Garrulous Rahman Malik, Adviser on Interior Affairs to dapper Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, has perfected his refrain. India, he keeps telling anyone who is willing to lend ears, is not cooperating in investigating Mumbai attack case. He takes pleasure in public lament that India is not giving answers to the questions raised by Islamabad.

Lately he has picked up a new talking point. India, Afghanistan and Russia (not necessarily in that order) are responsible for the inferno that Balochistan has become, he is saying.

Rehman’s outburst in Pakistan Senate on April 22 was typical of the genre – rhetorical, bluff and bluster in full measure.

India is supporting Balochistan National Army (BNA) campaign for secession, he thundered. And came up with a ‘sensational’ disclosure – that India was involved in the kidnapping and later execution of three Baloch activists early April. Pak media, particularly the Urdu press, lapped up the charge as a stick to thrash India

Like in the Mumbai fall-out case, the Baloch charge also did not stick. And the great helmsman of Pakistan’s internal security had egg on his face. All those who had lapped up his outpouring have run for cover.

Obviously, Malik has become a victim of turf war which is peculiar to Pakistan and is not getting an update, if not a briefing, from the ISI sleuths.

Here are the details.

Read them, you will know Malik’s and his master’s mindset of targeting the neighbours to cover their feet of clay.

Ghulam Mohammad, Chairman, Balochistan National Movement (BNM), Sher Mohammad Baloch, Vice-President, Balochistan Republic Party (BRP) and Lala Munir Baloch, General Secretary, Baloch National Front (BNF) turned up at the Session’s Court in Turbat (Balochistan) on April 3 in connection with a shooting case slapped on them last year. They met their lawyer, and appeared before the Judge, who granted them an interim bail.

In a happy frame of mind, the three Balochi leaders returned to the lawyer’s chamber in the court premises. Suddenly from nowhere more than a dozen persons walked in and whisked them away in waiting cars. These vehicles, four in all, have had no number plate. So, the vehicles are untraceable. The intruders were dressed like any other civilian.

The lawyer suspected the abduction to be the handiwork of ISI. He immediately rushed to Turbat Police Station but the police refused to entertain his complaint. He turned to the Sessions’ Court with a Habeous Corpus petition. The judge heard him in patience but declined to entertain his plea saying the case did not come under his jurisdiction.

Turbat Bar Association picked up the case and its President Fida Hussain, shot off a letter to the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP), Iftikhar Choudhry, for suo motto action. Five days later, on April 8 to be precise, even before the CJP could react, bodies of the three missing Baloch leaders were found at Pidrak, 35 Kms away from Turbat.

The bodies were badly mutilated, almost beyond recognition. Post-mortem report said they were killed on the very day of their arrest and the bodies were thrown off a high place, may be a helicopter.

Malik was repeatedly interrupted as he indulged in his wild allegations not only by Senators from Balochistan but also other provinces. They took serious objections to his claim that ten thousand Balochis were trained in Russia and that they are now actively indulging in terrorist activities in Balochistan. PML (N) leader Zaffar-ul-Haq cautioned Malik against loose talk and told him that he could end up creating new enmities for Pakistan.

What has gone wrong with Malik and his ilk?

Handling his first case (as Advisor, Interior Affairs) which was a fall-out of Mumbai’s 26/11, Malik sounded very reasonable. In fact, he clean bowled everyone when he admitted that Afzal Kasab, the lone survivor of ‘Mission Mumbai’, was, indeed, a Pakistani. He also announced the arrest of several other LeT operatives for their involvement in the attack on Mumbai.

Malik’s perestroika was short lived though. Because, he soon returned to the old habit of India bashing and to the allegation that India was not forthcoming with requisite information. A smoke screen for wriggling out of the commitment to arrest all the accused in Mumbai case.

Patently unfair it may be to lay all the blame for these roll backs at the door-step of Malik. Not only he but also others who matter and even media are dictated to by the Army and the ISI as to the position they should take on any given issue of interest to the Pak establishment.

A group of Pakistani journalists said so in so many words while on a visit to New Delhi to attend a media conference on April 15. Beena Sarwar, Rahmullah Yusafzai, Sayeed Minhas and Muniba Kamal said the Army and the ISI dictate a stated position with regard to terrorism and India. They fully concurred with Nirupama Subramanian, the Hindu correspondent in Islamabad, who said that the Pakistani media was generally sympathetic to India in the immediate aftermath of 26/11but suddenly changed their tone of reporting after a briefing given by the ISI Chief.

Rahman Malik and his masters in the Zardari government may prefer short memories. May also like not to see beyond the immediate though the Mr Five Percent regime had promised a clean break with the past. It had even apologised for all the past ‘sins’ in Balochistan.

The turn of events show the regime change has seen no change in the work culture and work ethics of the notorious military intelligence agencies, which continue to treat Baluchis as adversaries of the State and blame them as agents of foreign intelligence agencies. This is precisely how Pakistan had lost a part of its landmass, which became Bangladesh in 1971.