Daily Times

Balochistan showed great progress during the General Elections 2018 for a number of new political parties were immensely active in the due period mainstreaming to the implementation of a democratic rule over the entire province.

Besides this, the province also saw the highest number of independent candidates in the recent elections. The victory party, Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) is also backed by other parties like Balochistan National Party (BNP), Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-Mengal), National Party (NP), which too, is a great sign.

The public reactions, however, are mixed. Some call it a political game being played in Balochistan for the first time in the history of province’s politics, while others call the elections as unfair. Some support the winners by having their party’s flags waved in the air in disparate locations, others use them as a source to burn fire for cooking.

Interestingly, BAP is blessed with the leadership of the newly-elected Balochistan Chief Minister Mr Jam Kamal along with the presence of Zahoor Ahmed Buledai, Zubaida Jalal and other old political leaders. Sadly, the party is accused of rigging (Dhandli) in the elections and people term the party’s win as ‘selection’ and not election. Rigging allegations were leveled after reports that more votes were casted than registered in some polling stations circulated.

It happened nearly in a number of polling stations in different locations specifically in Mekran. Moreover, several voters were deprived of their right to have a say since their votes were registered in Sindh and Punjab, when they actually belonged to Balochistan. Coincidentally, these locals were from BNP and BNP Mengal. Was it only a common error by ECP or a collision to support the second party?

After the non-official announcement of BAP’s winning, Sardar Akhtar Jan Mengal, the head of BNP Mengal, had a meeting with the president of BAP Mr Jam Kamal to make him aware of the woes that Balochistan have been facing for decades.

The biggest of all of these issues is of missing persons in Balochistan. In the first session of the newly-elected members of National Assembly (NI), Sardar Akhtar Jan Mengal brought to attention of the Prime Minister Imran Khan along with the other parliamentary members about nearly five thousand and one hundred (5100) missing persons of Balochistan.

Whereas, a report elaborated, more than ten of the mentioned number also fill the pages of being missing from their houses. Mr Jam Kamal assured Sardar Akhtar Jan Mengal that all missing persons will be recovered.

Unluckily, the campaigns, public talks of the political leaders, distribution of different gifts, disparate schemes for the public and some more beneficial steps for the public were introduced by the parties just before two months of the elections. Where were they for the previous five years when the Baloch were facing the toughest days of their life?

Where were they when Baloch lost numerous people from cancer due to lack of cancer hospitals in the overall province? Where were they when Baloch were being called terrorists and migratory from Iran and Afghanistan? They brought these questions in the minds of every single patriotic Baloch with their appearance.

And as usual, they remained unanswered. Because of these circumstances, a number of Baloch have not casted their votes and asked for recognition as a real citizen before casting of their votes but what matters if there exist unfairness in everything in the province. The votes were allegedly casted illegally by an unknown power that similar to the elections way back in 2013. What else to expect from the leaders having casted fake votes?

In conclusion, as compared with the other governments of the state and province, the recently selected political leaders are many new faces with a considerable background. They, too, have some good qualifications in their academic levels and have consistently been good and supportive individuals in their respective societies.

But again the politics of the state is all a game which has been begetting more and more corrupt leaders. Many citizens still won’t believe if there is possibility of a single change in the living of the residents because of the new shapes entered in the parliament but criticise them for having joined politics. But everything is going to be caught of the state and province for we want no more games of politics within us anymore.

The writer is a teacher at Delta. He can be reached at alijanmaqsood17@gmail.com