is also con­tributing to the health sector in Balochistan. Five Combined Mil­itary Hospitals located at Quet­ta, Loralai, Khuzdar, Zhob and Sibbi are providing health fa­cilities to the locals. In addition, various health facilities are be­ing spearheaded by LEAs in the province in collaboration with the government of Balochistan. Apart from these health initia­tives, Pakistan Armed Forces also provided and supervised other health facilities. Major renovation/uplift has been con­ducted in DHQ Turbat, Awaran, Sibbi, Zhob and Dalbandin be­sides medical camps/Tele Med­ical Centers. Since 2016, 60,000 patients have been treated in 650 free medical camps estab­lished by Southern Command / Frontier Corps. Since 2018, Tele Medical Centers are also functional which are providing medical services to far-flung ar­eas on video link. Approximate­ly 25,000 patients have availed this facility to date.

Apart from contributions in infrastructure, education and health sectors, the Pak Army has also contributed in establish­ment of Timer-e-Panjgoor Date Farming Project. It facilitated the smooth / timely implemen­tation of projects through pro­viding security and access in the far-flung areas.

To provide sustenance to the people of the border region of Bolan, the government has ini­tiated establishing Border Sus­tenance Markets. Pak Army is facilitating the process through providing security and con­stant interactions with all do­mestic stakeholders and with Iran through military diploma­cy. Once operationalized, the border sustenance markets will yield socio-eco dividends for the local populace.

In the socio-economic sector, Agriculture Park Wana, Gomal Zam and Kurrum Tangi Dam, Police infrastructure, renova­tion / rehab of 153 mosques, construction of 97 markets, 63 children parks and 15 sports grounds were developed. Pa­kistan Army through concert­ed efforts has enabled a secure environment to supervise exe­cution of several developmen­tal works.

Under the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) norm, FWO has also played a pivotal role. FWO’s Construction Technolo­gy Training Institute (CTTI), sit­uated in the capital city, is pro­viding technical and vocational training to the youth. More than 34000 students have so far been qualified from CTTI. The FWO has sponsored 66 students from far-flung areas of GB in 2021 in­cluding Chapurson, Diamer, Ko­histan and other areas.

Under the COAS Youth Em­ployment Scheme, present­ly 1500 students from new­ly merged districts (NMDs) are studying in military and ca­det colleges. Besides this over 15000 youth have been enrolled in Army /FC. As many as 72 stu­dents from NMDs are studying in military and cadet colleges across the country. In addition, 5 Cadet Colleges are currently functional in NMDs (Cadet Col­lege Mhd Ghat established in 2019); providing education to around 2000 students at a time.

Repatriation of Mada Khel Tribe (MKT), former North Wa­ziristan, residing in Afghani­stan (Khost, Patika) commenced w.e.f. 10 December 2021 and 7909 families have repatriat­ed till date out of approximate­ly 8,000-10,000 families. Suno FM Programme is providing in­fotainment in local languages and counters hostile narrative/ misperception efforts. Current­ly, 11 FM studios and 68 FM sta­tions are functional in NMDs while 3 stations are under con­struction to expand the outreach.

Pakistan Army has also made monumental contributions in the health sector, particularly establishing free medical camps in remote areas (Sindh, KPK, Balochistan, GB and AJ&K), medical support during natural calamities and supplementing gaps in federal and provincial medical infrastructure through extending state-of-the-art med­ical facilities, training and ma­terial support as selfless service for the nation.

The Pakistan Army Medical Corps remained first respond­er during the natural calami­ties. During the earthquake of 2005, medical sub camps han­dled almost 1,13,030 cases in Kashmir and treated approx­imately 28,976 individuals with major surgeries. During the earthquake in Balochistan in the year 2013, the hospi­tals treated 20,009 affected in Awaran, Mashkey, Gashkre and Mangoli areas. Moreover, during floods of 2010, medical sup­port was also provided to more than 20m affected populations. During the Tharparker drought in 2019, Pakistan Army Medical Corps treated a total of 47,507 civilians including 18,893 chil­dren. As medical support for Temporarily Displaced Per­sons (TDPs) a total of 378,330 patients were treated through establishing field hospitals in Mardan, Jalozai and Dera Ismail Khan from 2009 – 2011. Addi­tionally, approximately 16000 civilian patients are treated an­nually as indoor patients and approximately 700,000 treat­ed as outdoor patients at the country’s CMHs. Pakistan Army Medical Corps has always re­mained the largest contributor for peace since 1960 and pro­vided medical setups in Soma­lia, Bosnia, Sierra Leone, Libe­ria, Sudan, Congo and Mali. Fauji Foundation (FF) has 74 health facilities country-wide, treating over 2m patients annually.

