Web | Aug 19, 2004
PAKISTAN
The Baluch Resistance Movement
The resistance fighters of the BLA are as invisible as those of Iraq and like the US Army in Iraq, the Pakistan Army in Baluchistan has been groping in the dark, without being able to identify them and penetrate their set-up.
B. RAMAN
(To be read in continuation of the earlier articles titled The Chinese In Baluchistan and The Unrest In Baluchistan)
The law and order situation in Baluchistan continues to deteriorate steadily despite the use of the Army by the military-dominated regime in Islamabad to put an end to acts of violence directed at the members of the Shia community, the Chinese experts deployed at the Gwadar port project, gas pipelines and other economic targets, including a local airport, and military personnel.
The responsibility for the restoration of law and order has been informally taken over by the Army without a formal proclamation and helicopter gunships, received in the past from the US for use in counter-terrorism operations directed against the dregs of Al Qaeda and the Taliban taking shelter in the areas near the Afghanistan border, are being used against the Baluchi population, which has had nothing to do with either Al Qaeda or the Taliban, in an attempt to suppress their movement against the military-dominated regime and what is perceived as its attempts to reduce the Baluchis to a minority in their traditional homeland.
There are various root causes for the resistance movement being waged by the Baluchis:
Mounting anger over the denial of the benefits of the natural gas and other mineral resources of the province to the Baluchis in the form of increased royalty payments.
The denial of any meaningful role to the Baluchis in decisions relating to the construction and administration of the Chinese-aided Gwadar port project.
The influx of a large number of Punjabis and other non-Baluchis into the province to work in the Gwadar project.
The continuing acts of discrimination against the Baluchis in matters of recruitment to the Armed Forces and various civilian departments of the Government.
The establishment of more cantonments in the Province to enable the Army better maintain law and order.
The ground situation has been further complicated by the import of the Shia-Sunni sectarian divide into the province from Punjab and Karachi and by the influx of the dregs of Al Qaeda, the Taliban and the Uighur terrorist elements from the Xinjiang province of China into the province, where they have been given shelter by the local fundamentalist organisations with the tacit approval of the Government.
The root causes mentioned above have given rise to two kinds of anti-Islamabad and anti-military movements:
An overt political movement in the form of protest meetings, demonstrations and rallies not involving the use of violence. Four non-religious political parties of Baluchistan, who have formed a united front, continue to play a leading role in this movement. These are the Jamhoori Watan Party, the National Party, the Baluchistan National Party (Mengal) and the Baluch Haqtawar.
A covert freedom movement involving targeted acts of violence against economic targets and other infrastructure and military personnel.
The factors mentioned above have made Quetta, the capital of the province, the scene of periodic anti-Shia incidents and the bordering areas of the province safe sanctuaries for Al Qaeda, the Taliban and the Uighurs for mounting operations against Afghan and American troops in Afghan territory.
The presence of the Uighurs has added to the security concerns of the Chinese, necessitating the deployment of a large contingent of the Pakistan Army, exclusively for the protection of the Chinese experts working in the Gwadar port and the Saindak copper extraction projects.
The frequent visits of Chinese security experts to the province and the recent high-profile joint Sino-Pak counter-terrorism exercise held in Xinjiang were meant to restore the confidence of the Chinese experts and to strengthen the co-operation between the counter-terrorism agencies of the two countries.
The reluctance or inability of the provincial authorities to act effectively against the dregs of Al Qaeda and the Taliban operating from the border areas of the province and to put an end to their terrorist infrastructure directed against the Americans and the Hamid Karzai Government in Kabul have brought the Pakistan Army and its Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) under US pressure to mount operations against these dregs in Baluchi territory, similar to the operations mounted by the Armyt since October last year against the dregs in the South Waziristan area of the Federally-Administered Tribal areas (FATA).
At a time when its troops inducted into the South Waziristan area have been involved in a bleeding guerilla warfare with the tribals and the Uzbek, Chechen and Uighur dregs in that area resulting in mounting military casualties, a further alienation of the local tribals and increasing anti-Musharraf feelings in the Armed Forces, the Pakistan Army is reluctant to get bogged down in a similar guerilla warfare against Al Qaeda and the Taliban dregs in Baluchistan, which might further come in the way of its efforts to quell the Baluchi resistance movement.
Senior army officers and the ISI are against getting involved in a two-front military operation in Baluchistan--- one against the Baluchi nationalists, who, in the Army's perception, pose a threat to Pakistan's unity and economic prosperity and endanger its relations with China and the other against the dregs of Al Qaeda and the Taliban, who do not threaten Pakistani lives and interests. Their first priority is quelling the re-emerging Baluchi independence movement before it assumes alarming proportions similar to those of the 1970s.
Gen.Pervez Musharraf has been trying to follow a three-pronged policy: Keeping the door open for a political dialogue with the non-religious political parties, who have confined their activities to an overt political movement against Islamabad without indulging in acts of violence
A no-holds-barred military campaign against the Baluchi youth who have started a violent struggle to achieve their objectives. While large sections of the Baluchi population look upon these youth as freedom-fighters, the military has been projecting them as terrorists
Avoiding getting bogged down in operations against the dregs of Al Qaeda and the Taliban in the bordering areas lest it weaken its operations against the Baluchis. The Americans seem to understand Musharraf's imperative of quelling the re-kindled Baluchi independence movement before acting against the dregs. The position might change as the US presidential elections approach, particularly if the reports regarding the presence of some senior Al Qaeda and Taliban leaders in the areas near the Iran border are confirmed.
The move for a political dialogue with the provincial political parties has been a non-starter till now in the absence of any indication of the military's willingness to consider their demands relating to the increase in the payment of royalty, suspension of the construction of the Gwadar project till its implications for the economic interests of the Baluchis are examined, the stoppage of the influx of the Punjabis and other non-Baluchis into the province and the abandoning of the plans for more cantonments. They also want the suspension of the military operations against the Baluchi youth.