Fozia Saleem Niazi
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All guns have been opened from inside and outside over the poor handling of Balochistan by the Central government in Islamabad and provincial administration in Quetta. American officials are openly hinting at separating the province from Pakistan making it an independent state. The debate of missing persons in the light of Supreme Court’s observations during the hearings is directly and deliberately aimed at hitting hard the role of security agencies, despite the fact that the FC in Balochistan is facing deaths at the hands of insurgents and propaganda in addition. Whatever the conspiracy is going on, no matter the political lot, civilian dispensation under the democratic setup and federal government have failed to arrest the situation which is going out of hand day by day.
The ruling elite are not only responsible for the prevalent chaotic state of the province, but must also be held responsible for the alienation of the people therein. Prior to launching a conflict resolution program, either minor or massive, the root cause ought to be unearthed so that a clear road map may be outlined. Most of the Baloch anger is directed towards the federal government and the armed forces for unleashing a plethora of atrocities against the people of Balochistan, subsequently resulting in a failure to evolve politically, socially and economically in accordance to the rest of the country. Believing that the centre’s deliberate policy of negligence and suppression has resulted in the current condition where poverty, lawlessness, anarchy, fear and disappointment is rampant, the Baloch narrative becomes predominantly oppositional.
The local sardars and nawabs who have played central in controlling the province since its accession have neither been the true representative of the masses nor had any interest in their well being. Denying the hapless people their fundamental rights through enforcement of strict tribal rules and traditions was all they knew and practiced as it ensured a protracted and relatively rebellion free rule. An undernourished and illiterate population remained unable to either express its grievances or to reverse its pathetic living conditions. The confidence building measures introduced by the current political regime were certainly called for in this backdrop, but unfortunately remained unable to make the desired impact on the state of insurgency in the province.
According to senator Sanaullah Baloch, the Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan package could not bring a concrete change as it had many faults. The primary one being that it had not taken on board the Baloch nationalist during the process of its designing despite their being the main actors of the conflict. This serves to exhibit that unilateral decisions, however well intended, can never work in the backdrop of such an intricately complex socio-political organization. All stakeholders ought to be taken into confidence with equal contributions towards regulating and establishing the conflict resolution mechanism that is workable too. Injecting millions of rupees in the budget of the province for developmental projects and for a subsequent uplift in the living standards falls short from reversing the animosity of the people.
The government has neglected the region by ignoring the needs and demands of the locals. It has to begin by accepting the fact that things have gone from bad to worse in the province. The ostrich syndrome of burying its head whenever a crisis arises will not work anymore. The mysterious killings and disappearances are threatening the security situation to a dangerous degree where the people have lost trust on both the government and the law enforcers. For this purpose the first step to be taken by the elected government is to increase both its weight and pressure in the province. This will be possible only when a long term vision coupled with equal proportion of dedication, commitment and sincerity is added to the projects undertaken by it. It must however be realized that to reach a desired state of harmony and understanding an engagement spread over a long period of time is essential. This will help in bridging the trust deficit between the centre and the province, remove misconceptions and help lead to a subsequent improvement in its relationships. Overnight miracles however should not be expected considering the protracted misery and suffering of the people. The interplay of criminal and anti state elements can also be streamlined that are operating with impunity in the province thriving upon the narrative of grievances to further aggravate the law and order situation. Thus the enhancement of the policing system and improvement of the painfully slow judicial process becomes a prerequisite in the wake of increased episodes of various crimes and offensives.
A sincere debate needs to be initiated that allows both sides to express their sentiments and give forth a road map of the future that they have dreamed of for themselves that highlights constraints that hinder their journey towards progress. For a long time now Balochistan has been defined as a marginalized province where progress has never been the priority of the government either civil or military has a great element of truth in it. There have been episodic attempts however by various regimes to begin certain projects of highways and even dams to improve communication routes and infrastructure, but due to inter tribal feuds things did not turn out as amiably as it had been planned. For governments that had set out on such projects, resistance had served as the cue to abandon all endeavors as useless. Episodes of violence pushes the province into the periphery where it becomes a ripe candidate to accept international and regional help with the predominant aim of an ultimate separation from the centre that would profit all players for whom a pliant Baloch State would be more beneficial than a hostile Pakistan.
Thus honest communicative efforts could not only reverse this alienation, but would decrease foreign intervention in the province once the law and order situation starts to be corrected. The continuous demand to end a military operation – being translated as a primary source of unrest – ought to receive immediate attention. The armed forces have dismissed allegations made against them stating that no such offensive has been undertaken in the province and that it is a malicious campaign to tarnish its image to deepen the divide between the people and itself. Considering what Friedman writes about such a situation that,“the purpose of war…is to impose your will on another nation by rendering that nation incapable of resisting. The primary means for doing this is to destroy the nations’ military”, one is forced to reanalyze the situation for a better interpretation. An increased animosity for the government and the security forces and a covert war with ample evidence of increased foreign footprints in the province one can hardly rule out such a possibility. To overcome this situation, relations ought to be enhanced to strengthen the torn and tattered societal fabric. According to the FC’s version it is neither the policy of the state nor its functionaries to either kidnap, mutilate or target political activists and that mostly are killed due to their involvement with the terrorists and inter-party feuds. It must not be forgotten that thousands of security personnel have sacrificed their lives, however the manner in which they deal with the locals is far from humane and these behavioral and attitudinal issues lead to animosity between the two as it inflicts psychological injury on the minds of the public and should be rectified. A strong and prosperous Balochistan is in the interest of the security forces as it would be instrumental in keeping foreign interference under control. It is now or never, come forward and play the role to bring back the province to the mainstream of the country.

The article is contributed to pkarticleshub.com