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Balochistan: The game of development, deception & defiance
Tue, 2006-06-06 01:19
By Nizamuddin Nizamani
General (Retd) Jahanger Karamat, former Chief of Army Staff and the outgoing Pakistani ambassador in Washington
in his last briefing advised the establishment back home to settle the ongoing conflicts in Balochistan and Waziristan
through dialogue instead of the use of military muscles, as it becomes very difficult for the diplomats posted abroad to
defend the government policies.Mr Anwar Syed a political scientist and analyst based in US wrote Balochistan
violence as a devastating revolt. These comments give some insight to Balochistan’s factual ground realities, but the
ruling elite seem shy of realizing the situation. General Pervaiz Musharaf announced some funds and package of the
agriculturist of Balochistan on May 23, at Hub but generally repeated the similar old rhetoric. The bomb blast a day a
earlier in the town and series of bomb blast on May 11, 2006 at police Training Center, Quetta resulting in seven
causalities and a dozen injuries reminds us that all is not well in Balochistan.
Of late Balochistan has been the hot topic of the debate mostly based on the assumptions, lacking logical and
concrete evidences on the ground, therefore for all purposes this unfortunate and conflict ridden region is still a grey
region giving frequent surprises to the people of this country. Media portrays that a competition is underway between
pro-development ruling elite supported by the federation and anti-development disgruntled elements headed by two
Nawabs i.e Khair Bux Khan Mari and Akbar Khan Bugti and one Saradar i.e Attaullah Khan Mengal through their
militant organs. The best pro-development role model has been Jaam Yousuf the Chief Minister and his kitchen
cabinet members including some ministers from traditionally powerful families like Jamali, Rind, Nowsherwani,
Khan of Kalat family and some pretty new entrants like Kudus Bizanjo, Aasim Kurd Gelu, Naseer Mengal etc and
others from Pushtoon belt affiliated with religious and nationalist parties together.. The middle class nationalist
political parties like National Party falls in between.
The worst case of tribalism and anti-development dominated forces presented by the government has been the
Kohlu and Dera Bugti, the traditional bastion of Nawab Bugti and Nawab Mari and government also claim that the
militant activities have been limited to these two districts only.Taking the criterion, district Lasbella the traditional
Jaam family political base should have been the best developed model under the control of the champion of the
development in Balochistan, Jaam Yousf and his son Jaam Kamal Khan as district Nazim. However; impartial
development researchers (SPDC- Report 2001) finds out that ground situation is very different. Taking district wise
level of deprivation and development on national scale they rate Dera Bugti on 89 and Lasbella on 77. However in
case of rural deprivation Dera Bugti ranks at 92 and Lasbella even lower on 95.On provincial level similarly rural
deprivation prevails more in Lasbella as it ranked 21 as compared to Dera Bugti on 19. Road network is better in
Lasbella 2.58 per 100 squire km than 1.04 in Dera Bugti but road conditions are very poor in Lasbella .
Sardar Mengal is blamed as anti-development, but the road network in Wadh and Jhalawan is far better than Bela,
The comparison of Karachi-Quetta (RCD) highway in the two areas is just the tip of iceberg. Primary school
enrollment of 62.20 in Dera Bugti is higher as compared to 50.04 in Lasbella, Irrigated 1000 acres of cropped area of
1561.31 in Dera Bugti is far better than only 624.19 in Lasbella despite the fact that Lasbella has easy terrain and
topography. Electricity supply is better in Lasbella but Gas connection 7.93 percent as compared 5.06 percent and
piped water supply 13.91 as compared to 12.86 in Lasbella speaks volume of the development level in the areas
controlled by two different schools of thoughts. The epicenter of militant activity is an other grey area where
government claim that militant activities are just limited in Dera Bugti and Kohlu but in fact its reported from all over
Balochistan. Attacks on Zubaida Jalal’s house in Mandh, Jam Yousuf’s house in Kalat, Muslim leagues’ office in
Turbat, Chinese engineers killing in Gawadar and Hub, Abdul Samad Lasi’s home in Hub, ambushes on forces
conveys in Mangochar & Khuzdar, Qudoos Bizanjo’s house as well as recent May 11 attack on Police Training Center
and many other bomb blasts in Quetta city, nullify government claims that militants are limited to two districts only.
