Category — Pakistan

By Saleem Shahid and Amanullah Kasi
QUETTA: Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani has accused the Frontier Corps of running a parallel government in Balochistan.

In a statement issued here on Wednesday, the chief minister said that FC’s attitude had harmed the ongoing reconciliation process and, as a result, the situation had worsened.

“The FC has established a government paralled to the provincial government,” he said.

He urged the federal government to direct law-enforcement agencies in Balochistan to work for normalising the situation and strengthening the reconciliation process.

The federal government, he said, should realise the gravity of the situation. Otherwise, he warned, it would go from bad to worse and he would not be responsible for that.

Meanwhile, a statement issued here on Wednesday by a spokesman for the FC said that the force had nothing to do with the killing of BSO activists.

“No FC personnel were deployed when the BSO rally was fired upon,” the spokesman said.

He welcomed a judicial inquiry into the killing of BSO activists.

Nawab Raisani said the killing would be investigated by a judge of the Balochistan High Court.

He said there was nothing in the Balochistan package to be lauded because there was nothing important in it.

The chief minister said that bureaucrats in Islamabad were the biggest obstacle to implementing the government’s decisions pertaining to Balochistan.

He said the forces which wanted to sabotage the process of reconciliation had to be discouraged.

Nawab Raisani said the federal government had rejected the scrapping of the Gwadar Deep Sea Port and Reko Dik project agreements. But, he said, the Balochistan government would not allow any agreement which undermined the rights of the people of Balochistan.

“This response from the federal government strengthens the elements who say that the centre is not interested in giving rights to the people of Balochistan,” he said.http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/13+fc-running-parallel-govt%2C-says-raisani-110-za-11

The walkout by two ministers from the Balochistan Assembly session on Monday in protest against the killing of two Baloch students at a protest rally in Khuzdar last week and condemnation of the killings by senators of both the treasury and opposition benches once again focuses minds on the plight of the Baloch. When the PPP government presented a package for Balochistan, a province that has been fighting for its rights since the inception of Pakistan, many termed it a historic step. Though the Baloch nationalists rejected the package and said that it would not bring about any change in the current situation, a broad swathe of opinion thought the nationalist leaders were being overly pessimistic. Now, however, it seems the ‘pessimist’ Baloch nationalists were right after all. This has been proved yet again by the incident in Khuzdar, where the people’s right to a peaceful protest was violated and brutally crushed. The use of brutal force by the Frontier Constabulary (FC) has not only alienated the Baloch further, it has put the federation of Pakistan at stake.

The ‘Aghaz-e-Huqooq-e-Balochistan’ package has failed to deliver on its promise. The military operation is still continuing, as are the kidnappings of Baloch nationalist leaders and workers. The government must ensure that the military operation is stopped, and the ‘missing’ persons the prime minister promised would come home, recovered. In this backdrop, the removal of some Baloch leaders’ names, including Ataullah Mengal, Akhtar Mengal, Khair Bakhsh Marri, from the exit control list (ECL) was a good gesture, albeit a small one. What is more shocking is Prime Minister Gilani’s comment that it was “news to me” that these people were on the ECL. We should be thankful for small mercies that the prime minister finally got this ‘information’ and acted upon it. If the chief executive has no ‘news’ about prominent names on the ECL list, one can only pray.

Despite the mention of Balochistan’s IDPs in the said package, the situation remains the same. We hear of humanitarian aid for the Swat and Malakand IDPs every day, but the Baloch IDPs are hardly ever mentioned. If this continues, the anti-federation sentiment would rise even more in the neglected province. Balochistan needs concrete steps to defuse the situation and engage the alienated Baloch rather than pie-in-the-sky ‘packages’.

