From The News International 

ISLAMABAD: If Nawaz Sharif succeeds in prevailing upon Sardar Sanaullah Zehri to back off, Dr Abdul Malik of the National Party may become the next chief minister of Balochistan.

At the moment, the PML-N is in a fix due to the stiff stand taken by Zehri, who is the president of its Balochistan chapter, to be qualified and deserving to be the next chief minister, a senior party source told The News.

According to him, Nawaz Sharif wants to opt for Dr Malik as the next Balochistan chief executive as the latter is a non-tribal chieftain and non-Nawab and hails from the educated middle class, having good democratic credentials. However, another reason behind Nawaz Sharif’s apparent reluctance to pick up Zehri as the chief minister could be the Sardar Akhtar Mengal-Zehri feud.

Over the past few years, the PML-N chief has demonstrated that he has a special liking for the estranged Mengals. It is possible that Mengal has conveyed his strong opposition to Zehri to Nawaz Sharif. When Zehri lost his brother and son in an attack during the election campaign, he nominated Akhtar Mengal and others in the police report.

On his own and without consulting the top party leadership, Zehri has put himself up as the PML-N’s nominee for the office of the chief minister. Not only this, he collected some political parties, which got a good number of seats in the provincial assembly in the May 11 elections, and secured their support to his candidacy.

This, the PML-N source said, added to the difficulties of the party. When a three-member party committee, comprising Shahbaz Sharif, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Pervaiz Rashid recently visited Quetta, it made no commitment to Zehri to name him for the top slot and left it to Nawaz Sharif to take the decision, he said. In the May polls, the PML-N emerged as the second largest party in the Balochistan assembly with nine seats with Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party of Mehmood Khan Achakzai leading with 10 seats.

The National Party secured seven seats, Fazlur Rehman’s JUI six seats, the PML-Q five seats and BNP of Akhtar Mengal two seats. There are eight independent winners.

Zehri won from Khuzdar by getting 9,431 votes against JUI’s Mir Younus Aziz who secured 7,652 ballots. Dr Malik was elected from Kech by bagging 4,539 votes against 4,149 votes of Balochistan National Party-Awami’s Syed Ehsan Shah.

Apart from Zehri, Nawabzada Jangez Marri, son of Nawab Khair Bux Marri, who won from Kohlu on the PML-N ticket, is also a candidate for the berth of the chief minister. He got 5,087 votes. His father detached himself from politics after the 70s military operation in the Balochistan. Some of Jangez’s brothers are based abroad and are working against Pakistan to separate Balochistan from it.

“Jangez is the ‘crown prince’ meaning that he, being the eldest son of Nawaz Marri, will become sardar one day,” a leading figure from Balochistan told The News. “According to the Baloch traditions, the eldest son is elevated as the chief of the tribe after the death of the incumbent.”

At one stage before the general elections, it was discussed at the federal level to appoint Jangez Marri as the Balochistan governor with a view to soften his brothers so that they give up their present disastrous path. This idea could not somehow materialize.

Republished in The Baloch Hal on May 25, 2013

For the first time in one decade, the process of choosing a chief minister for Balochistan is taking so long. This is not a bad thing at all. The last two chief ministers, Jam Mohammad Yousaf and Nawab Aslam Raisani, respectively belonging to the Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-e-Azam and the Pakistan People’s Party, were hastily picked up and installed as the puppets of the central government. They lacked commitment, authority and the ability to professionally govern the province. Their terms turned out to be complete disasters in every sphere of governance. 

The Pakistan Muslim League (P.M.L-Nawaz), which won an overwhelming majority in the National Assembly following the general elections of May 11, has been taking particular interest in the future government of Balochistan. The P.M.L-N. is destined to form a coalition government in the province with the help of the Pashtunkhaw Milli Awami Party, the largest party in the provincial assembly, and the National Party.

The P.M.L.-N does not seem to be interested in forming a routine government in the province. It appears that Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif, the future prime minister of Pakistan, is also taking personal interest in seriously addressing the Baloch issue. In order to that, he needs an efficient and reliable chief minister. Mr. Sharif has shown great caution to choose a widely acceptable chief minister for the province. The more he thinks about the new chief executive of the troubled province, the more he realizes how hard it is to pick up one man in a province where, unlike the rest of the country, no single party emerged with absolute majority.

