It is a measure of the incompetence of our political leadership, particularly the present PPP-led government at the federal level, and the inability of our security establishment to learn from past mistakes that Balochistan is now virtually on fire. The hearings by the three-member Supreme Court bench, headed by the Chief Justice, have revealed an explosive situation in the province. It is true that the whole country is in the grip of violence thanks to the nurturing of the armed extremists, whether in the form of jihadi organisations or the Taliban, by our security establishment in 1980s and 1990s with the connivance of some elements from within our political leadership and the civilian bureaucracy. But the situation in Balochistan is far more serious marked as it is by daily cases of target killings, enforced disappearances, and recovery of mutilated bodies of persons killed in cold blood.

Despite the commendable efforts of the Supreme Court, there are no visible signs of improvement. The PPP-led governments at the federal and provincial levels are content with paying lip service to this serious problem, which poses a grave threat to the territorial integrity of the country. The security establishment is in a state of denial reflecting its traditional mindset of cover up and refusal to learn from past mistakes. Its reliance on the use of force, instead of dialogue to deal with complex political issues, is merely adding fuel to the fire. The mindless killing of a patriot like Nawab Akbar Bugti under Musharraf’s dictatorial rule was an obnoxious and tragic consequence of the working of this mindset. It seems as if one is watching the screening of a movie of the disastrous handling by us of the events of 1971, which led to the dismemberment of Pakistan.

Against this background, the statement of Balochistan’s former Chief Minister Sardar Akhtar Jan Mengal before the Supreme Court was a telling reminder of the atrocities and injustices committed on the people of Balochistan by successive Pakistani governments starting from the days of Ayub Khan. But it also offered an opportunity for resolving the Balochistan problem through dialogue and negotiations. The six demands that Sardar Mengal, President of the Balochistan National Party, presented for setting in motion the process of reconciliation and conflict resolution in Balochistan were unexceptionable: all covert and overt military operations against the Baloch people should be ended immediately; all missing persons should be presented before a court of law; all proxy death squads operating allegedly under the supervision of ISI and MI should be disbanded; Baloch political parties should be allowed to function and resume their political activities without any interference from intelligence agencies; persons responsible for inhuman killing and dumping of bodies of Baloch political leaders and activists should be brought to justice; and measures should be initiated for the rehabilitation of thousands of displaced Baloch living in appalling conditions. Sardar Mengal narrated several cases of the kidnapping of Baloch activists by the agents of security agencies and stressed that apologies and declarations alone would not ameliorate the situation.

Sardar Akhtar Mengal’s statement offers a promising opportunity to Pakistan’s political leadership and security establishment to take new political initiatives to make amends for past mistakes and restore peace and harmony in Balochistan. Fortunately, Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan responded positively to Akhtar Mengal’s statement and met him separately. However, the government’s statement submitted in compliance with the Supreme Court’s directive reflected the tendency to pay lip service to the problems of Balochistan, rather than a serious attempt to come to grips with the challenges of ending political instability and lawlessness in the province. Little wonder that Sardar Akhtar Mengal criticised the government and the security agencies for their stance in the Supreme Court.

There is little doubt that our brothers in Balochistan have been unfairly treated by the successive federal governments and by our security agencies. They have been discriminated against and humiliated politically. The economic resources of the province have been exploited more for the benefit of the people from other provinces, rather than for the people of Balochistan. The human rights of the Baloch people have been trampled upon. It is true that Baloch activists have also sometimes reacted excessively to the unjust treatment meted out to them in the chain of action and reaction between them and the security agencies. However, it must be underscored that the impulse for this excessive reaction on the part of Baloch nationalists was provided by the brutal treatment, which they had to suffer at the hands of our official agencies. The federal government and the security agencies, therefore, bear the primary responsibility for arresting and reversing the dangerous course of events in Balochistan.

The argument advanced primarily by the representatives of the security establishment that foreign agencies are responsible for the mayhem in Balochistan actually reflects their tendency to cover up their own blunders by shifting the blame to foreign elements. Such an approach deflects attention from putting our own house in order to the useless exercise of blaming the foreigners for our shortcomings. The root cause of the problems in Balochistan lies in our mishandling of the situation in that province. The solution of these problems also lies in our hands provided we take a resolute decision to attain it. If we fail to do so, it is inevitable that foreign agencies of countries with unfriendly intentions towards us will take advantage of the growing crisis in Balochistan as India did in the case of East Pakistan in 1971.

Similarly, it is not convincing to blame the so-called retrogressive sardars of Balochistan for the lack of development and grinding poverty in the province. The blame for this unsatisfactory situation again lies squarely with our decadent elite belonging to the civil and military bureaucracy and the political leadership. What is needed is a firm resolve and rapid increase in the allocation of resources to accelerate the process of economic development and to eliminate poverty and ignorance in the province. Instead of sidelining the sardars of Balochistan, we should co-opt them in this developmental process through appropriate political, economic and administrative incentives.

The fire of target killings and enforced disappearances in Balochistan must be extinguished. The unjust exploitation of the economic resources of the province must come to an end. The political and human rights of the people of Balochistan must be respected. The need of the hour is for a bold new political initiative by the federal government with the support of the political leadership and the security establishment of the country to resolve the grievances of the Baloch people. This initiative should consist of two parts: immediate steps to redress the grievances of the Baloch people on the lines indicated by Sardar Akhtar Mengal and the initiation of a dialogue with the genuine representatives of the Baloch people to resolve their political, administrative, economic and social problems. Senior representatives of all the major political parties should be associated with this initiative, which should be taken without any further delay.

If the federal government fails to take such an initiative, the leaders of the major political parties must launch a political campaign to mobilise public opinion and exert pressure on the government to do so. The leaders of the civil society must play their own role and raise their voice in support of the just demands of the people of Balochistan. We must learn from our experience of the events of 1971 that silence in the face of the mishandling of a national crisis is not an acceptable option.

The writer is a retired ambassador and the president of the Lahore Council for World Affairs. Email:javid.husain@gmail.com