For the past many years the Baloch have been waging a fight against the Pakistani establishment for their just rights. They have largely been asking for what has been promised to them under the constitution. Failure to fulfil this aspiration is the surest way to exacerbate separatist sentiment in the province. Instead of playing politics with such a serious matter, the government should deliver on its promises and not make a mockery of the Baloch issue. To ignore Baloch grievances is to run the risk of weakening the integrity of the federation. The Centre must pay heed to the disquiet ruling Balochistan. The government needs to have a dialogue with the alienated Baloch leaders, both in Pakistan and those living in exile abroad. The tension-ridden atmosphere of Balochistan should ring alarm bells for the government. Pakistan is already fighting a war with the Taliban and it cannot afford another war front against Baloch insurgents. The results of not delivering on the Balochistan package can be disastrous for the country. The government needs to get its act together or else get ready for another debacle.http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\01\21\story_21-1-2010_pg3_1

ISLAMABAD: A US drone strike that nearly killed the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief may encourage the CIA to keep up its campaign to eliminate high-profile Taliban by remote control.

But the strikes may only have limited success and generate more anti-American sentiment in Pakistan, which the US sees as a front-line state in its war on terror.

Taliban officials said TTP chief Hakeemullah Mehsud was wounded slightly last week after being targeted in a drone attack. Washington says its drone strikes are key to defeating Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Coming just days after Hakeemullah appeared in a farewell video with the suicide bomber who killed CIA agents in Afghanistan, the apparent revenge attack was a reminder that drone attacks are highly capable of eliminating top Taliban leaders.

Analysts say the high-tech aircraft – designed to throw Al Qaeda and Taliban operations into disarray – are unlikely to break resilient militant groups in the long term and may only generate more anti-American anger in Pakistan.

“Ultimately this is not really an effective weapon. The intent is, that if you can kill off or decapitate a significant extent of the leadership, then you can cause a rift within the movement,” said Kamran Bokhari, regional director for Middle East and South Asia at STRATFOR.

Drone attacks in the Tribal Areas have been intensified since the double agent suicide bomber killed seven CIA employees at a US base in Afghanistan on December 30, the second deadliest attack in the agency’s history.

Holding up: Even if sustained over a long period, drone strikes can only produce limited results – perhaps holding up suicide bombings for a few weeks – since Taliban leaders are unlikely to be killed in quick succession, analysts say.

The problem for the US and its allies is the over-reliance on drone attacks to fight the Taliban, and the lack of ground intelligence.

CIA’s recruitment of agents is tedious and risky since it requires winning over people in a region of tightly knit family and tribal ties. Anyone tempted by cash risks execution if caught by the Taliban or Al Qaeda, and intelligence is often sketchy.

That is why the CIA must rely on Pakistani intelligence to provide targets to the virtual pilots who use computers halfway across the world to fly the $4.5 million unmanned aircrafts into battle.

That coordination may have put the Al Qaeda and Taliban on the defensive in the Tribal Areas.

But Pakistan is unlikely to hand over the intelligence Washington wants most of all – whereabouts of leaders of the Afghan Taliban groups who attack US forces in Afghanistan.

Those coordinates will be hard to come by because those groups are some of Pakistan’s most strategic regional assets.

Pakistani officials complain in public that drone strikes violate the country’s sovereignty and have said that intensified strikes could hurt relations between the long-standing allies.

US officials privately say the attacks are carried out under an agreement with Islamabad that allows Pakistani leaders to decry the attacks in public. http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\01\19\story_19-1-2010_pg7_15

By Joshua Partlow in The Washington Post, Jan 19
SPIN BOLDAK, AFGHANISTAN — The pace of President Obama’s troop buildup in Afghanistan hinges in part on a narrow, pothole-riddled dirt track that is controlled by a 33-year-old suspected drug lord and by the whims of the Pakistani military.

It is down this road each month that thousands of cargo trucks bearing U.S. and NATO military supplies pass through the only major border crossing in southern Afghanistan — the area where most American troop reinforcements are scheduled to deploy.

Here at the border crossing, where traffic switches from the left side of the road in Pakistan to the right in Afghanistan, supply trucks must pass along with the flood of pedestrians, donkey carts, drug shipments and materials to make roadside bombs. Only about 2 to 3 percent of the vehicles are regularly searched, and payoffs to border guards are rampant, U.S. military officials say.

