Protests in Balochistan are routinely dealt with excessive and indiscriminate force. Police firing, during recent protests against arrests of BNP leaders, left Naseer Ahmed Langov dead and many injured.
The claims that the army's replacement by the FC has eased the ‘state of siege' situation in Balochistan are fallacious. Raisani has often accused it of running a ‘parallel government' due to its high-handedness and vigilantism
The prime minister, in one of his rare trips to Balochistan, recently announced that the atrocities would soon end in Balochistan. One is forced to wonder how soon this ‘soon' will turn out to be. For all the promises, packages and pledges of the past 63 years have come to naught. The people of Balochistan are now neither taken in by packages nor do they trust promises any more. The credibility gap is just too enormous to be bridged by flimsy structures of professed good intentions and oft-expressed brotherly sentiments. Prime Minister Gilani's statement reminded me of Sheikh Saadi Shirazi's famous quote:
"Ta Tariaaq Az Iraq Mee Aayad,
Maar Guzida Murda Mee Shawad."
(By the time medicine arrives from Iraq,
The snake-bitten person will be dead.)
The alienation and insurgency results from the injustices and usurpation of rights; this insurgency, contrary to the government's claims, is indigenous and self-sustained. The media makes even more preposterous claims of foreign powers dividing Balochistan. More importantly, in contrast to the past, it has as its leaders and fighters the entire spectrum of Baloch society, tribes and regions within Balochistan. The leadership is no longer with individuals who can be bought or coerced. This is amply proved by the unrelenting and increased frequency of attacks across Balochistan.
Among the Baloch grievances are, if indeed they need to be repeated, the issue of missing persons, demographic changes, the building of cantonments and naval bases, rights over use of resources, permanent state of siege, the sustained security operations, the brutal suppression of peaceful protests, plight of the IDPs and apathy in natural disasters. These remain unaddressed yet and will remain so because of the lackadaisical approach to urgent problems by the government. Unfortunately, this government earnestly believes that it is performing miracles with its half-hearted apologies, flawed NFC Awards and the comically named packages.
Sardar Ataullah Mengal, the veteran Baloch leader, in a recent BBC interview was critical of the government's intentions and actions; he said that preparations to launch a renewed military operation were afoot. According to various sources, an operation in Dasht, Makran, is underway. Prime Minister Gilani had met him recently and the government considered it a breakthrough but the fact is that though he is one of the most influential leaders in Balochistan, the present struggle is in the hands of a cadre that demands independence, works independently of political parties and personalities and looks contemptuously at the demands for elections and provincial autonomy. They are in no mood to compromise and whosoever attempts a backdoor deal will be completely isolated and sidelined.
The Naval presence jeopardises the livelihoods of fishing communities and in the past incidents of violence against them and consequent retaliation has occurred as in January 2006; when three launches of the Pakistan Navy's submarine force at the Fish Harbour in Gwadar were set alight by militants (read infuriated fishermen). A few days before, dozens of fishing boats were damaged by the security forces for violation of a fixed schedule by the fishermen.
Admiral Noman Bashir, Chief of the Naval Staff, in a recent lecture said that Gwadar was a "totally commercial port" but the navy needs to have a greater presence at the facility to secure its defences. In response to a query about the possibility of a Mumbai-like terrorist strike from the sea against Karachi, he said this threat existed. I wonder why FATA and Punjab-based terrorists would take this route. More naval bases mean more problems.
Protests in Balochistan are routinely dealt with excessive and indiscriminate force. Police firing, during recent protests against arrests of BNP leaders, left Naseer Ahmed Langov dead and many injured. The spate of successful shutterdown strikes affecting the entire province confirms increasing resentment; which is also being expressed in harsher manner as well.
The agony of the missing persons and their families remain undiminished and those like Murad Khan Marri were produced after inhuman tortures and languishing in jails because of concocted charges. The IDP families suffer immeasurably but are not even acknowledged by the authorities.
The disastrous floods of August 2003, of February 2005, and July 2007 are bitter memories in the minds of the people in Balochistan. Not only because there was inadequate relief and disregard for affected people's plight but even donors' help was curtailed on the plea of sensitive areas. Reports coming in indicate that the response for Cyclone Phet-affected people is no different.
The claims that the army's replacement by the FC has eased the ‘state of siege' situation in Balochistan are fallacious. Raisani has often accused it of running a ‘parallel government' due to its high-handedness and vigilantism. The FC makes the life of travellers miserable, especially in the Marri area, as they search even more thoroughly than US airport officials. They open fountain pens to see if they hide detonators. Their checkpoints at Wanga, Bor and Triman are especially severe and those showing resentment are wilfully delayed. In spite of this a PTCL telephone tower was blown up near Mawand recently.
The ruling coterie of Balochistan represents the height of naïveté. Nawab Mohammad Aslam Raisani recently said that unless the youth of Balochistan became part of the military and civil bureaucracy, a tacit admission that these two in fact rule this country, they could not achieve their right to rule the province. He did not however explain how this would solve the immediate problems confronting the Baloch people today because these newly inducted servants would need eons to secure even an iota of influence required for amelioration of the prevailing insufferable conditions. He added that the Balochistan package offered over 16,000 jobs to educated youths and the armed forces were offering thousands of jobs as well. They fail to comprehend that the requirements of human dignity go beyond jobs.
All the rulers here have been visionless and ham-fisted, their ineptitude and complacency have brought matters to this abysmally pathetic pass. Cocooned in their mansions and disconnected from the people, they have failed to understand that even a minute of suffering is like an eternity for the people. Having made the Baloch people needlessly suffer for 63 years, they still want and expect them to be patient until they find time to solve their problems. Like always, their promises, packages and pledges are too little and too late - the difference being that the people no longer have the forbearance to wait till eternity and are seeking solutions by other means.
Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur has an association with the Baloch rights movement going back to the early 1970s. He can be contacted at mmatalpur@gmail.com
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010%5C06%5C13%5Cstory_13-6-2010_pg3_5
No comments:
Post a Comment