According to a fresh report, the government of Pakistan has officially contacted Swiss authorities asking them to refuse political asylum to Baloch nationalist leader Nawabzada Bramdagh Bugti. A grandson of former governor and chief minister Nawab Akbar Bugti, the junior Bugti heads his own political outfit, the Baloch Republican Party (BRP).
The young charismatic rebel went underground after the country's military, headed by General Pervez Musharraf, killed his seventy-nine year old grandfather in a military operation in August 2006. Some believe that he also led a strong segment of the Baloch armed movement. Time and again, Islamabad accused him of taking shelter in Afghanistan, a charge that was frequently and vehemently denied by Mr. Bugti.
It was only last month when Bramdagh's spokesman, Sher Mohammad Bugti, informed the media that the Baloch leader had moved to Switzerland to seek political asylum. A verdict by the Swiss authorities is still pending. Several contemporaries of Mr. Bugti such as the Khan of Kalat Mir Suleman Dawood, Nawabzada Hairbayar Marri, a son of veteran nationalist leader Nawab Khair Baksh Marri, former leader of the oposition in the Balochistan Assembly Kachkol Ali Baloch have all succeeded in getting political asylum overseas. They fear prosecution on the part of Islamabad and assassination by freelance murderers hired by the government if they return to Pakistan.
Likewise, former chief minister of Balochistan Sardar Akhtar Mengal, who was imprisoned for more than one year during the Musharraf regime, and his party's flamboyant senator Sanaullah Baloch are also spending their lives far away from Balochistan for the same reasons. Back home in Balochistan, several top nationalist leaders such as the secretary general of Mengal's Balochistan National Party, Habib Jalib Baloch, central president of the Baloch National Movement (BNM) Ghulam Mohammad Baloch and a two former chairmen of the Baloch Students Organization have been killed during the ongoing political turmoil in the resource-rich province.
It is still not clear how much cooperation the Swiss authorities, known internationally for their impartiality and non-aligned credentials, will offer Islamabad in return of the latest demand. However, it is surely a setback to all the claims the Pakistan People's Party-led government has been making regarding initiating a broad-based reconciliation with the disillusioned Baloch nationalist leaders. The PPP has already attracted overwhelming flak because of its failure to resolve the Balochistan issue peacefully and politically.
This is one step backward given the fact that on December 9, 2009, the PPP government had publicly withdrawn all cases against Bramadgh Bugti and 89 other Baloch nationalist leaders, activists and professionals. Speaking on the floor of the National Assembly, Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani ordered the withdrawal of cases against the Baloch leaders. Fifteen months down the line, the government has now surprisingly decided to hunt down Mr. Bugti from Switzerland.
All Baloch leaders who are compelled to live in exile are actually the victims of geo-politics of the region. They are the victims of autocratic and undemocratic policies of the previous government. While scores of Baloch youth are being arrested and killed regularly allegedly by the security forces inside Balochistan, Islamabad's rush, on the other hand, to brand the Baloch political figures as "traitors" and "terrorists" does not bode well for whatever reconciliation plan the government has for the province. This will lead to breach of trust and rise in mistrust.
Islamabad should stop the policy of haunting and chasing the Baloch leaders. It should embark upon a process of confidence building with them by undertaking drastic constitutional and administrative measures. Having done that, a sincere political effort should be made as a next step to convince all these leaders on exile to return to their homeland. If diplomacy, mutual respect and peace is what Islamabad detests then unfortunately there is no light at the end of the tunnel.
Swiss authorities' refusal to grant asylum to Mr. Bugti, if it ever happens, will not be a major "accomplishment" for Islamabad. Bugti is merely one pillar of the edifice of revolt and anguish. Refusal to grant him asylum or get him extradited will only trigger more violence and rebellion.
The PPP government should once again reconsider its policy. If it is too powerless before omnipotent Establishment then it should at least publicly disassociate itself with such policies. Hawks like Interior Minister Rehman Malik will cause an irreparable damage to PPP's already shattered image in Balochistan.
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