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WEEKLY
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| Balochistan package tabled in parliament |
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Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Judicial inquiry into Bugti, other Baloch leaders’ killings; no new cantonments; FC to replace Army; missing persons to be traced; Rs 120 bn as gas royalty; end to all operations except anti-terror actions
By Asim Yasin
ISLAMABAD: In what has been termed a first step towards winning the hearts and minds of the people of Balochistan and to remove their sense of deprivation, the Gilani government on Tuesday unfolded a five-tier comprehensive and multi-dimensional special package — combining political, administrative and economic initiatives — in a joint sitting of parliament.
The package, named “Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan”, was presented by PPP stalwart Senator Mian Raza Rabbani, who heads the seven-member parliamentary committee, which finalised the package in consultation with the political leadership in parliament and other stakeholders.
The five-tier package — constitutional, political, administrative, economic and monitoring mechanism — envisages the withdrawal of the Army from Sui that would be replaced with the Frontier Corps, a fact-finding commission, headed by a retired judge of the Supreme Court/high court, to probe into the death of Nawab Akbar Bugti, inquiry by the superior judiciary into the murder of Baloch political workers, including Ghulam Muhammad, Lala Munir and Munir Ahmed and target killings in the province.
The package also included the release of all political workers and withdrawal of cases against those who have no charges, while the missing persons with charges would be brought before a court of competent jurisdiction for trial within seven days. Such missing persons would be allowed legal counsel of their choice and the government would assist them in this regard. Family members of such persons be informed accordingly and allowed visiting rights.
Presenting the details of the package, Senator Raza Rabbani said necessary constitutional amendments would be made to strengthen the provincial autonomy as demanded by smaller provinces, especially Balochistan.
On the economic side, the package envisages that the federal government will pay royalty worth Rs 120 billion on the Gas Development Surcharge from 1954 to 1991, to be payable over 12 years.
The constitutional reforms related matters include abolition of the Concurrent List, end to the Police Order and the Balochistan Local Government Ordinance 2001 from the 6th Schedule and effective implementation of the Article 153 relating to the Council of Common Interest.
The package assures effective implementation of articles 154 to 159 and 170 of the Constitution.
Rabbani said the restructuring of the NFC award criteria was already underway and the criteria of inverse population, poverty and resource generation need to be taken into consideration.
About political matters, he said the federal government, in consultation with the provincial government, would release all political workers except those involved in heinous crimes.
Dialogue would be initiated with all major stakeholders in the political spectrum of the province to bring them into the mainstream, he said. He added that the exiled leaders, who want to return to Pakistan, would be facilitated except those who were involved in acts of terrorism.
The unanimously passed resolutions of the Balochistan Assembly from 2002 till date related to the province would be implemented within the legal framework of the Constitution.
Referring to the administrative measures, Rabbani said the federal government should immediately review the role of federal agencies in the province and stop all such operations that were not related to war against terrorism.
“Proposals should not be formulated for the construction of new cantonments except in frontier areas. Construction of new cantonments in Sui and Kohlu would be stopped for the time being. The FC will take over the already constructed cantonment at Sui,” he added.
Rabbani said a commission, headed by a sitting member of the superior judiciary from Balochistan, would be constituted in respect of the missing persons. The names of the missing persons would be identified and if found to be in custody without any charges they would be released, he said.
In view of the decision of the provincial government, he said the policy of conversion of ‘B’ areas into ‘A’ areas would be reviewed from time to time. Urban areas would have regular police.
The role of the FC in law-enforcement shall be under the chief minister of the province. The powers conferred under the Customs Act shall be withdrawn. Coast Guard should perform its primary duty of checking smuggling of arms and narcotics along the coast and the border. There would be judicial inquiry by the superior judiciary into the allotment of land in Gwadar.
Special quota of scholarships by the HEC would be given to students from Balochistan to pursue studies leading up to local or foreign masters and PhDs.
All new mega projects would be initiated with the consent and approval of the provincial government.
There will be a free economic zone in Gwadar and all appointments in Gwadar from scale I to 16 would be from the local population, he said, adding that preference would be given to qualified local contractors while awarding contracts related to the port.
The chief minister shall be the ex-officio chairman of the Gwadar Development Authority and there shall be seven members from the province on the board of directors and the provincial government will nominate a person duly qualified to be the chairman of the Gwadar Development Authority.
There will be a special development package for the Sui area. The federal government would create 5,000 additional jobs for the province immediately. The quota for the province as prescribed in the rules/law for employment in government (especially foreign service), semi government, autonomous, semi-autonomous, corporations and bodies must be strictly complied with.
The province will be able to purchase up to 20 per cent of the right shares of the PPL, the OGDCL and the Sui Southern when offered in the open market. The federal government will transfer 20 per cent from its 30 per cent shares in the Saindak project to Balochistan and on completion the project would be exclusively handed over to the province.
It was proposed that existing agreements on projects such as SANDAK, REKODIC and others, where agreements have already been negotiated, the federal government might reconsider the agreements concerning the sharing of income, profits or royalty between the federal and the provincial governments.
There shall be uniform price of gas throughout the country for calculation of the gas development surcharge. Special incentives would be given to the local tribes in the Kohlu district to facilitate the exploration of the gas in the area.
The federal government would provide one billion rupees for rehabilitation and settlement of the IDPs from Dera Bugti.
It was proposed that the Parliamentary Committee on National Security would monitor the implementation status of the package and the federal government as well as the provincial government would brief the committee on the status of implementation on monthly basis.
The federal government and the provincial government, he said, would every three months present a report before both the houses of parliament, separately, on the state of implementation of the proposals. The two houses shall separately allocate appropriate time for discussion on the said report.
The Standing Committee on establishment of the Senate shall present a report every three months on the employment opportunities for Baloch youth.
The federal minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination shall, at the end of each financial year, certify to both the houses of parliament, separately, the amount of money spent for the implementation of these proposals.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