The P.M.L-N has not officially announced any candidates or preferences for the office of the chief minister. Most of the speculations are based on media reports. Before the elections, people speculated that Sardar Akhtar Mengal of the Balochistan National Party could become the next chief minister but his party performed very poorly in the polls. After the elections, Sardar Sanaullah Zehri, the provincial head of the P.M.L-N self-appointed himself as the consensus candidate for his party. He cited his ‘sacrifices’ for the party, while alluding to the killing of his son, brother and the nephew during the election campaign, as a reason to be appointed as the next head of the provincial government. Mr. Zehri’s speculative nomination even drew extraordinary criticism in the media, including this newspaper. While some called Mr. Zehri’ , if nominated so, P.M.L-N’s “first blunder” in Balochistan, we described him as “worse than Raisani“.

Reading between the lines that Mr. Zheri would not make a perfect and acceptable chief minister, Mian Shahbaz Sharif, the former chief minister of the Punjab, visited Quetta for ‘further discussions’. During his stay in Quetta, he met with Baloch and Pashtun nationalist leaders and future coalition partners besides meeting his own party representatives. It was in Quetta where he learnt about other people within the P.M.L.-N, such as Jangiz Marri, the eldest son of nationalist leader Nawab Khair Baksh Marri, who were also ambitious to become the chief minister. Just like Zehri, Mr. Marri is also known as an insignificant figure in Balochistan’s politics as his father and brothers do not share his political philosophy and vision. Mr. Marri has no previous experience of holding such a high position. Hence, Mr. Sharif returned to Lahore without making a final decision about the name of the future chief minister. He said his elder brother, Nawaz Sharif, would instead have the final word on this important matter.

Unofficial reports now suggest that the P.M.L.-N is considering former senator, Dr. Malik Baloch, who is also the head of the National Party, for the coveted position. Some reports suggest that his name was recommended by Hasil Khan Bizenjo, N.P.’s vice president, while others say Mahmood Khan Achakzai of the P.K.M.P. suggested his name or at least raised no objections to the idea. Balochistan’s Hazara community, despite not having any major representation in the Balochistan Assembly, seems to accept Dr. Baloch for the top seat.

Dr. Baloch is a reasonable candidate at a time when we are left without better available candidates. But it is dangerous to attach very high expectations from Dr. Baloch. He will also have his limitations and weaknesses. We will actually have to lower the bar and hope that he will at least do better than Jam Yousaf and Nawab Raisani.

By appointing Dr. Baloch as the C.M. the Sharifs and the rest of the country will be helping Balochistan complete its social transition. Balochistan needs to be helped to get out of its archaic tribal structure. Dr. Baloch will become the first non-tribal chief minister of the province. For Balochistan choosing a chief minister from the educated middle class means exactly the same thing as what it meant for the  Americans to choose an African American as their president. This is going to be a milestone in the history of the province where the middle-class urgently needs to be empowered with modern education and better economic opportunities.

Dr. Baloch will not have the capability to immediately end the insurgency in Balochistan, as no one else in the entire assembly can do that either. What he can do at best is to start with smaller  but important things, such as spreading education and health facilities in the province and negotiate a fair deal with the central government with regards to province’s equitable representation in every sphere of life. The new government should end corruption, build infrastructure and ensure good governance. The federal government should offer complete support to the next chief minister. After all, Dr. Baloch, if appointed, will heavily depend on the support of the P.M.L-N and the P.K.M.P. for his survival.  Balochistan needs stability and consistency of policies.  The Sharifs should help in achieving that goal.

MALIK SIRAJ AKBAR

Editor-in-Chief 

The Baloch Hal 

Published in The Baloch Hal on May 25, 2013

By Dr. Fouzia Saeed

Good governance in Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa remains one of the critical dimensions of our approach to dealing with our biggest issue: countering militant insurgency. On the appointment of the Chief Minister in K-P, as we all know Khattak’s background and we have all witnessed his words of wisdom in his first press conference, there is really not much to say. 

