ISLAMABAD, July 31: The parliamentary committee on Balochistan which was constituted in the senate on October 3 last year and which had adopted a 31-point Mushahid sub-committee report for implementation on June 23 has since turned dormant with no future proceedings in sight.
The 38-member committee comprising all treasury and opposition parties in both the houses of parliament was assigned the task of proposing steps to the government within three months to meet the demands of the nationalist Balochi parties vis-a-vis distribution of provincial resources and setting new precincts of provincial autonomy.
The committee was bifurcated in two sub-committees, one headed by Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed to suggest steps towards distribution of resources and the other headed by Senator Wasim Sajjad to put up recommendations on constitutional matters.
In the last meeting on June 23, chaired by the committee chairman and president ruling PML, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, which adopted the Mushahid sub-committee for the second time in two months decided to re-refer the preparation of a report on constitutional issues to the Wasim Sajjad committee.
Earlier, the Wasim Sajjad sub-committee had submitted whatever work it had done on constitutional issues. The said work consisted of the recommendations that were forwarded by various parties represented in the parliamentary committee.
Since the matter was too sensitive to handle, Mr Sajjad decided to refer all the recommendations submitted by the parties to the main parliamentary committee for further discussion before finalization of the report.
Since that meeting the Wasim Sajjad sub-committee has not only held any meetings but it has also not announced holding any.
The four-party nationalist Baloch alliance, whose representatives had boycotted the meetings of sub-committees following the Dera Bugti clash between Bugti tribesmen and paramilitary forces, later rejected the Mushahid sub-committee report describing it as mere eyewash.
Senator Amanullah Kanrrani of the Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP), also a member of the committee, on being contacted by Dawn on Saturday for commenting on the issue, said that continued denial of provincial rights by the federal government may culminate on a separatist movement by the Baloch masses which the alliance’s leadership might not be able to control.
He said the parliamentary committee on Balochistan had been a non-starter from the outset and the Mushahid committee’s recommendations were misdirected in the sense that these were far short of what the Baloch demanded.
He said that the Baloch nationalist alliance’s demand was provincial control on its resources as a first step while the Mushahid sub-committee had not addressed this aspect at all and had instead proposed cosmetic incentives.
For instance, he said the four-party alliance never demanded funds for development as the federal government was already funding a number of projects in the province; instead, it wanted permanent control of the provincial government on its resources.
He said all other demands like provincial autonomy and keeping three subjects with the centre would automatically be met when the province’s right on its resources was accepted.
Asked whether Baloch alliance representatives at the parliamentary committee were invited to a future meeting to settle constitutional issues, he said: "We had boycotted all the meetings of the committee as we knew too well that it was incompetent to meet our demands."
http://www.dawn.com/2005/08/01/nat2.htm
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