Baloch insurgency

On August 12, 2009 Khan of Kalat Mir Sulaiman Dawood declared himself ruler of Balochistan and formally made announcement of a Council for Independent Balochistan which also includes Brahmdagh Bugti. The Council's declared objective is to liberate Bloch areas both in Pakistan and Iran. Since then the BLA has stepped up sabotage activities in the province by repeatedly attacking gas lines and other government installations.
A spate of targeted killings of Punjabi and other settlers in the province by the insurgents, the mystery shrouding the missing persons and killing of Baloch youth in inexplicable circumstances has really complicated the already volatile situation in the province. As is evident, the separatist movement in Balochistan has persistently been supported by foreign powers. Initially Afghanistan, Iraq and former Soviet Union took advantage of the situation and wooed the dissenting elements to achieve their objectives in the region and now it is India, which is providing support to the insurgents to destabilise Pakistan.
The unimaginative political moves and self-serving policies adopted by successive regimes have also contributed to strengthening the cause of the insurgents and provided a tailor-made situation to the foreign powers to implement their nefarious designs. It is however satisfying to note that the so-called movement for independence in Balochistan is not recognised as such by the international community.
United Kingdom listed BLA as a proscribed group on 17th July 2006 and banned its members from entering the Kingdom. The US has also declared the actions of BLA as terrorism. One thing that needs to be understood is that the insurgents may be able to carry out their sabotage activities for some time to come but they are surely not in a position to create an East Pakistan-like situation, as the demographic and geographical realities will never permit such an eventuality.
The government as a first step should expose the foreign powers involved in destabilising the province and lobby with the international community to dissuade them from their acts of interference in the internal affairs of an independent state. At the same time a strategy must be evolved to establish the writ of the government in the province, simultaneously focusing on drying up avenues of recruitment of Baloch youth by the BLA.
The government has already taken a very positive step through Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan initiative by providing jobs to ten thousand Baloch youth besides recruiting five thousand of them in the Army. There is also an imperative need for a dialogue with the nationalist political forces in Balochistan and putting in place a development plan designed to compensate for the past neglect and give permanence to a sustained process of growth in the province. To achieve these objectives, a serious, honest and collective effort is essentially needed by the Security Establishment, Government, political parties and all the stakeholders in Balochistan without any further loss of time.