To tackle the complex issue of Baluchistan, political wizards have been making hectic efforts.
It certainly is the case of mal governance and gross neglect. Rulers in Islamabad in fact couldn’t fully grasp the problem as it was partly based on genuine grievances of the people and their chieftains and partly engineered by foreign powers interested in the area. If we have a critical look at the situation one finds that there are three distinct parties involved in the whole issue. These are people, chieftains and foreign powers. While foreign powers and chieftains pursued their own agenda, people were willfully kept poor, suppressed and above all illiterate. Local chieftains were averse to developmental works in their respective areas as it would increase awareness and ultimately loosen their hold on the people. It also reflects on governments’ apathy and lack of vision. Owing to these avoidable factors, over the period of time Baluchistan problem has convoluted to an insurmountable extent. It certainly would require vision, resources, continuity of policy and persistent efforts by provincial and federal governments to arrest the situation and to make amend to the folly committed over last sixty years. After a long wait government has taken a step forward. Baluchistan Package named as “Aghaaz-e-Huqook Baluchistan” was presented before parliament on November 24, 2009 by Senator Raza Rabbani, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Baluchistan. The package makes an effort to address all possible grievances sounded from time to time concerning constitutional, political, administrative and economic matters by the people and political leaders of Baluchistan. To oversee its implementation a monitoring mechanism has also been proposed. President Asif Ali Zardari has summoned a joint session of parliament on December 7, 2009 for debate and for its enactment. It will trigger a new set of activities bringing about major changes in the manner in which the province is governed, managed and administered. As soon as the package is enacted expectations of the people will rise and government will be under pressure to produce results. Have we done any homework on this account? Are we ready to manage the change? Or else, the whole exercise will further disillusion the masses and complicate the situation we so badly want to rectify. Out of the three players, tribal chiefs are of immediate importance. They have a political say, they can influence the people through motivation as well as coercion and few of them do have foreign links. They happen to be the opinion makers and the voice of predominantly illiterate and fretful people of their areas. It is they who have to accept or reject the package, but unfortunately they are voicing concerns and are skeptical of the whole exercise. The government needs to listen to these voices of dissent and assure and reassure them of its sincerity. As far as possible they should be made part of the change process despite the difficulties posed by foreign involvement in the area. The issue of foreign involvement in Baluchistan stems from its geo-strategic location, abundance of natural resources and the big game being played in the region. Russian in order to control world energy resources wanted access to the warm waters. Invasion of Afghanistan was the first phase. Second would have been Baluchistan. While pursuing such an ambition it was but natural for them to create and nurture dissident elements within Baluchistan. Lack of development and dissatisfied tribal leadership provided ideal conditions for such undertakings. With the exit of Russians’ from Afghanistan other powers came forward to mentor these organizations as turmoil in the area serves many purposes. Like denial of Central Asian energy resources to regional powers. To stifle the possibility of materialization of Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline or Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline projects. To check Chinese ingress and involvement in developmental projects like Gawader Port and Sandak Copper mine in the area. Lastly to raise the temperature of the Baluchistan to the extent that it threatens the sovereignty of Pakistan or at least creates a favorable bargaining position for India to settle Kashmir dispute on her own terms. The time is changing very rapidly, it must be realized that the availability of electronic gadgets and ever increasing coverage of electronic media and mobile net work has immensely increased public awareness. Undoubtedly, the package addresses mega concerns of people but its benefits will take time to tickle down to common man. That is the major gap government need to bridge to win over the populace of the province. What people need is jobs, security including food security, health services, education for their children and above all voice to resolve their own issues. The package will help in cooling down political temperature in the province and will create conditions conducive for improvement and provision of essential services to them. The success of the whole effort depends on how quickly government can reach out to the people and how effectively their needs are fulfilled. While evaluating the Baluchistan situation one finds that the majority of people and tribal chiefs don’t subscribe to separatist ideas. It is certainly a plus point. In order to reinforce them and to dilute the strength of separatist elements there is an urgency need to reach out to the people. They are the most important actors in the whole setting. They do understand the egoism of self centered chieftains and interest of the foreign powers and certainly won’t like to be a tool in their hands. They must feel part of the whole, their voice be heard (a Group Dynamic approach) and those having administration authority must come forthcoming to help and resolve their problems.
