THE government seems to have realised that only substantive measures in Balochistan can address the insurgency in the province. Chief Minister Aslam Raisani has said that the prime minister will shortly announce the first measure: to stop work on the new cantonments under construction in Dera Bugti and Kohlu. Hopefully, this should be among the first genuine moves to start the reconciliation process. This was a major Baloch demand that was endorsed by a parliamentary committee some years ago, and the government’s attempt to meet it should go a long way towards reassuring the people of the province that Islamabad is serious about looking into their grievances. The government must implement the decision in good faith. The Baloch are sensitive to the militarisation of their province. The military is seen as the source of oppression and tyranny by them and a means to stifle their demand for provincial autonomy.

Considering the number of issues that have plagued relations between Islamabad and Quetta, it is clear that stopping work on the cantonments alone would not resolve the Balochistan problem. The federal government is fully aware of this. Four committees in the last few years — the latest being the Raza Rabbani committee that made its recommendations a few months ago — have studied the grievances of the Baloch and made sensible recommendations. Action is needed on the missing persons, the Gwadar port and fiscal matters that have been raised at the NFC forum. These together with other issues have led to a sense of deprivation in the troubled province. Unfortunately, the government has not been able to decide how to start a dialogue with the nationalists and party leaders without whose cooperation no agreement can be worked out. Dialogue is absolutely essential if there is to be good faith between the two parties. Perhaps that is why Raza Rabbani suggested the release of political prisoners, the recovery of missing people and a judicial enquiry into the murder of some Baloch leaders. These would essentially serve as confidence-building measures and ensure a good start to the dialogue process.

It is a pity that the government is still mulling over the format to be adopted for negotiations. It sometimes hints that a jirga might be held to announce the measures. On other occasions there is talk of an all-parties conference. Now we are being told that the prime minister will unilaterally announce a special package for Balochistan. What needs to be understood is that no plan can succeed without the active participation of all stakeholders which include the Baloch representatives. http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/editorial/the-baloch-issue-999

REIGNITING what lately had appeared to be a settled issue, Nawaz Sharif has demanded that a referendum be held in the NWFP on the renaming of the province. Mr Sharif’s demand flies in the face of an overwhelming majority in the NWFP Assembly, which has passed a resolution endorsing the name Pakhtunkhwa. Moreover, while a constitutional amendment has yet to be passed, the nomenclature has already been amended at the centre informally with everyone from the president to the prime minister to federal ministers referring to the NWFP as Pakhtunkhwa. Overlooking the near unanimity, Mr Sharif has instead apparently opted to focus on shoring up support for his own party in the Hazara region, a traditional PML-N stronghold that is Hindko-speaking. But even on that count, the PML-N leader may be misguided. The 1998 census shows that Mansehra is evenly divided between Pushto- and Hindko-speakers, while in other districts such as Haripur and Abbottabad a significant Pushto-speaking population too now resides. Moreover, there is the fact that in the NWFP generally Pushto is the mother tongue of three-fourths of the population. Why then should the people of the NWFP continue to live under a colonial-era name? Names matter to identity, something we have seen very recently with Gilgit-Baltistan, an appellation that has been hailed by the people of the erstwhile Northern Areas. Looking at the other federating units — Balochistan, Punjab and Sindh — there is also the question of why the NWFP alone should have a name with no regional identity.

The problem, then, isn’t about a referendum — Pakhtunkhwa is supported by the majority and the people’s elected representatives — but why Mr Sharif would want to impede the process of changing the name of the NWFP at all. Since his return to the country, Mr Sharif and his party have done a fair bit to challenge the perception that the PML-N is a one-province party, most noticeably by reaching out to Balochistan and sounding a conciliatory note to the smaller provinces during the ongoing NFC discussions. By digging in his heels on Pakhtunkhwa, however, Mr Sharif is unnecessarily reinforcing old perceptions and needlessly alienating a province. http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/editorial/renaming-nwfp-999

QUETTA, Sept 8: Nationalist and political parties in Balochistan have expressed mixed views over the decision of putting on hold work on setting up cantonments in the province.

