The farce in Balochistan

It had to stop

It began with the Elections 2008 when the nationalist parties committed the blunder of boycotting the polls. This provided an opportunity to the ISI and MI to impose their chosen leaders on the province. One of the tactics used was including thousands of bogus voters in the electoral rolls. The checking of the voters lists on the direction of the SC unveiled the fraud, though only partially. In NA-266 (Nasirabad-cum-Jaffarabad) electoral rolls in 2008 showed 651,000 voters. In the new corrected lists for 2013 elections the number has plunged to 398,000. In NA-262 (Qilla Abdullah) the total number has come down from 392,000 in 2008 to 179,000 in 2013. These are just two examples out of many.

In the first act of the comedy, all political parties represented in the assembly were made to join hands. Those at daggers drawn at the centre and other provinces embraced one another. The PML-N had no problem with the PPP, PML-Q, and ANP. The JUI-F became the bedfellow of arch enemy JUI-Ideological which had only recently split from it.

All MPAs except one were made ministers. Has anybody heard this happening anywhere in the world? Yar Muhammad Rind was left out because he had reportedly been behind the murder of the CM’s father, besides his own uncle and several others. During the last five years, this gentleman who became the leader of the opposition attended the session of the Provincial Assembly only once. That was when he came to take the oath of membership of the legislature. Rind was subsequently sentenced by an anti-terrorist court to life imprisonment for killing one and kidnapping another for ransom. He has continued to elude the jail as well as the assembly.

None of the ministers bothered about the people’s problems. Kidnapping for ransom was a favourite pastime and a lucrative activity for a number of them. In March last year, the provincial home minister surprised many outside the province when he said that several ministers were involved in kidnappings. This was no off the cuff remark. The matter was duly debated in the assembly where it was revealed that even the security in charge of the provincial ministers had been kidnapped for ransom. The issue was later taken up by the SC. Everyone in the assembly knew the names but none was willing to tell the apex court who these were.

As an Arabic saying goes: those who are below follow the religion of their rulers. DIG Operations Hamid Shakil told the media in June 2011 that two FC men were arrested for kidnappings for ransom. In January this year, the FC claimed it had nabbed seven police personnel including an SP and a DSP who were found involved in kidnapping one Abdul Qudoos from Dalbandin. They then contacted the family of the abducted man and demanded Rs 5 million for his release. Later, they agreed to release the man on payment of Rs 2.5 million. This is how law enforcing bodies act in Balochistan.

All the benefits of provincial autonomy went to the legislators instead of the local population. The MPAs enjoyed maximum freedom to do whatever they wanted. Most of the extra funds received by the province after the new NFC award disappeared in their deep pockets. Some were spent on lavish projects like buying new aircraft for the chief minister. Raisani decided to divide the money equally. Each MPA was given Rs300m as discretionary funds. Had all this money been spent honestly, Balochistan would have had the best roads in the world. How the money was spent can be gauged from the condition of the road that leads from Quetta to Mastung, which is Raisani’s own constituency. Constructed a year back, it is pockmarked with potholes that make it look like a tarmac subjected to carpet bombing.

Sardar Yar Mohammad rind, the Leader of the Opposition, visited Quetta only once. The residents of Mastung say Chief Minister Raisani too has visited his constituency only once during the last five years. This happened when he went there to file nomination papers for the provincial seat.

Raisani is in fact an absentee chief minister. He drives Hummer H2, a luxury vehicle with price cited at Rs 180 million and has a Harley Davidson motorcycle with Rs 3.2 million price tag brought to Pakistan after a waiver on customs duty. Neither can be plied on any road inside the province while Quetta is too unsafe for Raisani. The chief minister has therefore spent the best part of his tenure either in Islamabad or abroad leaving governance to ISI, MI and FC. He returns to Quetta once after five or six months. He was in Cambridge seeking admission for a relative the day Lashkar-e-Jhangvi killed over 80 Shias in Quetta. None of the ministers turned up to condole with the Shia community. None went to hospital to the meet the injured. Raisani was abroad when the Governor’s rule was announced. He has now faxed his resignation from Dubai.

The province was meanwhile left to kidnappers who whisked away rich Hindu traders or NGO officials hidden behind the tinted glasses of luxury cars often flaunting ministerial flags. The 50,000 strong FC, supposed to provide security to the population, lets them go without checking. Mutilated bodies of Baloch young men continue to be dumped on the roadside year after year. This time the government looked the other way in a sort of quid pro quo. Through a neat arrangement between the two sides, the government leaders enjoyed all the perks and privilege and shopped in Islamabad, Karachi, New York or London while the province was governed by the agencies. The federal government was satisfied because a PPP-led administration was in place in the province and the fledgling democracy was therefore safe.

The Supreme Court took note of the situation in early 2012. For nearly nine months, two benches of the apex court, one in Islamabad and another in Quetta, pressed the government and the security agencies to stop the kidnappings, produce those made to disappear and improve the law and order situation. Neither paid any heed. Finally on October 12 last year, the apex court declared that Balochistan government had failed to act in accordance with the constitution. This required the replacement of the Raisani government.

The PPP, however, thought otherwise. Pat came the federal government’s response: “The government would not like to taint or tarnish its fair image by invoking its powers to pack up a provincial government and send it home on a limited local issue of discontentment and dissatisfaction of some so-called nationalist elements.” It also said that schools and hospitals were functioning and police were performing its duty despite being mauled and maligned.

Then came the Black Day on January 10. While the Hazara Shias were already being killed like sitting ducks, this time 83 were killed in one day. There were protests throughout the country. The UN Secretary General condemned the killings. The Hazras refused to bury their dead till the government was dismissed. After three days, Raisani was sent home despite the schools functioning and the police performing their duty.

Within days those who had yet to dispose of some of the unspent millions were on the streets of Quetta to demand the restoration of democracy. The federal government is waiting for the return of Zardari from London. Soon after that, the country is likely to receive the good news that democracy has once again been restored in Balochistan, maybe without Raisani.

The writer is a former academic and a political analyst.