However, the choice of Balochistan CM remains a tug-of-war. The CM in the last term, who ran the province from Islamabad for five years, was the pro-establishment Baloch sardar, Nawab Aslam Raisani, set in place by the PPP government. He had been elected to the provincial assembly four times by the Raisani tribe in his constituency of Mastung/Quetta.

Running his administration by remote control, especially when the barbaric attacks on the Hazara community generated country-wide sympathy, he never even attempted to condole with them.  As a result, the President had to oust him from his position. Another long sitting CM we can mention is Jan Mohammad Yusouf hailing from the royalty of Lasbela.

Seeing the way the majority of the people live in Lasbela, that alone is enough to tell you about his commitment to his people. These tribal leaders each ‘ruled’ the province for five years at a stretch, while others got shorter terms. In general, there is hardly any evidence, so far, that a Balochistan CM had resolved local problems or demonstrated any commitment whatsoever to the people of Balochistan. In most cases their commitment was restricted to their tribal elites and/or to the establishments who supported them in gaining these positions.

I think the decision of choosing the next CM is difficult as the new leadership of the federal government is trying to get the Baloch factions to come to a consensus on one name. The people of Balochistan have never had a single party that represented their collective interests. This provincial government has always been a weak coalition of several parties. Despite all the glaring issues Balochistan has been allowed to fester for decades under self-promoting tribal chiefs who were born into their position.

The Pakhtuns, by contrast, have achieved greater success through a joint stand.  The Hazaras have also organised under one main front.  The Baloch however remain divided with each of the rival tribes nurturing age-old animosities, and one sardar refusing to accept another. That is the reason many are suggesting Dr Maalik, the head of National Party, as the next CM. He is not a tribal chief, but a Baloch leader who is acceptable to Pakhtuns, Hazaras and a wide range of the Baloch people. He should be acceptable to the Federal Government as well as he is clearly not a separatist and is focused on resolving the political and economic problems rather than grabbing money and power for his tribal elite.

Whether the centre is interested in resolving the problems of Balochistan is a separate discussion, but these problems have become so overwhelming that they can no longer be considered local problems.

Although the political problems of Balochistan are complex, the continued appointment of tribal chieftains has accentuated its problems. Balochistan needs a leader who is backed by a parliament that is serious about resolving these issues.

The rest of Pakistan should be supportive of an open process of dialogue among all parties.The appointment of the next chief minister of Balochistan was never more important than it is today. If the right decision is made, this can be a turning point for Balochistan rather than another round of inept governance from the same fragmented and inept elite tribal leadership. (Courtesy: Express Tribune)

Republished in The Baloch Hal on May 25, 2013

By Yousaf Ajab Baloch

The Supreme Court of  Pakistan finally turned   Reko-Diq project accord void , which was signed 20 years ago .This project  was signed between  Balochistan government  and Tethyan Copper Company (TCC) a joint  venture between Antofagasta of Chile and Canadian’s Barrick Gold corporation.. This costly project of gold and copper in twenty years could not bring and economic development in Balochistan, therefore, this decision did not gain the attention of Baloch people or no cheerful expressions have been observed in social and political institutions of Balochistan.

The Reko-Diq area is known to be the part of Tethyan Magmatic arc, which Contains wealth of large copper –gold ore deposit of varying grades.  Reko-Diq area is one of many eroded remnant volcanic centers in the Chaghi, which runs in an east and west line across Balochistan between Quetta to Taftan railway and the border with Afghanistan.

The Reko-Diq reserves were discovered in 1978. According to the Geological Survey of Pakistan the Reko-Diq is famous because of its vast Gold and Copper Deposits and it is believed to be world’s 5th largest gold mines. The minerals resourc at Reko-Diq is estimated at 5.9 billion tones with an average copper grade of 0.41 percent and an average gold grade of 0.22g/tones. These minerals resources lie in the Chaghi area of Pakistan’s southwest Balochistan province – bigger than those evaluated at Sarcheshmeh in Iran and Escondido in Chile. However, the experts estimate that only a small part of the Reko Diq gold and copper mines (EL-5) have deposits worth US $270 billion.

