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By: AZIZ-UD-DIN AHMAD
Thanks to Islamabad?Ts continuing obstinacy on the issue of cantonments, a calculated delay in pursuing the gangrape case and foot dragging on talks with the Balochi leadership, things are gradually slipping out of the hands of experienced leaders in Balochistan committed to parliamentary politics.
Fuel has been added to the fire by provocative statements from the highest quarters. ?oDon?Tt push us. It is not the seventies. They will not even know what has hit them.? In fact it is the government which fails to understand it is pushing the federation to the precipice. Those with a ?osort ?~em out? mindset that led to the break up of the country under General Yahya Khan are again in the driving seat.
In Balochistan there is a growing feeling among the younger generation that parliamentary forms of protest have become useless. They cite the example of the Assembly?Ts resolution opposing the establishment of cantonments which Islamabad threw into the waste paper basket, and in total disregard of the province?Ts wishes has embarked upon the construction work.
They have found to their dismay that the provincial government was helpless in getting a case registered in Dr Shazia case for several days and it was after more than a month that some of the guards wanted in the case were taken into custody. The principal accused is still free.
In the past grievances were ventilated through the Assembly and when that didn?Tt help, people in Quetta went to the Mizan Chowk to protest. This too has been found to be a fruitless exercise. The strike observed in Sindh or the women?Ts processions in Quetta to demand the arrest of the principal accused in the rape case were simply ignored by Islamabad.
Many in the younger generation have concluded that those in Islamabad are deaf and therefore what is required to attract their attention is recourse to big bangs. This is an unfortunate conclusion but the grounds for this have been provided by those who matter in the federal capital. The younger Balochis accuse the rulers of violating the constitution and the laws of the land whenever it suits them.
This explains why recourse to violence is gradually spreading in the province. During the last one week alone several blasts have hit Kohlu. A hand grenade was thrown at an FC farm in Khuzdar.
A bomb exploded at the doorsteps of a provincial PML leader in Turbat and several attempts made to blow the railway line at a number of places. In Sibi two big 220 KV transmission line towers were targeted. Gas pipeline from Dhodhak plant was blasted, stopping supply to DGK, Kot Addu, and Taunsa and suspending the functioning of the Kapco power plant.
While recourse to violence is condemnable, what remains a fact of every day life is that when no peaceful way is left open to redress grievances, people often tend to take resort to violent methods. Violence can be effectively controlled only in democratic societies where affairs of the state are conducted strictly in accordance with the constitution and where free and powerful elected bodies are available for ventilation of complaints and guaranteeing people?Ts rights and liberties.
Troops supported by tanks have been sent to Sui while a jet squadron has been relocated to Shahbaz airbase. The deployment is costing the country in millions everyday. The government is obsessed with the idea of constructing cantonments in Sui, Kohlu and Gwadar. This amounts to diverting billions of rupees from development to a thoroughly unproductive activity. But can the cantonments perform the job they are supposed to i.e. putting an end to the incidents of sabotage that are taking place everyday?
In a world where low intensity warfare has made the formidable military juggernaut of the sole superpower helpless, a third world country has little hope of resolving political disputes by use of military force. Tanks, artillery, or bombers are effective against conventional armies.
They are helpless when motivated individuals take recourse to militant acts or resort to suicide bombing or adopt hit and run methods to target the defence personnel. It is not humanly possible to put armed guards on every transmission tower, gas pipelines and all along the railway track.
Islamabad is hoping to develop Gwadar as a second port with an aim to transform it into another major hub of economic activity in the country. Gas pipelines from Central Asia and Iran are to pass through the province. Continuation of bomb blasts, rocket attacks and acts of sabotage is bound to put off the potential investors turning the hopes entertained by Islamabad into ashes.
The government can afford to look the other way as acts of terrorism continue in Waziristan because the tribal agencies have little economic potential and, with the Durand Line secured, have lost much of their strategic importance. Balochistan is altogether different.
As the clock is ticking fast, Islamabad has to act fast to bring the Balochis back into the mainstream parliamentary politics to ensure peace and stability in the province. For this it has to urgently resume negotiations with the leaders of the four party alliances and stop the colonial style forward policy of building cantonments to control the population.
Further it has to yield to the demand for extending the quantum of provincial autonomy and allow the federal units to exercise greater control over their natural resources. This alone can rehabilitate the politicians who stand for resolving disputes through constitutional means and make organisations like the BLA, which are increasingly becoming popular among the youth, irrelevant.
E-mail queries and comments to: azizuddin@nation.com.pk
http://www.nation.com.pk/daily/feb-2005/10/columns3.php | 