Existence of Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) is the most grey area where government kept denying BLA in the local
media as a minor group of few hundred militants blaming them as playing in the foreign hands but exhorting the
United States to declare it as terrorist group.
Surprisingly last month government not only acknowledged its existence but officially banned it. United States
reportedly did not find enough evidences to do so as Richard Boucher announced BLA has not been targeting
civilians. Although according to media reports BLA claimed responsibility for many attacks it disowns Gandawah,
PIDC, Karachi and bomb blast in a Punjab bound bus in Quetta that caused many civilian causalities. However the
authorities kept blaming BAL for these activities. Ban on BLA changed every thing in the media but nothing on the
ground as it did not have any office, declared hierarchy, neither bank accounts nor assets to be seized. If there is any
BLA it must be an state of art organization artfully dodging the security forces. Government has sentenced Nawab
Khair Bux Marri and his two sons Balach and Herbeyar Mari to 60 years imprisonment in absentia but this too seem
very strange as government know where Nawab Mari is and his two sons are beyond their approach.
Analysis of government analyst about BLA seems to be to be based on the assumptions made and derived from a
romantic cum slanderous investigative story about the origin of BLA on the basis of connecting the missing links
mentioned by two fictitious farmer KGB agents or interrogation extracts from arrested militants.That story appeared in
a net newspaper in 2005 and its translations were reproduced by many papers certainly dealt a lethal below to baloch
militants, and temporarily isolated them but haphazardly prepared that report simultaneously targeted almost all the
political alliances, media, journalists and writers in Pakistan that some how spoke against the government policies,
therefore its credibility was questionable.The intelligence organization seems to have relied too much on those
assumptions and there has been glaring intelligence failure, the forecasting and pre-warning of rocket attack on
General Musharaf in December at Kohlu followed by the attack on helicopter flying over the mountains to pinpoint the
firing site can be taken as an example.
Meanwhile militants seem gaining ground and the democratic parties and those who believed in parliamentary
process losing very fast. Militants in Balochistan appear to have trapped forces on the war ground of their own choice.
Forces have been hunting them down but the magnitude, frequency and increased area of activities show that their
defiance and influence graph has been rising. Average 16 hours power load shedding, regular road blocks and halt
in railway operation is the order of the day, that all remind people of the and create an aura of presence of those
behind such activities. Establishment’s alleged handling of elections in Balochistan isolated nationalist parties who
believe in the parliament process for negotiation to bargain for provinces’ legitimate share in the resources. Among
them National Party playing defensive, Nawab Bugti is already in the mountains and Sardar Akhtar Mengal’s recent
confession that now the negotiation power rests with the militants only are the important developments worth
reckoning and remind us the gravity of the situation. Balochistan provincial government few months back organized a
mass media campaign to counter and diffuse the agitation against military action. Mr. Jam Yousuf, Mr Awais Ghani,
Mr. Shoab Nousherwani, Razik Bugti, Abdul Samad lasi, Shiekh Rasheed, Aftab Sherpao, Mr Nasarullah Kakar, Mir
Tariq and Ghulam Qadir Masuri, Mir Liaqat Mari and Noor Ahmed Mari and many others claimed on media channels
that nothing was wrong and every thing will be under control in one months. One wishes their claim were right.
Unfortunately despite the lapse of considerable time the situation appears to be worsening instead of improving. Out
of them Nasarullah Kakar lost his life in mysterious circumstances.
Government and militants both are showing traditional intransigence and none of them seems ready for negotiation.
