Daily Times Editorial June 18, 2013

Balochistan conundrum Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali visited Ziarat on Sunday to see for himself the destruction wrought on the Residency that still resonates in people’s hearts as the last residence of Mr Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Talking to media afterwards, Chaudhry Nisar vowed to rebuild the historic building within 3-4 months. Describing the destroyed building as a national asset, the interior minister also announced that a plan would be chalked out to provide maximum security to historic places in the future. The sentiment may be praiseworthy, but the minister may soon be brought back to earth by the implications of such a plan. There is no figure of the number of sites that answer to the description ‘historic’. Imagine calling upon the existing already overstretched human and material resources of the security agencies to safeguard the probably thousands of such sites. Given the ongoing battle against terrorism that has the country by the throat, the plan may not be practicable. Hiring fresh security personnel for the task may also run foul of the straitened financial circumstances the state finds itself in. So, for all these reasons, our advice to the worthy interior minister would be, nice idea, but impractical. Instead of passively trying to guard everything in sight (an impossibility in any case), the security agencies need to be re-oriented in the direction of strengthening intelligence-based proactive and pre-emptive steps against the terrorists. In this space we have long argued that what Pakistan needs in its fight against terrorism is an overarching body with a centralised data base that helps coordinate the efforts of the Centre and the provinces, civilians and the military against the jihadi extremists, including those of a sectarian hue such as the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) that has taken responsibility for the horrible events in Quetta the other day. The LeJ has now also revealed that it used a female suicide bomber to attack the bus of the university students in Quetta. She is said to have exploded herself after boarding the bus. The fanatical mindset of the LeJ has by now managed to persuade even females to join its malign purposes and agenda. Chaudhry Nisar’s hint at certain decisions having been taken by the federal government vis-à-vis the situation in Balochistan, but which awaited approval by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, has sparked off contradictory speculations about whether the Centre will intervene in the security and law and order situation or simply support the Balochistan provincial government. Given that the government in Quetta is the PML-N’s choice and newly installed, pending any announcement of the ‘decisions’, the likelihood is that Islamabad will stand in support rather than replace or displace the Quetta government in handling the situation. The issue however, of the Baloch nationalist insurgency remains unaddressed. The whole idea behind inducting a Baloch middle class moderate nationalist like Dr Abdul Malik Baloch as chief minister was that he would be better placed to approach and persuade the insurgents to come to the table. The insurgents earlier made their opposition to the new arrangement clear even before Dr Malik took office. Now they have underlined their hostility to what they see as the ‘Trojan Horse’ role of the new chief minister vis-à-vis defusing the nationalist insurgency. Based on the Baloch nationalist struggle’s past experiences, every time they have eschewed armed resistance for political engagement, the results have not necessarily gone in their favour. Scepticism regarding the role of Dr Malik therefore on the nationalist insurgents’ side is understandable. This should not, however, be reason for abandoning serious efforts to approach the insurgent leadership in the mountains and abroad. Without a meaningful and serious dialogue, there is no possibility of a solution and the risk of the conflict escalating. The governments in Quetta and Islamabad will have to make up their minds to stay the course of political dialogue and reconciliation in Balochistan, but its success or failure critically depends on the military establishment changing its mindset and policies of repression in the province. If the right hand is bloody and the left offers sweet nothings, it does not take much imagination to see which would prevail and what the outcome would be. Balochistan is at a crossroads. So is the government’s and military establishment’s policy on the province. On their decisions in the near future will depend whether Balochistan descends into further conflict and chaos or finds its way into the light of better, peaceful days ahead.