Yet another non starter
After announcing its Balochistan package with fanfare, the PPP-led government had presumed that it had done its duty to the people of Balochistan. The expanding cycle of violence, the calls for separation and the favourable response to the demand for self-determination from a section of legislators in the US have made Gilani realise that the package had failed to produce the intended results. While Gilani has issued a call for an All Parties Conference (APC) for making recommendations to pacify the people of Balochistan, Interior Minister Rehman Malik has announced the withdrawal of cases against the exiled Baloch leaders.
Both announcements indicate a disconnect with the situation on the ground. Baloch parliamentarians and other forces in Balochistan had rejected the APC way back in 2009. They had instead demanded punishment for those responsible for Nawab Akbar Bugti’s killing, end of forced disappearances and custodial executions, rehabilitation of the Baloch displaced during the army and FC operations and a recognition of the Baloch as the rightful owners of the natural resources in their land. They had rejected the APC as a dilatory tactic indicating that the government was unwilling to accept their demands. With the passage of time other issues have been added to the list of grievances, Federal Minister Mir Israr Zehri has refused to attend any APC unless the killers of Brahamdagh Bugti’s sister and niece are arrested. The PML(N) has predicated its attendance on the prior arrest of Nawab Bugti’s killers and the release of those taken away by the agencies by force. How can the rebel leaders take Rehman Malik seriously when his credibility is challenged even by PPP leaders and allies? All the more so when not long ago he was talking about a Swat like operation in Balochistan. Among the first to reject the offer was Hairbiyar Marri who said no Baloch leader would ever talk to Rehman Malik who was involved in the killing of innocent Baloch and is thoroughly undependable.
The government has lost four years when it could hold an APC after due preparations and enter into talks with the Baloch militants. The only practical course left to it now is to agree to the demands put up by the Baloch leaders to facilitate the talks.
