Despite all wailing and whining over the unabated series of target killings in Balochistan, there seems no let up in the criminal abuses upon the poor people of the province. Currently a war-like situation prevails in the province and the local populace is extremely hostile to the presence of military troops. Rarely a week passes when three or four dead bodies do not surface in the Baloch dominated areas of the province. The presence of numerous places of irregular detention, coupled with the use of excessive force, has resulted in an immense sense of fear prevailing among ordinary people.
It goes without saying that the use of coercive means by the successive governments has gone a long way in fomenting the deep sense of resentment and anger among the Baloch.
Many areas of the province remain virtually inaccessible to the national media and civil society. Journalists are rarely granted permission, by Pakistani authorities, to travel beyond the capital of Quetta and the intelligence agencies do not desist from mistreating those journalists, who do enter the province.
The heirs of the missing persons are suffering the humiliation on the roads of Islamabad but their protests remain far from having a palpable effect in the corridors of power. They are now even disappointed with the superior judiciary which remains reluctant to directly hold accountable the paramilitary forces for their violent abuses of human rights in the province.
If we undertake an impartial analysis of the situation, two things become crystal clear. First, despite the revival of democracy in the aftermath of February 2008 elections, there is no sincere effort underway to lessen the sufferings of the people of Balochistan. Over the past three years, the President or Prime Minister could not spare time to visit the conflict-hit areas of Balochistan to placate our angry brothers.
Second, pivotal democratic institutions have been reduced to hollow structures and paramilitary forces have established a parallel administrative system in the province to implement their whimsical policies.
The intelligence agencies unrealistically think that the political problem can be resolved by military means. The province has witnessed four insurgencies so far and all of them have been suppressed using gunship helicopters.
The federal government has always relied on state’s coercive apparatus for asserting its authority in the troubled areas of Balochistan. But force has never yielded good results and is unlikely to do so in future.
RIZWAN ASGHAR
Lahore