Days after prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, visited China and granted
the Chinese operational control of the Gwadar Port in Balochistan, a massive
attack on a security checkpoint on July 27 killed
ten personnel of the Coast Guards. The Baloch Liberation Front
(B.L.F.), an underground armed group fighting for a free Balochistan, accepted
responsibility for the attack and claimed that the assault had actually killed
25 personnel. The B.L.F. also took in its custody two more personnel of the
Coast Guards. While the Balochistan government also confirmed the detention of
two personnel in the custody of the Baloch insurgents, a spokesman for the
B.L.F. said the two men would be treated as prisoners of war and they would be
tried in the Baloch court. There are no fresh updates about the fate of the
personnel held in B.L.F. custody.
The check post attack took place in Sansar in Pakistan-Iran border
area which is around 100 kilometers away from downtown Gwadar. Yet, the incident
is deeply alarming about the state of law and order in parts of Balochistan,
mainly in Mekran region, which offers enormous prospects of economic development
and prosperity because of the Gwadar Port.
Gwadar and its neighboring districts of Kech (also known as Turbat)
and Panjgur have become the new centers of nationalistic violence. A change in
the government has not necessarily led to the improvement of the state of law
and order in Gwadar and its surroundings. Chief Minister Dr. Malik Baloch
belongs to the same region but law and order situation in the area is so bad
that Dr. Baloch himself survived two assassination attempts on his life. While
Dr. Baloch survived these attacks, his party leader’s have not been so lucky.
The nephew of Jan Mohammad Buledai, the chief minister’s spokesman and the
brother of Zahoor Buledai, a former minister and a leader of the C.M.’s National
Party, have also been killed in the recent days.
The reason for increasing disillusionment among the Baloch population
in Mekran is the lack of benefits, or their promise, from the economic
opportunities Mekran offers. The Pakistanis and the Chinese have not committed
to providing any kind of benefits to the local communities while running the
Gwadar Port.
In addition, the attack on the Coast Guard also reveals another
disturbing fact: All of the victims of the attack were non-locals. That said,
the government should ensure Baloch representation in the country’s security
apparatus. It is unfair to deny the Balochs employment opportunities in the
Coast Guards and instead appoint non-locals on jobs that can at best be
performed by youth of the area.
Balochistan’s Home Secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani said
in an interview with B.B.C. Urdu. that foreign companies and
investors should not worry about such attacks since they take place too far from
the center of Gwadar city. According to him, the government has provided
complete security to installations in Gwadar where foreign companies are
working. That is still not fully assuring for foreign investors and
tourists.
The government should take practical steps to improve the law and
order situation in Gwadar if it intends to properly utilize the port citys’
economic potentials. While doing so, it is also the government’s obligation to
work to address the deep-rooted sense of deprivation among the Baloch youth. The
government should give them a sense of ownership in all key economic
initiatives, including the Gwadar Port.
Editor-in-Chief
The
Baloch Hal
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