If the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is the flagship of China's grand inter-continental 'One Belt, One Road' project the Gwadar port in Balochistan is undoubtedly the CPEC's flagship.
In hindsight, the appointment of General Qamar Bajwa as army chief has augured well for efforts aimed at obtaining greater peace and tranquility in Balochistan which has been hit by a low-level insurgency for nearly a decade. The Balochistan situation and the security challenge of the CPEC must have played a critical role in prime minister's final selection of army chief. Speaking at a passing-out ceremony of the army, Frontier Constabulary and police recruits in Quetta on Monday, General Bajwa reiterated his institution's commitment to the successful completion of CPEC, saying that army is fully committed to completing the project as planned. According to him, he derives much satisfaction from the fact that he belongs to the Baloch Regiment and that he feels a lot of pride in his identification as a Baloch (although he is an ethnic Punjabi). Former army chief General Aslam Beg, for example, along with so many other senior army officials, also belonged to this regiment. Hailing from diverse ethnic backgrounds they always cherished their identification through their regiment which carries the word "Baloch".
General Bajwa, therefore, has deep insights into the contours of the Baloch unrest that has been driven by a deepening sense of deprivation and alienation among ethnic Baloch in the largest province of the country. His take on the disgruntled Baloch has been found to be vastly different from that of former army chiefs Gul Hasan, Tikka Khan, Pervez Musharraf, Ashfaq Kayani and Raheel Sharif, who struggled, albeit unsuccessfully, to deal with the Baloch insurgency issue since the 1970s.
General Bajwa said: "Pakistan Army, despite limited resources, has always tried to play its positive role in the educational, societal and economic progress of the province along with other [civilian] institutions. The people of Balochistan have rejected the anti-Pakistan elements and time is not far off when the terrorists would face their nemesis because of the patriotism of Baloch people. Doors are open for those [Baloch] brothers who have been misguided by the enemy."
The army chief, in other words, has offered an olive branch to all disgruntled Baloch. And, they of course include those living in self-imposed exile in Afghanistan, Iran and some European capitals. Nawab Akbar Bugti's grandson Barahamdagh is perhaps also on the list of General Bajwa because he too is a victim of the enemy's machinations. This is a tall order, indeed. But the right diagnosis of an ailment is a must for its effective treatment. It needs to be mentioned here that enemy country's broadcast media, in recent weeks and months, has upped the ante insofar as happenings and debates on Balochistan are concerned. They are trying to paint for domestic and foreign audiences that the Balochistan situation is a repeat of the one that obtained in East Pakistan in the 1960s. Our inability or reluctance, or both, to win over these people provides New Delhi with a golden opportunity to strengthen its anti-Pakistan narrative with a view to distracting global attention from its atrocities in the occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
The army chief General Bajwa has done his job of correctly diagnosing the malady, inasmuch as his position or role has warranted him to do. It is for the civilian setups, both at provincial and federal levels, to treat this ailment through an entirely new approach. It must recognise the fact that the carrot-and-stick policy of subsequent governments has only aggravated the situation by alienating more and more Baloch. It also must acknowledge another unsavory reality, that strong opposition to the repatriation of Afghan refugees from Balochistan by one of the PML-N's key allies, Pakhtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), has constituted a new impediment towards efforts aimed at resolving the Balochistan issue. There are legitimate concerns of the Baloch about being turned into a minority in Balochistan in the presence of Afghan refugees. The chief of the PkMAP, Mahmood Khan Achakzai, could be told that although his narrative with regard to the "Afghania" slogan is based on some historical facts but he, or anybody else, cannot reinvent the wheels of history. Areas comprising present-day Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa, for example, were part of Punjab till 1901. Can any Punjabi now stake any claim to KP as part of Punjab?
These issues cannot be addressed or resolved by any army chief-directly or indirect-for these require a proactive role of civilian governments. All Opposition parties are also required to reinvent their strategies in relation to Balochistan. A national approach to Balochistan could lead to emergence of some strong voices for a generous amnesty to all Baloch brothers who, according to General Bajwa, have been "misguided by the enemy". General Bajwa perhaps acknowledges the fact that long-term benefits of development through CPEC will never accrue to the Baloch in the absence of durable peace and greater political stability in Balochistan. That internal security and social harmony constitute some critical imperatives for any government towards achieving greater economic success is a fact which has found its best expression in the case of China where Hu Jintao, a regional leader of the Communist Party of China, was rewarded with the President-ship of the country mainly because of his deft and astute handling of the Tibet unrest.
The writer is newspaper's News Editor
Comments
Comments are closed.