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Talking It Out
Will General Musharraf's attempts to initiate a dialogue with defiant nationalist leaders succeed?
By: Shahzada Zulfiqar
Backing off from a show of force against Baloch leaders opposed to federally sanctioned mega projects and the new cantonments in Balochistan, President General Pervez Musharraf has chosen to initiate indirect contact with the defiant nationalist forces.
Musharraf s soft-spoken special advisor, Tariq Aziz, flew to Dera Bugti to meet with the Jamhoori Watan Party head, Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, and then to Sardar Attaullah Mengal in Islamabad, to canvas the parameters of future talks and engage in preliminary discussions over the dispute.
Both sides seem satisfied with the talks so far. Both Mengal and Bugti were willing to receive the President's message and consider his point of view. Both also assured Aziz that further discussion would be possible after mutual consultation with the concerned nationalist Baloch groups.
Nawab Khair Baksh Marri, a hard line Baloch leader, and Dr Abdul Hai Baloch of the National Party are still to engage in talks with the government. While certain press reports speculated that Nawab Marri had been contacted by the federal government through some of his friends, and that he had consented to meet with Tariq Aziz in the first week of September, the Nawab's MP A son, Mir Balach Marri, leader of the militant group of his tribe in Kohlu, has defiantly declared that the time for negotiations with Punjabi-dominated Islamabad has passed.
"My father is not in the mood to involve himself in negotiations with those who have repeatedly betrayed the Baloch people, by never living up to their word in the past. I think Punjabi rulers are also not in the mood to grant the Baloch nation their rights through talks," Mir Balach told Newsline. However, he said that talks would be welcome after the Balochis have been granted their usurped rights.
At the opposite end of the spectrum is the National Party, formed after a merger of Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo 's Balochistan National Party and Dr Hai's Balochistan National Movement, which disapproves of the militant's actions. The gulf between its mainstream leaders, who propose peaceful opposition, and its workers, who favour militancy, is clearly visible. "We are democratic people and have nothing to do with the militant activities taking place in the province," stated Hasil Khan, secretary general of the National Party, in a press conference. His workers, however, remain resentful over their leader's statement, believing that the party should have remained silent, if it did not approve of or appreciate the sacrifices made by the insurgents.
The meeting of Sardar Sanaullah Zehri, an important leader of the National Party, with the Corps Commander of Balochistan, where he reportedly condemned the Khuzdar incident in which five soldiers and one civilian were killed by unknown persons, has also created tension among the party ranks. Sardar Zehri later clarified that he had called on the Corps Commander to lodge a complaint against 8000 acres of his tribe's land being utilised by the military to extend Khuzdar's cantonments.
Sensing the strength of popular support for the nationalist groups, government and military circles in Islamabad have initiated a media campaign to seek support for their projects. Corps Commander Balochistan, Lt. General Shahid Hameed, met with provincial ministers and tribal notables loyal to the government. This publicity has angered the Baloch people, as press releases have focused only on the provincial ministers' regret over the death of five jawans in the Khuzdar firing incident, and have not mentioned civilian casualties.
Recent gunfire between Bugti tribesmen and the Frontiers Corps, the death of a soldier and four FC personnel in a rocket attack, and a dynamite explosion in Sui, Dera Bugti, has further endangered the negotiation process between the government and nationalist leaders. Bugti tribesmen were visibly upset when life-size portraits of Nawab Bugti on different chowks of Sui bazaar were allegedly defaced by FC men.
However, both Nawab Bugti and the Presidency seem willing to continue the dialogue process at present.
Political analysts in Balochistan insist that the federal government must take steps to gain the Baloch people's confidence, and that both sides need to show more flexibility to resolve the current impasse.
Newsline
Sep 2004 |