The chaos and congestion of this border crossing have become a matter of urgent concern as military logisticians scramble to fulfill Obama’s plan for bringing 30,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan this year. Compounding the problem is that Pakistan has been slow to respond to U.S. proposals to create a separate lane for coalition military vehicles and nighttime crossing rights, U.S. officials say.

Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, flew to Quetta, Pakistan, on Monday to meet with Pakistani military commanders, then toured the border crossing with officials from both countries.

“It’s absolutely key to have this gate functioning better,” said Maj. Gen. Hubert De Vos, a Belgian army officer who is the deputy chief of staff for resources with the coalition military command. “It’s a direct link to the south, and the south is absolutely critical.”

Hastening overland supplies of fuel, food and military equipment to Afghanistan is just one issue in a frenzy of logistical work that is required to feed, house and protect soldiers coming to fight. The military is rushing to construct and expand military bases, dig wells and build power plants, dining halls, aircraft landing strips and temporary housing. At the end of each week, coalition officials responsible for southern Afghanistan convene for hours to monitor the progress — meetings that have earned the nickname “Friday night fights.”

Maj. Gen. Don T. Riley, the chief engineer for U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said the pace of traffic through Spin Boldak needs to increase to 150 NATO supply trucks a day, up from the current average of just under 100. These additional trucks are needed, among other reasons, to slake the military’s demand for fuel, which is expected to increase by 30 to 40 percent.

The U.S. military has longer-term plans to build a bypass road around the crossing. In the short term, it is pushing for overnight access through the border.

But for the past month, Pakistan has given little ground. Part of the problem is apparently bureaucracy, with at least five Pakistani agencies involved in providing security for NATO convoys between the port city of Karachi and the border. In the past, Pakistani officials also have criticized U.S. plans to increase troop levels, arguing that an intensified war will spread back into their country.

There is trouble on the Afghan side as well. The urgency to increase the flow of military supplies has forced the U.S. military to rely heavily on Abdul Razziq, the illiterate local commander of the Afghan border police.

According to U.S. military officials, Razziq wields near total control over Spin Boldak and the border crossing. Razziq, a former anti-Taliban fighter, owns a trucking company, commands 3,500 police, effectively controls the local government, and reportedly takes in millions from extorting passing vehicles and trafficking drugs. He is a colonel, but his soldiers call him “general.” On Monday, Razziq popped pistachios while smiling and chatting with U.S. generals.

Razziq can shut down the border crossing at will. He also provides intelligence to Americans about potential attacks and keeps the insurgency in check in his area. He says he is amenable to U.S. plans to fast-track NATO supplies but has tried to keep U.S. soldiers at arm’s length at the crossing point.

Razziq said in a telephone interview that the allegations against him are “totally baseless,” and that in the past three months his police has confiscated 11 tons of drugs and arrested at least 15 traffickers. “If they have any kind of evidence, then they should present that evidence,” he said.

Razziq’s power also seems to anger Pakistan, which already has a fraught relationship with Afghanistan over the disputed border. One Western official who works with the Pakistani Army said Pakistan wants the border crossing to be more efficient to avoid backups on its side.

But, he said, Pakistani officials find Razziq “unpalatable,” think that he is slowing traffic and are upset that “he’s getting all the money.” Fittingly, the Friendship Gate, which marks the border with dual archways, is locked.

Riley, the chief engineer, said Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, regional envoy Richard C. Holbrooke and U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl W. Eikenberry are “all working feverishly to get the two governments to work a little more closely together” to speed supplies.

After his meetings in Quetta and Spin Boldak on Monday, McChrystal sounded optimistic.

“We want to make sure that it’s as efficient as it can be,” he said of the border crossing. “And instead of it being something where the two nations don’t work closely together, we’d really like it to be something that’s a little closer to a handshake. And I think we can do that.” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/18/AR2010011803474_pf.html

KARACHI: Since the last week of March 2008, more than 38,800 people have been issued licences of prohibited weapons such as Kalashnikov, MP5, G3 and Uzi, mostly on direct orders of the prime minister and minister of state for interior.

