Daily Times

During the 2000s, Balochistan was thrown to the wolves. After the 2018 elections, many began to rejoice as Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) took one seat after the other. However, I could not fathom the reasoning behind the celebrations in Balochistan.

I was initially surprised at voters from Balochistan because PTI has won too few seats in the province to be able to steer it to greener pastures.

The mantra of the “manufactured” mandate aside, it seems no political leader or party was interested enough in Balochistan and its electoral potential to hold any rallies to canvass its people’s support, and upon success work towards their prosperity. That is true for all major political parties and not just PTI.

Even the powers that are alleged to have “engineered” things this time around didn’t bother to extend their Tabdeeli scheme to Balochistan. Resultantly, the scope of the promised ‘Naya Pakistan’ spread its wings only as far as Dera Ghazi Khan, Dera Ismail Khan and Hub Chowki — Balochistan’s borders with the rest of Pakistan. It is in this context that celebrations in Balochistan over PTI’s victory seemed a little odd.

From what I can see, and with a layman’s political acumen about the province, all we can say is that we have been, and continue to be, an “experimental” ground for leaders at the helm of Pakistani politics, whether civilian or military. Elections in Pakistan are Punjab-centric, and to an extent we see focus on some parts of Sindh, as well. The emphasis on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan is recent. However, Pakistan’s biggest province continues to stand on the peripheries as a helpless and forlorn observer, while the rest of Pakistan wrestles over the polls.

As citizens of Balochistan, we are in a permanent state of anxiety because no government, elected or non-elected, has ensured us any semblance of normal human life for us

That is why one shudders with fear at the coming to power of Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), a wicked and hastily cooked up version of General Musharraf’s Q-League, which ruled and ruined the province during his dictatorship. No sooner had we succeeded in exorcising out the demons Musharraf created, the same were helped to raise their heads again.

We are, thus, entrusted to a group of politicians new in name and claim, but old, very old, and familiar in repute and tactics. Our best and likeliest candidate for the position of chief minister is Jam Kamal — his surname should be enough to remind you of the Musharraf era, when the elder Jam was in charge of the Balochistan government. So, very little is new and auspicious in Balochistan, in an otherwise Naya Pakistan.

Punjab has invariably enjoyed a baseline of peace, development and safety of human life, even under the worst of dictators. However, when it comes to Balochistan, one only remembers0 sectarian and ethnic cleansing, military operations, missing persons and popular political suppression. As citizens of Balochistan, we are in a permanent state of anxiety because no government, elected or non-elected, has ensured us any semblance of normal human life for us.

Moreover, people in Punjab and other areas can expect, realistically, that the PTI regime will usher in development programs, or at the very least will not loot and debilitate existing infrastructure of health, education and communication. For us in Balochistan, unless one really wishes to hope against hope, there is hardly anything other than corruption, insecurity and killings, as well as political, personal and bureaucratic vendettas.

Thus, all is not well in the province of Balochistan. Five years from today, Imran Khan and his Naya Pakistan will have no rightful claim to any accolades if this perpetually neglected province is not included in the fold. For now, however, the PTI has conveniently conceded the political ownership of Balochistan to a not-so-successful and tested and tried group of administrators.

Let’s see how they fare over the coming months.

The writer has a MA from the University of Warwick, UK and can be contacted on his Email: asmatullahkhan343@gmail.com and Twitter @asmat_343

Published in Daily Times, August 5^th 2018.