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    NEWS & OTHER LANG. NEWS

 06.10.2008

 Mengal backs all options to secure Baloch rights

By Saleem Shahid QUETTA, Oct 5: Veteran Baloch nationalist leader Sardar Ataullah Mengal has stressed the need for using all options for securing the rights of...


 01.10.2008

 Four FC personnel killed by mine

  QUETTA, Sept 30: Four security personnel were killed and five others injured by a landmine in Zain Koh area of Dera Bugti on Tuesday.According to source...


 29.09.2008

 Balochistan govt drops 8 cases against Khair Baksh Marri

QUETTA: The government of Balochistan has dropped eight of the nine cases against Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Khair Bukhsh Marri and his son Hayr-byar Marri...


 29.09.2008

 Baloch leader condemns military operations

By Amanullah Kasi National Party Chief Senator Dr. Malik Baloch has condemned the escalation of military operation in Dera Bugti in which innocent people were...


 29.09.2008

 Baloch and Sindhi Leaders met with US lawmakers

Baloch and Sindhi Leaders met with US lawmakers to highlight the Pakistan's human right violations in Sindh and Balochistan. WASHINGTON DC: Se...


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OPINIONS    

Editorial: Balochistan politics

01.03.2008

 


WHILE Balochistan Governor Zulfiqar Magsi’s stated intentions of ending hostilities among various feuding elements in the province are welcome, it would be useful to recall that the heady, post-election phase is not yet over. True, in the days following the Feb 18 poll, a reconciliatory approach by the main political parties has brought former rivals together. In Balochistan’s case, the PPP’s apology to the people of the province for state-sponsored excesses perpetrated on them has been particularly poignant. But it would be a mistake to presume that Balochistan’s troubles will disappear overnight with the induction of a new political dispensation, however well intentioned it may be. For one, Governor Magsi’s ceremonial position may impede his reconciliatory measures as it is the assembly that will have legislative powers. Here, friction cannot be ruled out as it is unclear how far the two largest parties — the pro-establishment PML-Q and the PPP — will cooperate with each other in the assembly, given their mutual distrust.

A bigger consideration is the role of the army. Even if the legislators are united in their resolve to improve conditions in the province, can we assume that the military, that has so far called the shots in Balochistan, will take a back seat? Propelled into action by the belief that Balochistan’s nationalist ferment is the work of foreign elements, the army has carried out indiscriminate attacks on the province’s population. Hundreds of activists have simply ‘disappeared’, political leaders have been killed or arrested and armed action has uprooted thousands of families. These and the army’s expanding presence as witnessed in the building of military cantonments and check posts, and its possession of land for commercial purposes, have fuelled resentment. Will the army submit to a new political order that may want to limit its presence in the province? Doubts on this score are justified. After all, the army failed to take its cue from the recommendations of a parliamentary committee on Balochistan in 2005 during the tenure of a pro-military government. One can only hope that army chief Gen Kayani’s apparent resolve to transform his institution into an apolitical and professional force will bear fruit and that the military intelligence will not be allowed a free hand in the province.

For the next government in Balochistan, the task ahead is clear — and gargantuan. Apart from anti-army feelings, there are problems ranging from grinding poverty and the absence of an adequate socio-economic infrastructure to feelings of alienation among the Baloch population. Lack of provincial autonomy has given them little say in the distribution of the wealth that their land generates, while projects like Gwadar Port have created uneasiness. Many Baloch see outside labour being given precedence over local recruits and view such projects as a means of altering the province’s demographic composition. Clearly, words alone will not douse the flames of separatism that still burn. For that, more concrete action is needed. In this regard, sending the army back to the barracks and taking measures to promote provincial autonomy might prove a good starting point.

http://www.dawn.com/2008/03/01/ed.htm

« Previous  |  Next »

• 27.02.2008 - KARACHI: Baloch leaders unimpressed by PPP apology
• 26.02.2008 - Editorials and comments on Zardari’s apologies to Balochistan
• 18.02.2008 - Balochistan: Lukewarm, to say the least
• 14.02.2008 - Pakistan to serve as trade, energy corridor through Gwadar:
• 14.02.2008 - The disillusioned voters of Gwadar

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    COLUMNISTS 

 - Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur

 30.09 - Requiem for Reko Diq
 13.06 - Will history absolve them?
 13.05 - Testing times
 08.04 - Essentially bogus
 24.03 - Is a rollback possible?

 - Senator Sanaullah Baloch

 22.09 - The case against Musharraf
 05.08 - A lesson to be learnt
 16.05 - Balochistan peace prospects
 15.05 - The Baloch-Islamabad conflict
 18.04 - State of women in Balochistan

 - Aziz Baloch

 27.09 - Two Women’s Tragedies in Balochistan: Honor Killing and Rape.
 25.08 - Self-determination of Balochistan: Looking Back and Looking Forward
 11.08 - United Nations: It’s Contribution to the Everlasting Balochistan Crisis
 07.07 - Balochistan: Invisible to the International Community?
 24.06 - Balochistan: the true story

 Malik Siraj Akbar

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