Most alarmingly, these licences were issued without any police verification or an official check on the background of the applicants, according to an investigation by this correspondent. A whopping 100,000 licences of non-prohibited bore weapons, such as revolvers and pistols, were also issued without any police verification whatsoever during the same 21-month period.

There is no formal or official procedure in the country for a common Pakistani to properly apply for a prohibited bore weapon license other than finding a member of the National Assembly or the Senate having direct connections with the prime minister or minister of state for interior for the approval of license, hence prohibited bore licenses are a precious commodity and arms dealers charge a premium of up to Rs 200,000 for such a license.

Sources in arms dealers’ community estimate liberal issuance of prohibited and non-prohibited weapons licences by the government since April 2008 has generated Rs 20 billion business for weapons dealers in sale of automatic, semi-automatic weapons in addition to massive earnings in selling the prohibited and non-prohibited licences of weapons. The situation also raised serious questions about the exact source of weapon supplies to arms dealers.

Massive monetary attraction, besides other reasons, may have contributed to immense pressure on Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani from parliamentarians to favour them with his special powers to issue licences for all sorts of weapons.

As parliamentarians pressed the prime minister for more and more licences, he introduced an unprecedented quota of weapons licences in September last year by allowing 25 licences per year of prohibited weapons and 20 licences per month of non-prohibited weapons for each member of the National Assembly and the Senate. He extended the favour to MPAs also by allotting them five prohibited weapons licenses per year.

Since March 2008 till June 2009, the prime minister ordered issuance of 22,541 licences of prohibited weapons, mostly making orders on plain papers with certain names scribbled on them presented to him by various MNAs and senators.

In two months after assuming the office of minister of state for interior in April 2009, Tasnim Ahmed Qureshi issued a record 5,986 licences of prohibited weapons, including more than 100 licences that ended up at the Inter Risk (Pvt) Ltd, the security company contracted by the United States Embassy in Pakistan. Inter Risk owners are now facing prosecution for possessing a large cache of illegal weapons.

Qadir Nawaz, the personal secretary of the minister of state for interior, was arrested in the case, while the issuance of about 6,000 prohibited weapons licences in just two months on the direct order of the minister of state is still being probed by the relevant agencies.

This incident caused uproar in the government security services about the scale of corruption and security risks in weapons license system. The prime minister, though rejected allegations of ministerial level involvement in the weapons scam, announced a ban on issuance of licences in June last year.

“If parliament believes in accountability, justice and fair play, it should allow a neutral and thorough probe into the prohibited weapons license case and examine who were those 39,000 people whose names were recommended by various senators and MNAs for Kalashnikovs and Uzis licences as well as those 100,000-plus people who received licences for pistols and revolvers,” said an interior ministry official. http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=26635

LAHORE: Nawab Akbar Bugti’s death was the result of a clash with the writ of the state, former president Pervez Musharraf said on Tuesday.

According to a private TV channel, Musharraf said neither the president nor the chief of the army staff could give direct orders to the army and other law enforcment agencies on any particular issue and the allegations against him were baseless.

He said Akbar Bugti and his henchmen challenged the writ of the state and later took refuge in a cave. He said a four-member delegation of the army went into the cave to ask Bugti and his followers to lay down their arms. “It seems the cave collapsed which resulted in the death of Bugti and the four soldiers”, he said. He said billions of rupees were spent on the Gwadar port under his regime. http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\01\13\story_13-1-2010_pg7_4

By Tariq Butt
ISLAMABAD: To counterbalance the Kerry-Lugar Act, a bill moved in the Senate the other day makes it mandatory for the president of Pakistan to certify to parliament every January that Pakistan’s sovereignty and honour have not been compromised in any manner whatsoever.

