Category — Balcochistan campaign

By Salim Saifullah Khan
The writer is a senator and a former federal minister
Balochistan is the most serious crisis confronting Pakistan today. The grievances of the Baloch are well known to all, and yet no strategy has been adopted to remove them.

One word that defines the Gilani government is procrastination. On assumption of power in March last year, he offered the nation his 100 days plan, in which he also promised that the Concurrent List would be abolished within 12 months and the provinces would be given autonomy in accordance with the Constitution and the provinces and rights over their own resources. It is 18 months since then and no real movement has been made in any direction with the result that the patience of Baloch leaders is wearing thin and extremist elements are replacing the moderate leadership.

The tardy manner the issue is being addressed shows both the government’s ineptitude and its inefficiency. Each passing day is making the problems more intractable.

Recently, presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar assured the nation that “a serious rethinking is already under way.” On April 22 last year, Zardari had also set up a National Reconciliation Committee for Balochistan. Its mandate was to have an in-depth study of issues such as provincial autonomy, Balochistan’s share in national resources, good governance, poverty-alleviation, an end to political persecution, tracing of missing persons, rule of law and relations between the province and the federation. The committee held only one meeting and lapsed into oblivion. I hope the present exercise doesn’t meet a similar fate.

It is unfortunate that the present government, with the largest cabinet in Pakistan’s history, has not yet appointed a minister for inter-provincial coordination. In the past inter-provincial coordination was considered an important portfolio. PPP stalwarts like Abdul Hafeez Pirzada and Rafi Raza held this portfolio. As minister for inter-provincial coordination during the last government, I had the opportunity to deal with the Balochistan Issue in all aspects and based on my personal knowledge, experience and contacts with Baloch leadership I can say confidently that the Baloch question is not intractable and can be solved if there is political will.

This brief account amply show why the Baloch leadership is so frustrated and doesn’t trust Islamabad. In the last 18 months the Baloch leadership has received only pious words and expressions of good intentions, which were not followed up by action. Time is of the essence. Governor Magsi has rightly warned the government that “the province will get out of control if the federal government did not take immediate corrective measures. How the situation is taking an ugly turn is evident from the unilateral “Declaration of Independence of Balochistan” by Prince Dawood Sulaiman, the Khan of Kalat, August 11. http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=198806

IN a series of recent TV interviews, Shah Zain Bugti, the grandson of the late Nawab Akbar Bugti, has spoken eloquently on what needs to be done to end the insurgency in Balochistan.

The crux of his argument is that Balochistan minus the Baloch is a grossly flawed policy — one that Islamabad has been pursuing all these years. The young Jamhoori Watan Party leader has restricted his demands to three points: the trial of Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf, the provision of gas royalty arrears to Balochistan and provincial autonomy. As the aggrieved heir to the slain Baloch leader, he has all the right to ask for the general’s trial.

It was almost pitiful to watch the Baloch leader being repeatedly grilled by anchors on the conduct of Baloch sardars, that too in response to his overtures when he emphasised that he sought a solution to the Balochistan predicament within the ambit of the 1973 constitution. The sardars’ anti-people policies, tyranny and support for terrorist attacks on vital installations in the province kept coming up. The construction of the coastal highway and the Gwadar port were also cited as development projects which have been opposed tooth and nail by Baloch nationalists.

There may be some merit in such counterpoints raised by self-righteous journalists. But what one fails to understand is why are the Baloch singled out for this harsh treatment. The Pakhtuns, too, have a tribal system which is taken as basic law by many communities. Clans in Sindh and biradaris in Punjab also practise tribal customs, some of them truly despicable.

Likewise, cult politics continues to be the norm within the country’s so-called democratic parties, whose ‘representative’ leaders often bury their heads in the sand when even a gross violation of the law takes place. In a country full of historical injustices and abuse such as that of Mukhtaran Mai, the burning of Christian homes in Gojra, Karachi’s May 12, 2007 street violence, to name a few, how can any objective observer single out Baloch sardars for censure?

The Baloch are not half as well integrated with the rest of Pakistan as, say, those hailing from Sindh. Their elected leaders at the centre and in the province do not enjoy the same representative status as do leaders from other provinces. The reason is that when the 2008 elections took place, Balochistan was in the grip of turmoil and Baloch nationalists had boycotted the polls.