It certainly is the case of mal governance and gross neglect. Rulers in Islamabad in fact couldn’t fully grasp the problem as it was partly based on genuine grievances of the people and their chieftains and partly engineered by foreign powers interested in the area. If we have a critical look at the situation one finds that there are three distinct parties involved in the whole issue. These are people, chieftains and foreign powers. While foreign powers and chieftains pursued their own agenda, people were willfully kept poor, suppressed and above all illiterate. Local chieftains were averse to developmental works in their respective areas as it would increase awareness and ultimately loosen their hold on the people. It also reflects on governments’ apathy and lack of vision. Owing to these avoidable factors, over the period of time Baluchistan problem has convoluted to an insurmountable extent. It certainly would require vision, resources, continuity of policy and persistent efforts by provincial and federal governments to arrest the situation and to make amend to the folly committed over last sixty years. After a long wait government has taken a step forward. Baluchistan Package named as “Aghaaz-e-Huqook Baluchistan” was presented before parliament on November 24, 2009 by Senator Raza Rabbani, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Baluchistan. The package makes an effort to address all possible grievances sounded from time to time concerning constitutional, political, administrative and economic matters by the people and political leaders of Baluchistan. To oversee its implementation a monitoring mechanism has also been proposed. President Asif Ali Zardari has summoned a joint session of parliament on December 7, 2009 for debate and for its enactment. It will trigger a new set of activities bringing about major changes in the manner in which the province is governed, managed and administered. As soon as the package is enacted expectations of the people will rise and government will be under pressure to produce results. Have we done any homework on this account? Are we ready to manage the change? Or else, the whole exercise will further disillusion the masses and complicate the situation we so badly want to rectify. Out of the three players, tribal chiefs are of immediate importance. They have a political say, they can influence the people through motivation as well as coercion and few of them do have foreign links. They happen to be the opinion makers and the voice of predominantly illiterate and fretful people of their areas. It is they who have to accept or reject the package, but unfortunately they are voicing concerns and are skeptical of the whole exercise. The government needs to listen to these voices of dissent and assure and reassure them of its sincerity. As far as possible they should be made part of the change process despite the difficulties posed by foreign involvement in the area. The issue of foreign involvement in Baluchistan stems from its geo-strategic location, abundance of natural resources and the big game being played in the region. Russian in order to control world energy resources wanted access to the warm waters. Invasion of Afghanistan was the first phase. Second would have been Baluchistan. While pursuing such an ambition it was but natural for them to create and nurture dissident elements within Baluchistan. Lack of development and dissatisfied tribal leadership provided ideal conditions for such undertakings. With the exit of Russians’ from Afghanistan other powers came forward to mentor these organizations as turmoil in the area serves many purposes. Like denial of Central Asian energy resources to regional powers. To stifle the possibility of materialization of Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline or Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline projects. To check Chinese ingress and involvement in developmental projects like Gawader Port and Sandak Copper mine in the area. Lastly to raise the temperature of the Baluchistan to the extent that it threatens the sovereignty of Pakistan or at least creates a favorable bargaining position for India to settle Kashmir dispute on her own terms. The time is changing very rapidly, it must be realized that the availability of electronic gadgets and ever increasing coverage of electronic media and mobile net work has immensely increased public awareness. Undoubtedly, the package addresses mega concerns of people but its benefits will take time to tickle down to common man. That is the major gap government need to bridge to win over the populace of the province. What people need is jobs, security including food security, health services, education for their children and above all voice to resolve their own issues. The package will help in cooling down political temperature in the province and will create conditions conducive for improvement and provision of essential services to them. The success of the whole effort depends on how quickly government can reach out to the people and how effectively their needs are fulfilled. While evaluating the Baluchistan situation one finds that the majority of people and tribal chiefs don’t subscribe to separatist ideas. It is certainly a plus point. In order to reinforce them and to dilute the strength of separatist elements there is an urgency need to reach out to the people. They are the most important actors in the whole setting. They do understand the egoism of self centered chieftains and interest of the foreign powers and certainly won’t like to be a tool in their hands. They must feel part of the whole, their voice be heard (a Group Dynamic approach) and those having administration authority must come forthcoming to help and resolve their problems.
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