They welcomed the announcement, but feared the establishment would not allow the government to implement the decision. According to them, it is just an assurance to the chief minister and no formal announcement has been made by the federal government.

Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo, senior vice-president of the National Party, said: “It is a good decision, but atrocities committed by security forces against the Baloch people may offset the impact of this decision.”

He said that successive governments had not paid any heed to the demand by political parties of Balochistan for abandoning the cantonment plan.

The decision, taken after the killing of Nawab Bugti in an army operation, was belated, Mr Bizenjo added.

“Atrocities by security forces were our main concern. They are killing and arresting people without any justification,” he told Dawn.

He said that forces should be withdrawn, the operation stopped and missing people should be produced before courts without further delay.

He said that the Pakistan People’s Party claimed to be a democratic party, but after coming into power it had not brought any change to Balochistan.

The acting president of the Balochistan National Party (Mengal), Dr Jahanzeb Jamaldani, said the “establishment would not accept the decision of the political government”.

The announcement was an attempt to appease the Baloch people, but they would not back out of the struggle for their rights, Dr Jamaldani said. “There is no need for a new cantonment because there were already several cantonments in the province.”

The provincial president of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, Usman Kakar, said his party had been opposing the establishment of military garrisons in the province.
“There is a need to launch mega development projects, set up educational and heath care institutions and provide other basic amenities to the people of the province.”

Mr Kakar said that Baloch and Pashtoon areas should be developed on an equal basis. He said that plans to set up cantonments in Chamalang and Pashtoon areas should also be abandoned and Quetta cantonment should not be expanded.
( this news appeared in The Dawn, Sept 9)

The News International
The chief minister of Balochistan has informed reporters in Quetta that the federal government has accepted a request from the provincial government that the building of military cantonments in the province be stopped. The agreement on this, we are told, has been reached after much deliberation and is aimed at calming sentiments in Balochistan. The decision to establish the cantonments, taken under President Musharraf, had been fiercely opposed by all nationalist and most political forces in Balochistan. It was, for obvious reasons, seen as an effort to clamp down against nationalist elements. It was obviously no coincidence that the cantonments were to be set up in the Dera Bugti and Kohlu areas – where the anti-government uprising of the Musharraf area was concentrated.

Indeed people in Balochistan have made consistent claims of harassment by paramilitary forces posted along highways and they had feared the cantonments would only add to this. The role of the army in Balochistan is of course an issue that draws strong reaction, particularly since the deadly military operation in the 1970s. The scars left by it have not vanished. The actions taken some three decades later under a military dictator have only re-opened the wounds. We must hope the move to abandon the building of the cantonments is not an isolated gesture but an indication of a more sweeping change thinking. The problems of our largest province cannot be solved by the use of force. The government must demonstrate a willingness to win the Baloch heart. http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=197350

The Daily Time, Sept 9
The Balochistan Chief Minister, Nawab Aslam Raisani, says the federal government has decided to abandon the construction of military cantonments in Balochistan on the request of the provincial government. The principle to which he has pointed is sound: “We have been insisting from the beginning that the people of the province should be taken into confidence while making crucial decisions”.

An almost across the board consensus among the political parties says the federal government should not build any more cantonments. They see the army as a hostile force opposed to their aspirations. The past has seen army actions which the people of Balochistan have perceived as oppression. Since the national consensus too goes with Balochistan, it is only right that the planned cantonments should be laid off.

But Mr Raisani’s claim that he is asking for rights for Balochistan in light of the text of the 1940 Lahore Resolution may lead to a difference of interpretations. His reading of the Resolution would claim “sovereignty” for the provinces. What the Constitution will give to Balochistan is “autonomy”. And that will exclude defence of Pakistan as a sovereign state.

Balochistan is under threat from infiltration by other states. It already has military divisions in place in the province as a requirement of national defence. What if Balochistan is challenged from the outside? The “consensus” in Quetta is also against Frontier Constabulary and the police.

Balochistan is on the eve of receiving a significant increase in its allocation from the federal divisible pool of funds. It will need security against foreign infiltration and against criminal elements who might want to control its precious resources. A very big challenge confronts it in the sector of development. It must therefore strive to become a “normal” province. http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009\09\09\story_9-9-2009_pg3_1