Friday, July 10, 2015

Pakistan - Disarming Violence





The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has once again expressed concern over the recent targeted sectarian and ethnic violence in Balochistan.
They have almost pleaded to the government to do something to prevent these consistent incidents of ethnic killings in this province.
As a nation we are also not startled by the ‘distressing’ findings that the HRCP has put forward, rather what we have become is almost numb to the idea of violence and sectarian killings, especially in Balochistan.
What would actually be surprising is when the government makes this province a priority, finally opening their eyes to the man-made calamities here.


Recently hundreds of militants have renounced violence in exchange for state amnesty.
Additionally under the NAP, religious seminaries will be registered through the education department in the province, with 2000 madrassas already registered by the Industries Department in Balochistan.
Before one can breathe a sigh of relief over this flicker of good news, the probability of this succeeding and the nature of its repercussions is the real question.
For a program to disarm the militants, it might be too late to negotiate with the resilient tribal chiefs of the area.
Truthfully, it will be easy to pick up arms again, than it will be for the government to provide complete rehabilitation and reintegration of Balochis into society.


It seems that it will take much more than these constant warnings and plea to instill in the government some sort of civic responsibility to protect the lives of all citizens.
There is only so much that a human rights groups can do.
Balochistan is the largest province in the country, with the richest mineral resources that one can find, and the poorest.
Even in this simplest of reductions of the Balochi problem, Balochi rage is justified.
The insurgency must end, the insurgents must be rehabilitated, and ethnic violence quelled.
If law enforcement does its job better, other things will come together.

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