Mr Asif Zardari’s proposal to hold an all-parties conference (APC) on the troubles in Balochistan “within the next ten days” has not received a positive response. The Balochistan National Party (Mengal) and National Party say they are not ready to attend the PPP-hosted conference. So, in the expectation of receiving negative responses also from other Baloch parties, the PPP has reinforced its reconciliation committee which will now presumably talk to the estranged Baloch leaders.
Meanwhile, the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) has killed a Quetta University professor — who was about to become vice-chancellor of the university — because he was a Punjabi. And an MNA from Balochistan who appeared on a TV channel on Tuesday said there was no such organisation as the BLA and that it was a mere concoction of those who were opposed to the interests of the Baloch. The nationalists who refused to attend have objected to the invitation for APC extended to MMA and BNP (Awami) parties and also want the military operations against the “invisible” or “concocted” BLA called off first. So what has changed after the February 18 elections?
The PPP chief minister of Balochistan, Sardar Aslam Raisani, has tried to make a difference. He has tendered an apology to Balochistan — including to “people who have gone to the mountains to wage war” — on behalf of the people of Pakistan, and offered talks, which have been “welcomed” by the nationalists in general except the BLA which has rejected them. Now the offer of an APC by the PPP has been rejected by the major Baloch parties who want the “recommendations” arrived at with the previous government to be implemented first.
Sardar Raisani has also prepared the ground for a Baloch consensus by saying that the solution of the Balochistan problem was no longer possible under the present Constitution but could be envisaged under the Lahore Resolution of 1940 wherein the Muslim majority “states” (now provinces) were referred to as “sovereign states”. The BLA is a strongly separatist organisation and represents the extreme aspects of Baloch nationalism. Since all nationalisms — and even “sub-nationalisms” — aspire to a state of their own, this is nothing new. But the truth is that Pakistan is readier than ever before to accept a new status for Balochistan. And there needs to be discussion of how much the federation is willing to give to Balochistan.
The earlier “recommendations” arrived at by two committees of the Senate were not accepted by President Musharraf. The ruling PMLQ thought it could live with the administrative changes which the Balochistan parties wanted, but the constitutional changes demanded were too tough at that point to negotiate for a final solution. Therefore the proposed APC should take a look at the work of both the committees, and all the parties of the country can learn the real political topography of the province. An APC can then branch off into separate discussions on the various demands that have arisen. Finally, the federation must grasp the true nature of the “reform” that is needed to pacify Balochistan and end the suffering of the people there.
The BLA has been functional off and on since 1974 and is dominated by two major tribes which have acquired a political vendetta against President Musharraf based on bloodshed. Meanwhile, the generalised feeling of alienation among the people of Balochistan has coalesced with the violence of BLA. But there are other psychological aspects that impinge on the matter too. There is lawlessness and a minimal writ of the state in which intimidation works as the motive force behind any local “consensus”. That is why it is difficult to say whether a representative of Balochistan at any level can speak freely or is influenced by the environment of fear in the province.
Given this situation, it is clearly going to be difficult to get any kind of talks going on Balochistan. But “ancillary” measures must be taken to soften the hard positions taken by the sardars who are bent on nursing their grievances. While the release of the ex-chief minister Mr Akhtar Mengal will definitely help even as Sardar Raisani heads the government in Quetta, it is essential that the ruling coalition should first sit down and meditate on how far it is willing to change the Constitution. Indeed, instead of bickering over the judges’ restoration, the two mainstream parties should develop the intellectual capacity to think about the federation in a new key.
The fate of the projected APC is sealed if the mainstream parties simply go on holding the garland of Balochistan’s provincial autonomy in their hands. Everyone in Pakistan is agreed that a much bigger measure of provincial autonomy is now needed — and Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani has announced the doing away of the common list of constitutional subjects in a year. But what formula will be found in respect of the natural resources and their provincial absorption is still not clear. Only after this becomes clear can a new common approach take shape between the Baloch and the federation. *
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008 424story_24-4-2008_pg3_1 |
