[Pak-Media] CRSS Forum on Balochistan: Beyond Government Claims

Balochistan:

Beyond Government Claims

Islamabad (August 6, 2012): The situation in Balochistan is
hopelessly bleak primarily because of the absence of political will.
The federal government has failed in addressing some of the most
pressing issues of Balochistan. A free and fair election in the
volatile province is the only hope. This was the general understanding
among the participants at a Discussion Forum organized by the Center
for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) on Balochistan: Beyond
Government Claims in Islamabad Club on August 6, 2012. A number of
prominent persons - ex-military men, former ambassadors, academicians
and journalists were part of the Forum, chaired by the distinguished
analyst Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Talat Masood.

Mr. Masood, in his opening remarks, said from the coercive diplomacy
and threat of use of force against the state of Khan of Kalat in 1948
to enforced accession of the Kalat state into Pakistan, to the current
insurgency in Balochistan; the government of Pakistan has not taken
any serious step to tackle the Baloch problem. He added that the
government blames the foreign actors for fuelling the insurgency, but
it is obvious that foreign powers will play hand if they are provided
with an opportunity because these are the rules of the game in world
politics. Moreover, he also added that in order to minimize foreign
involvement, one should put his own house in order in order to fill
the gap, which the foreign elements are exploiting.

Senator Mir Hasil Bizenjo of National Party, Balochistan said that
everyone is aware of the gravity of the current situation in
Balochistan but lack of will and sincerity - both in the civilian and
military leadership - remains the biggest obstruction. Taking swipe at
Interior Minister Rehman Malik's recent (August 3 and 4) claims in the
Senate - the upper house of the parliament - about the root-causes of
the Baloch insurgency, Bizenjo said the official thinking was frozen
in the 1970s ( when Moscow-inspired socialists were leading a
nationalist movement in Balochistan.

The fact of the matter is that the first batch of Baloch students was
sent to Moscow by former premier Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, and if these
students were terrorists then ruling Pakistan Peoples' Party (PPP)
should blame itself for it. He observed that the federal governments
in the past did nothing to politically settle the issue. It formed
committees and announced economic packages which did not change
anything on ground. The current government announced the Balochistan
Rights Package (Aaghaz-e-Huqooq-e-Balochistan, announced in Nov 2009),
promising to address several issues including the issue of forced
disappearances, target killings, reduction of the military's role in
governance and increased financial resources for the province. What
we, however, saw is the emergence of phenomena of dead bodies of
Baloch political workers. He said that incompetency of political
government is being exploited by the security establishment in order
to fix the issue through barrel.

Negotiations, according to Bizenjo, can only take place if realities
are counted for. But the government is in complete denial about the
hands behind the killing of Balochs. In fact, every murder is taking
place under the nose of the param-military Frontier Corps, which is
receiving an additional PKR 15 billion (US $ 65 million annually) in
the name of security. It makes negotiations impossible, claimed
Bizenjo, adding that even the President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari
has no control to stop the killings.

Different parliamentary and cabinet committees were formed in the past
to sort out Balochistan issue and find solution, said Bizenjo, but no
progress has been made either because the committees had no power or
because they were not willing to act. The issue of missing persons has
been discussed in the parliament in recent months but put aside
without exposing the faces behind it, added the senator. Acknowledging
the foreign involvement in the ongoing insurgency in Balochistan on
theoretical basis, Bizenjo conceded that as the insurgents always get
financial and material support from foreign elements, if available,
because it is very difficult for an insurgency to sustain on its own;
the same can be true in case of Baloch insurgency.


He lamented that the security forces in Balochistan has created a
parallel force to tackle the insurgents, mostly composed of thugs and
criminals. "They have weapons and identity cards of intelligence
agencies and they operate with impunity to fix insurgents. More than
that they are involved in robberies, kidnappings for ransom, drug
trade, etc., and are responsible for 70 percent of law and order
issues in the province." said Bizenjo. Due to this precarious security
situation, more than 200 Hindu families have migrated to Karachi from
areas like Khuzdar, Zhob and Turbat, said the senator. Suggesting an
immediate solution to deteriorating security situation, he said that
if the funds, which the government is spending on FC, are transferred
to traditional police force, levies, improvement in law and order
situation is possible.


Lamenting the breakdown of law and order situation and failure of FC
in addressing the situation, he said 60 percent of the violent
incidents take place on Saryab road, which covers an area of almost
two kilometers. If the FC is unable to control that area, how is it
expected to control the whole province? Another senior leader of
National Party, Balochistan, Dr Ishaq Baloch said the federal
government can render a great service to the people of Balochistan by
increasing their quota in federal educational institutions. He noted
that due to the closure of academic institutions in Balochistan,
scores of students cannot avail education facilities and joining the
ranks of nationalist militants out of exasperation. Overall the
participants were of the view that economic and security intervention
on the part of federal government cannot be alternative to the
political involvement, which is the only way to alter the status quo
in the hapless province.


--
Imdad Ullah




--
Imtiaz Gul
Islamabad, Pakistan


--
Imtiaz Gul
Islamabad, Pakistan


------------------------------------

Editor,
Tariq Khattak.
0300-9599007 and 0333-9599007
Tariqgulkhattak@gmail.com
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