Ignorance is not bliss

Balochistan is in turmoil, more so than ever before. President Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Asma Jahangir has voiced her concerns regarding the alarming situation in the province. “Balochistan is burning; if this fire is not brought under control, it will engulf the entire country,” Ms Jahangir warned. The SCBA president addressed the Balochistan High Court Bar Association, a seminar and a protest rally in Quetta. It is astonishing that many people, including the president of the SCBA, have understood how volatile the Balochistan issue is but our government remains oblivious. Ms Jahangir further said, “Use of police powers by the Frontier Corps (FC) is illegal and the FC should be stopped from using these powers…We demand from the government to send paramilitary troops back to their barracks, otherwise the lawyers will start a protest campaign from Quetta involving major political parties and representatives of civil society.” Ms Jahangir accused the government of not being serious about tackling the problems of Balochistan.

The government keeps claiming that it has done a lot for Balochistan through the NFC Award, the Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan package and other such measures. What the government is blissfully unaware of, or pretends to be, is that the civilians are still not powerful enough to counter what the military is doing in Balochistan. That the FC runs a parallel government in the province is no secret. The increase in target killings and missing persons is something the government should be worried about but by the looks of it, it is not. The Baloch have blamed the FC and our intelligence agencies for the disappearances, torture and deaths of their brethren. Granted that the military is the country’s most powerful institution but the government must put its foot down and make the security establishment realise that they are not doing any favour to the federation if state terror continues in Balochistan.

Balochistan is not just the largest province but is also highly important geo-strategically. It has immense wealth of natural resources. The Gwadar port project could have led to employment of Baloch youth, instead it has only led to a sense of apathy because of flawed planning and indifference of the authorities to its real potential. The brutal killings of Baloch nationalists are not just criminal but are proving counter-productive. The Baloch insurgents will not rest until and unless the government addresses their grievances and gives Balochistan its rights. Pakistan cannot afford further destabilisation. To save the country, we must save Balochistan.

(my editorial in Daily Times)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Persecution without reason

Universities all over the world tend to hire people with a sound academic background as they want the best for their students. The Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan did the same when they hired Dr Ghazala Anwar as Deputy Dean of Usul-ud-Din (Islamic jurisprudence) at the women’s campus of International Islamic University (IIU) in Islamabad. Dr Ghazala earned her PhD in philosophy and religious studies from the Temple University (USA) in 1993, with teaching and research interests in Islamic jurisprudence, gender issues, Sufism and sexuality. She was appointed at the IIU under the Foreign Faculty Hiring Programme after her application was reviewed by a Peer Review Committee of scholars. Dr Ghazala Anwar has been part of a movement that has been trying to fight for the just treatment of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Intersex and Questioning (LGBTIQ) Muslims. The movement does not preach to others to become homosexuals, but asks Muslims to be tolerant of these “sexual m...
Read more

The myth of September 6, 1965

Every year we Pakistanis celebrate September 6th with a lot of ‘national fervour’ and laud the armed forces for being ‘victorious’ against the Indian forces back in the 1965 war. The state commemorates the ‘Defence Day’ by holding various ceremonies and special programmes. Milli naghmay (patriotic songs) are aired on the local television channels and radio stations, while the newspapers bring out special supplements to mark the day. This is all very well, but I wonder if our people know that in actuality we are not celebrating a victory. Not only did we lose militarily in 1965 – state propaganda aside – but we also lost our national unity in the process. Forty-two years down the road, ours is a country that is on the verge of dismemberment, again. August 1947 gave birth to two independent states, India and Pakistan. It also gave birth to territorial disputes that haunt both South Asian neighbours to date. Kashmir is one of the main disputed territories. The two infant states fought a ...
Read more

Bitter truth

Sindh Home Minister Dr Zulfiqar Mirza is a loose cannon and, if rubbed the wrong way, will fire away. At the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), Dr Mirza was hit by a barrage of complaints by the city’s industrialists and traders for failing to give them adequate protection. Obviously stung by the criticism, he said that “people cast votes for extortionists; they should now talk to their elected representatives for law and order”. Dr Mirza pinned the blame for the deteriorating law and order situation mostly on the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM). “Dr Imran Farooq was murdered in London, but buses of Pakhtuns were torched in Karachi. Did Asfandyar Wali kill Dr Imran Farooq?” asked Dr Mirza. He went on to allege that when “they [the MQM] want to kill any Pakhtun, Sindhi, Punjabi or Baloch in Karachi, they go about executing their plan methodically”. What Dr Mirza said is politically inappropriate given that the MQM is a coalition partner of the PPP government both at the Cen...
Read more