The controversial on-going visit of UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances to evaluate missing persons issue, has brought Balochistan into spotlight as one of the most favorite playfield for hatching international conspiracies. Earlier this year, the US Congress Committee on Foreign Affairs, chaired by Dana Rohrabacher staged an unusual US congressional hearing on human rights abuses in Balochistan, accusing Pakistan’s intelligence agencies for enforced disappearances of Baloch people. Responding sharply, Pakistan National Assembly condemned such visit as a ‘threat to the country’s sovereignty’ and a tactics to apply more pressurize on Pakistan Army for a possible military operation against Haqqani Network (HN) in North Waziristan.
A lot of spadework on this well-documented conspiracy has been done in the past. The US has a vested interest in the area, as an alternative supply route for the residual army positioned in Afghanistan in the post-withdrawal scenario. The foreign-based Baloch organizations of Pakistani origin have guaranteed the Americans that the Baloch are natural US allies, and would like to share the Gwadar port with the United States, would not allow the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline through their lands and would fight the Taliban close to a US war theatre. On the top of it, India is exploiting the bad situation to accomplish her interests by providing financial and arms support to the insurgent forces targeting important strategic instalments in Balochistan. The Indians have been prompting Baloch farmers to demand ‘independent Balochistan’ from Pakistan.
Nonetheless, with the placement of independent judiciary, an enlightened civil society coupled with a vigorous media, redress of grievances – may it be political or economic, can be befittingly addressed to the entire satisfaction. Pakistan is confronted with challenges of enormous magnitude that require unity, harmony and mutual respect among all segments of the society and state institutions. As the cases of enforce disappearance are in the Supreme Court and the parliamentary committee is also looking into the matter, it is the duty of a mature and responsible media to avoid speculations about the episode. Let us defeat all the conspiracies hatched by our enemies and provide fair ground for the Supreme Courts to decide the cases of enforced disappearances.
INAM ULLAH KHAN
Rawalpindi
