The grave situation in Balochistan

THE FRONTIER POST

Fateh Ullah Khan Kundi

The Balochistan dispute had erupted with the inception of Pakistan with many ups and downs have taken place throughout the course of time but it never received much attention neither at home nor abroad. It is now to be determined whether this new found attention would do some good to the misery stricken Baloch people. Balochistan issue has been discussed threadbare in parliament and the media, at conferences and lately also in the courts. Pakistan's assertive judiciary has also jumped into the ring to address and resolve the miseries and concerns of Baloch people. Chief Justice of Supreme Court Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry travelled to Quetta about couple of weeks ago to hear petitions regarding the dizzy law-and-order situation in the province. This will no doubt provide him an opportunity to know firsthand the issues of human rights violations in Balochistan, the disappearances of Baloch nationalists and the killings of non-Baloch civilians, mainly settlers. This is one place where there is an immediate and foremost need for judicial activism to set things right for the sake of both Balochistan and Pakistan. In the US and even Europe now, politicians, academics, human rights activists and sections of the media have gradually started paying heed to the worsened security situation in Balochistan. Such efforts have thoroughly highlighted the issue on international forums. Consequently the issue has gained much attention and is a hot topic for discourse these days. The arrival of some leading Baloch separatists seeking asylum in Western countries including the late Akbar Bugti's grandson Bramdagh Bugti, Khair Bakhsh Marri's son Hyrbyair Marri and the Khan of Kalat, Mir Suleman Dawood and their efforts to internationalize the Balochistan issue is having an impact now. This has brought the Pakistani government under greater pressure with regard to the human rights situation in the province. One man who has helped focus attention on Balochistan in the West is Dana Rohrabacher, the 12th-term Republican Congressman from California who regardless of whatever feelings of homage and obeisance the Baloch people have for him hasn't done it for the love or by the way being compelled by his profound sympathy for the Baloch people or Balochistan but only and only for the sake of safeguarding the US interests in the region. The same Rohrabacher, once a speech-writer for President Ronald Reagan, frequently visited Pakistan in the 1980s at the time of the Afghan jihad. It wasn't uncommon to hear him singing praises of Pakistan for helping the US to prevail against the communists in Afghanistan. In his view, Pakistan had risked its own security to promote freedom in Afghanistan and vanquish the Soviet Red Army and communism. That is history as Pakistan is presently being reviled not only by Rohrabacher but numerous other Americans as an enemy that needs to be brought to its knees. Having described Pakistan as "a hardcore, two-faced enemy of the United States, " largely due to what for the Americans is its unhelpful policy in Afghanistan where the US military strategy is failing, it is obvious why he is promoting the cause of Balochistan's independence. The only palpable intent that constrained Dana upon submitting the controversial, non-binding resolution on Balochistan in the US House of Representatives in February was to punish and harm Pakistan. This move augmenting the existing distrust between Pakistan and the US has proved itself very heavy for the US. Rohrabacher, who according to media reports pronounced Baloch as "Bal-ook" during a recent news conference in Washington, is clearly lacking in knowledge about the Baloch and Balochistan. But it is also a fact that he helped remind many indifferent Pakistanis about the grave situation in their own backyard. In fact, Baloch who are angry with Pakistan are beginning to like Rohrabacher as they consider his initiative of some benefit for their cause. However, they will have to conceive that mere resolutions, particularly ones that have no chance to be adopted even by the US Congress and are being piloted for ulterior motives by outsiders, won't serve their cause. A better approach to highlight the issue among the masses would be to forge unity in their ranks and gain the sympathies of the people of Pakistan so that they could collectively enforce the powers sitting in Islamabad and Rawalpindi to tackle with the Balochistan crisis while fulfilling the wishes and and keeping aspirations of the Baloch people. Mistakes and excesses by successive Pakistani rulers, both civil and military, have turned the Balochistan situation into a crisis and never bothered to sit and chalk out a long lasting solution to it. This irresponsible way to handle the issue on the part of Pakistani government provided Pakistan's enemies an opportunity to infuriate the Baloch people and use the Baloch issue to force Pakistan to do their bidding in context of their international strategic agendas. The Supreme Court's intervention in Balochistan is to be welcomed, but it will mostly have a moral impact. Just like the apex court's initiative regarding the Karachi violence that couldn't bring any real change due to political realities on the ground, its move in the context of Balochistan may also fail to deliver on account of issues of Real politico. Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry surely knows a lot about Balochistan because he has a domicile from the province and has deep attachment to it. It was in Quetta that he received his early education, practiced law and presided over the Balochistan High Court as its chief justice. However, his good intentions need to be supplemented by all parties to the conflict to make an impact. One such party to the conflict is the intelligence agencies of Pakistan, which not surprisingly requested an opportunity to make a presentation to the Supreme Court on the Balochistan situation. The intelligence agencies have been blamed for many things in Balochistan and it would be right for the Chief Justice and his fellow judges to hear its side of the story.