Burhanuddin Hasan
Militancy has again raised its ugly head in Balochistan aided and abetted by tribal sardars who have been agitating against the Pakistani government on one pretext or the other ever since the country came into being. These sardars want to keep their fiefdoms intact under their antiquated sardari system so they can keep the people of Balochistan ignorant and poor. They have been opposing projects of economic and educational development in the province as and when launched by the federal government. Presently they are opposing the mega project by Gwadar, which will play an important role in the development of Balochistan as a major port next to Karachi, bringing awareness and prosperity to the people. They are opposed to it because it will free the suppressed and poor people from the shackles of the sardari system.
The militants fired the first salvo when the so-called Balochistan Liberation Army exploded a car bomb in front of the PIDC House in Karachi causing damage to property and loss of life. The two Baloch suspects arrested soon after the blast confessed before a judicial magistrate that a sardar of the Bugti tribe had masterminded the attack. Recently rockets were fired on military helicopters on the occasion of President Musharraf’s visit to Kohlu from hilltops. Two senior military officers, a major general and a brigadier
luckily escaped with injuries. Widespread cases of violence and sabotage have also been reported from Sindh and Balochistan. The government has launched an operation against insurgents in and around Kohlu and Dera Bugti.
This reminds me of 1972, when Mr Bhutto visited Balochistan in the backdrop of rampant militancy in the province. Shortly before dismissing the Bizenjo-Mengal government, Mr Bhutto visited Quetta for the first time as head of state. Since I covered this visit for PTV I am an eyewitness to the widespread agitation and violent disturbances against the federal government as Mr Bhutto landed at the Quetta airport amid tight military security. People were raising anti-Bhutto and anti-Pakistan slogans in the streets of the city amid scenes of widespread mayhem and violence. The city was in turmoil because the coalition government of NAP-JUI was in constant confrontation with the federal government for what it considered the anti-Balochistan policies of Mr Bhutto, particularly his determination to abolish the sardari system in the province.
NAP leader Khan Abdul Wali Khan had also arrived in Quetta and was given a rousing welcome by the people in contrast to the cold and rather hostile reception accorded to Prime Minister Bhutto under the army bayonets. Director Public Relations of the Balochistan government requested me that Khan Abdul Wali Khan’s arrival should also be covered for TV news. When I expressed my inability to do so, he said, in that case the Balochistan Government would not be responsible for the safety of the lives of the PTV team. Fearing the worst, I sent a camera team to the airport to film the arrival of the NAP leader just to register PTV’s presence on the scene. The story, however, was not telecast in PTV news.
Frequent demonstrations against the Shah of Iran by NAP, which were taking place in Quetta at this time, were also a source of great concern to the federal government. On top of that the burning of the Khana-e-Farhang-e-Iran in the provincial capital added fuel to the fire. As a measure of damage control, Mr Bhutto invited the Shah to visit Quetta and see for himself that except for a few ’misguided elements’ the people of Balochistan generally held him in high esteem. The Shah did not come himself but sent his sister Ashraf Pehlavi as a gesture of goodwill.
In the midst of such alarming conditions, Mr Bhutto arranged a very elaborate banquet and a cocktail party at Quetta’s Governor’s House in honour of the Princess. A group of prominent singers and dancers including Farida Khanum and Mehdi Hasan were flown to Quetta to entertain the guests after the banquet. Mr Bhutto and his cronies which included several federal ministers, were enjoying the show with brandy and cigars, while the governor Mr Bizenjo and the chief minister Mr Mengal were visibly extremely tense and furious as the legendry ’Nero’ played his flute while ’Rome’ was burning outside. In fact a man had been shot just at the gates of the Governor’s House.
In his welcome speech at the banquet, Mr Bizenjo made certain remarks which probably offended Mr Bhutto. At around midnight, the secretary information Nasim Ahmed called the members of the press corps and advised that Bizenjo’s offensive remarks should be censored from the story. Bizenjo, on the contrary, insisted that his views should be printed in all the papers published from Quetta. Consequently, the next morning all Balochistan papers carried Bizenjo’s remarks, while they were blacked out completely in all national newspapers.
The following day as Mr Bhutto was flying to the village of Wadh in an army helicopter, in which the TV crew, including myself, was also travelling, Baloch insurgents fired two rockets at the chopper from a hill top position and luckily missed. The helicopter’s occupants, Mr Bhutto and all of us, barely escaped with our lives.
The question is how to curb the present insurgency and bring Balochistan into the main stream of national politics. One option is military action against militants. This option has been used several times before but due to the topography of Balochistan and the militant temperament of the Baloch, it has never succeeded to bring them round. Another option is a peaceful dialogue process with Baloch leaders. This process was launched by the present government through a parliamentary committee which had extensive discussions with Nawab Akbar Bugti and other Baloch leaders and was reported to have reached certain points of agreement to meet their demands. It is, however, unfortunate that even after a lapse of about one year, the report of the committee has not yet been published, neither have the grievances of the province been addressed. Rightly or wrongly, this gives rise to a suspicion in Baloch minds that the federal government has not taken their grievances seriously and the entire exercise was eyewash and a ’waste of time’, as Nawab Akbar Bugti put it. There is an urgent need to resume the dialogue with the Baloch leaders again to discuss their demands for provincial autonomy and a fair share for the province in the national exchequer.
The writer is a former director of PTV
Email: burhanhasan@hotmail.com
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