In 1993 an agreement  reached between  the government  of Balochistan and mining  company BHP Billiton  and established a joint  project with  the only  interest of Balochistan , at 25 percent   and BHP at 75 percent in June 2000.

The TCC, had an alliance with BHP Billiton .In April 2006, it assumed all rights and obligations of BHP under the Chagai Hills Joint Venture Agreement (CHEJVA). Thus Reko-Diq was then jointly owned by Antofagasta with 37.5 percent .Barrick Gold with 37.5 percent and Balochistan with 25 percent stake. At first the deal was done with BHP, but BHP sold its interests to TCC and latter sold it to Barrick Gold and Antofagasta. According to the TCC the company had spent $400 million on exploration and technical studies 2006.

According to the TCC the Reko Diq Mining Project was a US$ 3.3 billion investment project that promised to build and operate a world class copper-gold open-pit mine in the northwest area of Balochistan, where the project was planned to have an estimated mine life of 56 years. The annual production of the TCC Reko Diq project was estimated at 200,000 tons of copper and 250,000 ounces of gold from 600,000 tons of concentrate. In order to achieve this production rate approximately 110,000 tons of ore was aimed to be processed daily.

In August 2010, the TCC completed the feasibility study in respect of the project and submitted that to the government of Balochistan. Earlier report TCC completed an extensive exploration program at Reko Diq with more than 300,000 meters drilling comprising mainly diamond and reverse circulation drilling.  The Feasibility Report was based on extensive world class engineering, technical and financial studies .The report named Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) was submitted to further make ways for negotiations with the Government of Balochistan and Federal Government of Pakistan for future investment in the project.

On 15 November 2011, TCC was informed by the government of Balochistan that the government had rejected its application for mining lease .TCC began two international arbitration in order to protect its legal right. The TCC lost the cases in International Chamber of Commerce International Court of Arbitration (ICCICA) and in International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputed (ICSID) against government of Balochistan.

The court’s decision weakened the TCC’s case in the international tribunal as Chagai Hills Exploration Joint Venture Agreement (CHEJVA) was declared void, which means that TCC had no rights to claim under the 1993 agreement in the international court. The apex court in its ruling said that the agreement reached on July 23, 1993 was in conflict with the laws of the country.

The supreme court of Pakistan had already declared the contract illogical with TCC that the company did not have any right over Reko-Diq. Finally on 10^th May 2013 it appeared in media that Tethyan Copper Company (TCC) abandoned project.

According to the Dr. Samar Mubarakmand the provincial government will implement the project.  Now the government plans to launch project herself. Under the project, as many as 15,000 tonnes of raw material, worth $411 million, would be excavated annually and the provincial government would earn an annual profit of $321 million from it. “The provincial government had allocated Rs1, 400 million for the project, whereas the water supply for it would only cost Rs1, 980 million and would be completed within one-and-a-half year.” says Dr. Samar Mubarakmand.

The Reko-Diq project had proposed ancillary infrastructure development projects for future such as: 1) Power plant for mining for considerable amount of electricity in the area.2) The underground pipeline of 682 Km from Reko-Diq connecting to Gawadar port .3) Development of facilities for dewatering and pressure filters.4) Coverage belt arrangement and ship-loader.5) Project village in the area with all the basic facilities of life. But in last twenty years the TCC and government of Balochistan even remained unable to provide clean drinking water to the communities in the area.

The motto behind explaining comprehensive tale of Reko-Diq project is to mention the richness of the Balochistan in natural resources and the exploitation of these worth billions deposits by Islamabad and its so-called governments in Balochistan. Though Balochistan has importance in region because of its wealth in minerals, these resources have not been utilized sincerely to bring economic growth in Balochistan.

If we keep in view the estimated deposits and their international value so out of hundreds of natural resources only the Reko-Diq resources are enough to bring a gigantic development change in all the walks of life in Balochistan. Unluckily, Islamabad is only interested in plundering Baloch resources with the help of so-called Baloch representatives in provincial and national assembly and bureaucracy.

