Editorial:An Elusive Package

The walkout by two ministers from the Balochistan Assembly session on Monday in protest against the killing of two Baloch students at a protest rally in Khuzdar last week and condemnation of the killings by senators of both the treasury and opposition benches once again focuses minds on the plight of the Baloch. When the PPP government presented a package for Balochistan, a province that has been fighting for its rights since the inception of Pakistan, many termed it a historic step. Though the Baloch nationalists rejected the package and said that it would not bring about any change in the current situation, a broad swathe of opinion thought the nationalist leaders were being overly pessimistic. Now, however, it seems the ‘pessimist' Baloch nationalists were right after all. This has been proved yet again by the incident in Khuzdar, where the people's right to a peaceful protest was violated and brutally crushed. The use of brutal force by the Frontier Constabulary (FC) has not only alienated the Baloch further, it has put the federation of Pakistan at stake.

The ‘Aghaz-e-Huqooq-e-Balochistan' package has failed to deliver on its promise. The military operation is still continuing, as are the kidnappings of Baloch nationalist leaders and workers. The government must ensure that the military operation is stopped, and the ‘missing' persons the prime minister promised would come home, recovered. In this backdrop, the removal of some Baloch leaders' names, including Ataullah Mengal, Akhtar Mengal, Khair Bakhsh Marri, from the exit control list (ECL) was a good gesture, albeit a small one. What is more shocking is Prime Minister Gilani's comment that it was "news to me" that these people were on the ECL. We should be thankful for small mercies that the prime minister finally got this ‘information' and acted upon it. If the chief executive has no ‘news' about prominent names on the ECL list, one can only pray.

Despite the mention of Balochistan's IDPs in the said package, the situation remains the same. We hear of humanitarian aid for the Swat and Malakand IDPs every day, but the Baloch IDPs are hardly ever mentioned. If this continues, the anti-federation sentiment would rise even more in the neglected province. Balochistan needs concrete steps to defuse the situation and engage the alienated Baloch rather than pie-in-the-sky ‘packages'.

For the past many years the Baloch have been waging a fight against the Pakistani establishment for their just rights. They have largely been asking for what has been promised to them under the constitution. Failure to fulfil this aspiration is the surest way to exacerbate separatist sentiment in the province. Instead of playing politics with such a serious matter, the government should deliver on its promises and not make a mockery of the Baloch issue. To ignore Baloch grievances is to run the risk of weakening the integrity of the federation. The Centre must pay heed to the disquiet ruling Balochistan. The government needs to have a dialogue with the alienated Baloch leaders, both in Pakistan and those living in exile abroad. The tension-ridden atmosphere of Balochistan should ring alarm bells for the government. Pakistan is already fighting a war with the Taliban and it cannot afford another war front against Baloch insurgents. The results of not delivering on the Balochistan package can be disastrous for the country. The government needs to get its act together or else get ready for another debacle. *

Second Editorial: Politics at IPL

On January 19, 2010, the Indian Premier League (IPL) held player auctions in Mumbai for the third edition of its showpiece event. The glaring conclusion from the failure of any IPL franchise to even attempt to make a bid for Pakistani players is that sports are unfortunately not separated from politics in the subcontinent. The snub and the subsequent humiliation suffered, is not only by these eleven players but also by all of Pakistan. The IPL should not have selected Pakistani players for the auction if no bids were to be made in order to avoid ‘investment risks'; it clearly shows a lack of maturity on the part of the organisers of the event and leaves a bad taste.

What both the governments of Pakistan and India need to realise is that cricket is a passion verging on religion in this region. Since cricket is the most popular sport in Pakistan and India, it creates an even more epic rivalry than that of the Ashes. Both the IPL and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) need to rethink their respective future plans; the IPL for one needs to figure out whether it will follow the dictates of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) or the Indian government and suffer losses not only to the IPL's popularity but also its revenue. The PCB on the other hand needs to take a good long look at the state of cricket in Pakistan. With no international teams willing to tour the country after the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team and the refusal of the International Cricket Council (ICC) to give Pakistan the status of co-hosts for the 2011 Cricket World Cup to be played in the subcontinent, the future of the most popular and lucrative sport in Pakistan is at best bleak.

The BCCI, unlike the PCB, might be able to bully the ICC into favourable decisions by flexing its financial muscle, but ultimately is going to be on the losing end since the biggest loser after the failure of IPL franchises to purchase even a single player from Pakistan, the reigning T20 World Champions, is cricket. More food for thought for the BCCI is the fact that after the last tour of the Indian cricket team to Pakistan, the Indian players got a standing ovation from the Pakistani fans after defeating the home team. It proved that the Pakistani nation knows what sportsman's spirit is all about; maybe the BCCI needs a lesson in sportsmanship from the Pakistani nation. *

Source: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk