Hopes and frustrations

Frustrated by the lack of any progress on the six points that Sardar Akhtar Mengal enunciated as the basis for becoming a coalition partner of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) government, his party, the Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) started flirting with the opposition by hinting it might leave the coalition and even attend the opposition's All Parties Conference (APC) held the other day. However, given the exigencies of getting the federal budget passed in the National Assembly (NA), the PTI leadership went into damage control mode. First, a BNP-M delegation led by Mengal met Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan, where the Baloch leader complained of lack of any progress on the agreed six points. After assurances from the PM to expedite the matter, and a delegation-level discussion with PTI leaders, Defence Minister Parvez Khattak and Mengal held a joint press conference in which they announced that the misgivings and misunderstandings between the two allies had been addressed. Steps to be taken included the setting up of a parliamentary committee to examine the most contentious and sensitive of the six points of BNP-M. This issue is the matter of enforced disappearances and missing persons, which in Balochistan, it is claimed by the nationalists, has 'swallowed up' thousands of people. The Commission on Enforced Disappearances contests this figure, relying on its own record of a few thousand complaints that have, according to it, been 'dealt with'. The Commission headed by former Justice Javed Iqbal may rest content with this bald statement, but this is of little comfort to the families of the disappeared, who have been undergoing the mental and emotional torture of not knowing the fate of their missing loved ones for years. The fact that the PTI government has accepted that the problem persists and is setting up a parliamentary committee to investigate the issue is a positive sign. What remains to be seen is whether this was solely driven by the expedient need to have the BNP-M, with its crucial four votes in the NA, on board, or whether the PTI government sincerely wishes to put balm on these festering wounds of the Baloch people.
BNP-M and its leader Akhtar Mengal seem to have come to the pragmatic conclusion that the issues bedeviling their province (which the government now admits are of a political nature) cannot be redressed in any meaningful manner by the opposition. Hence, after a brief flirtation intended to send a warning to the government, they re-engaged with the PTI. Missing persons heads the list of their grievances, but there are other important issues too forming part of the BNP-M's six-point demands on which the government has responded positively. These include water scarcity in Balochistan, on which Parvez Khattak announced many small dams and two large ones will be built in the province to overcome this crisis. The swamping of Gwadar by outsiders, the possible acquisition by them of voting rights in the province and the consequent possibility of the local people being turned into a minority were discussed and government assurances given. Khattak announced the setting up of a gold/copper refinery in the province, another idea that has been floating around since these minerals began to be mined in Balochistan by Chinese companies. Balochistan's quota of six percent federal jobs too was (once again) reiterated by the government as an issue that will be incrementally dealt with. Repatriation of Afghan refugees remains an outstanding demand of the BNP-M. In his press conference, Mengal revealed that the PM assured him that Balochistan would not be subjected to any cut in its National Finance Commission Award nor will the 18th Amendment be rolled back in any respect. Khattak added that both these matters required a two-thirds majority in parliament that the government did not enjoy, so people trumpeting these issues should stop.
While the atmospherics and reiteration of adherence to the agreed BNP-M six points is positive, it should not be left to wither on the vine as has happened innumerable times before, the latest being the first 10 months of the PTI government. Since the common perception is that the PTI government and the military establishment are on the same page, perhaps pragmatism should prevail and the bitter pill of an amnesty from prosecution of those responsible for enforced disappearances may have to be swallowed in the interests of news about, and the recovery of, the missing. If they have any charges against them, let such individuals be presented in the courts and allowed the right of a legal defence. Nothing would soothe the burning wounds and hearts of the alienated people of Balochistan more than this gesture of justice and reconciliation.