The Pakistan Sovereignty Bill 2010, sponsored by opposition leader in the Senate Wasim Sajjad, says notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any law and treaty, and undertakings or conditionalities agreed with any foreign country, the president of Pakistan shall certify every January each year on behalf of the Pakistani government to each house of parliament that no compromise had been made on security or effectiveness of the nuclear programme of Pakistan; that no understanding has been reached with any foreign country for interference in the change of command or promotions in the Pakistani armed forces or in the structure or role of security forces of Pakistan; and that no conditionalities have been accepted from any source to weaken the defence of Pakistan against foreign aggressions.

“There are many forces, both inside and outside Pakistan, which are weakening the defence of Pakistan and endangering the sovereignty and integrity of Pakistan,” the statement of objects and reasons of the bill said.It said a vulnerable economic situation was being used to force Pakistan into steps that were not in the national interest, and it, therefore, was necessary to enact this law.

Wasim Sajjad believed during a chat with this correspondent that no parliamentary party would oppose or object to the bill because it dealt with an important non-controversial issue, which was of concern to every citizen of Pakistan. He hoped the ruling coalition parties would also not be against this bill because there were no two opinions on protecting the sovereignty of Pakistan.

He said the Kerry-Lugar Act raised many concerns and caused serious worries in almost all civil and military circles. He said to deal with these misgivings and qualms, it was necessary to provide a legal statute wherein the president of Pakistan was bound to give to parliament an annual certification.

Wasim Sajjad said this was something new in Pakistan, but such requirements were in place in many countries, especially the United States where the Congress was informed about all measures and policies decided by the US administration.

It appears the Pakistan Sovereignty Act was drafted keeping in view the harsh provisions of the Kerry-Lugar Act, which were interpreted in Pakistan as something meant to hit the country hard.

Almost all matters on which the Pakistan Sovereignty Bill seeks presidential certification were covered directly or indirectly in the Kerry-Lugar Act and it was claimed the sovereignty and honour of Pakistan had been compromised in it; Pakistan’s nuclear programme has been endangered; US interference has been allowed in the change of command and promotions in the Pakistan armed forces and the structure and role of security forces of Pakistan and several conditionalities have been attached, which impinged hard on the defence of Pakistan. www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=218421

KARACHI: Since the last week of March 2008, more than 38,800 people have been issued licences of prohibited weapons such as Kalashnikov, MP5, G3 and Uzi, mostly on direct orders of the prime minister and minister of state for interior.

Most alarmingly, these licences were issued without any police verification or an official check on the background of the applicants, according to an investigation by this correspondent. A whopping 100,000 licences of non-prohibited bore weapons, such as revolvers and pistols, were also issued without any police verification whatsoever during the same 21-month period.

There is no formal or official procedure in the country for a common Pakistani to properly apply for a prohibited bore weapon license other than finding a member of the National Assembly or the Senate having direct connections with the prime minister or minister of state for interior for the approval of license, hence prohibited bore licenses are a precious commodity and arms dealers charge a premium of up to Rs 200,000 for such a license.

Sources in arms dealers’ community estimate liberal issuance of prohibited and non-prohibited weapons licences by the government since April 2008 has generated Rs 20 billion business for weapons dealers in sale of automatic, semi-automatic weapons in addition to massive earnings in selling the prohibited and non-prohibited licences of weapons. The situation also raised serious questions about the exact source of weapon supplies to arms dealers.

Massive monetary attraction, besides other reasons, may have contributed to immense pressure on Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani from parliamentarians to favour them with his special powers to issue licences for all sorts of weapons.

As parliamentarians pressed the prime minister for more and more licences, he introduced an unprecedented quota of weapons licences in September last year by allowing 25 licences per year of prohibited weapons and 20 licences per month of non-prohibited weapons for each member of the National Assembly and the Senate. He extended the favour to MPAs also by allotting them five prohibited weapons licenses per year.

