Pakistan and Balochistan on win-win trajectory

Head of PPP Media Cell
Dividends of democracy are incrementally accruing now as the situation is taking turn for the better in Balochistan and other parts of the country. The first step of thousands miles journey commenced with the tendering of national apology to the Baloch people by the former President Asif Ali Zardari aimed at healing the wounds of injustices inflicted by the successive governments. The PPP government, 2008 t0 2013, had been consistently striving for bringing them into the mainstream of national politics. It did not fiddle with the mandate of the people there and respected in its entirety during the formation and working of the provincial government. The confidence building measures (CBMs) taken by the PPP government in Islamabad encouraged the estranged Baloch leaders to reconsider their position to become the part of the political process.
Aghaz-i-Haqooq-i-Balochistan was a great initiative of the then democratic government led by Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani to address the political and economic alienation of the Baloch people. The 7th National Finance Award adopted with consensus was yet another capstone of the then democratic dispensation that guaranteed financial autonomy to the province. It substantially increased the share of the federating units from the “Divisible Pool” almost 60% of the total. The then government also had written off billions of rupees loans of Balochistan province as a goodwill gesture. The 18th Amendment in the constitution, again with consensus, addressed the issue of provincial autonomy holistically as it abolished the Concurrent List from the Constitution in favour of the provinces. Democracy builds bridges among the people by making them stakeholders. The results were immensely pleasing for the countrymen as the many nationalist parties those boycotted the 2008 elections contested the 2013 elections and thus joined the political process of the country. It was a befitting response of the Balochi people to the critics within and without who were predicting Bangladesh like situation in the province. But functioning democracy in the country put cold water on their misplaced hopes.
The news that Brahmdagh Bugti, leader of Balochistan Republican Army (BRA) now living in exile, is prepared to engage in negotiations with the political leadership of the country is another handsome dividend of the democracy. Its continuity convinced the exiled leader that democracy was the best option for the people of the province to get their rights. He is prepared to give up his uncompromising demand of liberation of Balochistan if rights of the people are given to them. Democracy is all about awarding rights to the people indiscriminately. Protection and promotion of rights of the people is the lynchpin of the democratic political system. Political leadership of all shades will have no problem in accommodating his concerns because political will is there and the art of possible will definitely see the light of the day. Dictatorship, on the other hand, is the art of browbeating the people with contempt to meet the inevitable fate analogous to the tale of hubris. Dictators believe in exclusiveness whereas democrats believe in meaningful consultations to reap and dispense the benefits of collective wisdom.
The political process in the country and its continuity has given hope and confidence to the people. The ups and downs of the evolutionary process sometimes cause concern but its continuity addresses these irritants as the system is imbedded with the dynamics of automatic corrections and adjustments paving the way for stability and pluralism-essential elements for the socio-economic development on sustainable basis. The willingness of the exiled leaders hailing from Balochistan to re-visit their position is no small achievement of the political system by any measure. Sinaullha Zehri, a senior leader of the ruling party, held fruitful meetings with Khan of Kalat in London recently who was inclined to return if grand jirga of Baloch people desired so. These are big breakthroughs, solely attributed to the political system and the sincerity of the political leadership desirous of uniting the nation under one umbrella. Credit goes to the provincial leadership, the federal government and all the political parties of the country those had been urging to pursue the policy of negotiations and reconciliation in order to bring estranged leaders back in the national politics.
The assiduous efforts of Chief Minister Dr Malik in particular are bearing fruits. He has welcomed the change of the hearts of the exiled Baloch leaders and has also promised to organise grand jirga to further proceed in the matter of immense importance. According to media reports, recently more than four hundred fraries have surrendered to the authorities and have extended their allegiance to the state of Pakistan. The Independence Day celebrations in the province this year were a pleasant surprise with the national flags hoisting right across the province. The national flags used to be burnt on the Day during the preceding years. Corp Commander, Lt. General Nasir Khan Janjua in his recent interview described it as a great achievement of the political and military leadership and indeed of the Baloch people.
In the past, unfortunately, Baloch people had been treated like second-class citizens. Their natural resources were exploited to benefit the people of the rest of the country at their cost. The discovery of natural gas in the province was under use of domestic and industrial sectors in other parts of the country but the residents of Balochistan remained deprived of it for many years despite the biting winter cold there. They were lured many times to join the national politics in the past but later on duped to their utter frustration. Their leaders were either eliminated or put in jail. Non-political and repressive approach created yawning trust gap between the national leadership and the Baloch people forcing them to take up the arms to seek justice at the barrel of the gun. Thousands of young frustrated and unemployed Baloch joined the guerilla groups to fight against the state and its institutions. Insurgency intensified and its scale threatened the fabric of the federation. The situation was going from bad to worse with the passage of every day. The plight of the families whose relatives disappeared was hitting the headlines of local and the international media alike. The incidents of extra-judicial killings along with bullet-ridden bodies were common than exception. The judiciary, media and civil society focused on their just cause with the dawn of democracy in Pakistan and projected only reconciliation would work in Balochistan. They are proud people and they cannot be made to kowtow through intimidation or capitulation. The incumbent political and military leadership are convinced of the suitability of the winning the hearts and minds of the Baloch people.
The foreign forces also took the advantage of the volatile situation because they wanted to get their pound of flesh in the context of the promotion of their strategic interests. The province’s geographical location could not be ignored by any power worth the name in their calculations of regional and international politics. India was in the forefront and had established score of Consulates in Afghanistan along the border in order to fan the insurgency to destabilise Pakistan in its insidious design of bleeding the country unabatedly. The government of Pakistan has irrefutable evidence of India’s shameful involvement of supporting the guerrilla groups fighting against the state of Pakistan. Pakistan has rightly decided to expose India at the international forums for its blatant interference in the internal affairs of the country. The government has reportedly given instructions to its mission abroad to appraise the world capitals of the criminal engagements of India which is flagrant violation of the UN Charter. It also clearly implies that Indian offer of negotiation to Pakistan is merely a hoax in the face of its active interference in Karachi, Balochistan along with frequent and unprovoked violations on the LoC and the Working Boundary.
The statement of the Indian defence minister confessing India was in the business of setting out terrorists to defeat cross-border terrorism left no doubt in the minds of fair minded people about the illicit activities of India against Pakistan’s security. Indian interference is well thought out strategy to keep Pakistani troops engaged at the Eastern borders to asphyxiate Pakistan’s National Action Plan and Zarb-e-Azb gains against terrorism and extremism. Such mischief perpetrated by India exposes its designs to the bones.
India’s role as a matter of fact amount to supporting and facilitating terrorism and its claim of fighting against it is merely playing to the gallery. In this way, Modi’s government is partner in putting the security of the region and beyond at greater risk. It should think objectively and jettison the narrative of Pakistan’s losses are its gains. Pakistani people and leadership are sincere in the normalisation of relations with its big neighbour and want to settle all disputes through peaceful means. There is no other option available to them. Pakistan understands it fully well India needs to understand it while shoving aside its hegemonic obsession.
muhammadshaheedi@yahoo.com