Now the government of Balochistan or plainly the Islamabad has planned to run Reko-Diq project itself, still, there is no assurance that the people in Balochistan will be benefited or not. Yet it is claimed that the local people of Balochistan   will be recruited for the project’s non-technical positions and project offices to be established in Quetta instead of Islamabad.

Concisely, the bitter familiarity with deprivation of no opportunities in other projects such as Gawadar, Sandak, in industries of Hub and Lasbelah   and Sui Gas has already created despondency among the youth in Balochistan. No project in Balochistan can be thriving and advantageous unless the real representatives of Balochistan are included in decision making with international guarantees. Otherwise Balochistan will always remain deprived of its rights and resources.

Bibliography:

• Reko Diq: Controversial project and mining contracts by Muhammad Daheem
• The Reko Diq saga  by Syed Fazl-e-Haider
• The Reko Diq Project By TCC
• Secret negotiations on Reko Diq with caretakers this week by Shaheen Sehbai
• Reko Diq project  exploiting own treasures  by Khalid A Khokhar

Published in The Baloch Hal on May 25, 2013

By Muhammad Akbar Notezai

Hakeem Baloch is a renowned Baloch intellectual, storyteller and a former high-level bureaucrat. He has richly contributed to  Balochi language through short stories and translation of foreign literature in Balochi. Born in Panjgur district, Mr. Baloch also served as Balochistan’s former Chief Secretary, the highest civil service position in the province. He has authored more than 10 books in Balochi, Urdu and English languages. Mr. Baloch’s political columns regularly appear in different newspapers while his commentary on Balochistan’s politics and society is regularly aired on a number of radio and television stations. The Baloch Hal spoke to Mr. Baloch on a number of cultural issues. 

How do you define culture?

It is very difficult to define culture because experts say that there is no single definition to culture. And, to define something amounts to confining and limiting its broader meaning.

In French society, culture means ‘education’ and it seems to be a good definition but education does not solely mean bookish education. It means the values; the faculties that you inculcate the things mentally come into the culture. Moreover, art, sculpture and many other tools represent a culture.

It is the basic determining factor of the way of one’s life; but for that the basic thing is your native and national language. Any creative thing in your literature, for example, all the great literary critics maintain that what you can create or produce in your native language that you are not capable of producing or creating in other tongue or languages. So, language is the best vehicle of the representation of culture, art and many beautiful aspects and even ugly aspects must not ignore them of the society. So, it is the total expression of the society as a whole in its creativeness, even in its critical approach to the social ups and downs, social evils and also to the social goods which keep on changing. But basic goods and evils that are somewhat eternal and universal are found in many cultures in all over the world. So, these things: your makes, your beliefs, your way of worship, your mosques, your temples, which are the product of human mind. Whatever is the product of human mind, to my mind, is included in the culture.

Anyhow, basic culture lies in your social relations: for example, how do you irrigate your land, how do you distribute the crops, etc. Besides it, how do you treat the gender differences between man and woman, how do you have the way of marriage that determines the whole thing.

To my mind, one of the things is this that in our culture as it is called a settled society where we are civilized. By civilization I mean people are nomadic and migratory. They grow up with their crops. They have a different approach towards life because of the necessities of the life that how do you attain the necessities of the life that determines the whole of your culture.

One of the basic relations of the culture is this too that how is the society respectful towards its women? This question also rises: Is it a male dominating society? Yes. It is. But due to shounism, women are not treated equally and socially in many societies. They say man is the master of the woman, particularly the wife. They also deny any rights of inheritance to them.

In our settled areas, our relations are different from the other parts because it is a conglomeration of the many cultures through ages when you are crossing due to the traditions and nomadic life. As a result, we have received many things in the cross section. That is why in our parts, especially the IndusValley where we do have the influence of inter-civilization in our culture. Also, the status of woman in our society is quite different from the world because here is a big cultural variation.

So much so they say father’s land, not the mother’s land. Motherland is totally different that means the land of the mother. She is the creator. But by father land means the land which your father has captured and you are the master of it. So this master-slavery relation in regards to husband –wife relation does not exist in those parts whether it is our neighbor country or Pakistan. But in western Balochistan, this difference is quite poignant and clear.

What do you say about the Balochi literature?

