Crisis plagued Pakistan has another on hand. A long-standing political virus hitherto ignored in that sick province is threatening an epidemic. Doctor Musharraf's response was a knee jerk reaction when he threatened to annihilate those spreading the germs. It did not go down well in the country. Now that he is a politician too, discretion would have been preferable to valour.
Perhaps the president was cheesed off as right from the beginning of his rule he has acknowledged economic backwardness and deprivation of Balochistan and has taken steps for amelioration with enhanced development outlay for the province. Additionally a parliamentary committee headed by Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed who also happens to be general secretary of PML, has been set up to look into political grievances of the nationalist parities led by Sardar Akbar Bugti.
But it appeared that the tribal leaders had their own axe to grind and were not amenable to negotiations. Exploiting tribal loyalties they have structured what they call Balochistan Liberation Army and are bent upon insurgency with scant regard to the genuine problems of the common people with a view to brow beat the government.
In the present upheaval a stray incident of the rape of a lady doctor at Sui is being exploited as an insult to Baloch honour to embarrass the authorities. Whatever may be the grievance in this particular case but an attack on Sui installation, which is a national asset, was uncalled for and unjustified, necessitating strict measures.
Apart from their claim for larger share in the royalties of gas production and distribution, the nationalist Baloch parties are irked on their failure in sharing power at provincial and federal level. Taking advantage of political instability in the country and uneasiness prevailing over army operations in neighbouring Waziristan, a calculated move has been made to achieve their goals at the point of a gun.
It is understable that going by the experience of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in 1970s, all political parties were against military action. In the meantime the provincial government had approached Islamabad for assistance to put down the local rebellion, which they were unable to control.
After discussions at various levels including the cabinet presided over by the Prime Minister and later with the President it was decided to enhance security at Sui to restore interrupted production.
It was emphasised that this was not a military operation but limited necessary steps to forestall aggravation of situation as no individuals or groups can be allowed to get away with violence, bloodshed and damage to government property. It is reported that the miscreants had used mortars to attack the pipelines and installations resulting in death of several personnel working at the plant. Consequently load shedding had to be resorted to depriving many industries across the country of the needed energy to maintain production.
It was feared that if this state of affairs was allowed to continue, soon even the household consumers would have to go without fuel for cooking which would amount to catastrophy for city dwellers. There is no gainsaying the fact that regular production and supply of gas is vital for Pakistan's economy and any attempt to disrupt it had to be nipped in the bud.
Balochistan has a large area, small population, limited natural resources and hardly any worthwhile industries. However, substantial reserves of gas is a bounty of Allah. It is therefore, unfortunate that successive governments in the past have neglected to compensate the province who are denied to harvest due benefit out of this precious national resource. It is therefore, high time that corrective measures are taken to right the wrong.
It is equally important that extra attention is paid to educate the masses as literacy is lowest in Balochistan as compared to the rest of Pakistan, which enables tribal chiefs to take advantage of the prevailing ignorance. These Sardars are equivalent, to Afghan war lords who hinder progress and democracy. Musharraf must be aware, that the failure to safeguard our own installations would reflect badly on our ability to protect international pipeline to pass from Iran to India through Pakistan territory.
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