Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, on a visit to Quetta to assess, on the spot, the situation in Balochistan, listed certain specific measures designed to remove the sense of deprivation and alienation of the local population. He told a PPP delegation at the Governor’s House on Sunday that he was confident they would win the estranged Baloch back by carrying out ‘exemplary development works’ in the province on which Rs 250 billion were being spent. Mr Gilani promised jobs to 10,000 youth and to provide training abroad to 5,000 students at official expense. Besides, he recalled that under the 7th National Finance Commission Award, the share of Balochistan had been tripled from Rs 40 billion to Rs 120 billion. There was also allocation of funds by the federal government for the completion of some other projects.
The Balochistan problem has become ever more complicated with the passage of time, evading the government’s efforts to resolve it. At the root of it lies the feeling that the powers that be, whether at the federal level or the provincial, have neglected the Baloch people, as their fellow citizens in other provinces have progressed. This might, according to some, be a case of misjudgement, but the fact remains that the extent of sheer poverty, the meagre educational and health facilities and job opportunities, little evidence of development – in short, the situation reminiscent of a Medieval era setting – that exist in Balochistan would not be seen in the remotest corners of the rest of the country. The argument that the comparison is misleading since the level of development in Balochistan at the time of independence was far lower than elsewhere in the country does not hold. That is especially so when judged in the face of the availability of huge natural resources in the province. The natural gas from Sui, for instance, has played a significant role in the development of the country. It runs industry, lights houses, operates kitchens. Yet, the facility is scantily available in the province of its origin.
Thus, it is not difficult to imagine how strongly the people in the province should be feeling hurt, or even cheated. The situation can be retrieved with a combination of dialogue and the execution of massive development projects that tend to benefit the ordinary Baloch to give them a sense of belonging and stake in the maintenance of peace and calm in the province. Any and all military operations in the province must cease and our intelligence agencies must present themselves to the court whenever required by the Supreme Court to provide an explanation of its activities there.