Daily Times

The Balochistan High Court (BHC) has stayed the lease of 500 acres land of Lyari sub-tehsil in Lasbela district to the ruler of Dubai as a hunting ground till the next hearing and issued notice to the ministry of foreign affairs, Balochistan government, senior member board of revenue and relevant commissioner and deputy commissioner. The land was sought to be leased by the Balochistan government on the recommendation of the ministry of foreign affairs. Speaker of the Balochistan Assembly Muhammad Aslam Bhootani took the stance in his petition to BHC that the land belonged to the local people, but was most likely leased out without due consultation with them.

Local people’s rights have seldom received due importance in the operations of the Pakistan state generally, but the Baloch in particular have accumulated resentments for being treated shoddily since Pakistan’s independence. The level of mistrust is so great that any decision regarding Balochistan taken by the centre is viewed with suspicion and fiercely resisted.

It would be premature to say what will be the outcome of this case. However, the federal government’s predisposition to sideline locals in decision-making about their resources has its cost. It is the accumulation of such small steps that have incrementally alienated the Baloch from the federation. After decades of unsuccessful struggle for their rights through parliamentary means during the last three decades, the Baloch have now taken up arms once again. Although the military and paramilitary forces have tried to crush the armed resistance by using brutal force, the insurgency in Balochistan has been strengthened by the series of arbitrary detentions and killings of Baloch nationalists. The recent discovery of the bodies of two Baloch Students Organisation-Azad (BSO-A) activists in Turbat has started another round of strikes, protests and demonstrations throughout the province. Dumping of tortured, bullet-riddled bodies is the new tactic being used to frighten the Baloch, but this does not seem to be working. The local populace is reacting with almost daily strikes and demonstrations to protest these brutalities. In the obtaining circumstances, it would be in the interest of the state of Pakistan itself to give up its colonial practices and give the Baloch their due rights. *