As for the building of Gwadar port and the coastal highway by the Musharraf regime, nationalists allege, with some weight in their argument, that these projects have largely bypassed local communities. Sliding law and order has kept the Baloch at bay from job opportunities created at the port and the labour employed at the port is mostly from Sindh. The transporters whose vehicles ply the coastal highway are Pathan; the law enforcers operating across Balochistan are all Pathan and Punjabi.

If a Baloch villager is found carrying a few cans of unauthorised Iranian petrol in order to sell it to make a living, he is harshly punished and without due process; even his vehicle is impounded. He has to bribe his way out. This despite the fact that most of the petrol sold in Balochistan comes illegally from Iran, transported by petrol barons for whom the law enforcers conveniently look the other way. The same goes for the smuggling of ration provisions, liquor and other contrabands by non-Baloch smugglers.

The grievances of the Baloch are real and not imaginary. In his own homeland an average Baloch is treated like a man colonised by the many arms of the state which only know how to twist his arm. Little wonder then, that nationalist leaders, mainly highhanded sardars, should find resonance for their own causes with the Baloch people.

The Makran region comprising the coastal belt and areas bordering Iran, where much of the wrongdoing goes on and smugglers make millions a day, has no sardari system. The socioeconomic system in this Baloch-majority region is cooperative rather than competitive. No cruel, depraved sardars exist here. But there is widespread resentment and frustration among the people, hence their support for the sardars as their sole spokesmen.

Whenever in the past the sardars struck deals with Islamabad, not a drop of honeydew coming their way trickled down to these utterly impoverished Baloch. If Gen Musharraf, and rulers before him and those that have followed him, had established a somewhat equitable distribution of the wealth generated by this region, the situation today would be very different. But the people have been left at the mercy of the highhanded state machinery on the one hand and Baloch sardars, who now claim to be their messiahs, on the other.

What Shah Zain Bugti has been saying makes much sense. Even under these extremely extraordinary circumstances, he is not demanding extraordinary measures for Balochistan but pleading for provincial autonomy, which will benefit the other federating units equally. It’s the myriad government agencies operating in Balochistan which have no Baloch representation and which routinely break the law when it comes to penalising the Baloch that are the biggest hurdle in the way of resolving the crisis.

The Baloch must be given due representation in state institutions; in the vast security apparatus as well as development projects that, emanating from Balochistan, continue to benefit everyone but the Baloch. Couple this with provincial autonomy and subject the operations of law-enforcement agencies to scrutiny and the crisis will be over. All it takes is will in Islamabad to survey reality and move to correct the many wrongs done to the Baloch in their own homeland. (this article first appeared in The Dawn, Karachi on Sept 10, 2009)

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

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

By Saleem Shahid
QUETTA, Sept 7: In a move that might lower political temperature in strife-ridden Balochistan, the government on Monday said work on setting up cantonments in the province was being put on hold.

Disclosing the major move, the Balochistan chief minister said a formal announcement about abandoning the construction of cantonments and several relief measures would soon be made by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani during his visit to the province.

The cancellation of the army’s decision, taken during General Musharraf’s days, to construct military garrisons in Bugti and Kohlu areas had been one of the principal demands of the Baloch nationalist groups, which always saw in the move an attempt to subjugate them.

The announcement made by Chief Minister Aslam Raisani in Quetta is being viewed by observers as a major concession, but the news broke so late that immediate reaction of Baloch nationalists was not known.

Nawab Raisani told a group of journalists that after much deliberation the federal government had accepted their demand to abandon the cantonment project. He said that all political parties and people of the province had reservations about the construction of military cantonments in Balochistan. “All parties have the same stand on the cantonment issue,” he said.

The decision to set up cantonments in Dera Bugti and Kohlu, taken at the height of the controversial military operation against tribesmen, had immediately come under criticism not just by the Baloch nationalist groups but also many human rights and political organisations.

The move was described as an attempt to suppress the Baloch nationalist movement, and their demands for share in natural resources and more political power for their province.

The late Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti was among the first prominent leaders who opposed new cantonments in the province. Even in the previous Balochistan assembly all mainstream Baloch and Pashtoon nationalist parties and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam had opposed the plan.

Even in the past, many Baloch leaders had questioned the decision of setting up cantonments in resource-rich Kohlu and Sui towns of Balochistan.

