Balochistan sleepwalking into Pakhtun-Baloch strife: By Jan Assakzai

(The Frontier Post July 16)

The situation in Balochistan is deteriorating not by months but by weeks and days. The two major ethnic groups, the Pakhtuns and Balochs, are on the path of ethnic confrontation if the downward slide in relations between the two communities is not reversed. Besides, other fissures that are just bubbling below the surface, the new dynamic has the potential to simply make the situation spiral out of control for the federal authorities. The ties between the two communities are hostage to radical groups like the BLA, criminal gangs and kidnapping mafia that mostly get patronage from certain powerful Baloch elite. The first underlying dynamic for potential Pakhtun-Baloch strife, is the targeted killings. Balochistan’s targeted killings have claimed over 500 lives in the past two years. The Baloch extremists only targeted ethnic Punjabis. But now Pakhtuns have ended up on the Baloch militants hit list. The recent targeted killing of Khuram Shezad Yousufzai is indicative of the fact that the militants have expanded the campaign to include Pakhtun community. The other equally disturbing dynamic is the safety of the two important highways linking Quetta with Karachi. These two highways pass though Baloch dominated areas: the first Quetta, Mastung-Kalat Khuzdar High way and the second is Quetta-Sibi-Dera Murad Jamali High way. Bound for Karachi, thousands of Pakhtun dominated transporters: Trawlers, trucks, buses, cars and ordinary passengers pass through these major highways daily. Over the past several months these vehicles, including goods and in many instances passengers have been looted on gun point. Several innocent drivers were also killed, including a driver of NATO supply truck a couple of days back. Over the past couple of days many more important people have been kidnapped. A leading businessman of Bohra community - a minority but wealthy community in Quetta - was kidnapped in broad daylight by several armed men. The kidnapping mafia has a roaring business in Balochistan and a leading political figure of the provincial government has been accused of running the gangs in the hilly areas of Mastung. The well off families have taken upon themselves the task of protection from the mafias. They have started erecting walls blocking streets with concrete and bricks to make difficult for criminal gangs to openly operate in their neighbourhood. In the main Quetta city, after seven o’clock in the evening, one ventures out on the street on his/her peril. The middle class families are particularly at the receiving end of the situation. But they cannot have their own security and police to take care of: going to schools for well off kids has become a challenge given the worsening law and order problem. Mothers start panicking when their children get late from schools. The recent much touted Aghaz Haqooq Balochistan package did offer peanuts to Pakhtun and other Punjabi and Hazara communities of the province. There is another problem: the local correspondents and media representatives are facing great danger if they try to highlight these problems. They face threats from Baloch militants, the organised crimes, the kidnapping mafia and the tribal high-ups in the provincial government who have their own security guards. The mainstream media is more focused on issues related to Pakistan core - Punjab and Sindh than Khyber Pakhtunkwah and Balochistan. Pakhtuns and Punjabi community in Quetta and other parts of Balochistan blame Baloch militants and elements of the provincial government for the deteriorating law and order situation. They being mainly represented in business and private service sectors respectively are hard pressed in the current situation, as compared to their Baloch counterparts who overwhelmingly depend on government sector jobs and thus immune to any fluctuation in income owing to poor law and order. But without taking into account particularly the interest of the Pakhtuns (constituting half of the province population), the present Baloch government cannot properly function. As Pakhtuns are more organised politically and their prolonged protest would simply paralyse Quetta city which is the seat of Balochistan provincial government, thus the provincial government. The moderate political leadership of the two ethnic groups is being sandwiched between the need to restraint the extremists voices, on one hand and, the pressure for not doing enough to arrest the downward trend in relations between the two communities. Many Pakhtun groups like the farmer associations, the business community, the transporters’ union and students unions have brought to bear tremendous pressure on the Pakhtun political leadership of the province to stand up to perceived/real Baloch excesses. There is a suggestion floated that grand Pakhtun conference be called in to ponder upon the existing situation of the province and chalk out a common course of action for Pakhtuns. Last time a after a Pakhtun Jirga, the Baloch dominated provincial government was paralysed for days. For the ordinary citizens of the province it is doom and gloom scenario: they do not expect policy makers in Islamabad would intervene. They do not have much hope that these problems will be resolved soon. But If timely intervention is not forthcoming any strife between the Pakhtuns and the Balochs has the potential to turn the province into a burning tab. This is already worse time for the province, as a thin veneer of law and order barely keeps the seething, bubbling cauldron of chaos and anarchy in check. In such a situation, the last thing one wants is ethnic clashes between the two communities. The powerful elite in Islamabad should come out of their slumber. The sooner the underlying dynamics of Balochistan are addressed, the better for the people of the province and the country. janassakzai200@gmail.com