Since March 2008 till June 2009, the prime minister ordered issuance of 22,541 licences of prohibited weapons, mostly making orders on plain papers with certain names scribbled on them presented to him by various MNAs and senators.

In two months after assuming the office of minister of state for interior in April 2009, Tasnim Ahmed Qureshi issued a record 5,986 licences of prohibited weapons, including more than 100 licences that ended up at the Inter Risk (Pvt) Ltd, the security company contracted by the United States Embassy in Pakistan. Inter Risk owners are now facing prosecution for possessing a large cache of illegal weapons.

Qadir Nawaz, the personal secretary of the minister of state for interior, was arrested in the case, while the issuance of about 6,000 prohibited weapons licences in just two months on the direct order of the minister of state is still being probed by the relevant agencies.

This incident caused uproar in the government security services about the scale of corruption and security risks in weapons license system. The prime minister, though rejected allegations of ministerial level involvement in the weapons scam, announced a ban on issuance of licences in June last year.

“If parliament believes in accountability, justice and fair play, it should allow a neutral and thorough probe into the prohibited weapons license case and examine who were those 39,000 people whose names were recommended by various senators and MNAs for Kalashnikovs and Uzis licences as well as those 100,000-plus people who received licences for pistols and revolvers,” said an interior ministry official. http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=26635

By Kamran Khan in The News, Jan 12
KARACHI: Corruption has been taken to new heights in Pakistan as Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s government has allowed key accused persons in corruption cases worth billions of rupees registered by his own government to continue managing the affairs of the collapsing and bankrupt Pakistan Steel.

The business group accused by the government investigators of causing billions of rupees of losses to the national institution has not been blacklisted or even barred from doing business with Pakistan Steel.

Pakistan Steel, a national institution of critical importance, was making profits just two years ago with Rs 11 billion of deposits in the banks. Today, Pakistan Steel is facing closure under debt of about Rs 30 billion and a severe shortage of raw material that has dropped the production capacity to a dangerously low level.

This may be for the first time in the corruption ridden history of Pakistan that not one person nominated in four separate FIRs registered by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in corruption cases worth billions of rupees has been arrested, while business remains as usual for all those identified as partners and collaborators in an official investigation. The government’s tolerance for corruption looks more bizarre in these specific cases because the Pak Steel corruption investigation by the FIA followed a suo moto notice by the Supreme Court of Pakistan that had taken notice of rampant corruption in the organisation and had ordered the FIA to launch a thorough probe. After several weeks of investigation, the FIA had registered four corruption cases under FIRs 36, 37, 38 and 39 of 2009 on December 23 and had nominated former chairman Pakistan Steel Moeen Aftab Sheikh, current Managing Director Pakistan Steel Rasul Bux Phulpoto, former director Commercial Samin Asghar, four directors of Abbas Steel Group, run by influential dealer Riaz Laljee’s family and Rashid Abro who represented Nobel Resources of Singapore and Pacific Chartering and Trading Company as the main accused persons.

According to these FIRs the top Pakistan Steel brass in collusion with some of the key dealer suppliers of the organisation caused an estimated loss of about Rs 5 billion by manipulating purchase of coal without tender; purchase of metallurgical coke at exorbitant rates; award of freight contract for delivery of raw material from foreign countries at exorbitant rates and manipulation of the prices of billet, the most important Pakistan Steel product.

Shockingly, Rasul Bux Phulpoto, a key accused person in the FIR 39/2009, is still running the affairs of Pakistan Steel as its Managing Director while no restrictions have been placed in Pak Steel business dealings with Riaz Laljeeís Abbas Steel Group, whose three directors figured as accused persons in the same FIR. Similarly, there is still no bar on Pak Steel relationship with Noble Resources and Pacific Chartering and Trading Company whose representative in Pakistan Rashid Abroís name appeared in FIRs 36, 37 and 38.

The FIA investigation also made a stunning revelation that Moeen Aftab Sheikh, the former chairman Pakistan Steel, another principal accused in these four corruption cases, formerly served with the Abbas Steel Group of Riaz Laljee, an important alleged beneficiary of the scam. Informed official sources said it was the involvement of this group in Pakistan Steel cases that had resulted in the surprise transfer of Tariq Khosa as Director General FIA last month.

