A vote against militancy

Balochistan conducts successful LG polls

Good news has come from Balochistan for the first time in a decade. 18,000 candidates have braved threats to their life from the militants to contest Local Government elections. This shows that a vast majority of people is keen to resolve the problems of the province through the ballot rather than the bullet. Realising the gravity of the threat faced by the contestants, political parties agreed to put up unopposed candidates in some of the most vulnerable constituencies. A few hundred seats also remained vacant because of the scare. Similarly the voter turnout was low in districts with bad law and order situation. This was compensated by the fact that in various constituencies the turnout exceeded 50 percent. In Quetta, which had earlier witnessed some of the most gruesome terrorist attacks in the country’s history, there were long queues of voters at both male and female polling stations. Hopefully this would open the eyes of the militants who stand more isolated after the polls than ever. They should know that thousands of elected councilors have a stake in preserving the system.

It is common for tensions to run high during the elections resulting in violence. Thankfully the Balochistan government succeeded in conducting the polls without any major incident of the sort. This was due partly to Dr Malik’s success in getting the needed cooperation from the law enforcement agencies. That the Acting Chief Election Commissioner visited a number of constituencies to oversee the exercise indicated a confidence in the administration about the law and order situation. The successful conclusion of the electoral exercise shows what an efficient government can do in retrieving the situation in Balochistan.

Balochistan government still faces grave challenges. The threat of militancy which cannot be eliminated by force alone still exists. It is easier to maintain peace in the province with the help of over 50,000 law enforcement personnel on a single day than to keep the forces of chaos at bay in normal conditions. The Local Government can win the hearts and minds of the people only if it is entrusted with enough resources for development. It remains to be seen if the CM can persuade the cabinet to divert the resources to the local bodies which were misappropriated by ministers during the last ten years in the name of the development of their constituencies. The government will also have to evolve an efficient mechanism of oversight to ensure that the funds are spent honestly.