A LEADING columnist in the country has excluded the army or the FC for taking the blame of deteriorating law and order situation in Balochistan. If it is not taken as a fashion, I beg to agree with what he says in his careful study of Balochistan’s history, especially after the independence.

His conclusion is that the Balochistan issue is not political but an issue of administrative delinquency caused by inept successive federal and provincial governments and by hoards of sardars and their attempt to save the antiquated sardari system for selfish reasons.

Some of the root causes are the federal government’s incompetence and inability to abolish the sardari system, the self-serving behaviour of sardars enjoying unlimited powers over the poor tribal Baloch, just as they did 200 years ago, and the interest of foreign powers in the strategic location of Balochistan.

Solution to all these problems require many steps and corrective actions as no solution will be meaningful until the sardari system is permanently abolished, with no sardar using the word ‘nawab’ or ‘sardar as a title.

To him (the columnist), Balochistan requires the governor’s rule which must be imposed immediately after abolishing the Sardari system. It is true that at present Balochistan is not in a position to run its own provincial government and will not be ready for several years after the socio-political situation has been stabilised by removing all ill effects of the Sardari system and private armies.

“The province needs to be disarmed as the top priority.” One wonders that the Baloch, hostage in the hands of their sardars, are themselves responsible for the present condition, which has been exploited by political mainstream of the country, the centre and indirectly the army, perhaps for national interest. This we need to consider and move for its solution as early as possible.

IMRAN JAMALI Dera Rojhan Jamal