Balochistan governor slot needs unorthodox selection

Cutthroat lobbying is afoot to secure the coveted slot of governorship of Balochistan which has fallen vacant following Zahoor Ahmed Agha's resignation in the aftermath of the ouster of Imran Khan's government.

So far, several names are rumoured to be hot favourites but the decision has not been made yet and the coalition government also have not reached a consensus candidate.

Transitionally, the governor has to be from ethnic Pashtun community of Balochistan, whereas the chief minister always belongs to the Baloch community. Unfortunately, Balochistan governor's post more or less is ceremonial in nature as stipulated in the Constitution and is like in any other province, and no government ever thought of overhauling the role of the governor. But, in the case of Balochistan, incompetent persons have been drafted to make the office more or less dysfunctional.

Suffice to say another traditional nominee is not cut out for this job as the province being strategically sensitive and equally a witness to a rising clout geo-politically, the right candidate should have a different qualification to be picked. Then he can play a robust role in the face of mounting challenges summed up here as follows:

Ethnic unrest and ethnic nationalist narrative surrounding grievances make Balochistan a frontline province and confluence of many variables, both tangible and intangible. These indirect variables include CPEC, proxy wars and PTM influence in the Pashtun region. We need a candidate for governor who has a deeper understanding of the big picture, can sell national narrative regionally and internationally on these issues affecting Balochistan, which are unique to the province.

He also can put out the real story of rising Balochistan through connectivity, and becoming a maritime route, to be told to the world, and not just clarifications and condemnations on the bomb blasts as reported by international media.

Since Balochistan is faced with an indirect war and is a gray zone theatre – witnessing below the surface a war of attrition called hybrid warfare by hostile agencies – the Army has a mammoth challenge of thin margins of narrative management. The governor should be selling the state narrative particularly, a) the 3D development vision of the Army Chief General Qamar Bajwa for Balochistan – Deterrence, Development and Dialogue – to the people of Balochistan and Pakistan, and b) the non-kinetic response/vision like “Khushal Balochistan'' has to be diffused through good communication strategy.

Another very important skill set of a potential candidate should be exposure in national, international media and in possession of confidence and desirable background to face audiences of diverse nature including think tanks, policy makers and policy implementers so that he can put across his viewpoint convincingly and credibly.

Still other most important expertise would be having a nuanced understanding of how the diplomatic corps operates in Pakistan and can be bridged with Balochistan so as to foster better appraisal of the province's issues, challenges and opportunities and also potentially encourage and spur them for investment in Balochistan.

At the moment, various embassies have at least up to $800 million worth of projects solely for underdeveloped regions of Balochistan and they are up for grab. They include USID, DFID, GIZ, China and GCC countries. The future governor should be bridging the gaps between the government and the diplomatic corps to help unlock international donors' money by sophisticated networking.

Since Balochistan borders Afghanistan, Iran, Gulf countries through sea and serves as linchpin of the BRI project – the Grand Chinese Belt and Road Initiative – the candidate should have better know-how of the sensitivities, economic, political and cultural affinities of these countries linked with the province.

Balochistan's governor office is in dire need of bringing new leadership to bear and here is how: If you were to look for five attributes in a person –conceptual lens, strategic thinking, management ability, communication skills and patience to listen – the candidate who has got all these is your man to pick for the coveted post. Similarly, a spiritless soul who has lost the momentum of life, stamina and is bereft of the right demeanour can be least inspiring.

As a bottom line, an ordinary local politician with mere constituency skills and a local retired bureaucrat or a retired judge cannot rise up to the challenge. Let us raise the standard of this post so as to make the office of governor relevant for the challenging environment of Balochistan. But, it needs political will and vision which may not be easily forthcoming.

Jan Achakzai is a geopolitical analyst, a politician from Balochistan and an ex-adviser to the Balochistan Government on media and strategic communication. He tweets @Jan_Achakzai