Mr Khosa, an officer of impeccable integrity, was transferred on a Sunday last month following his reservations on Ministry of Interiorís decision to neutralize the focus of probe by changing the terms of reference of the FIA investigation. It is still not clear what prompted FIAís slackness in making efforts for the arrest of accused persons in Pakistan Steel case. The delay allowed many of the accused persons to comfortably seek bail before arrests from relevant court while a few of the accused persons including an important director of Abbas Steel Group left the country with an unprecedented official protocol at Islamabad airport last month. www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=26614

By Malik Siraj Akbar
(The author is a staff writer of the daily)
Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif, the head of Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N), did not return home empty-handed from his two-day long visit to the volatile Balochistan province. The twice-elected prime minister notched ample scores to become confident to achieve the ‘required run rate’ before the next general elections or, say, the mid-term polls. The biggest achievement of Sharif was the decision of two highly influential Baloch to join his party.

First, Sardar Sanullah Zehri, the extremely powerful chief of Jhalawan tribe and the provincial minister for services and general administration, stunned everyone with his utterly unpredictable decision to join the PML-N. Zehri had been regarded as a diehard Baloch nationalist. He was a member of the landmark Baloch Jirga that was convened by the Khan of Kalat Mir Suleman Dawood in September 2006. In that particular event, which was organised one month after the killing of Nawab Mohammad Akbar Bugti, enraged Baloch leaders announced to move the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague against the State of Pakistan for violating the territorial integrity of the Kalat State (now Balochistan). Ironically, the Kalat Jirga was also attended by Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Magsi, the incumbent governor of Balochistan and Nawab Aslam Raisani, the current chief minister.

Zehri left the National Party (NP) of which he was the senior vice president on the issue of boycott of the general elections of February 2008. Having founded his own one-man National Party Parliamentarians, Zehri won the elections and joined the Raisani government as a minister and softened his nationalistic rhetoric. Now he becomes the most influential Baloch tribal elder to join a centrist party. If the PPP boasts of enjoying the support of the chief of Sarawan, Nawab Aslam Raisani, the PML-N, on the other hand, has now got reasons to be proud of having managed to bring the chief of Jhalawan into its camp.

Second, former corps commander and governor Balochistan, Abdul Qadir Baloch, also announced along with Zehri to join the PML-N. Qadir is the only Baloch in history to serve as a corps commander in the country’s Punjabi-dominated military. After retirement from the army, he was appointed as the governor of Balochistan but was soon removed from that key position because differences broke out between him and former president Pervez Musharraf on the latter’s antagonistic Balochistan policy. When he decided to jump into politics, General (retd) Qadir told this scribe, “[Nawab Akbar] Bugti is my hero and his vision is my vision” (Daily Times, July 1, 2007).

Qadir contested the general elections of 2008 for a seat of the National Assembly from NA-271 Panjgur-Kharan-Washuk. According to the initial results, he was declared victorious but the results were immediately altered against him, presumably on the instructions of Pervez Musharraf.

Sanaullah Zehri and General Qadir’s decision to join the PML-N is remarkably reassuring for Sharif and his party. Nawabzada Jangiz Marri, son of veteran Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri, is another member of a much-respected political family, who is supporting the PML-N in Balochistan. While Jangiz Marri staunchly supports the policies of PML-N, his father and brothers, ironically, are the biggest supporters of armed struggle for an independent Balochistan. Despite ideological differences between the father and son, Jangiz Marri will still manage to get elected from his native Kohlu or Quetta city if he is overwhelmingly backed by the Pakistan Muslim League and the ‘invisible powers’ opposed to Zardari but sympathetic to the PML-N.

The junior Marri may not be very popular among the nationalist supporters of his father who support an independent Balochistan; his presence in the PML-N will at least give Sharif an opportunity to claim that he enjoys the support of a member of the most powerful Baloch tribe, the Marris.

