Balochistan at cross roads

By: M Rama Rao

The situation in Balochistan today is comparable to the scene that existed in our own Nagaland till the Shillong accord made the state, to quote late B K Nehru, an island of peace in the turbulent northeast. The willingness of Th Muivah, leader of a NSCN faction, who had gone out of the peace process, to come to Delhi, shows that the North Block efforts are paying off. Interesting aspect of the development is that Zoramthanga, the Mizoram chief minister, and a one time 'rebel' himself, played a crucial role in bringing Muivah and his colleagues to the negotiating table.

Power doesn't flow through the barrel of the gun, always. People's aspirations and grievances can be addressed only through the political process, not through a reign of terror and repression. That India had learnt the lesson quite early in the day is clear from New Delhi's willingness to walk that extra mile to address the needs of the northeast.

From what is happening in Balochistan, it is clear that Pakistan's military junta has no clue as to how it should proceed in the homeland to some five hundred tribes. Otherwise, the regime would not have directed its army and air force to lay a seize of the whole of Dera Bugti district to 'teach a lesson to the tribal chieftains who dared to defy the Federal Authority.'

Bugti, the district headquarters, is a town of some fifty thousand people. Whatever be the provocation and whatever be the gravity of the provocation, blocking water and food supplies and disconnecting telephone and electricity is a punishment no civilised Government will inflict on its own people unless of course the powers that be view the 'trouble as an open rebellion' and thus 'a direct challenge to the established authority'.

Obviously, Islamabad decided to turn the screws to make the people to fall in-line. Such repressive measures have not yielded any desired results anywhere in the world. And Balochistan is no exception. In fact, the fiercely independent Balochis have been resisting all attempts to subjugate them right from the time of the first marshal law ruler, Ayub Khan.

The latest military offensive has ignited serious resentment and anger through out the province, the largest of four provinces in Pakistan. The Balochistan Rights Movement (BRM) and Balochistan Voice (it is running a web site to sensitise world opinion to Balochi plight) have threatened to take their case to the newly established International Criminal Court at The Hague 'in order to hold accountable the army generals responsible for carrying out gross violations of human rights of the Baloch population, our loss of life, plunder (looting) of wealth and non-existence of fundamental civil rights'. If they succeed in carrying out their threat, then the Balochi's would be the first case to be brought before the ICC.

The provocation for the latest round of trouble in Balochistan was attacks on gas installations. Dera Bugti is the energy capital of Pakistan. It has immense hydrocarbon reserves. These riches have not brought any benefit to the locals. Nor is the fact that the region accounts for 15 per cent of the country's energy needs. The locals have been demanding through their traditional chieftains (Sardars) employment to the sons of the soil and no further Punjabisation of their land.

The Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL), one of the official agencies engaged in exploration, claims it is more than liberal in doling out doles. Surprisingly, for a government company, it has no hesitation to openly proclaim that it has paid bribes to the Sardas but their greed was unsatiated.

''The chief of the Bugti tribe was paid Rs 200 million under an agreement on account of land acquisition, royalty, water charges, use of roads linking to Pirko and Looti areas during the last three years'', says the company. In March this year, it adds, the chief was paid Rs 80 million but he was demanding more and asked the local employees to strike work. His followers attacked a gas field, injured a Frontier Constabulary (FC) Jawan and kidnapped two others. A Chinese seismic survey is in jeopardy as the stand off between the Government and the tribals continues.

Well, these are serious charges, no doubt but hold a mirror to the mindset of the industrial-bureaucratic-military complex which doesn't have the vision to see beyond the colonial practice of divide and rule in tribal areas. Smelling conspiracies and sensing ethnic wars even in matters so mundane as labour-management disputes is a natural corollary.

Whoever is the author orchestrating the latest campaign will do well to remember that Pakistan will have difficulty in facing a second amputation in three decades. Who has given him the right to brand the Nawab of Bugti a blackmailer, a traitor and a terrorist? To demand development and to stake a claim to natural mineral wealth is their natural right.

Expert view is if the proceeds from natural gas are used locally, even at the current below market-price level, annual revenue of not only Bugti but of entire Balochistan will go up at least ten fold. As of now, this province is a basket case. The budget for the current fiscal (2002-03) shows dependence on federal transfers totaling Rs 24.89 billion. Local revenue receipts are a paltry Rs 1.53 billion.

Unlike East Pakistan, which remained a colony till the day of its liberation, Balochistan is a vital for Pakistan's existence, politically, economically and strategically. There is another aspect to tribal politics. About forty percent of the Pakistan army and about 95 per cent of the Frontier Constabulary are made up of tribals from Balochistan, Waziristan and other agency tracts. The GHQ is not unaware of the ground realities. And this fact explains the half hearted attempt at 'mopping up operations' against Al Qaeda in Waziristan. As Majid Qazi, a columnist of the Balochistan Post, remarks, tribalism and feudalism today stand equated with nationalism in the tribal hinterland owing to the follies of Islamabad.

Tarique Niazi, who teaches Environmental Sociology at the University of Wisconsin, describes the Nawab Bugti in the eye of the storm for yet another time, as 'a democrat, who is not given to parochialism', a feature of Pakistan politics. The Nawab never shook hands of a military despot though Pakistan has been home to military rule for most of its existence as an independent nation.

''A man of such integrity deserves a gun salute, not gun fire'', the professor lamented in a perceptive op-ed article, ''Making peace with the Bugtis,'' in the Balochistan Post a few days ago.

For us in India, the developments in Balochistan are of immense interest. But we do not known much about it. Our media seldom focuses attention on the area. In fact, reports in the mainline Pakistani press also are very sketchy. Only a clamity or a violent demonstration brings the area in momentary limelight.

For the Pak rulers as also the Pak media, Balochistan is a no man's land, 'where a only blade of grass grows'. One report, very sketchy indeed in the Daily Times, tells that loot and plunder are rampant in Balochistan. With 'law enforcing agencies turning a deaf ear to the complaints, dacoits loot trucks, buses and oil tankers in broad day light'. Main lifeline of the region, Quetta-Karachi highway has become prone to dacoities.

A local journalist, who wrote on the law and order scene in his paper, is facing music. A case has been slapped under Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) against him and he is made to cool his heels in the jail.

Human Rights violations are not new to Balochistan. As things stand, these will not and unless President General Musharraf takes notice of Tarique Niazi's warning: ''I ask the General to call off the military operation. If he goes ahead with it, he may not be here to regret it, but Pakistan and its people will.''

The Balochvoice and Balochistan Rights Movement are more explicit. ''The Pakistani establishment has continuously suppressed, violated and subdued the Baloch people and looted their motherland systematically and progressively and the world has turned a blind eye to the crises in Balochistan. But now the Baloch have pinned hope on the international community especially the human rights defender and other organizations who work for justice and equality in today's Global Village. The Punjabi establishment should be warned that the Baloch have realized through years of repression and suffrage at the hands of the Punjabi Pakistan that together we stand and divided we fall''. (Syndicate Features) Dailyexcelsior.com 23.7.02