The Balochistan imbroglio
Munir Ahmed Jan
With the change of command in Islamabad after the February 18, 2008
mandate the people of Pakistan in general and the people of Balochistan
in particular heaved a sigh of relief owing to any more tolerable
semi-civilian and quasi-military dictatorial regime in the country.
While there is hardly any day gone where a newspaper or - and in recent
electronic media breakthrough - a television channel does not carry a
report, a story or a debate going on with regard to the situation in
Balochistan, occasionally on natural disasters but very frequently on
manmade problems and issues.
And while much had been debated over and the crises in Balochistan,
without any concrete and sustainable solution emerging during the past
60 years of the coming into being of this Land of the Pure (masses are
excluded from this purity), the major key-players that may either
jeopardize or stabilize the situation in this largest and also the
smallest province of the country in terms of its landmass and
population, respectively are yet to decide their respective agenda. As a
result of the never-ending tug of war between the above-mentioned
key-players the most affected ones are those spectators of this conflict
whose destiny is squarely tied with the end result in the game. And here
I would refrain from discussing “The Great Game” around the corner.
As an eyewitness account of the crises in the richest province of the
country in terms of its vast natural resources and the all-weather,
warm-water 700-kilometre coastal belt, Balochistan is that hapless area,
which had treacherously been kept backward and subjugated at the cost of
its poor mortals, only to please and favour a selected gang of powerful
and self-centred vested interest, commonly known as the establishment.
Having said that my focus would be on the post-February 28 situation in
Balochistan, where an elected government is in place, headed by Chief
Minister, Nawab Muhammad Aslam Raisani, from the Pakistan People’s Party
(PPP).
The present Balochistan cabinet is a unique case in that it is the only
Government in the country sans an Opposition, with the only opposition
member of the provincial assembly, Sardar Yar Muhammad Rind, being an
exception for he has some tribal disputes with the Raisani clan. The
composition of the provincial cabinet is again very unique in that the
PPP without being the single largest party manoeuvred the situation to
its favour and qualified itself in formulation of and heading the
coalition government, which regretfully is a conglomeration of
not-very-assertive elected representatives, politically or, in the given
situation in Balochistan, tribally as well.
Asif Ali Zardari, scion of a nationalist and well-respected political
personality – Hakim Ali Zardari, having close friendship with the
contemporary Baloch leadership was the first publicly apologizing over
the injustices done to the people of Balochistan on the part of the
successive governments including, of course, the first PPP government
led by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. While the media as well as the common man
had mixed but positive reactions over this public announcement made by
the President, the people of Balochistan save the men in the government
had very cautious and reserved expressions on it. The reason!
Notwithstanding, the lowest literacy rate there the common man in
Balochistan has become the most mature of the citizens, politically and
diehard and committed on compromising over their socio-economic,
cultural and political rights. They pay no more heed to any such
announcements made from any quarter, whether from within or without.
Today, they are left at the brink of the worst-ever national crisis
where the country’s integrity is at stake. And again I would refrain
from discussing “The Great Game” around the corner. Today, the people of
Balochistan are kept outside the mainstream of the national activities
and its issues, as ever before. There is no marked change visible,
inside Balochistan and elsewhere, ever since the change of command in
Islamabad.
And while a government led by PPP is in place in Islamabad and in
Balochistan and while there had been a number of visits taking place
between Quetta and Islamabad on the part of central and provincial PPP
leadership (these include the visits of President, the PM and the CM)
the common man is yet to feel any relief, any consolation in his daily
life, with regard to their political, economic and social grievances
(the sense of deprivation terminology being out of fashion). The common
Baloch is still suffering from the high handed attitude on the part of
the federally controlled law enforcement agencies. Again the Balochistan
is the largest of all the provinces in terms of its check posts,
proportionate to its population, manned by the Frontier Corps, the
Coastal Guards, the Customs and the Anti-Narcotics Force, leaving behind
the provincial police and the levies.
The families of the missing persons are holding protest rallies and
resorting to hunger strikes in front of Parliament House, Balochistan
Assembly, Islamabad, Karachi and Quetta press clubs. Still, the
Balochistan’s youth are running from pillar to post in search of getting
public sector employment proportionate to fixed quota of six percent for
Balochistan (the major chunk of it going to the urban educated youth
from Quetta, Machh, Pishin and Loralai districts). Still the students
from the most neglected and most backward areas are making hue and cry
seeking admissions in the provincial and national level professional
universities.
The VIPs as well as the common man are not allowed to enter the
cantonment areas in the province, not even the provincial ministers
driving official vehicles with the green flag fluttering (thanks, at
least there is no discrimination). Given the above situation the
President of Pakistan had been pleased to invite, on Thursday (October
30, 2008), a large number of intellectuals (majority of them retired
bureaucrats), professionals (again the government officials), tribal
chieftains (chiefs of different small groups within a tribe but not the
mainstream), political leadership (two or three representatives but not
heads of these parties) and one or two journalists (already hard pressed
and/or under control thanks to government advertisements), to Islamabad
at the Presidency as state guests. Mr. President delivered his key-note
address at the end of a day-long discussion over the situation in
Balochistan, with the announcement of establishment of two more
universities and one women’s medical college (Shaheed Benazir Bhutto
Medical College for Women) in the province.
The show in fact was an activity organized by the PPP Balochistan, led
by its provincial president, Nawabzada Lashkari Raisani, the younger
brother of chief minister Balochistan. The key speakers, as seen in the
press photographs sitting on the podium, also belonged to the PPP – M/s
Raza Rabbani, Babar Awan, Jenhangir Badar, Rehman Malik et al. However,
the event received not much expected media coverage owing to the
devastating earthquake occurred in different parts of the province just
one day earlier.
The question, which came into the minds of all and sundry was, what was
the real objective of arranging such a big show and inviting such a
large number of selected persons at the cost of the public exchequer?
Only to announce the establishment of a few odd educational institutions
in there, and to deliver a key-note address over reconciliation in
there, on the part of the President, a symbol of the federation and
custodian of the country’s sacred constitution, but presiding over a
function arranged by a political party having ideological differences
with other major political parties? Apparently, yes but the ground
realities suggest something else. It is now up to the President of the
Islamic Republic of Pakistan or for that matter the head of the
government, the Prime Minister of Pakistan – Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani to
uncover the future plans relating to bringing peace and promoting
reconciliation in that godforsaken part of the country.
Meanwhile, there is an impartial and honest suggestion for President
Asif Ali Zardari. He must get the best services of his great father –
Hakim Ali Zardari – who is alive and kicking. The gentleman equally
enjoys the companionship of and is honoured and revered by the political
and tribal stalwarts of the province of Balochistan including the chief
of the Raisani tribe. The gentleman had played a very key role at a time
when all the Baloch leadership were behind the bar facing (the in
camera) Hyderabad Conspiracy Case and in the absence of the National
Awami Party (banned during ZAB rule) political vacuum was filled with
the National Democratic Party headed by Sher Baz Khan Mazari and Hakim
Ali Zardari, a true nationalist, both of them having unblemished
personal and political track record.
The answer, at the end of the above explanations, is very simple i.e.
implementation. All the successive governments had constituted countless
numbers of committees, sub-committees and task forces. All these
committees, sub-committees and the task forces have finalized and
submitted recommendations to the respective governments including the
outgoing and the incumbent governments. All these recommendations have
been put on the backburners. It is only the matter of implementation,
Mr. President.
—The writer is a freelance columnist |