Another significant individual visited and taken into confidence by Sharif during his visit was Nawabzada Talal Akbar Bugti, the head of the Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP). The former prime minister strongly condemned the killing of Nawab Bugti — a man, as Sharif put it, who was willing to die for the preservation of the constitution of Pakistan. Insisting that practical measures not mere assurances were urgently needed to mitigate the Baloch anguish, he called for a judicial inquiry into Nawab Bugti’s murder. He rightly opined that Baloch would not be satisfied until the murderers of Nawab Bugti were brought to justice. Contact between Sharif and the son of late Nawab Akbar Bugti is expected to lead to development of mutual trust and political cooperation in future. As contacts between them increase, the ruling PPP will confront more detractors.

That done, the PML-N has almost gained support among the Marris and Bugtis. As far as the Mengals are concerned, Sanaullah Zehri is most likely to be pitted against a Mengal candidate of the Balochistan National Party (BNP-Mengal) in his native Khuzdar district. Political pundits believe Sharif has learnt nothing from history. He is once again intentionally or unintentionally endeavouring to divide the Baloch tribes and prepare to rule in the future. Many believe that he deliberately snubbed Nawab Khair Baksh Marri, Sardar Attaullah Mengal and Nawabzada Bramdagh Bugti, the chief of the Baloch Republican Party. Thus, he has made up his mind to ignore the more prominent members of these families or areas and take the relatively insignificant ones in his team.

Why did Sanaullah Zehri choose to join the PML? According to a senior political expert, Zehri is desperate to become the next chief minister of Balochistan. After all, most of his contemporaries, such as Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Magsi, Jan Mohammad Jamali, Sardar Akhtar Mengal, Jam Mohammad Yousaf and Nawab Aslam Raisani have already served in the coveted position. In order to materialise his dream, Zehri understandably needs the backing of a strong federalist party. Another bitter truth about Balochistan is the fact that the office of chief minister was never awarded on the basis of strong political credentials. Tribal influence has normally been a defining benchmark for the election of the chief minister.

More leaders and tribal elders are likely to join the ranks of the PML-N as the dust on the country’s uncertain political scenario settles. Except for the nationalists, no political group in Balochistan has ideological foundations. For example, PML-N and PPP are normally dominated by powerful tribal individuals who keep changing their political loyalties with the change in every government. Another two relevant political forces, the Jamiat-i-Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) and the Balochistan National Party (BNP-Awami), which approximately clinch around 30 percent of the seats in the Balochistan Assembly, habitually become part of every coalition government.

Sharif’s visit has at least drawn the sketch of the future government in Balochistan. The next government, just like the previous one led by the PML-Q, is certain to comprise PML-N (consisting of defectors from the PPP), JUI, BNP and some nationalist parties like the Awami National Party, NP and JWP.

Despite all these recent gains, Sharif’s approval ratings are still very low among the Baloch. They often complain that the former prime minister did not call for a long march to condemn the military operation in Balochistan, as was done for the reinstatement of the Chief Justice of Pakistan. The situation in Balochistan did not improve during the PPP government, they grumble, as the number of missing persons increased and more Baloch leaders, though less prominent than Akbar Bugti and Balaach Marri, were target killed. In the meanwhile, the PML-N adopted the role of a friendly opposition and did not take a harsh stance on Balochistan.

Sharif has surely won the confidence of key Baloch tribal elders by now and will continue to do so in the coming days but he still has a long way to go to win the hearts and minds of the disillusioned Baloch people with his deeds. His trip to the country’s poorest province would have definitely impressed more people if he had visited the families of the missing persons and the internally displaced persons. The trip did not include any such activities nor did it provide Sharif a chance to meet the masses of Balochistan due to ‘security reasons’. His first trip in the last 12 years was, sadly, confined to drawing room discussions with the political and tribal elite only. http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\01\12\story_12-1-2010_pg3_5