Pakistan is witnessing a fresh wave of terror attacks and the epicenter is Balochistan. Since the beginning of the year 17 attacks have been carried out by different Baloch groups. In March so far, there have been three terrorist attacks in Sibbi.
The relationship of the state with Balochistan, the country’s largest province has been one of neglect and exploitation. Over the years, this has bred a sense of deprivation, grievances and a bloody insurgency which is now turning into suicide terrorism and guerilla warfare.
Balochistan fares the worst in all human development indicators when compared with the rest of the provinces. Overall head-count poverty in Balochistan is at 71.2 percent, highest amongst all the provinces. More than 80 percent of the population living in rural areas is below the poverty line.
In his book, ‘A Cry for Justice: Empirical Insights from Balochistan’, Kaiser Bengali is right to assert that Balochistan has been used as a colony by the centre where resource extraction has resulted in neglect and exploitation. This is evident by the fact that natural gas was discovered in 1952 and by 1955 gas was being supplied to the rest of the country. Yet Balochistan remained deprived of gas for three decades.
Pakistan recently formulated its first ever national security policy. The document acknowledges that socio-economic inequalities between regions have been used to generate a narrative of grievance based on under-development in their regions. A public and official acknowledgement of this by the state in a policy document is a welcome step.
However, the NSP doesn’t come up with any concrete solutions and instead proposes the tried and tested development packages formula to address the inequalities. An analysis of these development packages reveals that such schemes have not worked in the past. In 2007, the PPP announced the Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan development package where millions were doled out in political, administrative, and economic initiatives. In 2017, the PML-N granted the Equalization Package, a 10-year development package. None of these packages could produce the desired result.
The current government too is following a similar path. In 2020, Prime Minister Imran Khan announced the South Balochistan development package, worth Rs601 billion with 199 projects in nine districts. If history is any guide, this package too will fail to provide any dividends for the people of Balochistan.
The reason is that the development package formula is a top-down colonial approach meant to coopt and appease local elites for the state’s short-term strategic objectives. It doesn’t take into account the fact that political participation and community empowerment is necessary to ensure that funds are utilized for the right purpose. The end result is that millions of rupees in the name of funds vanish in the pockets of elites, with not a single penny spent on the welfare of the people.
It is important that a separate Balochistan Security and Development Policy be formulated, which employs bottom-up and inclusive policy planning catering to the needs of the Baloch. For this to occur, political participation and empowerment is a must. The local population should be allowed to play a direct role in decision-making and development-planning processes. That will only be possible when the 18th Amendment is implemented in its spirit and free and fair provincial and local bodies elections are held in the province.
However, a point of concern is the capacity of local institutions. For that, capacity building of local institutions and officials should be conducted in specific districts as a pilot project. Priority should be given to health, education and rural development since spending millions on infrastructure has not produced any dividends in the past.
A case in point is the Balochistan Rural Development and Community Empowerment (BRACE) Programme. BRACE aims to strengthen the capacities of local authorities and empower citizens and communities to implement community-driven socio-economic development interventions. It includes components on capacity building for government officials, training of local bodies, technical & vocational skills training and micro health insurance.
A similar programme should be launched in the other districts. Education should be included in the intervention by providing the infrastructure and then building capacities of staff and administration. Investing in education is the safest way to secure Balochistan’s security since a sense of deprivation among the youth leads them to join separatist militant outfits. In the latest round of the insurgency, it is the middle class youth which is at the forefront of insurgents groups.
Balochistan needs a long-term political and economic policy. This can begin with an acknowledgement and apology from the state for years of neglect. This can help mitigate the pervasive sense of deprivation and persuade the nationalist leaders to come back to electoral politics. It is high time the state realized the gravity of its negligence in the past and learnt from it.
The writer works for a non-profit in Islamabad. He can be reached at:
jawadkhalid7gmail.com