Sunday, December 19, 2004
EDITORIAL: Balochistan remains in a black zone
Sardar Attaullah Mengal’s Balochistan National Party (BNP) has announced that it is opting out of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on Balochistan. The BNP says it has been forced to take this decision because the JPC, representing the federal government, has failed to take note of the nationalists’ demands and build confidence. The party’s general secretary told journalists in Quetta on Friday that despite promises to the contrary, Islamabad had continued working on the controversial cantonments and developing the Gwadar Port Project, both pet peeves of Baloch nationalists. What is going on?
Balochistan has been on the boil since late last year. Baloch nationalists are opposed to the three cantonments Islamabad is trying to establish in Gwadar, Kohlu and Dera Bugti and are also against the Gwadar Port. Other problems include gas royalties, lack of development in Balochistan and the funds allocation to the province from the federal divisible pool. While Islamabad tried initially to bulldoze through the opposition, the interim prime minister, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, tried to negotiate a rapprochement with the nationalists during his 45-day stint as PM, following which the JPC was constituted in October this year. It had meetings with various political leaders and sardars of the province and, as BNP indicated, was given a list of demands on the basis of which the JPC was supposed to put forth its recommendations to the federal government. Now the BNP says that has not happened and therefore it sees no reason to remain a part of the JPC. Its decision was followed by the resignation from the Committee of its senator, Sana Baloch, and its MNA, Rauf Mengal. Where do things go from here?
Just days before the BNP announcement, Quetta witnessed another bomb attack, the second within weeks. The violence that has gripped Balochistan is another dimension of the problem. Much of it is claimed by a shadowy outfit that calls itself the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA). No one really knows what the BLA is. The nationalists, while conceding that some extremist elements might be responsible for attacks on the army and the paramilitary, deny that they have any linkages with the BLA. Indeed, they say that the BLA is the creation of the establishment. The governments in Quetta and Islamabad say BLA exists and is supported by some elements within the nationalists. Officials, including the Balochistan chief minister, Jam Yousaf, also talk about the “foreign hand”, a euphemism for India’s secret service RAW (Research and Analysis Wing).
Some reports indicate the BLA is a reality comprising charged-up Baloch youth who might be getting money and weapons from external sources. But there is no final word on BLA or its genesis and purport. There are also indications that Chief Minister Jam Yousaf has a longstanding grudge against Mr Mengal which is why he has been cracking down on BNP activists and ordering their arrests. Similarly, while the BNP may have pulled out of JPC, it hasn’t fortunately opted out of secret negotiations with the government. As things stand, Balochistan seems to be in a vacuum of sorts. Things are happening there and they are far from good. Yet, even those based in Quetta have nothing much to offer but conjectures. Both sides — nationalists and the government — remain tight-lipped on what is wrong and how it can be tackled and corrected. This is a scary scenario because the violence in Balochistan is real and by the looks of it is growing.
It is important for the government to make public the list of demands by the nationalists and then have a structured debate on what can and cannot be done. The issues have become politicised but efforts can, and must, be made to try and find a common ground. There can be no gainsaying that Balochistan needs to be developed, not only because it is good for the province itself but also because such a project is important for Pakistan. The Baloch nationalists seem to think that these two aspects are mutually exclusive. They need to be convinced that this is not the case. To this end the federal government must work diligently and transparently. Finally, if there are any elements within Balochistan in or out of government that are trying to sabotage Islamabad’s political agenda for their vested interests, they must be dealt with appropriately. *
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