Literature is the product of genius of a nation. As far as Balochi literature is concerned, one must admit that the Baloch so far has not attained nationhood in itself. Baloch is not nationally developed like Persia, Arabia and European countries.

Baloch at least speaks three or four languages. But basic language is what the language of majority. In eastern, western and central Balochistan, Brahui and Siraiki are also being spoken by Baloch tribes, but the national language of Baloch is Balochi.

In the Indus valley too, Balochi’s syntics and grammar is quite different.

How do you see the development of Balochi literature?

Unfortunately, we have failed to become a nation. We have also not developed into a full nation. Literature can develop at that time when it language becomes a national language and it is taught and studied.

In my many books, it is clearly mentioned that our language is in “unlettered” form. It has got very meager chances to develop.

Moreover, language must be a medium of interaction. It must be a way of educating the children.

Verbal literature can be taught in poetries but presently our poetry is degenerated. And our today’s poetry does not have resemblance with the great classic poetries. There has come a distortion in our today’s poetry due to its misrepresentation, etc. It is represented with a distorted version.

Literature can thrive or promote in the presence of patronage, but we do not have it. Unfortunately, we have programmes on TV and Radio in a very bad Balochi. These are making distortion of our language. I wish it had not been used in such a bad Balochi which is in a distorted form.  And I am also afraid that due to the above mentioned reasons our Balochi and Bravi languages may lose their essence.

What is your contribution towards Balochi literature?

When I was in the Radio Pakistan Karachi, I translated English news into Balochi. So, I learnt how to translate them from one language into the other one.

I have also translated French novels into Balochi. I have adopted some dramas for Radio Pakistan Karachi. I have produced 11 short stories in Balochi. I also translated them into the other languages. But my literary product is totally in Balochi. I have written books about Balochi literature. This is what I could contribute to the Balochi literature.

Unfortunately, these have no influence in Balochistan because these are not being taught in our schools and colleges. Here, constructed language is taught in our schools and colleges. But language should be generated, not constructed.

Why is the young Baloch generation not interested in Balochi literature?

I should tell you one thing that it is not their fault. When you produce a literature so it is self expression, and you should express it the way that it should have the values and recognition in our society. But these values and recognition come when you are teaching them in schools, colleges and universities.

In Balochistan, we have totally deprived the students of it. It is not being taught over here. In our literature, stagnation has occurred. And it is just being emulated and copied. It should be like the flowing water of a stream. It should not have any contaminations. It also should not be like the stagnant water of a pool in which harmful things also grow.

About it, I have written in one of my books: “Save the Balochi language from extinction”.

What do you want to advise the young Baloch generation about the Balochi literature?

Well, our young Baloch generation had better purify the old literature of the classics. They also had better go through it in an advanced form, not in a distorted form. Also, the purity of language must be maintained at any cost.

Lastly, it is my wish that our young Baloch generation must maintain the chastity of our literature and culture.

Published in The Baloch Hal on May 25, 2013

A bomb planted in a rickshaw tore through a vehicle used by security forces in southwest Pakistan on Thursday, killing at least 12 people, police said.

The remotely detonated bomb containing around 100 kilograms of explosives targeted a truck carrying members of a government paramilitary force on the outskirts of Quetta, the capital of restive Balochistan province.

Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest but most underdeveloped province, is wracked by Islamist and sectarian violence as well as a long-running insurgency waged by separatists, and attacks on security forces are common.

“At least 12 people have been killed, 11 of them were security personnel,” said senior police official Fayyaz Sumbal. “The bomb was planted in rickshaw (tricycle). The target was a truck of Balochistan Constabulary which was carrying the security personnel.”

A further 11 people were wounded in the attack, he said. A bomb disposal officer confirmed the incident and death toll.

Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran, has significant reserves of gas and other resources, but development has been limited by the volatile security situation. Ten days ago the provincial police chief narrowly escaped a suicide car bomb attack outside his home in Quetta that killed at least six people and wounded 46 others.

