Balochistan Conference

Balochistan has been facing worst law and order situation mostly due to lack of political will to resolve its longstanding problems. By handing over the power to non-elected forces, the government provided fuel to the fire.

The Baloch people indeed distanced themselves from rest of the country after they witnessed the inability of the government to offer solutions to their sufferings.

The utmost task should be that how we can reduce sufferings of Baloch people. However, it is also significant to find out the reasons as to why they surfaced and what one can do to stop them happening again.

A national conference organized by Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) on this very subject involved major political parties. The mere gesture of raising a voice at the stage was a welcoming one when many were vocal as what to do to resolve the issue.

The federation instead of considering Balochistan an equal federating unit had treated it as a minority stakeholder in the past.

Among the main problems Balochistan is facing are enforced disappearances, suppression of fundamental rights, presence of security forces, ethnic and sectarian killings, unjustified role of intelligence agencies, political victimization and a permanent lack of welfare and social uplifting projects.

Although fulfilling the demand of arresting the killers of Nawab Akbar Bugti would surely help decrease tensions, it should not be treated as a demand. However, the state is constitutionally bound to bring the culprit to justice.

If there is no political will to implement these suggestions then no amount of suo moto notices of the Supreme Court is going to help the problem. There is no visible change in the province despite passage of four years by the incumbent and many of its publicized initiatives.

No practical steps have been taken to empower the local people, no mega project has been launched and province has not much control over its natural resources and above all these is that the army is still there.

There is no chance we can see a peaceful province strengthening the federation unless the locals are empowered. The Baloch will only respect the decisions when they have an adequate representation in the decision-making process that sets out to deal with their issues.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=23655

Posted by Faisal Farooq on May 28 2012. Filed under Opinion, Pakistan, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.