|
By: MUHAMMAD ISMAIL KHAN
The agitation exhibited in the form of industrial-plants bangs, railways blasts, and garrison attacks starting last year and an organisation with the title of Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) claimed the state-damage.
The intermittent Prime Minister was there to call some hallmark appointments. Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain soon came with a proposal of forming a committee that would be tending to relieve the nation from stress. No doubt, the political assemblage still makes headlines, but nothing may drip out.
After all, indubitably he be the real monopolist, the fact is that the Zahoor House has no jurisdiction in the affairs involving military. Why would the committee?Ts power and potency then not be scoffed off by the indigenous elements? Akbar Bugti, the aborigine-spice that burns regime?Ts eyes, terms it as ?~toothless.?T And here another Baloch Senator withdraws.
The ceaseless unrest in Baloch-belt is nothing but an extension to the clash between authoritative military?Ts irreversible psyche and the opinionated tribal unbending self-conceit. Buttoning up awe-inspiring attire, the military, behind the slogans of being security guardians, can influence many ?~patriots?T against the ?~bearded anti-modernisation?T Sardars. And many an apples may drop in the basket, for going against the soldiers is something altering your identity. But that doesn?Tt turn the other side alone.
At present, the man at the top of the nailed-ladder is Akbar Bugti. ?oHe is paid all gas royalty, his men are inducted in PPL, he owns private-cells, and this and that? is what his opponents complain. Well, true it may be.
His adversaries confute Bugti?Ts equation of Baloch-race wishes; that he has no backbone, and his contemporary supporters are doing it for the certainty of their vitality. It too may be undisputed. But, his enthusiasts also include former premier Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, who once ranked him and Bhutto as his ideals. Can a man selected as a right person for the top slot turn wrong in his personal wisdom?
But Bugti is a single player, though a leading one, amongst many others. There are many other parties breathing the cause of nationalism too. Every clan seems to have its own movement, painted as nationalist. Still, they survive!
Whatever it may be, their demand is one: provincial power. No matter how much one identifies their desires as ?~unjust?T, the truth of the matter is that had the question not been right, no one would not have been fulfilling their every just and unjust financial wish? And there would have been no committees. After all, everybody is aware of the way they are treated. Being neglected for decades, honestly speaking, who else other than these chieftains could win the local trust?
And then it is Punjab that scorches their livers. They yell out their lungs that they are muted in the decision-making of this republic and that it?Ts the Punjab bureaucracy that is showing them the destinations; but when it comes to suffering, it?Ts due to the men, both in khaki or two-piece suits, who hail from the land of five rivers. For Mengal, it?Ts the ?~criminal silence?T of these influential that make them scream.
The ?~Baloch-nationalists?T have vowed to embattle in case of a military-operation, which the existing polity has frequently denied.
For the Baloch-dialectal people, it?Ts nothing more than Condoleezza Rice?Ts scheme of no imminent strike on Iran. Handful they may be, the homely Baloch are resisting the construction of cantonments in their beliefs that they would be used for invading the settled ones, and that they take them as if foreign troops are wandering there. One can easily wonder the level of intensity from the truth that the military is facing hurdles in the construction of garrisons in their own land.
The situation has, with the passage of time, gone intense. Still Musharraf reminds us of 70s when there was a game of attack and escape by the insurgents. Shujaat too differentiates it with the 70s-scence. Very right, it?Ts not the 70s; it?Ts a new century, and thanks to Zia whose statesmanship made them play with Kalashnikov. This time they even may not escape!
But still, the top echelon in Islamabad blames some foreign elements for providing them with arms and alms. In a region where the intelligence is busy in breaking and making political parties, and not paying attention to the difficult task of vigilance, won?Tt then our borders turn porous?
It?Ts notable that the main political parties are having their lips tight on the situation; it?Ts the pro-Musharraf MQM that?Ts threatening of resignation. And then, some more points for Altaf Saab against the ideology of Pakistan. And when they come on streets, whole of Karachi plunges into darkness.
Oh God, those 90s! But this time, it may be the whole country driven into chaos. Mengal, in his interview to the Time magazine warns that in case of an operation, it would be our last battle, and ?oat its end, either their soldiers will be standing alive, or we will.?
It?Ts advisable that the General paces carefully, and takes notice of his friends too. He may only know what happened in the 70s in Balochistan. He better also study what occurred in the 60s in East Pakistan that resulted in a 70?Ts debacle. Even if he or his institution gets all the guilt for the ongoing insurgency, his future steps can change the results. ?oEvery country has her challenges; it?Ts the way of handling that writes the future.?
http://www.nation.com.pk/daily/feb-2005/12/columns4.php | 
