The rulers, no doubt, have diagnosed the disease from which Balochistan is suffering. What they need now is just to propose a prescription. But the political government lacks the required capability or strength to do so while the energy-rich province needs to have immediate recipe.
Everybody has his or her own approach to resolve a problem. Newer and newer formulas are given when an issue like Balochistan trouble is debated in House like Senate. There is no doubt that every suggestion or formula is having some substance in it. However, the formulas given by Senators Zahid Khan of ANP and Mian Raza Rabbani of the PPP, if taken into the account for resolving the Balochistan issue, will, somehow, result in polarisation between the political government and the military-cum-civilian bureaucracy.
One cannot say for sure that these formulas will ever be taken into account. But they, at least, suggest that the political government is not having the strength, which is really required for negotiated and peaceful settlement of the crisis. Zahid Khan, in his speech in the Senate on Tuesday, pointed out that first and foremost duty of the government is to talk to the country's establishment. The political leadership must talk to what he called "the actual rulers" in clear and unambiguous terms. There should be an understanding between the government and intelligence apparatus-led establishment prior to the possible dialogue between the government and Baloch nationalist leaders.
"Without having understanding with these powerful people, the political parties or their government can deliver nothing. We must have to look into our capacity whether we being part of the government are in the position to implement what we would promise to the Baloch people," stated Zahid Khan, which was probably his first speech in the Senate after he was elected to the House in March. He asked the government to analyse the causes due to which Mukti Bahini or Freedom Fighters (FFs) was established in the then East Pakistan in 1971 and formation of Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) in recent years.
Mian Raza Rabbani was also having almost same point of view. Taking notice of the absence of otherwise "irrelevant" interior advisor Rehman Malik in the House, he said, "The interior advisor is not here primarily because he may not know what could be the solution to the problem."
Raza Rabbani's speech was thought provoking. After listening to his speech, I thought it was really good to have Rabbani outside of the federal cabinet. In my opinion, he could not have given such a good speech if he were still part of the present splendid federal cabinet. He asked the government to expose the involvement of India's intelligence agencies in Balochistan. "We should not be apologetic. We will have to come in clear terms to resolve the issues in the province that has direct nexus with the new emerging regional scenario."
"We will have to redefine our 'so called' national interest. We have to redefine our priorities in the new national paradigm. We have to redefine strategic depth," said Rabbani. This was not difficult part of his speech. The difficult part of his speech started when he proposed that for this gigantic task the political forces jointly will have to talk to civil-military establishment 'frankly and boldly'.
This proposal was given by Zahid Khan in a raw form, but Raza Rabbani presented it in new context of US-India imperialistic designs in the region. "India and the US are keen to see Pakistan subservient to them," he added before he gave his 15 points for implementation that, according to him, will have positive impact on Balochistan and reduce the unrest in the province. I don't think that his 15 points were different from what were recommended by Mushahid and Wasim Sajjad Committees as claimed by PML-Q president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain in the Senate.
Holding of dialogue between the political forces and the civil-military establishment has never been easy task in the past political-cum-military history of the country. As Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, who is largely held in high esteem for being a thoroughly professional general, the political forces might have some hope if the establishment really agrees to hold dialogue with political forces.
The ground realities we have seen so far after this government came into power, however, suggest something else. Though not coming public on Balochistan policy, it is more or less the armed forces, which actually rule the province. Soon after the announcement of results of general elections, the PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari tendered his apology to the people of Balochistan for the excesses done to them in the past. I still remember the apology tendered by Raza Rabbani in his capacity of leader of the House in the Senate when Balochistan Senator Sanaullah Baloch was about to resign from the upper House.
After these apologies, the government could not deliver what was being anticipated by the people of the province. The recovery of missing persons mainly from Balochistan has been snail-paced. The killing of Baloch leaders and political workers is going on. The PPP government could not nab any culprit. This indicates that the political leadership and the military are not reading from the same page as far as the issue of Balochistan is concerned. There might be some differences as the opposition and treasury Senators from the province essentially hold the intelligence agencies responsible for the unrest there. The government does not have a clear answer to these outbursts of Baloch leaders. Rehman Malik will definitely reply when the House winds up its debate, still the question will remain unresolved.
The previous PML-Q 'so called' democratic government even took up the Balochistan issue. Most of the PML-Q leadership showed a political determination by forming two committees on Balochistan. We should give credit to the leadership of former ruling party. The two committees headed by Senators Mushahid Hussain Syed and Wasim Sajjad gave their reports, but the recommendations of these reports were never implemented. The reports were well responded by Musharraf through the killing of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti.
Most analysts believe that the previous government completed its five-year term primarily because it was very close to the then military leadership. It had replaced Mir Zafrullah Jamali Prime Minister from Balochistan with Musharraf-handpicked Shaukat Aziz. The PML-Q had obeyed Musharraf's orders. The PPP might find it too hard to become the Q league. The possible dialogue in clear terms with the establishment as suggested by the two treasury's Senators Raza Rabbani and Zahid Khan may result in contrast to what is expected by the democratic forces.