This Editorial Published by business rocaroder on
dated: 01-02-06
EDITORIAL (February 01 2006): The trouble in Balochistan remains a matter of deep national concern despite the gloss that some official circles have tried to put on it. Federal Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad’s remarks at a Rawalpindi function that Balochistan holds the key to Pakistan’s prosperity has spotlighted yet again the pivotal position this mineral-rich province occupies in the country’s economy.
However, instead of focusing on the underlying causes of the trouble, the Information Minister lamented the machinations of the rapacious Baloch Sardars wanting to keep the Balochis perpetually in their clutches.
Not particularly known for conceptual sophistication or understatement, Sheikh Rashid has attempted to paint what has been happening in the country’s largest, but most deprived, province as merely a result of the Sardars’ machinations.
Obviously, there is much more to it than that. His statement also implies that the massive security mobilisation in the restive province is largely meant to break the Sardars’ stranglehold, and put the province on the path to progress and prosperity.
Such oversimplification of as complex an issue as Balochistan is indeed surprising, to say the least.
The raging insurgency in the province and the dangers it poses to the federation’s long-term cohesion and economic interests, cannot be reduced to an "us-versus-them" paradigm, in the first place particularly when there is compelling evidence of exogenous forces influencing events in the province.
Secondly, it is too serious and complicated an issue to be spoken of in such partisan terms. The simmering popular resentment in the province over the decades against perceived discrimination and injustices has often boiled over into open insurgency, which has invariably been quelled by the state security apparatus, as it should have been, in the short-term perspective.
What Rashid has opined is partially true also, as hereditary Sardars have indeed been hogging a sizeable share of the province’s resources. However, it is claimed that nearly all the Baloch Sardars, except for three, ie Bugti, Mengal and Marri, have traditionally
extended backing to the federal government policies, while the hot trouble spot in the province has mainly been the Dera Bugti.
Large contingents of paramilitary troops were rushed to Dera Bugti in 2002 to quell an uprising there - a performance that had to be repeated in the wake of the Dr Shazia rape case. The sustained artillery and rocket exchanges between security agencies and the Baloch insurgents have often caused extensive damage to vital gas and power installations in the area.
Despite the launch of mega projects worth Rs 20.3 billion under the public sector development programme (PSDP), aside from the Rs 35 billion Gwadar Port and Mekran Coastal Highway projects, the common Baloch’s economic deprivation remains as acute as ever, which has further stoked popular alienation in the province.
Demographically a microscopic minority (with a population of only seven million) the Baloch have justifiably harboured apprehensions of being swamped by the "outsiders" - a prospect which mega projects like Gwadar seaport have conjured up for them.
Unfortunately, successive governments have steered clear of the real underlying causes of this essentially political problem, and tended to address it purely in terms of law and order. This mindset has been mainly responsible for lack of an acceptable solution to the problem even after the lapse of decades.
The initiative of forming two parliamentary committees, headed by Mushahid Hussain Syed and Waseem Sajjad respectively, though an astute political move, proved stillborn largely because of our traditional tendency to view issues affecting our vested interests, in terms of law and order.
The Mushahid Hussain committee had recommended an increase in gas royalty from its current level of Rs 6.32 billion to Rs 7.80 billion, including the gas development surcharge (GDS). It had also proposed a more equitable formula for NFC Award sharing among the
provinces.
The implementation of the proposals would have partially eased some of the Baloch concerns. Surprisingly, despite its 90-day mandate, the Wasim Sajjad Committee has yet to submit its report. Despite being the federation’s largest and most resource-rich unit, large swathes of Balochistan still lack such basic amenities as adequate water, power and gas supply. Other grossly neglected sectors are health and education.
An abysmally low literacy rate (the female literacy rate is only one percent!) has kept the Baloch enveloped in ignorance over the generations. However, some belated efforts at the provincial level now promise to narrow the disparity in literacy and health sectors.
The government needs to evolve both a short-term and a long-term strategy to address Balochistan’s political and economic grievances. There is a need to pull the province into the national mainstream through sustained and sincere efforts. A policy of genuine political engagement in Balochistan can yield rich dividends. But in order to achieve this, we will have to admit our past mistakes, make drastic policy adjustments and allow the political forces to play their due role.
As a first step, the two parliamentary committees should be re-activated, their findings debated in parliament, and all corrective measures initiated to work out an enduring solution to the Balochistan problem. |
