Even though it is a tradition of the British colonial Raj to assure loyalty of the Balochistan tribal chiefs, the allowance given to them has been increased from Rs 83974 to Rs 12.01 million annually, Pakistan Today learnt on Saturday.
The Individual Service Allowance, still known by its pre-partition name, was increased by Balochistan Governor Zulfiqar Ali Magsi, an official in the Ministry of States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) asking not to be named told Pakistan Today. He also added that the Individual Service Allowance had been suspended by Musharraf government but now it was revived again by the government.
According to the official, such allowances have been given in almost all tribal regions, including FATA since the partition in 1947. When Dr Abdul Hayee Baloch, a leader of Balochistan National Party, a nationalist party, was asked for comment, he said, “We are against this allowance because this is denial of democracy and democratic practices and an attempt to divide the Balochis,” Baloch said, adding that such allowances were meant for strengthening tribal culture and his party could not support it.
He further said that the reviving and increasing the allowances were ages-old tactics of the British government to divide the Baloch nation. “The present government needs to stop promoting such colonial practices,” Baloch said. Mir Hasil Bezinjo said the Senate’s Standing Committee had once recommended the reviving of the allowance and a bill for that purpose had also been put in the Senate but Senator Raza Rabbani had opposed it and the bill was consequently withdrawn.
He also added no one had demanded the allowance from Balochistan and the governor had no authority to revive it, adding that his party would not support the allowance. When PML-N MNA Abdul Qadir Baloch was asked for comments, he said he did not know of this allowance and could not comment.