The preconditions enlisted by both parties are simply unacceptable to each other. Although MQM, tried to mediate and
organized a conference in Karachi but to no avail. Mir Zafarullah Jamali and many others have taken initiatives in this
regards but those at the helms of affairs in Islamabad and those deeply entrenched in Baloch social fabric seems not
ready to come on the table.Media routinely publish surprising and controversial news about the militants. At times
they are reported on run or have fled across the borders and next they publish the opposite. People of Balochistan are
reportedly not relying on our media, instead they are switching to radio and count on the international radio news and
internet which they consider releases the reliable and dependable news. Baloch nationalist blame that large number
of civilians has been taken into custody and reportedly maltreated. They quote Interior Ministers statement as
evidence that four thousand activists are in their custody. They blame federations for ill treating Baloch culture and
values, citing the example of Muner Mengal, MD, Balochvoice TV, reportedly arrested by secret investigation
organizations. They question that all the ethnic languages have TV channels, so why not a Balochi Channel?
Political economy of Balochistan conflict will show that it’s a costly affair for this country in term of regular expenses
incurred on the forces, logistics, lives lost on both sides, stagnant economic activities and diplomatic failures
worldwide, let alone the uncertainty and long term psychological effects. It will not be out of place that Pakistan’s
ranking from 34 to 9 as a failed state may have some kind of link with this conflict.
What ever the official spokes persons and controlled media claim, Balochistan situation is worsening day by day and
the conflicting groups are in a fix, without apparent hope of a breakthrough given present circumstances.
One only wishes that sanity prevail and some good hearted senior dignitaries, acceptable to both sides interfere and
come forward to find out the bottlenecks in this crisis, suggest a win-win solution and find a via media for a truce and
long term solution. Otherwise this stand still may prove to be a Gordian knot that will be difficult to solve in the future.
At the moment there appear to be no light at the end of tunnel.
Nizamuddin Nizamani - Writer is a trainer and social researcher and MS/PhD student in Conflict Management &
Development studies. He submitted this article to Asian Tribune.
SOURCE: http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/442
- Asian Tribune -
Tue, 2006-06-06 01:19
By Nizamuddin Nizamani
General (Retd) Jahanger Karamat, former Chief of Army Staff and the outgoing Pakistani ambassador in Washington
in his last briefing advised the establishment back home to settle the ongoing conflicts in Balochistan and Waziristan
through dialogue instead of the use of military muscles, as it becomes very difficult for the diplomats posted abroad to
defend the government policies.Mr Anwar Syed a political scientist and analyst based in US wrote Balochistan
violence as a devastating revolt. These comments give some insight to Balochistan’s factual ground realities, but the
ruling elite seem shy of realizing the situation. General Pervaiz Musharaf announced some funds and package of the
agriculturist of Balochistan on May 23, at Hub but generally repeated the similar old rhetoric. The bomb blast a day a
earlier in the town and series of bomb blast on May 11, 2006 at police Training Center, Quetta resulting in seven
causalities and a dozen injuries reminds us that all is not well in Balochistan.
Of late Balochistan has been the hot topic of the debate mostly based on the assumptions, lacking logical and
concrete evidences on the ground, therefore for all purposes this unfortunate and conflict ridden region is still a grey
region giving frequent surprises to the people of this country. Media portrays that a competition is underway between
pro-development ruling elite supported by the federation and anti-development disgruntled elements headed by two
Nawabs i.e Khair Bux Khan Mari and Akbar Khan Bugti and one Saradar i.e Attaullah Khan Mengal through their
militant organs. The best pro-development role model has been Jaam Yousuf the Chief Minister and his kitchen
cabinet members including some ministers from traditionally powerful families like Jamali, Rind, Nowsherwani,
Khan of Kalat family and some pretty new entrants like Kudus Bizanjo, Aasim Kurd Gelu, Naseer Mengal etc and
others from Pushtoon belt affiliated with religious and nationalist parties together.. The middle class nationalist
political parties like National Party falls in between.
