Balochistan Unrest: A quagmire seeking immediate attention of Khaki and political establishments 

Saeed Minhas

The honeymoon of the federal government, as predicted earlier seems to have not lived beyond first week. First the onslaught from self-exiled leadership of MQM, then the budget and last but not the least is the terrorism hitting with full vengeance the Pashtoon dominated areas of Pakistan’s largest but poorest province on Friday and Saturday.

Almost two dozen causalities, including some top officials, scores of injured and more importantly a well synchronized series of attacks starting from residency of Quaid-e-Azam in Ziarat and then in Quetta’s women university and hospital are raising all the old questions. Some fingers are being pointed in the direction of foreign hands, others are considering it a reaction of the ultra nationalists against their decade old demands of giving them the ownership of their resources, while few others are raising the point that it’s just another episode to prove the existing gap between political and military leadership with regard to the province.

Leadership of Nawaz League seems to be still in a fix and besides issuing cyclostyled statements are still trying to find a way out of this testing situation. Talking to the PML (N) leadership reveals that knowing the complications of the Balochistan issue, Nawaz League had earned the wrath of Sardars and Nawabs by gifting the chief ministership and even Governorship to their allies. They were fully aware of the fact that Mengals and Baloch nationalists are under tremendous pressure from the known separatist groups. Similarly, the Nawaz League had an idea that how sensitive army establishment has grown over the years with regard to this issue.

The complication of the issue can be gauged from the fact that Baloch nationalists have been plying in the Baloch dominated areas throughout the election campaign. Most of their strikes and threats were meant for the leaders and voters of the 12 Baloch districts in west, east and south. There was hardly few countable strikes, outside of Quetta reported during the election period in northern parts, mostly dominated by Pashtun population. The result was that few thousands of votes secured a national assembly seats in almost all the Baloch populated areas during the recently held elections.

A strike in the Pashtun dominated area; namely Ziarat shows that Baloch nationalists have decided to put their signature across Balochistan to give a clear signal to the army establishment and Nawaz government that even a democratic dispensation might not deter them from their goals. Army establishment has long been trying to establish that these seperatists and even nationalists are being backed by foreign elements. Mainly India is singled out but as the local population reveals that many of our brethren Islamic countries from across the Arabian sea are equally involved in this endeavour of the insurgents. Presences of Quetta Shura have also remained very much at the centre of debate since the last years of Musharraf. US Congressman Dana Rohrabacher even introduced a resolution in the US House of Representatives calling upon Pakistan to recognise the Baloch right to self determination. The motion was co-sponsored by other congressmen Louie Gohmert and Steve King, highlighted in detail Balochistan’s troubled past with the centre after the creation of Pakistan. It was the same time when Obama administration was thinking of expaqnding their drone strikes in Balochistan apparetntly to get rid of Quetta Shura but in fact to accelerate the separatist feelings, remembers a Baloch nationalists sitting in the Balochistan Assembly these days.

The Chief Minister of Balochistan, Dr Malik has already come on record asking the army establishment to coordinate its efforts to purge the insurgents with political leadership. Finding no response from the Khaki establishment, insider believe, Dr Malik was left with no option but to rush to federal capital and inform the prime minister of the simmering tensions in his province. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has had detailed meetings with all the services chiefs soon after the budget and sources believe that the issue was brought up during his meetings. But the response is learned to have been that “we know how to deal with the situation.” Army chief has been on record not once but several times asking the political leadership to come up with some workable plans and let the army out of troubled areas. Because Army too believes that guns may not resolve the issue but talks might. But the paradox is that mistrust between the gunners and political leadership as well as administration is not that smooth which can ensure a coordinated action plan, revealed senior Leaguers. The ball has always been in the federal government’s court. The Baloch package seems to have failed to quell this separatist trend and now the sacrifice of Nawaz League to allow nationalist parties form the government is not bringing in the desired results, agreed the Leaguers. Therefore, entire political leadership have to join hands to bring Khakis on the table to find a workable and less cumbersome solutions to issues like resource allocations, missing persons and even the sense of ownership to the Baloch people, they argue.