The Pakistan Muslim League (P.M.L.-N) has attained the required support to form a coalition government in Balochistan after the Pakhtunkhawa Milli Awami Party (P.K.M.P) of Mahmood Khan Achakzai and the National Party of Dr. Abdul Malik Baloch announced to join the next administration. The new coalition partners have decided to keep the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (J.U.I.-Fazal) and the Pakistan Muslim League (P.M.L-Quaid-e-Azam) out of the upcoming government because of their flawed policies in the past governments they headed. It seems a little strange considering the fact that the P.M.L-N has invited the J.U.I-F to join its government at the Center. The reason for excluding J.U.I-F from the Balochistan government could probably be P.K.M.P.’s opposition to the right wing party, which was recently heavily defeated by the latter in the Pashtun-majority districts. 

The P.M.L.N’s method to lead the coalition government in Balochistan is, however, faulty. It clearly indicates P.M.L.N’s lack of respect for the local mandate.  After the 2008 elections, for example, the Pakistan People’s Party, which became the main ruling party at the Center, also imposed its chief minister upon the province despite obtaining fewer seats than the P.M.L.-Q in the provincial legislature. This time, the P.M.L-N did not win most seats either but it is still determined to influence the government-formation process in Balochistan and impose its man, Sardar Sanaullah Zehri, as the chief executive of the province. What makes it easier for major political parties like the P.M.L.-N and the P.P.P. to dominate the provincial government is their ability to buy off the independent candidates.

The good news for the P.M.L.-N is the joining of Baloch and the Pashtun nationalists of the new government. These two parties are known for their progressive views and popularity among the masses. They boycotted the last general elections and have won a sizable number of seats in return of their electoral promise to their voters to bring peace and stability in Balochistan after coming into power.

What will distinguish the upcoming parliament from the previous one is the presence of a strong opposition comprising of veteran politicians from the J.U.I.-F and the P.M.L-Q. It is still not known whether or not Sardar Akhtar Mengal of the Balochistan National Party, who has been complaining about election fraud, would join the government or prefer to sit in the opposition. While joining the provincial government would contradict his allegations of fraud, sitting with the J.U.I.-F on the opposition benches would make him look even more awkward because of his longstanding opposition to the J.U.I-F. After the passage of the 18th Amendment, the provincial governments are also required to restrict the number of ministers in the provincial cabinets which means everyone who will support the future government would not necessarily become a minister, as was seen during the dark days of Nawab Aslam Raisani’s government.

What has sent waves of shock and disappointment ahead of the formation of the new government in Balochistan is the P.M.L-N’s decision to nominate a notorious tribal chief as its candidate for the office of chief minister. Sardar Sanaullah Zehri is in fact the only remaining man in the Balochistan government who remained a part of the past two governments. In 2002, he was appointed as pro-Musharraf Jam Yousaf’s Minister for Home and Tribal Affairs while he remained Nawab Aslam Raisani’s Minister for Services and General Administration (S&GAD). Mr. Zehri has a reputation as a corrupt politician, criminal and tyrant tribal chief. He is controversial to such an extent that he has disputes with almost everyone in Balochistan, ranging from his own brothers to most respected Baloch nationalist leaders like Nawab Khair Baksh Marri and Sardar Attaullah Mengal.

Since Mr. Zehri has still not been appointed as the chief minister,  the P.M.L-N. should immediately withdraw his name from the race. His appointment as the head of the government will not only fail in resolving the existing crises but it will surely open new fronts of unwonted political and tribal clashes which will lead to further destabilization of  Balochistan.

If elections were meant to bring a change then the P.M.L-N. should help Balochistan achieve that goal. A man who has already become deeply objectionable in the national and local media should not lead the future government. Mr. Zehri has not only taken public fights with the Marris and the Mengals but has also provided space to Mr. Sarfaraz Bugti, an ardent opponent of Nawabzada Bramadgh Bugti, the chairman of the Baloch Republican Party.

