Make Balochistan A Priority Dawn Editorial

Balochistan under eight years of Gen Musharraf's dispensation has been through a lot: Baloch leaders have been killed, chased, picked up and held by security agencies without due process; many have been forced to go into hiding or seek asylum abroad for fear of incarceration.

On Friday, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani presided over a meeting of a parliamentary sub-committee tasked with making recommendations to the government on resolving the many issues faced by Balochistan. The meeting reportedly concluded with Mr Gilani considering constitutional amendments and proposals to allay Baloch nationalists' misgivings. This included the recommendation to shorten the federal concurrent list which has far too many subjects assigned to the federal government, to the detriment of provincial autonomy. We have long argued in these columns for the shortening of the concurrent list which, in its existing form, is an anomaly given that the basic law guarantees the provinces far greater autonomy than is actually practiced. A consensus already exists among major political parties as well as other stakeholders i.e. those nationalist parties which boycotted the 2008 election. The PPP itself promised greater provincial autonomy in its election manifesto. The Charter of Democracy also endorses it. These realities make the delay on the part of the government in implementing political decisions rather unsettling. In the case of Balochistan it can be argued that the delay is seen by Baloch leaders as yet another attempt at scuttling the issue.

Balochistan under eight years of Gen Musharraf's dispensation has been through a lot: Baloch leaders have been killed, chased, picked up and held by security agencies without due process; many have been forced to go into hiding or seek asylum abroad for fear of incarceration. This is not to say that the province fared far better under the general's forerunners. A wringing sense of economic deprivation among the Baloch - and their alienation from the national mainstream - has increased over the years. This must be addressed on a priority basis. Any more foot-dragging will be criminal.

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