Says there should be CBMs to woo angry Balochs; demands commission for Rs800bn arrears
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
By Mumtaz Alvi
ISLAMABAD: Deputy Chairman Senate Jan Muhammad Jamali has called upon President Asif Ali Zardari to reach out to Brahamdagh Bugti, Khan of Kalat and Sanaullah Zehri, taking them into confidence on his fairness in resolution of Balochistan’s problems.
He emphasised that there was a need that Islamabad must understand the psyche of the people of Balochistan, adding, unfortunately this was never done in the past.
“Sikhs and Hindus have never been dominant in my province. The British were shrewd enough not to change the socio-tribal scene of British Balochistan. Hence, they never ruled it directly,” he argued.
Thana system could not be a success in Balochistan unlike in Punjab, NWFP and Sindh, he noted and regretted despite that police had been forced on the people of Balochistan down to the throat.
In an interview with The News here at the Parliament House, Jamali, who made his way to the Senate on the PML-Q ticket in 2006, also served as Balochistan’s chief minister, foresees a bright future for his province as well as Pakistan, but makes it conditional to giving all the federating units their rights.
“The intentions of present rulers are clear: they want to end the sense of deprivation of the smaller provinces,” he said.
The deputy chairman Senate proposed the formation of one-man national commission of Justice (retd) Bhagwandas to take up Balochistan’s Rs 800 billion outstanding arrears and the same commission should also take a decision on net hydel power profits of NWFP.
Jamali maintained the president might use the good offices of Balochistan Governor Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Magsi to interact with key leaders of the province, including Brahamdagh, Sanaullah Zehri, Nawab Aslam Raisani and the Balochistan Liberation Army leadership.
Substantiating his contention, he pointed out if Pakistan could talk to India, and Palestinians could interact with Israel, why not Pakistani rulers should hold a sustained dialogue with the nationalist leaders to resolve their genuine issues.
He said Pakistan’s future was linked to the strengthening of provinces, enabling them to take in their own hands financial and administrative matters and this will lead to end the tendency of blaming the centre for their problems. “Particularly, Balochistan must have control over its natural resources,” he emphasised.
As a starter, Jamali proposed what he has called for confidence-building measures (CBMs), all kinds of punitive actions in Balochistan must be halted and the missing persons be produced, reviewing the share of Balochistan with reference to the Gwadar Port, Saindak and other big projects, and outsiders should not be given voting rights there.
“Denial of voting rights to those who are staying in Balochistan and doing business there will ensure safeguard of the province’s demography. Balochistan’s youth should be given jobs as per quota, setting aside their minor deficiencies, as their educational institutions are hardly 30 years old, whereas those in Punjab were set up 130 years back,” Jamali said.
In reply to a question, the deputy chairman Senate emphasised that constitutional representation should equally be given to each province i.e. electing the president, the prime minister, the Senate chairman and the National Assembly speaker from all the four provinces. Jamali, who was busy in talks with a delegation of youth from Balochistan at his chamber, prior to the interview, sounded optimistim about the future of his province and said that he found both President Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani very receptive towards the resolution of the problems of the biggest province of Pakistan.
“You can even today watch on television channels people walking on burning coals for Jirga system is part of our centuries old system. But it has been a tragedy that we were forced to a variety of experiments,” he said responding to another question. In this context, he made special reference of the Musharraf’s rule and policies towards Balochistan.
Asked for his comment on the present government’s resolve to fight terrorism, Jamali believed the rulers were determined to take the bull by the horns, underscoring the need for political stability.
“Personally, I want this set-up to remain in place for five years so that political forces could prove they are capable of running Pakistan without crutches and a peaceful power transfer after holding free and fair elections with the winning party showing magnanimity and the loser demonstrating grace,” he emphasised.
To another question, he said the nationalists should have taken part in the last year’s elections, as they would have been in power in Balochistan to effectively work for their people’s betterment.
However, he regretted that parties always got a split mandate in Balochistan, leading to formation of coalition governments, which often witnessed disharmony and difference of opinion on issues and this impeded development efforts.
About geo-strategic position of Pakistan, Jamali said that he personally felt a great game was on after the turn of the 21st century, as was witnessed during the 19th century, involving the British empire, Czars of Russia and France. But now it was a different ball game altogether in the uni-polar world.
He was of the view that the future world would be relying on capturing water, energy and food resources and this had introduced the Central Asian region to the world players. “Pakistan is geo-strategically located and this once led to the creation of a generation of fighters, who were billed as Mujahideen by ex-president of US Reagan, but now, they are disowned and left on their own. But the phenomenon, developed to disintegrate USSR, has its repercussions in the shape of narco-power and Kalashnikov culture,” Jamali said.
Jamali believed this very factor had a key contribution to the present sorry state affairs in Pakistan.
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