The worst case of tribalism and anti-development dominated forces presented by the government has been the
Kohlu and Dera Bugti, the traditional bastion of Nawab Bugti and Nawab Mari and government also claim that the
militant activities have been limited to these two districts only.Taking the criterion, district Lasbella the traditional
Jaam family political base should have been the best developed model under the control of the champion of the
development in Balochistan, Jaam Yousf and his son Jaam Kamal Khan as district Nazim. However; impartial
development researchers (SPDC- Report 2001) finds out that ground situation is very different. Taking district wise
level of deprivation and development on national scale they rate Dera Bugti on 89 and Lasbella on 77. However in
case of rural deprivation Dera Bugti ranks at 92 and Lasbella even lower on 95.On provincial level similarly rural
deprivation prevails more in Lasbella as it ranked 21 as compared to Dera Bugti on 19. Road network is better in
Lasbella 2.58 per 100 squire km than 1.04 in Dera Bugti but road conditions are very poor in Lasbella .
Sardar Mengal is blamed as anti-development, but the road network in Wadh and Jhalawan is far better than Bela,
The comparison of Karachi-Quetta (RCD) highway in the two areas is just the tip of iceberg. Primary school
enrollment of 62.20 in Dera Bugti is higher as compared to 50.04 in Lasbella, Irrigated 1000 acres of cropped area of
1561.31 in Dera Bugti is far better than only 624.19 in Lasbella despite the fact that Lasbella has easy terrain and
topography. Electricity supply is better in Lasbella but Gas connection 7.93 percent as compared 5.06 percent and
piped water supply 13.91 as compared to 12.86 in Lasbella speaks volume of the development level in the areas
controlled by two different schools of thoughts. The epicenter of militant activity is an other grey area where
government claim that militant activities are just limited in Dera Bugti and Kohlu but in fact its reported from all over
Balochistan. Attacks on Zubaida Jalal’s house in Mandh, Jam Yousuf’s house in Kalat, Muslim leagues’ office in
Turbat, Chinese engineers killing in Gawadar and Hub, Abdul Samad Lasi’s home in Hub, ambushes on forces
conveys in Mangochar & Khuzdar, Qudoos Bizanjo’s house as well as recent May 11 attack on Police Training Center
and many other bomb blasts in Quetta city, nullify government claims that militants are limited to two districts only.
Existence of Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) is the most grey area where government kept denying BLA in the local
media as a minor group of few hundred militants blaming them as playing in the foreign hands but exhorting the
United States to declare it as terrorist group.
Surprisingly last month government not only acknowledged its existence but officially banned it. United States
reportedly did not find enough evidences to do so as Richard Boucher announced BLA has not been targeting
civilians. Although according to media reports BLA claimed responsibility for many attacks it disowns Gandawah,
PIDC, Karachi and bomb blast in a Punjab bound bus in Quetta that caused many civilian causalities. However the
authorities kept blaming BAL for these activities. Ban on BLA changed every thing in the media but nothing on the
ground as it did not have any office, declared hierarchy, neither bank accounts nor assets to be seized. If there is any
BLA it must be an state of art organization artfully dodging the security forces. Government has sentenced Nawab
Khair Bux Marri and his two sons Balach and Herbeyar Mari to 60 years imprisonment in absentia but this too seem
very strange as government know where Nawab Mari is and his two sons are beyond their approach.
Analysis of government analyst about BLA seems to be to be based on the assumptions made and derived from a
romantic cum slanderous investigative story about the origin of BLA on the basis of connecting the missing links
mentioned by two fictitious farmer KGB agents or interrogation extracts from arrested militants.That story appeared in
a net newspaper in 2005 and its translations were reproduced by many papers certainly dealt a lethal below to baloch
militants, and temporarily isolated them but haphazardly prepared that report simultaneously targeted almost all the
political alliances, media, journalists and writers in Pakistan that some how spoke against the government policies,
therefore its credibility was questionable.The intelligence organization seems to have relied too much on those
assumptions and there has been glaring intelligence failure, the forecasting and pre-warning of rocket attack on
General Musharaf in December at Kohlu followed by the attack on helicopter flying over the mountains to pinpoint the
firing site can be taken as an example.