The secretary general of Pakistan Muslim League-Q, Mushahid Hussain Syed, recently claimed that after negotiations Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti had agreed to allow new cantonments in Balochistan. However, Nawabzada Jamil Bugti denied the claim and termed it “rubbish and lie”. He said his father had never agreed to allow new cantonments in the province.

He said that he himself was part of the negotiations in which Nawab Bugti had told Mushahid Hussain and Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain that they should not come to Dera Bugti for talks if they had no mandate.

Jamil Bugti said that this father had insisted till last that Pervez Musharraf rescind the decision.

Chief Minister Raisani said that various problems had cropped up in the province due to the plan for setting up new cantonments, and the provincial government had been telling Islamabad to persuade the army to abandon the project.

In view of requests made by the provincial government during meetings with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, the federal government had decided to abandon the plan, Mr Raisani added.

“Prime Minister Gilani will soon visit Balochistan and will announce a special package,” Nawab Raisani said. Although the chief minister did not give details of the proposed package, he said the provincial government had also taken up the issue of Gwadar port with the federal government. He said the federal government had been requested to hand over the port to Balochistan so that its people could become major beneficiaries of the project.

Highly-informed sources told Dawn that the Balochistan package, prepared by a high-level committee under Mian Raza Rabbani, had proposed several wide-ranging measures which might go a long way in meeting some of the major demands of Baloch nationalists. These not only include the cancellation of plans to construct cantonments away from the border region, but also about giving due share in natural resources to the province.

There is a proposal to allow the province to have complete financial control of Gwadar port for at least 10 years. During this period the revenue from the port will be spent on development of Balochistan. Another proposal is for manifold increase in the share in revenue from copper mining at Saindak.

Several other key measures have also been suggested to bring the disillusioned political and nationalist groups to the mainstream. These include engaging some senior Baloch leaders by the political leadership, with the promise to meet most of their demands as long as they agree to distance themselves from separatist politics.
( the above news item appeared in The Dawn, Karachi, Sept 8, 2009)

LAHORE, Sept 3: Jamaat-i-Islami amir Syed Munawar Hasan regrets that the Balochistan situation is explosive but the federal government is least bothered about it.

Speaking at an Iftar dinner here on Thursday, he observed the US and China had their eyes on Balochistan because of its vast resources while India and Iran were also interested in it but unfortunately the Pakistan government was the only one that was taking no interest in it.
He lamented that while an FIR was yet to be registered in the murder of Nawab Akbar Bugti, another Baloch leader, Rasool Bakhsh Mengal, was murdered recently.
He said the Baloch people were being pushed towards wall, making them think that their loyalty with Pakistan is a crime.
The JI chief said both the major political parties of the country — the PPP and the PML-N — had failed to serve the masses and their recent behaviour had fully exposed them.
He said Mian Nawaz Sharif had in fact given up his demand for Pervez Musharraf’s trial otherwise he should have been on roads.
There was no fun in giving an ultimatum only to withdraw it, he said. The PML-N was as much a government ally as the JUI and the MQM and it was fully cooperating with the PPP, he added.
He said democracy had been defeated in Sindh as the PPP men were bringing funerals to the Chief Minister’s house. He said all the political parties attending the London multi-party conference had declared the MQM a terrorist organisation and vowed not to join hands with it. He suggested that at least these parties should implement the London decisions.
Mr Hasan said the present government was an elected one but it could not be termed democratic. A democratic government must have taken note of the statements being issued from Saudi Arabia and London, he added. He said the decisions in respect of important national issues were being taken outside the country, which was most shameful.
The JI chief said Brig Imtiaz (retired) and Gen Naseer Akhtar (retired) had confessed their crimes and they must be put to trial without delay. http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/national/govt-blind-to-balochistan-situation-ji-499

LAHORE, Sept 3: The Jamhoori Watan Party (Talal) has postponed its proposed long march from Lahore up to Dera Bugti for an indefinite period.
At a press conference here on Thursday, JWP leader Shahzain Bugti’s secretary Madni Baloch said the decision had been taken in view of the incomplete consultation process with some political parties of Balochistan and Sindh, as well as of the difficulties the participants could face due to Ramazan.
The march was to start from Friday (today) from Minar-i-Pakistan.
A jirga of Bugti tribes’ chieftains had opposed the long march the other day and urged PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif not to interfere in the Bugtis’ politics. Supporting the march, Mr Sharif had contacted some political players in Balochistan in a bid to seek backing for Shahzain’s initiative. http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/national/jwp-again-postpones-long-march-499

