By By Shehryar Saif
No doubt, there is a financial dimension attached to it as Rs120 billion have been pledged to the province by the federation as the gas royalty but the fact is that this package just can’t be categorized as merely an act of economic relief or even as an act of rhetoric. It is rather a major paradigm shift at the level of the Centre besides being a strong goodwill message given to the Balochis who had been subjected to neglect and discrimination at times.
Actually, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), being a party of the masses, has no other choice. Any party with a manifesto of serving the masses and with the slogan ‘masses are the fountain of power’, just can’t afford to ignore the masses, whether they belong to the province of Balochistan or elsewhere. This is the crux of PPP’s manifesto and that of the recently announced Balochistan package.
Take into consideration the establishment of a fact-finding mission to inquire into the assassination of Nawab Akbar Bugti. The commission would be headed by a retired judge of higher judiciary. This act in itself is a big demonstration of the Gilani government’s resolve to bring the culprits to justice, as repeatedly demanded by the people of Balochistan.
There is no reason to doubt these intentions since the probes are to be carried out by impartial judges who would also be holding inquiry into the matter of the serious most issue of missing persons and target killings of Baloch leaders. The commission taking up the missing persons’ issue would be headed by a sitting judge of superior judiciary from Balochistan. And the missing persons found in custody without charges will be released.
These issues had become the most contentious ones for quite some time and everyone in Balochistan was perturbed. The package, if one goes deep into it, is not only a combination of administrative, political and judicial measures but also a leap forward towards persuading the estranged Baloch brethren whose grievances had been ignored for the last six decades. The government must be commended for taking this leap forward.
And as for the ‘Aghaz’ (the beginning), it is remarkable as it takes care of all the longstanding issues in one go. This suffices to portend golden times ahead in terms of national unity with specific reference to Balochistan issue because almost all the burning questions have been addressed like, for instance, the replacement of army with Frontier Corps, in Sui, and its placing under the chief minister (Coast Guards will also be answerable to the CM hence); release of political workers, abolition of concurrent list, end to army operations other than anti-terrorism actions; initiation of judicial probe into Gwadar land scam and creation of additional 5,000 jobs. Then, no new cantonments would be established.
Now, all these points are solid actions all of which aim at bringing an end, albeit gradual, to the deprivations and resentments of Baloch people. For instance, the new cantonments issue, combined with the question of military operations, was not a petty matter at all. Well-informed analysts considered these two things as the prime culprits causing unrest within Balochistan.
PPP led-government has taken a complete U-turn from the policies pursued by successive regimes in the past. Now, there won’t be any more military operations barring anti-terrorism actions that enjoy the vehement support of the entire nation. For years and years together, these issues remained unresolved due to lack of consensus among the national leadership and institutions. Sorting out these issues was an uphill task given that background. The government efforts, at last, bore fruit and it was finally able to come up with an effectively workable solution.
The other two hot issues have been gas royalty and concurrent list. These two issues are also being dealt with properly as gas royalty of Rs120 billion would be paid. Here, it must be pointed out that the government wants to do things practically as done in the case of NWFP that has already been paid Rs10 billion as the first installment of hydel power profit.
As for the concurrent list, it would also be abolished in addition to other constitutional reforms like end to police order and removal of Balochistan Local Government Ordinance 2001 from the 6th Schedule.
In the legal-cum-constitutional realm, another move needs mention and that is the government’s declaration to implement, within the legal framework of the constitution, unanimously passed resolutions of Balochistan Assembly from 2002 to date. This is yet another gesture of generosity towards the people of Balochistan.
The most encouraging thing about this package is that it has been equipped with an effective monitoring mechanism. The parliamentary committee on National Security would monitor the implementation and the federal and provincial governments would brief the committee on the implementation status every month whereas both the Centre and Quetta governments would submit a similar report every three months before both the houses of the parliament, separately. And the standing committee on establishment of the Senate will present a report every three months on the employment opportunities for Baloch youth.
Some other measures are exceptionally commendable. One part pertains to economic side: there will be a free economic zone at Gawadar where all appointments from scale one to 16 would be from the local population; all new mega projects would require consent of the provincial government; federal government would transfer 20 % from its 30 % shares in Saindak project to Balochistan (this project would be exclusively handed over to the province on completion).
And as announced by the Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on the floor of the house, federal government has extended substantial financial support to the province by: owning its Rs17.5 billion overdraft; increase in the PSDP of Balochistan from Rs42b last year to Rs50b this year. The second part of these measures is political. As PM and Senator Rabbani have declared, the political leadership of Balochistan, both from within and from abroad, have been offered the hand of reconciliation. The PM says, “I invite our estranged brothers to a dialogue in all sincerity.”
In the same area, all political workers will be released and cases withdrawn against those who have yet to be charged except those who are charged with heinous offence. On the autonomy front, constitutional amendments are being contemplated to strengthen provincial autonomy.
Summing it up, the ‘Aghaaze Haqooqe Balochistan’ package can be surely called a package that is the Aghaaz (beginning) of the end to the sufferings and grievances of the people of Balochistan.