Center for International Policy

As printed in Frontier Star

February 7, 2005

At War with the Nation
by Sarmad Bashir

The more the government tries to restore order in Balochistan, the harder becomes the task of establishing its writ in the troubled province with law and order situation there gradually going from bad to worse. A powerful blast in a Lahore-bound bus near Quetta on Sunday killed 13 and injured 20 with police officials finding it difficult to determine whether it was caused by a time device or by a rocket attack, but wasting no time in passing the buck on to Baloch nationalists.

Another incident claimed eight lives in a gun battle between Bugti tribesmen and the security personnel in Dera Bugti, which remained gripped with violence since the military operation began in Kohlu in mid-December after a string of rocket attacks including one during General Musharraf's visit there. The officials continue to blame the Bugti tribesmen for igniting violence but then working under DCO Abdus Samad Lasi, now a household name for accentuating the trouble, they cannot simply afford to be truthful. However, some of them, the conscientious ones, confirmed that it was after the FC had launched attack on the tribesmen's position last Thursday that the local population went on the rampage and set fire to many buildings and shops in the area.

There is no justification for attacking security forces nor does one hold any brief for those involved in subversive activities but then it is the state's policy of using force to resolve essentially political matters which is actually exacerbating the Balochistan situation. That there is no hope for any paradigm shift in this policy became evident from General Musharraf's recent statement that the government could talk to the Baloch Sardars only if they first agreed to disband their private armies and stopped impeding the ongoing process of development in the province. Paradoxically, they are being treated as aliens and expected to behave like responsible citizens.

The President's implicit indication about resolving the Balochistan crisis through force rather than political means is no surprise in the wake of government's constant foot-dragging on its earlier plan of engaging the nationalists in a dialogue. Those in authority remained reluctant to implement the preliminary agreement reached between the Balochistan Committee and JWP Chief Nawab Akbar Bugti which had compelled PML President Ch Shujaat Hussain, who also heads this parliamentary body, to be on record as saying that 'certain elements' were trying to create roadblocks in the committee's working. But he cautiously avoided identifying these unscrupulous elements for fear of incurring displeasure or even wrath.

As repercussions of the military action in the two western provinces continued to reverberate across the country, the government remained indifferent not only to the domestic anger but also to the global concern about the situation. It should be disturbing for those in authority to notice that the world is not ready to lend credence to their claim that the recently launched military operation in Kohlu and Dera Bugti is exclusively aimed at targeting the terrorists. For those taking a distant view of the Balochistan situation, the HRCP findings that civilians are being subjected to indiscriminate attacks by the security forces are more credible. And there would be few takers for the official view that insurgents are being armed and financed from abroad.

The general perception that the government has brought Balochistan situation on the verge of civil war is shared by foreign observers closely watching the military action in the troubled province. Dr Frederic Grare, an expert attached with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, in his recent report "Pakistan: a resurgence of Baloch nationalism" has described the human rights situation in Balochistan as very grave. Relying more on information from independent sources, some of which indicate that upto 85 per cent of the 22,000 to 26,000 inhabitants of Dera Bugti had fled their homes after it was repeatedly shelled by paramilitary forces, he dismissed the idea of foreign intervention and said Baloch were acting on their own.

Another foreign scholar Dr Selig Harrison of the Centre for International Policy painted even a bleaker picture by saying that Balochistan is in need of desperate help from the international community. It is an implicit recognition of the concerns of the Baloch population battling for greater autonomy and control of their land and natural resources on which the federal government is reluctant to relax its grip. The peculiar military mindset which dominates the entire policy making process is averse to hearing the suggestions that quasi-insurgency in the troubled province could be quelled by addressing political problems and allaying genuine fears of the Baloch, not by merely announcing the uplift plans.

So if the Baloch do not trust the rulers in Islamabad it is not without rationale. Not only have they not received any explanation from the government for planning to build cantonments across the province but also continue to see the fellow Baloch killed indiscriminately in the military operations that show no sign of abating. Perhaps they understand there is no use seeking mercy from those who neither feel any guilt in allowing their own citizens to be killed nor have the courage to lodge protest with the Bush Administration over the Bajaur bombings. It's a crying shame that our lame duck Foreign Office couldn't even summon the US Ambassador to convey its displeasure.

But how long our sacred saviors will remain at war with their own nation? Two years after the military operation in the troubled tribal region the army is still not in a position to come out of its camps at night. How long will it take to flush out 'foreign terrorists' from the area and establish the writ of state? Those in authority can be rightly asked why they can’t live in peace with their own people when they are so deeply obsessed with making peace with the outside world. Blindly following US dictates in return for a support to perpetuate their unrepresentative rule they fail to realize the consequences of our involvement in the so-called War on Terror.