As the recently-formed parliamentary committee on the law and order in Karachi and Balochistan is poised to elect PPP’s Khurshid Shah as it chairman on Tuesday, Baloch leaders and parliamentarians have attached but little hope with the success of the parliamentary body in resolving the persistent security upheaval in their province.
“I have no hope with this committee,” said Senator Muhammad Humayun Khan Mandokhel. He said the formation of committees to resolve issues had become a routine practice with no progress. “Not committee, parliamentary or otherwise, but the sincerity of the government is needed to resolve the strife in Balochistan,” Mandokhel suggested. He said the government’s sincerity in resolving the unrest in the largest province of the country could easily be gauged from the fact that it had implemented only 11 of the total 39 pledges made in the Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan package. “It took the government one-and-a-half year to fulfill 11 pledges made in the package… how can it fulfill the other 28 in the next one-and-half year of its tenure,” he asked. Mandokhel said the parliamentary committee would just visit Quetta and submit its recommendations to the House with no further action by the government on the fact-finding report of the parliamentary body. “It is just a time-pass strategy… had the government been serious in addressing the Balochistan issue, it would have formed an implementation commission on the Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan package such as the 18th Amendment implementation commission,” he said.
The independent senator said disgruntled elements would not enter into negotiations with any parliamentary body hence the committee would remain unsuccessful in resolving the security crisis in Balochistan. “The disgruntled Baloch leaders are ready for talks but only with the ones who have power to address their concerns,” he said. Mandokhel said the government had failed to form a judicial commission on Akbar Bugti’s murder despite an announcement by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani in Quetta.
Talal Bugti said the formation of such committees for the resolution of the issue was nothing but only an exercise to pass time. “It is a fraud. No one from the real Baloch leaders will hold discussions with this parliamentary body,” Bugti said, adding that if the PPP government stayed in power any longer, the country’s integrity would be at stake. Senator Wali Muhammad Badini from Balochistan also expressed disappointment over the prospects of the parliamentary committee, saying that the disgruntled elements who were main the actors in Balochistan’s security turmoil would never repose their confidence in the committee. Senator Lashkari Raisani of the PPP said the turbulent situation of Balochistan could be improved only with the sincerity of the government. “I cannot comment on the powers and capability of the parliamentary committee but one thing is sure that the unrest in the province can be resolved with the seriousness and sincerity on part of the government,” he said, adding that the political elite of the country should give preference to interests of the state over its vested political interests.
