Sui was the venue of an unusual event last Sunday when COAS Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani inaugurated a military college, converted from a controversial army cantonment into an educational institution, in the presence of Balochistan Governor Zulifqar Magsi and Chief Minister Aslam Raisani. The conversion and what Kayani said and heard from the Baloch leaders on the occasion is reflective of a much welcome change in policy.
Baloch nationalists have long been agitating against the construction of new cantonments in the province, also demanding the removal of FC checkposts from the Bugti area. Although the federal government has been claiming that most of the checkposts were removed, the Baloch leaders contest the claim. General Pervez Musharraf (Retd) had ordered construction of the said cantonment in Dera Bugti district's Sui area, disregarding nationalist parties' objections. He had also generated disaffection against the army when, instead of addressing Baloch grievances, he ordered the use of military force to silence the demands for a fairer deal for the province.
General Kayani announced that in place of new cantonments, educational institutions will be established in Sui. And that 60 percent of the seats in the new military college will be reserved fro Baloch students. A total of 10,000 Baloch youth, he said, would be inducted in the army.
While 3,500 students have already received training and joined different army units, another 5,000 are to start training from March. These nice gestures can help dispel the 'otherliness' image of the army, giving the much abused local people a sense of belonging to the federation, also creating the much needed job opportunities. This though will take time.
Noting that Balochistan is a resource-rich part of the country, he also said that "the people of Balochistan have the first right to these resource" which, if utilised properly, would make it the richest part of the federation. Indeed, at the heart of Balochistan's alienation from the federation and the root cause of the ongoing insurgency is the denial of Baloch rights over the province's natural resources.
The Baloch people have been complaining, justifiably so, of being meted out a step brotherly treatment by the Centre. They have been pointing out, for example, the unsavoury fact that although the commercial exploitation of natural gas at Sui began in 1955, it took more than three decades for a first Baloch city, the provincial capital Quetta, to get gas supplies.
Equally valid has been their complaint that the royalty rate for Sui gas has been a lot less than that of the gas discovered in Punjab and Sindh. Yet another source of discontent in the province has been the National Finance Commission's (NFC) resource distribution formula that, based on the single criterion of population until recently, was heavily skewed in favour of Punjab. As a result, the sparsely populated Balochistan remained the least developed province of the country.
Some of these issues have been addressed by the present government. The 18th Amendment has increased provincial autonomy, resolving also the unevenness in inter-provincial royalty rates, while a new multi-criteria formula promises a fairer distribution of national resources.
Yet the sense of being wronged stays strong. It is a legacy of the Musharraf rule, and his arrogance of power that led him to use military force to deny Bloch demands regarding rights over Sui field and the broader issue of autonomy. Notably, Musharraf had allowed two parliamentary commissions, headed by the leaders of the party he patronised, PML-Q, to hold negotiations with Nawab Akbar Bugti on these issues.
Based on their discussion with him, they came up with a list of recommendations. But Musharraf chose to ignore them, starting a needless confrontation with the Bugti tribe chief over the rape of a guest doctor, at Sui, by an army captain. The stand-off led Bugti to take to the hills between Dera Bugti and Kohlu where he was killed in a military operation in August 2006. Balochistan has since remained, to put it mildly, turbulent.
While the insurgency has no sign of getting weaker, the alienation is growing fast, lending strength to separatist sentiments. Mainstream leaders like the Balochistan National Party chief Akhtar Mengal, incarcerated by the Musharraf regime and released by the present government, has joined the nationalists cause and shifted abroad. Several of his party leaders have been abducted and murdered by mystery men, resulting in widespread protests and strikes.
Many activists of other nationalist parties and dissident outfits have met a similar fate. The agencies involvement in the issue of 'disappearances' is now the topmost issue of concern in the province. It has generated anger and exasperation in all sections of society. The Governor, the Chief Minister, and the provincial head of the ruling party, the PPP, have been openly expressing their helplessness in the matter.
Governor Magsi brought up the issue at the military college opening. He told the COAS "it is a very serious and important issue of Balochistan, and should be resolved without further delay".
He made the simple but powerful argument that the families of these people have the right to know of their whereabouts; and that if they are in the custody of a civilian agency or the ISI and MI, they should be handed over to the police and tried in courts of law for any involvement in crime. Forced disappearances are not only violative of basic human rights and hence an anathema to people's civilised sensibilities, they tend to be counterproductive. They exacerbate estrangement and breed hostility. No wonder nationalists as well as moderate parties in the province are at one in demanding an immediate end to 'disappearances.'
The Balochistan conflict is more than four years old. It is a political problem, which needs to be addressed through political means. No army is better qualified than politicians to handle such situations. Dragging the fighting on will not resolve anything. Hopefully, the Sui event is indicative of that realisation. In case it is, the next step should be giving the provincial government a free hand to talk to the dissidents and resolve all outstanding issues of conflict.
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