Killing of any human being in cold-blood is the most dastardly, heinous and condemnable act which no religion of the world and society permits or condones. Islam declares such acts as a crime against the entire humanity. Unfortunately, Balochistan has become a theatre for cold-blooded murders.
Targeted killings of Punjabis and settlers admittedly carried out by the Baloch insurgent outfits and the discovery of bullet-ridden bodies of Baloch nationalists, allegedly carried out by FC and agencies on a daily basis are a cause of great anxiety and concern to all patriotic Pakistanis. No amount of condemnation is enough to reject these acts of bestiality on both sides. But it is really a matter of concern that while some international human rights organisations and even a section of the media within Pakistan, have been grilling the government for the spate of mysterious murders of Baloch nationalists and terming it a serious violation of human rights, none has ever bothered to show concern for the Punjabis and settlers being assassinated by the Baloch insurgents, as if they were not human beings and the insurgents were justified in doing what they were doing.
It is a known secret that most of the international human rights organisations have their own agendas given to them by their financiers and their partisan view of the developments in a particular country is quite understandable. But the failure on the part of the local media to take an impartial view of the situation and call the spade a spade is quite surprising and betrays its lack of understanding of the Balochistan conundrum besides being symptomatic of an apologetic syndrome that also characterised the approach of the successive governments while dealing with Balochistan issue.
The much-trumpeted sense of deprivation and excesses by the federation against Balochistan is only partially true. To a great extent, it is a sequel to a well-orchestrated and persistent propaganda by the tribal leaders who see development in the province as a threat to their authority and prefer to maintain the status quo. They have used it as a card to blackmail successive governments who motivated by their narrow political considerations preferred to keep them in good stead by adopting a policy of appeasement at the cost of changing the fortunes of the people of Balochistan.
It is an irrefutable reality that huge sums of money were allocated for the development projects in Balochistan by every government but they were purloined by the bureaucracy and the tribal leaders as a price for remaining favourably disposed towards the government, except for the mentors and architects of the armed insurgency in the province. These elements took up arms against the regime of Ayub Khan and also orchestrated an armed insurgency when Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto tried to change the political landscape of the province by abolishing Sardari system and established a network of colleges and schools in the province, including Bolan Medical College in Quetta. The teachers posted in the colleges in the far-flung areas were subjected to life threats and forced to flee. The attempts to build road network in the Marri area were fiercely resisted.
When Attaullah Mengal became Chief Minister of Balochistan, all the Punjabi policemen in the Balochistan police were surrendered to the Centre and the Baloch nationalists harassed the settlers with impunity forcing a good number of them to say adieu to Quetta by selling their properties at throw-away prices. This eventually led to the dismissal of his government. These are historic facts and should not be lost sight of while evaluating the situation in Balochistan. I fully agreed with Hasil Bizenjo's comment in a live programme of a private TV channel on last Wednesday that the insurgents will never talk to the government.
Although, he did not elaborate it is quite understandable that these elements are playing in the hands of the enemies of Pakistan. Indian involvement in Balochistan is a reality and was also recognised by the Indian Prime Minister in his meeting with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani at Sharm-el Shaikh in Egypt.
The American acquiescence to fomenting of insurgency in Balochistan by India and allowing Baloch insurgents a safe haven in Afghanistan is also quite understandable in view of its efforts to prop up India as a regional power to counter the rising Chinese influence in the region and its involvement in the development projects in Balochistan.
Unfortunately, however, due to the unimaginative and self-serving policies of Musharraf, the ranks of these insurgents have swelled after the murder of Nawab Akbar Bugti who was a pro-Pakistan leader and a balancing force in the province. When he was placed at the helm of provincial affairs during turmoil in the province in the aftermath of the removal of Mengal government, the province returned to normalcy immediately.
It is worth emphasising that the irreconcilable insurgents are in a minority and there are Pushtuns and a great number of Baloch who do not endorse what the insurgents are doing and who still see their future in Pakistan. The insurgents will continue to keep the things hot until a settlement in Afghanistan and improvement in our relations with India to an extent that both the countries stop treating each other as an enemy. That seems a wishful thinking at least in the foreseeable future.
The present government has done well by giving a package on Balochistan and initiating a process of reconciliation in the province. It has already taken a number of steps to create job opportunities for the youth of Balochistan and also made a considerable headway on the political front by acceding to the demands of withdrawal of army and not to establish further cantonments in the province. So far, about 10,000 Baloch youth have been provided jobs. A batch of 5,000 Baloch youth has been recently inducted in the army and as revealed by the Prime Minister, another 20,000 jobs are also being created.
The government under the package has also rectified a festering wrong by agreeing to pay royalty on gas pertaining to the period from 1954 to 1999 and enhancing the share of the province in the national divisible pool through the 7th NFC Award. Reportedly, the government has initiated 133 development projects in different fields costing Rs 305 billion out of which Rs 128 billion have already been spent and another tranche of Rs 28 billion has also been set aside.
It is encouraging to see that undeterred by machinations of the insurgents, the government is determined to persist with its efforts to ameliorate a lot of people of the province which will surely contribute immensely to mitigating the grievances of the people of Balochistan. I am convinced that the Bugtis can still be brought back to the national mainstream and sincere efforts must be made to woo them. That would surely reduce the level of insurgency to a great extent. The government must also take adequate measures to stop targeted killings of the settlers and the Baloch nationalists to eliminate the element of propaganda against Pakistan by the international human rights outfits.