The seeds of discontent were sowed
This albatross was hung around our neck back in 1948 when the Kalat problem reared its head in Balochistan. A budding problem that could’ve easily been talked out then, the solution to it was deemed to be boots on the ground. The deep state rushed in where angels would’ve feared to tread and thus began the mishandling of a situation that has progressively worsened and worsened over time. The 15 FC personnel killed there day before is but one indication of that.
How and why has the situation been allowed to debilitate so? Well, one of the biggest problems is the peculiar nature of our state: While the writ of the civilian structure of our state has been eroded consistently in the province, the footprint of our military has expanded and the cantonmentisation of the region has increased unabated. People may point that it was a civilian prime minister with the ‘original sin’ of imposing a martial law there in the 1970s but they would be ignoring the fact that it has been the successive military regimes that have made a hatchet job of the issue.
The civilian government announced the Aghaz-e-Haqooq Balochistan package which included unprecedented measures to address Baloch grievances. The government had its heart in the right place but, unfortunately, not its arms. How could this even begin to be effective when accompanied with abductions, target killings and torture of activists and journalists with impunity by the powers that be?
The sad thing is that in the aftermath of the killing of the FC personnel, we will choose to recycle the same rehashed elements surrounding discourse on the subject: foreign involvement, destabilising conspiracies and ‘fringe’ separatists (led by angry tribal sardars) who are taking up arms against the state. The policy makers will continue to see this problem as a ‘security’ issue which needs the stamp of more, not less, military might. Who makes this decision is evident from the fact that we are ready to talk to the TTP but not to these nationalists. Not quite the right kind of selectivity.
If we keep conflating genuine Baloch grievances with militant separatism, there will come a time when it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. It remains to be seen whether our socio-political context will allow to break free from the current paradigm and engage the Baloch in a purposeful manner.