Three monsters of Balochistan: By Jan Assakzai

http://www.thefrontierpost.com/News.aspx?ncat=ar&nid=1272

Balochistan’s Pakhtuns have joined forces to protest against the long power cuts which have been going on for the past couple of months. The latest shutter down and wheel jam strike call was given by nationalist forces led by Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP). The protest was widely supported by traders’ and farmers’ associations across the province. Most of the business centres and vegetable markets in Quetta remained closed for the day. Over the last couple of days NATO trucks were held up by farmers to press for their demands to end power cuts but to no avail. After Torkkham-Jalalabad route, Qetta-Chamman-Kandahar serves as the main supply route to NATO and the US forces in Afghanistan. Over ninety percent of NATO and the US forces supply runs through Quetta-Chaman and Torkkham routes. The power cuts are severely affecting the agriculture which is the main sway of particularly the Pakhtun population of the province. In Quetta city, the power cut remains 8 to 10 hours while in rural areas it has been between 15 to 22 hours daily. Whatever the reason cited by the authorities, the protest of the Pakhtuns has hardly produced any result. Balochistan’s sufferings can be boiled down to three problems: first is the Baloch insurgency that has taken its toll. Every now and then innocent Punjabi speaking residents are killed. The Punjabi residents are shifting to other provinces. Besides, the insurgency has crippled the police force due to killings, and hence demoralisation. Complicating the picture are the sectarian killings involving the callous targeted murders of Shia minority residents of Quetta. The youth of Shia minority community are migrating to Australia, and UK in particular to avoid the latest killing spree. The third but equally important issue is kidnapping for ransom. The hilly areas of Mastung District have become a magnet for kidnappers. The kidnapping mafia has become so organised that it is now spreading tentacles to Afghanistan and Iran culminating into a kind of transnational network. And it is alleged that political patronage has been sustaining the kidnapping mafia there. The provincial government has simply left the people at the mercy of kidnappers. The well off and the middle class sections of the Pakhtun population who could afford are leaving Balochistan for Islamabad, Lahore and other safer areas. They simply are not sure if they will end up killed at the hands of kidnappers in Mastung one day. Recently, Haji Nazir Achakzai was killed by kidnappers near Mastung. His family could not pay ransom to the kidnappers. The power cut is the last thing people of this unfortunate province needed. The agriculture which has been the main stay of the Pakhtuns in Balochistan (nearly half of population) has been badly hit as the underground water cannot be pumped out without power. Hence orchards are facing the threat of drying up. But the real killer is the long term problem that the agriculture of the province is facing:the environmental disaster. Over the next two decade or so as feared by the environmentalists, the underground water reservoir will simply vanish. There is no alternative water resource that can replenish the declining underground water table. Environmentalists equate the environmental change of Balochistan to that of Central Asia. In Central Asia, Aral Sea is drying up thus threatening the bread basket of Central Asia— the Ferghana Valley— with the prospect of turning the entire Central Asia into a desert. This eventuality will likely happen in next one and half decades. But there is a solution to the environmental problem of Balochistan. If long term planning involving delay action dams, is done, the livelihood of the population could be saved, safeguarding over 6 million from the threat of mass migration. But who cares? The current Baloch dominated administration is least concerned about the problems of the Pakhtuns. The federal government is not listening to the Pakhtuns of the province as it is less influential political constituency that could be easily ignored. The recent Haqooq-e-Balochistan package ignored Pakhtuns as if they are not trouble makers as Baloch insurgents are. The mainstream media shockingly has narrowed its focus to Punjab specific issues, or has cultivated an obsession with judiciary vs executive perceived/real tussle leaving the life and death issues like militancy in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa/FATA and insurgency, power cuts and collapse of law and order in Balochistan ingonred. In a nut shell, the suffering and hardship of Pakhtuns in Balochistan are finding no solace from any quarter. There is a wider consensus emerging among the political elite, bureaucracy and the nascent media and civil society of Pakhtun community in Balochistan that they are being punished for being law abiding citizens of the province and country. The Pakhtun youth is very desperate at the apathy of the policy makers and they want to see a change either positive or negative. The moderate Pakhtun leadership in Balochistan has been able to keep a lid on their simmering rage and anger. However, due to prolonged unemployment, neglect, and underdevelopment, they may not remain as docile as they are today. If positive discrimination towards resolving problems of Pakhtuns in Balochistan is not adopted, Pakhtun estrangement will find parallels with Baloch estrangement. Those who are calling the shots need to come to the rescue of Pakhtuns of the province and really start taking an interest in resolving their issues. If Pakhtuns of Balochistan are not taken on board, the problems of the province may get worse. The country cannot afford to have another crisis. Let some common sense prevail and let peace loving and law abiding Pakhtuns in Balochistan not to be pushed to the wall. janassakzai200@gamil.com

m