Since Pakistan is amongst the world’s top countries affected by pollution, FWO’s “Green Mo­torways Initiative” has aim to plant one million saplings along motorways and highways. Fre­quent free medical campuses in remote areas of the country especially in GB are also steps towards FWO’s contributions. During 2021 – 22, more than 1500 patients have been given free medical treatment in differ­ent areas of GB.

Pakistan Armed Forces ed­ucational setups are not only imparting quality and modern education but also contribut­ing immensely to the national cause by imparting education to 759,426 students up to HSSC level (2% of the 39.58m student population) and 71,411 stu­dents of higher education level (3.25% of 2.18m student popu­lation). Army Public School and College System (APSACS) is the largest contributor to national integration, maintaining coun­try-wide footprint and impart­ing uniform, quality education to students of varied socio-eco background at affordable costs.

APSACS is contributing with 200 institutions providing ed­ucation to 258,316 students (46% belonging to non-mili­tary background and maintain­ing 23 schools in border re­gions). The system is sustained through Pak Army resources with approximately Rs 831 mil­lion annual expenditure on the pretext of cost effective educa­tion vis-à-vis comparative edu­cation systems.

The public sector federal edu­cation system is spread all over the country in military canton­ments with the vision to pro­vide purposeful and quality ed­ucation at very low cost. FGEI’s major contributions include a total of 355 institutions educat­ing 201,367 students. FGEI has a national spread including less developed areas such as Zhob, Sui, Chaman, Khuzdar, Loralai, Bagh, Landikotal and Parachi­nar. The system is supported by the Army with an approximate­ly annual subsidy of Rs 150 mil­lion as only 20 percent of the re­quired funds are provided by the federal government.

As a philanthropic initiative for children with disabilities, Pak Army has also established 25 special education schools all over Pakistan, having 4000 stu­dents on its roll with 80 percent from non-military background. National University of Science and Technology (NUST) consti­tutes 5 colleges and 20 constit­uent institutions. The university ranked 358th in global ranking, 76th in Asia and 1st in Pakistan. NUST is educating 18,144 Paki­stani and 531 foreign students per year (85% from non-mil­itary backgrounds). National University of Modern Languag­es (NUML) is a fully autono­mous body with 9 regional cam­puses offering education to 22,301 students per year. Na­tional University of Medical Sci­ences (NUMS) was established as a federal public sector uni­versity in October 2015. The University is backed up by an extensive network of 45 mili­tary hospitals, 12 Single Spe­cialty Institutes, 10 Medical Col­leges and 4 Nursing Colleges making it the country’s largest healthcare provider in terms of trajectory and patient volume. Constituent institutions, AMC Rawalpindi and CMH Lahore Medical College were declared with A+ grading (best grading in respective category) in Paki­stan by PMDC in the year 2019. NUMS impart education to 5400 students per year (80% stu­dents from non-military back­ground).

Rangers and Frontier Con­stabulary are also contributing to the education cause by run­ning 176 schools in underdevel­oped and remote areas of Paki­stan, imparting education to a total of 58,298 students, mostly from non-military background. Pakistan Coast Guards (PCG) are running GEIs comprising 3 schools (up to SSC level) and 2 Colleges (HSSC level) in Karachi. The system is educating a total of 4,313 students. Approximate­ly Rs 4m subsidy (school fee ex­emption) is being provided on an annual basis due to Covid-19 pandemic. The Pakistan Navy is also contributing in education development. Bahria colleges have 14 purpose-built campus­es in Karachi, Islamabad and La­hore, imparting up to HSSC lev­el education to a total of 33,770 students. In order to provide af­fordable and quality education in coastal areas of Sindh and Ba­lochistan, 5 Bahria Model Col­leges up to HSSC level have been established. Pakistan Navy is ed­ucating a total of 2,197 students.

Pak Air Forces established Fazaia colleges to promote ed­ucation in the country. Fazaia colleges have 26 institutions all around Pakistan, imparting up to HSSC level education to a to­tal of 62,000 students. Brilliant student scholarships amount­ing to Rs 37m and cash priz­es for top positions holders amounting to Rs 3.7m are being extended annually.

The Pakistan Army has al­ways remained at the forefront during natural calamities like floods, earthquakes, droughts, pandemics, etc. The Army’s res­cue efforts have always been much greater than mandated / asked for. Pak Army has also supported National Anti-Po­lio Efforts since 2014. The Pa­kistan government launched a comprehensive polio eradica­tion programme with the assis­tance of the international com­munity. Intelligence agencies carry out investigations/ intel­ligence assessment of threats to polio workers and staff and im­plement necessary precaution­ary measures to thwart these threats. Since the virus situation escalated swiftly in March 2020, NCOC was established the same month to leverage the com­bined resources of the civil and military apparatus and Pakistan Army fought on the frontline in Covid pandemic under the able command of Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa. Under the directions of the COAS, Covid testing labs were established at major military hospitals across the country, with a central facil­ity set up in Rawalpindi.