Meanwhile militants seem gaining ground and the democratic parties and those who believed in parliamentary
process losing very fast. Militants in Balochistan appear to have trapped forces on the war ground of their own choice.
Forces have been hunting them down but the magnitude, frequency and increased area of activities show that their
defiance and influence graph has been rising. Average 16 hours power load shedding, regular road blocks and halt
in railway operation is the order of the day, that all remind people of the and create an aura of presence of those
behind such activities. Establishment’s alleged handling of elections in Balochistan isolated nationalist parties who
believe in the parliament process for negotiation to bargain for provinces’ legitimate share in the resources. Among
them National Party playing defensive, Nawab Bugti is already in the mountains and Sardar Akhtar Mengal’s recent
confession that now the negotiation power rests with the militants only are the important developments worth
reckoning and remind us the gravity of the situation. Balochistan provincial government few months back organized a
mass media campaign to counter and diffuse the agitation against military action. Mr. Jam Yousuf, Mr Awais Ghani,
Mr. Shoab Nousherwani, Razik Bugti, Abdul Samad lasi, Shiekh Rasheed, Aftab Sherpao, Mr Nasarullah Kakar, Mir
Tariq and Ghulam Qadir Masuri, Mir Liaqat Mari and Noor Ahmed Mari and many others claimed on media channels
that nothing was wrong and every thing will be under control in one months. One wishes their claim were right.
Unfortunately despite the lapse of considerable time the situation appears to be worsening instead of improving. Out
of them Nasarullah Kakar lost his life in mysterious circumstances.
Government and militants both are showing traditional intransigence and none of them seems ready for negotiation.
The preconditions enlisted by both parties are simply unacceptable to each other. Although MQM, tried to mediate and
organized a conference in Karachi but to no avail. Mir Zafarullah Jamali and many others have taken initiatives in this
regards but those at the helms of affairs in Islamabad and those deeply entrenched in Baloch social fabric seems not
ready to come on the table.Media routinely publish surprising and controversial news about the militants. At times
they are reported on run or have fled across the borders and next they publish the opposite. People of Balochistan are
reportedly not relying on our media, instead they are switching to radio and count on the international radio news and
internet which they consider releases the reliable and dependable news. Baloch nationalist blame that large number
of civilians has been taken into custody and reportedly maltreated. They quote Interior Ministers statement as
evidence that four thousand activists are in their custody. They blame federations for ill treating Baloch culture and
values, citing the example of Muner Mengal, MD, Balochvoice TV, reportedly arrested by secret investigation
organizations. They question that all the ethnic languages have TV channels, so why not a Balochi Channel?
Political economy of Balochistan conflict will show that it’s a costly affair for this country in term of regular expenses
incurred on the forces, logistics, lives lost on both sides, stagnant economic activities and diplomatic failures
worldwide, let alone the uncertainty and long term psychological effects. It will not be out of place that Pakistan’s
ranking from 34 to 9 as a failed state may have some kind of link with this conflict.
What ever the official spokes persons and controlled media claim, Balochistan situation is worsening day by day and
the conflicting groups are in a fix, without apparent hope of a breakthrough given present circumstances.
One only wishes that sanity prevail and some good hearted senior dignitaries, acceptable to both sides interfere and
come forward to find out the bottlenecks in this crisis, suggest a win-win solution and find a via media for a truce and
long term solution. Otherwise this stand still may prove to be a Gordian knot that will be difficult to solve in the future.
At the moment there appear to be no light at the end of tunnel.
Nizamuddin Nizamani - Writer is a trainer and social researcher and MS/PhD student in Conflict Management &
Development studies. He submitted this article to Asian Tribune.
SOURCE: http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/442
- Asian Tribune -
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