No amount of artificial reinforcement can offset the natural inequalities of human individuals.
(Henry Pratt Fairchild)
The landscape of Baluchistan is linked with three bordering areas: Iran, Afghanistan, and the Arabian Sea. It is the richest province of Pakistan followed by its natural resources such as chromite, fluoride, marble, gold, and gas but has remained the poorest province. Despite these rich resources, the people of Balochistan are facing several problems like terrorism, illiteracy and sectarianism.
Apart from this, the demography of Baluchistan consists of two major ethnic groups, including Baluch and Pashtun, who mainly belong to the Sunni school of thought. From 2005 up to now, the fifth insurgency is going on, which mainly emerged after the assassination of political figure, Nawab Akbar Khan, and the attack on General Shujaat Zamir.
These kinds of events forced the federal government to give autonomy to the provinces, resulting in the passing of the 18th Amendment. The federal government is still mending the power of the Baluchistan government like Gwadar port, which thoroughly falls in the domain of the Baluchistan government. However, the federal government decided the future of Gwadar by first signing the agreement with China and later giving control of Gwadar to China without taking into confidence the Baluchistan government.
The state needs to be resolute and consistent in its counter-terrorism efforts with active public support.
The issues that affect socio-economic development in Balochistan are at an extreme level. Social instability is the segregation within a society that emerges when factors such as income inequality, real-estate fluctuations, and economic displacement result in the differentiation of social groups from high-income to low-income. The citizens of Balochistan are facing unemployment, low skills development, zero industrialization, and socio-economic backwardness which are the main economic issues responsible for the lowest development.
Freshly, Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo and Senate Chairman Mir Sadiq Sanjrani have said that the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) political party of Balochistan will take part in the next elections as an independent party or might merge with any other party. A new debate arose that BAP would stay intact as an independent political party or it would be merged into any other political party. Recently, several politicians have joined the Jamiat Ulema-I-Islam, and most of them seem confident that this party would clinch a majority of seats in the upcoming elections.
Stable political participation in Balochistan that could maintain good governance appears missing. The Baloch nationalist movement’s demands have ranged from greater cultural, economic, and political rights and political autonomy to creating an independent state of Balochistan. The nature of the interaction between the elite (Wadera, Sardar) and non-elite of Balochistan and the consistent failure to navigate the resolution channels between them is also another origin of the conflict. The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) is a Baloch ethnic-nationalist militant organization currently led by Basheer Zeb. The Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF) is a militant group currently led by Allah Nazar Baloch. Balochistan National Party (Awami) is a minor political party in Balochistan, with a regionalist orientation led by Israr Ullah Zehri.
Their ideologically-deprived political associations are particularly based on personal material gains. All this contributes to the overall political instability in the province which has been tormented by terrorism and socio-economic depravity. The state and the Sardars have both made mistakes in history. Now, the state needs to be resolute and consistent in its counter-terrorism, counter-insurgency, and counter-violent extremism efforts with active public support. Previous efforts to reconcile Baloch insurgents failed because the repression went hand in hand with them, and those who were leading the process had less credibility. For a better future for Balochistan, the major need is for accountability factor, stability in political parties, good governance, and especially the law implementation. Implementation of law, and check and balance between the federal government and the welfare system is important in Balochistan. The feudal system that is at an extremism level in Balochistan soon would end, and then Democracy system will be practised through the implementation of the law.
The writer is associated with the Islamabad policy research institute (IPRI) and can be reached at [email protected].