Free, fair polls key to ending Balochistan insurgency: ICG
By Amir Wasim
ISLAMABAD, Oct 23: The ongoing ‘insurgency’ in Balochistan will only subside when free, fair and transparent elections establish a legitimate government to replace the ‘current military dictatorship’, says a report of the International Crisis Group (ICG) released on Tuesday.
The report “Pakistan: The forgotten conflict in Balochistan” examines the tension across the strategically important and resource-rich province, where violence continues between the government and the Baloch demanding political and economic autonomy.
According to the report, the conflict in Balochistan is rooted in “Islamabad’s unwillingness to cede political and economic autonomy to the resource-rich but most neglected and underdeveloped of the country’s four provinces.”
Instead of redressing political and economic grievances of the Baloch people, it regrets, the military is determined to impose state control through force.
“The killing of Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Bugti in August 2006 was followed by the incarceration of another Sardar Akhtar Jan Mengal, who has been held on terrorism-related charges without due process since December. Law-enforcement agencies have detained thousands of Baloch nationalists or those believed to be sympathetic to the cause; many have simply disappeared.
“With the nationalist parties under siege, many young activists are losing faith in the political process and now see armed resistance as the only viable way to secure their rights,” says the ICG report.
But, it adds: “Although the military has retained control through force, it is fast losing the campaign to win hearts and minds.”
The ICG also expresses concern over non-implementation of the recommendations on Balochistan’s political and economic autonomy finalised by a parliamentary committee in November 2005.
