Gilani's pledge

Prime Minister Gilani may not have delivered on most of his pledges but the one he made to the people of Balochistan during his recent visit is quite easy to keep. He said he would be visiting Quetta every month to oversee implementation of each and every project initiated under the Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan package.
After all what is the problem in visiting a part of his own country once a month when undertaking long-distance tiresome foreign trips frequently has never been an issue with him. That's fine as far as it is only a promise made before the media after a two-day stay in the provincial capital. But to ensure implementation of projects in Balochistan, now as ever before, is not easy.
The sad truth is that the much ballyhooed package in November 2009 is still in its very stages of implementation. Only about 20 percent of the committed projects have been initiated, principal obstacles being rampant bureaucratic corruption, poor governance and deteriorating law and order situation in the province.
With weird regularity, the electoral process in Balochistan tends to bring to power the kind of political leadership which is least pushed about socio-economic development of ordinary people of the province. No surprise then every elected member of the Balochistan Assembly would like to be a minister, precipitating a scandalous situation in that literally each one of them is a member of the cabinet.
That makes no sense; you cannot run the province like a tribal society. Obviously, most of the time the provincial chief executive is caught up in keeping the ministers in good humour, relegating the public interest to their whims and wishes. Chief Minister Raisani is expected to tighten his grip over his ministers, vindicating his position as an elected leader and assert his authority than to attend to them as fellow tribal chiefs.
For the people of Balochistan, as they say, 'it was the best of time, it was the worst of time'. Thanks to the National Finance Commission (NFC) award and the 18th Constitutional Amendment not only the share of Balochistan has increased handsomely but its control over its natural resources has been strengthened.
The proven worth of Reko Diq copper and gold deposits alone exceeds 260 billion dollars, and right to exploit that treasure under the ground is now with the government of Balochistan. Then there is the Gwadar port, which again has the right potential to serve as regional hub of trade and thus lead to opening up Balochistan to foreign investment. But what is desired - and seems to be awfully lacking - is the administrative capacity of the provincial government to take charge of these challenges.
As it would wrestle with this combination of challenge and opportunity, there is the need to ensure that all parts of the province receive due attention and get proper share on basis of need and underdevelopment. May be for this the provincial government requires to prepare its own NFC. Should this fruit go wasted due to bureaucratic corruption or political incompetence the net losers would be the ordinary people of Balochistan. And, presently they are not very happy with their lot.
How best the government of Balochistan makes use of the new-found opportunity it's not easy to predict - mainly for its problems are many and some very serious. On the one hand some foreign powers including India and Afghanistan are out to sabotage destabilising the ethnic, sectarian and political harmony, and on the other hand inept handling of security situation in the province, invariably leads to people's heightened frustration and anger.
It's good that army is withdrawing to the barracks but the substitute, Frontier Constabulary, is fast becoming a far more dangerous, and, in the eyes of the local populace, a brutal replacement - its penchant for brutality so clearly detected by the recent massacre of Russian nationals near Quetta.
Equally disturbing is the unrelenting phenomenon of missing persons, who in the words of Prime Minister Gilani number only 38 as against 'thousands' claimed by the affected families. His offer for dialogue with 'estranged leaders' is also nothing but a slogan; unless you tell the people who killed Nawab Akbar Bugti and unless kidnappings of Baloch nationalists and political dissidents stops his words would carry no weight. Action should match words, but doesn't seem to be case in the present-day Balochistan.