Daily Times editorial Jan 1, 2010

Assurances galore

On the historic occasion of the signing of the 7th NFC Award, arrived at by consensus after 19 years, the authorities decided to hold the ceremony in the port of Gwadar on the Balochistan coast to symbolise solidarity with the province and of the federation. Addressing the ceremony, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani held out a whole raft of assurances. First and foremost, he promised that the 1973 Constitution would be restored to its original form, the ban on becoming prime minister for a third time would be lifted, all amendments made by dictators removed, including the unacceptable provisions of the 17th Amendment and Article 58(2)(b). If the ban on becoming prime minister for a third time lifting was aimed at Nawaz Sharif, the rest of these assurances were addressed to a wider audience, including the Baloch nationalists. Since these assurances are not new, it is not known whether their mere reiteration will satisfy anyone. Additionally, the Baloch nationalists may wonder how the restoration of the original constitution will satisfy their aspiration for provincial autonomy, since that constitution became controversial, amongst other reasons, when the concurrent list was not abolished as envisaged 10 years after its promulgation.
On the NFC Award too, there are both positives and negatives to be counted. The former include the fact that it is a consensus Award after many years and arrived at by a democratic dispensation. The Centre has made concessions in vertical distribution of resources to strengthen the provinces financially. The provinces have accommodated each other by agreeing a multi-criteria horizontal distribution, with special attention to Balochistan and NWFP. All this is to the good, but the absence of discussions with the estranged nationalists in Balochistan have caused the package announced for the province, as well as enhanced finances under the NFC Award subject to rejection by these same nationalists, who argue that the province contributes much more to the federation than is envisaged being given to it in the Award or outside the Award in terms of gas royalty outstanding for many years. The historical neglect and injustices with the province are the biggest obstacles to getting even well intentioned attempts to redress the past accepted by the nationalists.
The prime minister promised to bring the killers of Nawab Akbar Bugti to justice. In the process, he seemed to forget Balaach Marri, the three Baloch leaders picked up and killed by alleged secret service people, and countless others who have suffered the same fate in the province. Is one life, no matter of one very prominent, more precious than others? If justice is truly to be done, it must not be confined, it must address all such cases of extra-judicial killing. Having said that, the main perpetrator of these atrocities is beyond reach. How does the government intend to get hold of Pervez Musharraf to face the music? The man is enjoying life abroad and shows no signs of contrition even. Assurances and promises aside, what steps does the government envisage to make all this happen?
One can have little quarrel with the intention to offer Baloch youth 20,000 jobs, including to 3,500 females. Nor can one fault the intent to set up a girls’ college, technical institute and a school in Gwadar. One cannot even fault the idea that Gwadar Port needs to be linked by rail and road with the rest of the country instead of its goods having to be transported via the Coastal Highway to Karachi and back. It is amazing that past and present governments invest in a major project like a new port without putting in place simultaneously the inland infrastructure required to make it viable. Talk about the cart and the horse!
Well intentioned though the pronouncements (repeated) of the government are, they will not achieve the desired results in the absence of a dialogue with the estranged real leadership of the Baloch nationalists. That should be the government’s priority, if it wants progress in cooling down things in a province seething with insurgency and separatist sentiment.