VIEWPOINT: Beyond rallies

As promised, PTI Chairman Imran Khan managed to attract a huge gathering, despite rain, to his April 20 rally in the restive Balochistan province's capital Quetta - last stop in a maiden mass contact campaign he kicked off in Lahore nearly six months ago. It was a keenly watched event because of the ongoing insurgency and widespread Baloch anger against the Centre's policies towards the province.
Quetta's enthusiastic response to the PTI holds significance beyond the party's success in enhancing its public appeal. Which is why some of its detractors have insisted it was a Pashtun-dominated show with hardly any Baloch presence. Even if true, the very fact that a leader with a strong Lahore connection was able to stage an impressive rally, standing before the public without the protection of a bullet-proof stand, demonstrates that the Baloch people are still willing to listen. Muslim League leader Nawaz Sharif has also been lending strong support to the Baloch people in voicing their grievances. But the PTI's 'tsunami' is a new phenomenon creating curiosity about its potential impact.
Notably, soon after assuming power the PPP had vowed to do all that was necessary to address the Baloch sense of resentment and alienation. One of its early acts in office was to release Balochistan National Party leader Nawab Akhtar Mengal from prison. But it later reneged on its commitments forcing Mengal to shift to a Gulf country. The 18th Amendment and a new National Finance Commission Award resource distribution formula took care of most of the old Baloch complaints pertaining to economic deprivation and control over natural resources. That though was done as part of a wider settlement of all the provinces' demand for greater autonomy. No attempt was made to address the Baloch people's concerns about an ongoing military operation or to calm down rage over enforced disappearances. On the contrary, the government has continued, to this day, to ignore these and other sensitive issues, prompting some of its own appointed public officials as well as party men to raise voices of protest.
A special development package was announced under the rubric of the Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan. It was meant to be spent on building roads, schools, medical facilities, and water supply projects, and to create jobs. Most of 160 billion rupees fund allocated for development work allegedly has ended up in the pockets of MPAs, MNAs, and ministers. That may have helped the PPP to keep its provincial alliance government in tact. But so far as the common Baloch people are concerned, there is no reason to give up old complaints about their resource-rich and sparsely populated province being the least developed unit of the federation.
The PTI Chairman told the rally in Quetta that if his party wins public mandate in the upcoming elections instead of channelling development funds through legislators, the money will go directly into development projects. This should apply to the other provinces as well. Nowhere in established democracies are legislators handed hefty funds to build roads, schools and other projects. It is an open secret that large chunks of these funds are misappropriated by MNAs and MPAs, and whatever small amount is spent on public welfare projects is claimed as a great favour, returnable at the next elections time in the form of votes. This must end. The legislators' responsibility ought to be ensuring that the funds are well spent, holding the government to account for any acts of omission or commission.
Enforced disappearances and worries over the paramilitary force Frontier Corps (FC) checkposts have, for a time, overtaken old Baloch grievances. Imran Khan must have touched a chord with the Baloch people in particular and others in general, when he said that the missing persons issue is a crime against humanity, and that extra-judicial killings only increase hatred. He recalled the East Pakistan disaster to argue that military action is never a solution. His party, he said, would talk to everyone and find a political solution to the issues confronting Balochistan. And further that the PTI would not use the FC, but build the police as an independent force free of political influence - something he has been promising people in other parts of the country. Responding to another emotive demand, he vowed to bring the murderers of Nawab Akbar Bugti to justice.
Politicians, of course, make a lot of promises, not always intending to fulfil them, like in the case of the PPP when it first announced its plans to resolve the Balochistan situation. The PTI leader wanted to assure the people that he indeed was a candidate of change, and that he would do what he says. So he told them that he would rather die than back out of the promises he had made them. Whether the people took that as mere rhetoric or an honest promise only time will tell.
The PTI chief has a pretty good track record to show he is a doer, and can make things happen against daunting odds. He is generally respected for his humanitarian work. But do the people trust his ability to deliver on his promises for political change? More to the point, can big jalsas win elections? In the past, the PPP under both ZAB - who introduced populist politics in this country - and his daughter Benazir Bhutto thrived on huge public processions and meetings, which translated into votes, too. Such behaviour does not change with time. Those who take the trouble to attend a party meeting generally have a certain level of political commitment, which converts into votes.
The PTI leader in the past has been in contact with some of the Baloch nationalist parties. Like his party, they had boycotted the 2008 elections, leaving the field wide open for the PPP and its allies now ruling in the province. If the PTI's 'tsunami' manages to maintain its momentum till the upcoming elections, some nationalists representing the 'angry Baloch youth', such as the BNP, may form electoral alliances with it, increasing its chances of success. The 'tsunami' may not yet destroy the existing power elites in the province; still, together with local partners it can cause them substantial damage.
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