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mtgondal · #2 Friday, June 01, 2007

The Balochistan crisis

The ongoing conflict in Balochistan has spiralled into one of the worst crises this country has ever faced, but the judicial crisis appears to have eclipsed all other issues in Pakistan, and even a critical issue like Balochistan has been put on the backburner. The past few days have seen a rise in violence all over the province. Seven bomb explosions shook Quetta on Monday and the next day saw the death of four people and several injuries during a shootout. There are different versions of who the victims were, but according to the chief of the Jamhoori Watan Party, Talal Akbar Bugti, the intelligence agency personnel killed four Bugti tribesmen in an ambush. According to another version, the men killed in the clash were militants. Whatever the truth may be, this incident along with a raid by the Frontier Corps at Talal Bugti’s house and other violent acts across Balochistan send out ominous signals about the country’s future.

Pakistan was already going through a troubled phase when the political and judicial crises have further plunged the country into deeper chaos. At a time like this, the establishment’s stubbornness to continue its military operation in Balochistan does not bode well for the federation. The opposition has also ignored the worsening situation in Balochistan. The National Party chief Hayee Baloch has criticised the multi-party conference for not including the Balochistan issue in its agenda. In a statement, he said that an extraordinary situation was prevailing in Balochistan owing to the military operation, thus the opposition’s indifference was unjustified.

Balochistan is the richest province in terms of natural resources including gas and minerals, yet the government has denied due benefits to the local population. The Saindak project is one example where the federal government has not been able to evolve the participation of the local population in the project. To add fuel to the fire, there are reports of fraudulent land schemes in Gwadar. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has warned the general public against making investments in 18 private housing schemes that have been declared ‘fake’ by the Gwadar Development Authority. Gwadar itself is a vexatious issue and has aggravated the tension between the Centre and the Baloch people at large, who view it as a scheme to settle people from other provinces in that port city and resultantly deprive the local population of the benefits accruing as a result of utilisation of their land and resources. The federal government has not acted wisely by not trying to allay the apprehensions and misgivings of the Baloch. If anything, it ended up in creating more bad blood when Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz handed over jobs to the non-Baloch on the occasion of his visit to Gwadar sometime back. There are also reports of land acquisition by non-Baloch, which may now subside following the NAB warning.

Shrugging off all the criticism directed at the Centre, President Musharraf in his recent so-called ‘public meeting’ at Sui put the blame on the sardars of Balochistan for the province’s backwardness. The president even showed the gumption of taking aim at the Bugtis, which could not have gone down too well with the Bugti tribe in view of the highly questionable manner in which Nawab Akbar Bugti was killed by the federal government. To ignore Baloch grievances would put at risk the integrity of the federation. The Centre must pay heed to the disquiet ruling Balochistan.