Balochistan: on the way up

Balochistan, a conflict-ridden province blighted by bad governance, law and order issues and monumental backwardness, is beaming with some positive signs of moving in the right direction.
Occupying 44 percent of the country’s land mass, Balochistan is home to 10 million people constituting about five percent of the total population of Pakistan. Nearly 52 percent of them live below the poverty line. The rate of unemployment is 20 percent and 56 percent children do not have access to schools. The province ranks second to Sub-Sahara Africa in terms of MMR (Mumps and Rubella) outbreaks while eight percent children in Balochistan die before the age of six months.
Till 2002, the province was receiving only two percent of the fund for infrastructure development which was then increased to 5.4 percent. Currently it stands at 9.4 percent.
On January 19-20, 2014, the Balochistan Development Forum organised by the Chief Minister’s Policy Reform Unit (CMPRU) provided insight into government initiatives. The present coalition government is taking steps in the right direction by improving governance, setting development priorities and pacifying the Baloch insurgents through political means.
Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik laid down a three-pronged strategy that included institutional development, infrastructural development and human resource development, describing it as a basis for inclusive development.
At the same forum Dr Kaiser Bengali, coordinator of the CMPRU, further elaborated on the government’s development priorities of water conservation, education, health, infrastructure and energy (coal, solar and gas). To address the issue of under development, the strategy also gave equal importance to invest in productive sectors, infrastructure and social development. He also emphasised tapping the province’s indigenous natural resources that could result in increasing economic activity.
The development agenda and governance reforms laid down by the coalition government, though seemingly ambitious, if implemented in letter and spirit could set the province on the path to development. However, its success hinges on political will, resources (both financial and human) and more institutional space for civilians to implement it accordingly.
Various provincial officials and development experts have corroborated the chief minster’s claim that a certain level of policy success had been achieved at a macro level by improving governance and monitoring systems for controlling the rampant corruption that had skyrocketed during the previous government. If the coalition government sustained and further expanded it to the micro level it would be an astronomical achievement in a province blighted by rampant corruption.
While responding to a question about political will, one official said that it was more pronounced on the part of the two coalition partners, the PkMAP and the National Party. Another participant pointed to the presence of Mahmood Khan Achakzai and Hasil Bizenjo for two days in the forum as an obvious gesture of political commitment by the top political leadership to push forward good governance and development.
It is also encouraging, unlike Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, that none of the party heads of the coalition partners benefit from government protocols. Since the party has come into power, the leader of the PkMAP, Mahmood Khan Achakzai, has never visited the Chief Minster or the Governor House. He has neither used those symbols of state power for hold party meetings nor chair meetings of provincial secretaries and officials.
It seems that both the parties have taken governance as a challenge and are monitoring the performance and conduct of their ministers and members.
Though the PTI promised in its election manifesto to hold local bodies elections within 90 days of forming government, credit goes to Balochistan for holding local government elections in the face of heavy odds.
The political support enabled the government to reduce the expenses of the CM and governor houses substantially by introducing austerity and avoiding unnecessary protocols. Both houses are accessible to common people, in sharp contrast to governments in the past.
Dr Abdul Malik also claimed that law and order had substantially improved in the province and that the coalition government was continuously persuading the Baloch insurgent groups to resolve their issues politically through peaceful means. However, to do more the provincial government requires broader mandate and political space.
Though it is a bold and encouraging initiative by the coalition government, the challenges faced by it cannot be ignored.
The first challenge is the tribal chiefs (sardars) who are the third coalition partner. The tribal chiefs consider the progressive nationalist-led government a grave threat to their retrogressive system of domination.
Second, the province is reeling under severe capacity constraints, particularly in implementation and service delivery sectors. If left unresolved they can blunt government initiatives irrespective of good will and commitment.
The third challenge is the availability of resources for which the provincial government needs the federal government and donor community’s support. It is also necessary for the federal government to remove stumbling blocks for facile implementation of the 18th Amendment to empower the provincial government, particularly providing support in tapping local resources.
Another crucial challenge for the Balochistan government is maintaining equity in resource allocation and investment in the Baloch and Pakhtun belts, particularly in case of infrastructure development and productive investment. Moreover, for the sake of durable political stability in the province, the coalition government is also expected to strengthen the consensus to resolve the identity issue of Pakhtuns. A short-term solution can be a hyphenated name -- the Baloch-Pakhtun Province on the pattern of Gilgit-Baltistan.
Moreover, civil society should play its role by providing moral and technical support, especially in capacity building and actionable research. The media’s role is equally crucial.
It is not a matter of supporting a certain provincial government. Balochistan is the soft belly of the federation and if the current government of progressive nationalists, who are able to lure insurgents as well as communicate with the common people, is destabilised the reconciliation process will receive a severe blow which will be ominous for the federation.
The writer is a researcher and a native of Swat.
Email: talimand.khangmail.com
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