The challenge in Balochistan

Dr Malik the best choice at the helm, but will he succeed?

On account of his credentials Dr Abdul Malik Baloch was by all accounts the best choice as chief minister of Balochistan at a time of dire need to initiate the process of reconciliation in the province. The PPP led government failed to win the heart and minds of the Baloch despite initially enjoying sufficient goodwill as well as being in control of both the centre and the province. The failure was perceived by some as an outcome of the party’s inability to secure the cooperation of military leadership. Whether Malik succeeds depends on two factors. First, the availability of support from Nawaz Sharif, who owing to his majority in the National Assembly has more clout than the PPP’s prime minster. Second, and this is an important factor, probably a realization in the military that this perhaps is its last chance to return to the barracks in the province with its respect intact. Yet, all said and done, both factors are uncertain.

A medical graduate and an enlightened politician, Dr Malik brings with him administrative experience of two tenures as a provincial minister and of working on several standing committees of the senate. In a province dominated by tribal chiefs, Malik is one of a handful of Baloch middle class politicians who have made a mark on mainstream politics. A former BSO chairman and chief of the largest Baloch nationalist party in the provincial Assembly, he can talk to Baloch insurgent leaders who are known to him personally. Much will depend on whether he is allowed a free hand.

How much support is Dr Malik receiving from the federal government?

The PML-N leaders have frequently harped on the ‘sacrifice’ they made by not putting up party’s provincial president Sardar Sanaullah Zehri for the slot of the chief minister. They maintain they have done the nationalists a big favour. The attitude betrays a thinking that could create problems in the days to come. In fact the PML-N leadership should thank Dr Malik for resolving its headaches by accepting the offer. The band of tribal chiefs the PML-N has collected together in a bid to form government are more of a liability than an asset. They comprise mostly ruthless Sardars with a primitive mindset who have joined politics in pursuit of power and pelf and are habitual turncoats. With Sardar Sanaullah Zehri as chief minister, the province would have been no different from what it was under his predecessor Aslam Raisani.

For four months Dr Malik managed the province with a three member cabinet on account of the reluctance on the part of the high and mighty Sardars to join the cabinet. Zehri fumed and fretted and remained inconsolable even after he was compensated with the office of special assistant to the prime minister with the status of a federal minister. The others were loath to join till they got the cabinet slots of their choice. The cabinet was expanded, quite belatedly, on October 14.

Four quakes hit Awaran and Kech districts of Balochistan within less than four weeks. The first two which respectively measured 7.2 and 6.8 on the Richter scale were particularly devastating and affected five adjoining districts also. The first one was the country’s deadliest since the devastating Kashmir tremor of 2005. The population of Awaran is scattered over more than 21,000 square kilometres of remote and rugged terrain with roads being nonexistent in most of the area. According to Balochistan chief secretary Babar Yaqoob, “Over 80 per cent mud-houses have collapsed or have been badly damaged in Awaran.” The Awaran deputy commissioner Rashid Baloch said, almost all houses and shops in the town and nearby villages had been destroyed or damaged. It was difficult to correctly estimate the number of the dead on account of the inaccessibility. By September 28, the official toll from Awaran and Kech alone was put at 515. Two more earthquakes were yet to shake the area and inflict more casualties.

Neither the provincial nor the federal government has enough resources to reconstruct the destroyed homes. The chief minister required a hefty package of at least Rs 40 billion for reconstruction and development. He called on international agencies to help.

But Awaran was considered by the army as a ‘sensitive area,’ and hence a no-go. Offers of help from foreign aid agencies including the ‘Doctors Sans Frontiers’ were rejected outright. The region was considered out of bounds even for the UN agencies. Keeping in view the scale of the human misery it was callous to stop the foreign doctors from providing help when the state was incapable of looking after an enormous number of ill and injured as well as expecting mothers.

The military mindset led National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) headed by a retired Maj Gen to reject outside help. What was particularly perturbing was the stand taken by the PML-N leader and federal minister Lt Gen (Retd) Abdul Qadir. That he supported the NDMA stand clearly indicated that Dr Malik’s repeated plea for international help did not have the federal government’s support. “The authorities concerned must have genuine reasons for not allowing international NGOs to get into quake-affected areas”, said Gen Baloch.

Will the federal government support the chief minister as he tries to resolve the issues considered highly vital by all nationalist parties: forced disappearances and an end to the kill-and-dump policy?

The Baloch insurgents are following in the footsteps of the extremist militants. They kill people indiscriminately, attack railway lines and target security agencies. The military agencies in return resort to forced disappearances and extra-judicial killings. Five bullet-riddled bodies were recovered on the day Dr Malik took over. The message delivered was that irrespective of whichever party is in power the policy of forced disappearance, killing and dumping would continue undeterred. While the scale of the latter has come down, there is no respite to forced disappearances.

Earlier this month, Balochistan Home Department revealed that 595 dead bodies were found in the province during the last three years. The figure is however challenged by Bibi Gul Baloch, chairperson of the Baloch Human Rights Organisation, who claims that 15,000 dead bodies have been dumped in different areas of Balochistan since 2009, some of them mutilated beyond recognition

The issue has brought down the prestige of the state in the eyes of the common Baloch. Two successive governments with democratic credentials failed to put an end to the horror. Even the Supreme Court which could remove with ease two prime ministers failed, beyond pointing an accusing finger at those involved in disappearances and extra judicial killings. This leads the alienated section of the population to look outside for help.

Early this week a long march was initiated from Quetta to Karachi to protest over the issue. Organised by ‘Voice of the Baloch Missing Persons’ it was meant to “draw the attention of the international community to the issue of missing persons because all institutions in the country, including the higher judiciary, have failed to ensure their recovery or stop the practice of dumping of mutilated bodies.”

The two issues have put the new government in an awkward position. Last month BNP-M chief Akhtar Mengal maintained at a press conference that the “present government is either helpless or involved in the killing of Baloch people.” If helpless, he said, it should quit and publicly announce its weakness before the state institutions.

In the absence of support from the federal government and cooperation from the military in recovering the missing persons and ending the extrajudicial killing, the future of Balochistan government look murky.

Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad is a political analyst and a former academic.