The unanimous passage of the 20th Amendment to the Constitution that validates the election of 28 legislators who had been suspended by the SC is a very welcome development. Both the government and the opposition deserve unqualified accolades for exhibiting sense of understanding on the issues which hampering progress towards consolidation of democracy in the country.
There is a need for similar spirit and understanding between the government and the opposition parties to resolve and tackle other challenges confronting the nation. Pakistan faces existentialist threat from terrorism, Karachi continues to bleed and there is insurgency in Balochistan.
The situation in Balochistan, however, needs immediate attention of all the stakeholders and resolved on top priority basis. The gravity of the situation in the province is quite manifest from the fact that US Congress Committee on Foreign Relations held a special meeting to discuss the issue.
A redeeming factor of the Congressional deliberations on Balochistan is that it did not endorse the slogan for an independent Balochistan and also highlighted the fact that if Baloch youth and political activists were being murdered in mysterious circumstances (allegedly by the agencies), the Baloch insurgents were also involved in the targeted killing of Punjabi settlers and other communities.
True, the province has not received fair treatment at the hands of the successive governments which aggravated the sense of deprivation but that hardly provides any justification for killing the settlers and members of the minority communities who are living there for generations and are part of the Balochistan society. The links of the insurgents with outside powers who are hell bent upon destabilising the province for their ulterior motives, are also known and established facts.
This is not the time for scoring political points and indulging in bellicose bluster against the government. It was really regrettable to see Nawaz Sharif condemning the killings of the Baloch youth and not saying a single word about the treatment meted out to the settlers by the Baloch insurgent outfits when he spoke to the media after his meeting with Nawab Kher Bux Marri recently. He also kept mum when the latter openly castigated the Pakistan Army.
The government has made an appreciable and earnest effort through a package known as "Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan". There is no military action in the province any more. Rather the military is playing a very constructive role in the development of the province. As far as quelling and ending the insurgency is concerned, the government, the opposition and military leadership must sit together to deliberate on the issue and evolve a workable strategy to bring back the estranged political leadership of Balochistan in the political mainstream and also approach the militants to initiate a process of dialogue with them.