Reality Check
By:Shafqat Mahmood
The writer is a former member of parliament and a freelance columnist based in Lahore
While our self appointed leaders rack up frequent flyer miles through incessant globetrotting, the situation in Balochistan is getting worse. Military camps are being hit, railway and gas lines blown up and Akbar Bugti has retreated to the mountains. This in the folklore of the Baloch symbolises a state of war.
Whatever one may think of Akbar Bugti, he lives by the ancient code of a Baloch tribal chief. He considers the territory inhabited by his people as his fief, claims all its resources, and brooks no rival. This explains his feud with the federal government which is seen by him as an interloper on his land and a stealer of its resources. It also accounts for his continuing warfare with the Kalpar sub tribe of the Bugtis because they dared challenge him. It has resulted in many deaths including that of his son but he won’t relent.
The Bugti part of the Balochistan imbroglio is thus straightforward. He wants payment for the gas being taken out of his tribe’s territory. For him, the constitutional provision that all minerals or below surface assets belong to the government is meaningless. They are in his territory and his tribe owns them. They should be paid the market rate just as they would be for any other possession.
His second grouse is that the government should not interfere within his domain. In other words, he should be recognised as the lord and master of Dera Bugti and the government presence there should preferably be non existent. He has no patience with the law of the land. In his scheme of things, the only thing that matters is the tribal code of justice and he should be left to administer it without any interference.
The problem in the Marri area has similarities to the Bugti muddle except that it has not been spelt out as clearly, because no gas or mineral is being mined from it on a continuing basis. The Marri chief is a more obscure figure who at times was seen as a Marxist by the glitterati left of Lahore and Karachi but little evidence is available to justify this. He was recently accused, and arrested, in the murder of a fellow Marri judge of the Balochistan High Court which has taken a great deal of gloss off his romantic image.
He also hates the presence of federal instruments in his territory and is not willing to allow exploration activities for gas and oil and other minerals. Again, as with Bugti, the thinking on his part is that these are our assets and no one, including the government, has a right over them. His resistance to development is strategic because he sees roads and schools as a vehicle for the state’s entry into his territory. I have no idea whether he wants his tribe to remain backward, but he certainly does not want government presence because that, by default, erodes his authority.
Apart from these two specific problems in the Bugti and Marri area, there is a general sense of disaffection among the Baloch intelligentsia. The pool from where this springs is not very large because the middle class in the province is small but it is vocal and charged. The Mengal chief and his party are the political manifestation of these nationalist feelings though there is a fair amount of factionalism within the Baloch nationalist movement.
The grouse of the Baloch intelligentsia is varied. At the top is the lack of what it considers a fair share in national resources. Every province has some unhappiness with the federation on this matter but because of Sui gas, the issue of royalties or greater payment to Balochistan has assumed greater significance. It is interesting that while Bugti wants compensation for his tribe, the nationalists want it for the entire province. At some point, if greater amounts are paid to the Bugti tribe, this contradiction will become apparent.
The lack of the resources issue obviously translates into unhappiness over the underdevelopment of the province. Balochistan is forty-five percent of the country’s land mass but has only 5.11 per cent of the population. According to the national finance commission award it gets resources on population basis with some additional money as special grants. These amounts are too small for such a large land mass.
The development challenge is huge because the population is so sparse and widely spread out. A road linking two small towns, for example, may be hundreds of miles long over a difficult rocky terrain. It would cost a lot and serve a very small population. The same holds true for national grids of electricity and gas. In every instance, long distances have to be covered to serve a miniscule population. In purely accounting terms, the cost benefit ratio of development projects in the province is not great.
The second complaint of the Baloch intelligentsia relates to power issues. Frequent martial laws and lack of democracy do not allow a genuine Baloch leadership to come up. Even now, the Jam government is seen as a product of a rigged election and naturally a dummy of the military and its agencies. It also means that real representatives of the Baloch do not have any share of power at the centre. This untenable situation has built up a huge reservoir of anger.
The second aspect of the power issue is the lack of Baloch representation in federal services and institutions. There are a number of people holding high positions on the Balochistan quota who are ethnically not Baloch. One example is the current chief justice of the Supreme Court but it is also visible in the bureaucracy and the army. I have no accurate information but very few ethnic Baloch are in the top echelons of the armed forces.
This exclusion from the national power centres makes the Baloch feel that they are outside the mainstream of the country. They feel cheated on resources and cheated out of power. This perception is so strong that even ostensibly good steps by the government, such as Gwadar, are seen as some deep dark conspiracy. More controversial steps, such as construction of cantonments in Balochistan, are like red rag to a bull.
In this situation what is it that can be done? In the first instance, the Bugti problem needs a solution through larger payments for the gas being extracted from Sui. The government should also refrain from exploiting divisions within the Bugti tribe. In the Marri area too an equitable formula for payment of royalties for any sub soil assets to the tribe needs to be worked out. Khair Baksh Marri may be a difficult nut to crack but his sons may be more amenable.
Balochistan as a province also needs to be given a greater share from the national pool. Its peculiar development needs should be catered to. The amounts involved are nothing compared to a feeling of satisfaction in the province.
The trickiest issue is that of power. We need democracy so that the real Baloch leadership has a chance to participate in power. Ataullah Mengal’s son Akhtar became chief minister during a democratic dispensation as did Akbar Bugti. It is amazing how cooption in the power framework reduces anger.
Unfortunately, this is unlikely to happen as our General now plans to stay on until 2016. Even if tons of money is given to Balochistan, the lack of participation in power would continue to rankle. How this conundrum would be solved is difficult to tell but one thing is sure. Cooption in power is impossible as long as the military rules the roost.
Email: smahmood@lhr.comsats.net.pk
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