PAKISTAN’S fractious politics and the push and pull of civil-military ties have made the ‘all-party conference’ a go-to mechanism to demonstrate that all stakeholders “are on the same page”, which is often seen as a page from the security establishment’s playbook.

So in the aftermath of the horrific mass murder of Pakhtuns last week in Mastung that appears to have opened up another dangerous front in the insurgency-wracked province, a multi-party conference was inevitable.

The meeting, held in Quetta, was convened by Chief Minister Abdul Malik Baloch and attended by the prime minister, provincial governor, federal and provincial ministers, the commandant of the Southern Command, and heads of intelligence and law-enforcement agencies.

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The participants condemned the incident as one of the worst terrorist attacks in the country and an attempt to divide the various ethnic groups that have hitherto lived together peacefully in Balochistan.

The main consensus that emerged from the conference centred on the involvement of foreign forces in fomenting trouble in Balochistan through their proxies in the province.

India’s objections to the $46bn China-Pakistan Economic Corridor — recently articulated in no uncertain terms by its foreign minister Sushma Swaraj — were held up as evidence of its implacable opposition to the prospect of Pakistan’s economic progress.

In effect, it seems that the same policies, based on a narrow, securitised view of the problem and which have shown little or no success thus far, will continue to be followed.

That is not to say that external forces are not working behind the scenes to exploit the situation. That is what foreign intelligence agencies do as a matter of course, and in Balochistan there is no shortage of anti-state elements — separatists would be quick to describe themselves as such — who may be willing to work hand-in-glove with them.

The mention at the conference of Zarb-i-Azb’s success in wiping out terrorist sanctuaries in Fata could point towards a possible expansion of the military offensive in Balochistan to eliminate insurgent groups in the province, although operations by security forces in certain areas are already taking place.

A militarised approach such as this is likely to intensify the suffering of ordinary Baloch and further fuel already widespread separatist sentiment. While foreign meddling must be exposed and its actors dealt with through due process, the only long-term solution is to sincerely and comprehensively address the deprivation of the Baloch and the quasi-colonisation of the province’s resources.

Published in Dawn, June 4th, 2015

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