Solution to Pakhtuns’ woes in Balochistan-- By Jan Assakzai
With the political and economic situation in Balochistan deteriorating rapidly, the now-approved 18th Amendment completely left out Pakhtuns, nearly half of the province’s population, consequently the frustrated community’s intend could quickly change, posing a significant challenge for Pakistan during an already difficult time.
The defunct constitutional committee ignored even the minimal demand of Pakhtun representative- equality between Baloch and Pakhtuns- as seen in the reiteration of 18th Amemdment: “ to promote harmony, stability and goodwill between the Baloch, Pakhtun and all the communities in the province of Balochistan, the committee recommended that equity be maintained in all spheres of life till the structural problems involved are resolved by mutual dialogue and consensus”,(Recommendation No.11 Dated31-03-2010).
The Bloch insurgency has shifted the focus away form the plight o Pakhtuns, overshadowing their long list of grievances:
Pakhtuns are facing acute sense of identity crisis. They are happy that at least people of Khyber Pashtunkhwa got their rightful identity, and hope one day they will follow suit by getting their own name which they refer to as Southern Pakhtunkhwa .
You may take it for granted wherever you meet someone from Balochistan who is even speaking Pakhto, that he/she is a “Balochi”. When I was a student in 1980s in Quetta, I was touring Punjab , Sindh and Pashtunkhwa, and would have to explain every time that there was a considerable number of Pakhtoons in Districts: Quetta, Pishin, Chaman, Loralai, Zhob, Muslim Bagh, Kuchlak, Sibi, Hernai, Ziarat, Sharaq, and Barakhan, so on and so forth And that I was a Pakhtun, not Baluchi, they would be stunned. It really starts to drive me up the wall even today.
The population of the province is equally split between Pakhtuns in the north and east and Balochs in the south. The census data regarding the Pakhtun population have been manipulated by the Baloch-dominated administration. Despite the bias, however, Pakhtuns are around 30 percent of the population while they put their numbers to nearly 50 percent of the entire population.
Pakhtuns lost a separate administrative status when the One Unit scheme came into existence in 1955 for the establishment of West Pakistan's parity with East Pakistan. When one unit was dissolved in 1970, what had been a Chief Commissioner's Province before 1955 was combined with the former Balochistan States Union, together with the enclave of Gwadar, to form a new larger Balochistan province. Today, even the convention of a Pakhtun being governor of Balochistan if the chief minister is Baloch, has been broken
They have no authority for the development of their own areas. Frustration among them grew intense when the reconciliation process started. None of the actions or statements relating to reconciliation in Baluchistan talks about Pakhtuns. The emphasis of this reconciliation is only on the issues, which excludes Pakhtuns as an ethnic group in the province.
Same was witnessed in Musharraf regime, none of the mega projects were started in Pakhun districts.
The overall development scenario of Pakhtun districts presents a sad story. About 70 per cent of them are deprived of the basic education and health facilities. There are no post-graduate colleges or universities in the areas. The higher educational institutions in Quetta are beyond the reach of the poor families. The religious extremism is getting its roots deeper here.
The quality communication sources among these areas and their links to other provinces are absent. There are no direct communications links, no direct train and there are no direct flights between Peshawar and Quetta. It takes nearly two days to get to Peshawar via train, en route Sind and Pujnab provinces.
The only one economic source, agriculture, is facing serious threat, because the underground water sources are becoming dry rapidly.
It is time that the present government redresses the dire situation of Pakhtuns in Balochistan as suggested below:
The ideal solution for Pakhtuns is going to be the integration of Southern Pakhtunkhwa with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as this will go a long way in meeting the aspirations of Pakhuns in Pakhtunkhwa, FATA and Balochistan to be unified in a single administrative and political unit in Pakistan as a single ethnic and geographically contiguous entity. However, the county’s Punjabi- dominated army establishment has been wary of any major changes on ethniccomposition.
Second option is the restoration of the old Chief Commissioner’s Province. Restoration means not creating something afresh. Even if it is deemed afresh, Indian Government carved out two new states- Haryaha and Himachal on the demand of a minority who wanted separation from Indian Punjab, and amended constitution accordingly.
Third option for Pakhtuns would be to live in existing Balochistan on parity principle which means Pakhtuns and Balochs will be equal in all walks of life. This solution would perhaps be more palatable politically. Even the then Mushahid Hussain committee under the rule of Gen Pervez Musharraf recognised this principle in its report, though it was latter shelved in the cold storage.
What is obvious, however, is: the18th Amendment did not reflect the aspirations of Pakhtuns in Balochistan and threw them to the worlves. It is also ironic that to get noticed, you have to take the law into your hands as is the case with Hazara division, or you have to be trouble maker as Baloch militants are.
But the federal government would ignore the Pakhtuns at its peril: given the ongoing political violence, combined with the de-legitimisation of the mainstream ruling political parties of the province and the severe ongoing economic problems, create a cauldron of insecurity and tension that will provide fertile ground for existing capable militant and criminal groups to expand their operations.
Comments