ON Friday, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani presided over a meeting of a parliamentary sub-committee tasked with making recommendations to the government on resolving the many issues faced by Balochistan. The meeting reportedly concluded with Mr Gilani considering constitutional amendments and proposals to allay Baloch nationalists’ misgivings. This included the recommendation to shorten the federal concurrent list which has far too many subjects assigned to the federal government, to the detriment of provincial autonomy. We have long argued in these columns for the shortening of the concurrent list which, in its existing form, is an anomaly given that the basic law guarantees the provinces far greater autonomy than is actually practiced. A consensus already exists among major political parties as well as other stakeholders i.e. those nationalist parties which boycotted the 2008 election. The PPP itself promised greater provincial autonomy in its election manifesto. The Charter of Democracy also endorses it. These realities make the delay on the part of the government in implementing political decisions rather unsettling. In the case of Balochistan it can be argued that the delay is seen by Baloch leaders as yet another attempt at scuttling the issue.

Balochistan under eight years of Gen Musharraf’s dispensation has been through a lot: Baloch leaders have been killed, chased, picked up and held by security agencies without due process; many have been forced to go into hiding or seek asylum abroad for fear of incarceration. This is not to say that the province fared far better under the general’s forerunners. A wringing sense of economic deprivation among the Baloch — and their alienation from the national mainstream — has increased over the years. This must be addressed on a priority basis. Any more foot-dragging will be criminal. http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/editorial/make-balochistan-a-priority-389

By Tayyab Siddiqui
The writer is a former ambassador of Pakistan
It is puzzling that despite everyone believing that the situation in Balochistan has reached menacing proportions, nothing concrete has been done so far. Farahatullah Babar, the spokesman for the president, claims that there is a ‘rethink’ of the Balochistan policy and that “almost every fortnight, there is a meeting in the presidency on Balochistan in which all stakeholders take part.” Questions, however, remain: what are the outcomes of these meetings and how and when will this ‘consensus-based approach’ deliver?

The issues to be resolved are known to all and have been identified for a long time. Simply put, these are provincial autonomy, mysterious kidnappings of political activists, detention of political workers, increasing security operations in the province and undertaking of mega projects without addressing concerns of the people. The endemic issues of grinding poverty and backwardness merit equally urgent attention and alleviation. Former senator, Sanaullah Baloch, the unofficial spokesman for Baloch nationalists, maintains that “90 per cent of the province’s population lives without gas facility, 78 per cent without electricity and 62 per cent without safe drinking water. Balochistan has just 3.4 per cent of gas consumers as compared to 64 per cent of Punjab alone, which produces only 4.75 per cent of natural gas.” He further asserts that border and coastal security is 100 per cent controlled by non-Baloch paramilitary forces. Around 70,000 jobs in the Frontier Corps, Coastguards, police, Maritime Security and the ANF are occupied by non-locals. Even if these statistics are a little exaggerated or out-dated, the question is how critical the situation should get to invite action.

There is not even a single person in the entire political spectrum of the country who doubts the legitimacy of Baloch demands and that the province has suffered from neglect for too long and can’t brook further delay. The official statements of India’s involvement in the ongoing insurgency and alleged training of the BLA in Afghanistan may be relevant to the situation but no obstacle in the resolution of the crisis. Fundamentally, the issues facing us in Balochistan are of governance, discrimination, lack of representation and participation in the affairs of the province. These are the real issues. It should be a matter of utmost concern when the governor of the province goes on record to complain that “although I am a representative of the federal government, I was never taken into confidence by Islamabad on the Balochistan issues.”

Despite security operations at different times since then the province has not seen peace and normalcy. The situation became worse in the wake of Nawab Bugti’s killing in August 2006 and subsequent mysterious killings of three senior Baloch nationalist leaders. There have also been instances of increasing number of missing persons and of alleged involvement of security agencies in these disappearances, numbered in the thousands, but officially accepted only as 831.

We are confronted with a sea of seething unrest bordering on a widespread insurgency. Feelings of extreme economic deprivation and political victimisation are a lethal combination and demand radical, positive measures to stem the tide. Seeking solutions through setting up committees and conferences will not work. Palliatives like PPP’s apology (February 2006) just don’t work anymore. http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=194214