DERA GHAZI KHAN: Three months ago, the district government of Dera Bugti in Balochistan had fixed a large welcome sign at least 2km inside the settled area of Rajanpur district in Punjab.

This was instantly noticed by the Rajanpur district government and the district coordination officer (DCO) adopted a strong position against this ‘encroachment’.

Earlier, it was only the outlaws of Balochistan who had encroached upon the tribal and settled areas of Rajanpur.

Dera DC says matter to be taken up in a meeting next month

Rajanpur DCO Zahoor Husain Gujjar told Dawn he held a meeting with Dera Bugti Deputy Commissioner (DC) Tariq Khan for removing this “illegal welcome board” across the Kachhi Canal inside Rajanpur.

After the meeting, in which revenue staff from both sides participated, the board was removed as nobody could encroach upon someone’s land by placing such boards, the DCO added.

He said it had also been decided that both sides would again meet in Dera Bugti, but the meeting could not be held. The entire tribal area of Rajanpur was awaiting settlement from the revenue department in the absence of which there were frequent land disputes between Bugtis and people from Rajanpur’s tribal areas. He maintained that without any help or interest from the federal government, the process of settlement of tribal areas was difficult as there were security concerns for the revenue staff as well as lack of consensus between Balochistan and Punjab.

A resident of Gorchani tribe, Baz Chang, told Dawn the Bugtis had also encroached upon a reasonable portion of their area.

Suspected Bugti outlaws had started creating unrest inside Rajanpur and made the Indus Highway unsafe for travel. Policemen and people from the Mazari tribe had been killed and official vehicles of police snatched at gunpoint. They had also encroached upon a significant part of the mountainous tribal area of Rajanpur owned by Mazaris, Dareshaks and Gorchanis.

A few years back, on the requisition of the Rajanpur district government, Pakistan Rangers established at least 17 pickets in settled areas adjacent to Rajanpur tribal area to contain unwanted movement from Balochistan. Rajanpur Border Military Police and Balochistan Levies had started marching on the Indus Highway as well as in the area adjacent to the one occupied by suspected Baloch outlaws.

Former caretaker prime minister and chief of Mazari tribe, Mir Balkh Sher Mazari, claimed that for several years the Bugtis had occupied the Gayandari area owned by Mazaris. He said Gayandari area was part of Punjab and that they had requested quarters concerned several times for demarcation of a provincial boundary between Punjab and Balochistan in Rajanpur.

His son Riaz Mazari told Dawn that in the British era there were Border Military Police checkposts in the Gayandari area to check movement between Punjab and Balochistan. He claimed there was a “formula” to determine the ownership of areas such as Gayandari: if a mountain drain brought water to the Mazari side or Indus then it would be a part of the Mazari tribe and if water was brought to the Bugti side then they could claim ownership of the land. But the Bugtis did not accept the formula, he maintained.

The federal government should take up the matter of measurement of the mountainous tribal area of Rajanpur and demarcation of boundary between Punjab and Balochistan to restore its writ. If the exercise is not initiated on state level then unwanted elements would continue to create grey areas.

DC Tariq Khan told Dawn that during the British era, a meeting had been held between the Nawab of Bugti tribe and British rulers on the issue of a provincial boundary and minutes of the meeting were available. He said Dera Bugti and Rajanpur had existed as established districts for long.

He further maintained that he had written official letters to the DCOs of Rajanpur and Kashmoor, Sindh to further understand the provincial boundary through a tripartite exercise of boards of revenue of Balochistan, Punjab and Sindh. He also said the Balochistan chief secretary had assured them of extending official help at the federal level.

“But first we want to clear the issue of Kachhi Canal — whether it is located in the jurisdiction of Balochistan or Punjab in Rojhan tehsil of Rajanpur,” he added.

Khan said a meeting would be held next month regarding the issue, but he did not clearly claim where the actual provincial boundary was situated.

Published in Dawn, September 16th, 2016