The P.M.L.-N. should take advantage of the National Party’s decision to join the coalition government and recommend veteran Baloch nationalist leader Dr. Malik Baloch  as the chief minister. Dr. Baloch, a former education minister and a member of the Senate, fully understands the complexities of Baloch society and enjoys a better reputation than Mr. Zehri. Dr. Baloch is the symbol of Balochistan’s educated middle class and by supporting people like him the P.M.L-N. will also help the Baloch people get out of the cultures of tribalism. If we want to change Balochistan, we should trust and empower the educated middle class of the province. Appointment of a tribal chieftain will take us back to square one where Islamabad patronized Baloch tribal chiefs for its own benefits. Dr. Baloch may not be able to fully resolve all of Balochistan’s problems but his appointment will at least help in liberating and empowering the province’s middle class.

MALIK SIRAJ AKBAR

Editor-in-Chief 

The Baloch Hal 

Published in The Baloch Hal on May 18, 2013

By Nazish Brohi 

One way to start a write up on elections in Balochistan would be to tally the count of provincial seats where PkMAP emerged as the single largest party taking three national assembly seats and ten provincial seats followed by PML with nine provincial seats and the National Party that managed seven provincial ones. The JUI took 6 seats, trailing behind the Independents that managed a total of 8 seats, many of whom have announced support to PML-N, giving the party the numerical strength to form government.

Another way would be to reflect on the major upsets, of the ruling PPP being completely decimated to not being able to retain a single seat, and that the feted decision of Nawab Akhter Mengal to contest elections did not result in the anticipated victory and that he has rejected polling results as being rigged. BNP supporters blocked the National Highway in Khuzdar for over twenty four hours and the party has called for province-wide protests.

A third option would be to suggest that holding the elections in Balochistan was a feat in itself. Given the security situation, the average voter turnout of forty per cent in Baloch areas and over fifty percent in Pushtun areas is a towering achievement, and that this political path has already delivered a victory of nationalist parties and democratic ideals.

Each of these beginnings would be correct and tell an important part of the story. Yet each of these also has an underlying dark side that offsets gains the elections offer.

The break-up of the voter turnout raises questions of mandate of winners in the non-Pushtun areas. The names the PML-N is reportedly considering for the Chief Minister slot include Abdul Qadir Baloch who won his NA271 seat from Panjgur with twenty nine per cent of votes where a paltry total of nineteen per cent of registered voters polled in the first place. On PB23 in Kohlu, Nawabzada Jangez Khan Marri won with five thousand votes in an area with thirty nine thousand voters. The most startling statistic is Abdul Jadoos Bizenjo’s victory in PB41 with just over five hundred votes. In Kech, Panjgur and Awaran, voter turnout was less than ten per cent.

Polling results in one of the Mengal tribe strongholds in Khuzdar, NA269 have been withheld despite an outcry. It is Nawab Akhter Mengal’s contesting that increased the voting turnout in the troubled area. Using his provincial seat PB35 as an indicator, the voting turnout was 56%, the highest in the Baloch conflict areas. Yet his electoral absence because of the 2008 election boycott and his physical absence from the country took its toll on his party. So where BNP leaders have been targeted and killed, so have those of the National Party, but the leadership of the latter stayed on, consolidated and opened new party offices on ground. The results are obvious in the electoral gains.

While it may be remarkable that the army deployment enabled elections to be held with minimum violence on the polling day, frustrating the claims of armed separatist groups to make elections impossible, and that inclusion of Baloch nationalists reaffirmed hope in parliamentary solutions to the Balochistan crisis, it has not been smooth sailing. The District Election Commissioner of Quetta, Mohammad Ziaullah was assassinated two months before the polls. The Government Teachers Association of Balochistan refused to work in polling stations as they traditionally do because of security risks in Turbat, Panjgur, Khuzdar, Kalat and Kharan, all ethnic Baloch majority districts. According to FAFEN (Free and Fair Election Network), there were 37 cases of election violence in Balochistan, including targeting of seven political party workers in addition to attacks on political party offices and bombings of polling stations.

The Secretary Interior Akbar Durrani announced seventy thousand security persons were deployed in the province for elections, including seventeen thousand from the much-reviled FC and six thousand from the army. Women from Awaran and Panjgur tell me the men of their families have run away to the mountains and forests to hide, and those who could afford it, ran to Karachi, to escape from elections. The FC has been going door to door insisting they vote (without encouraging voting for any particular candidate or party), whereas the armed separatists, the ‘sarmachaar’ as they are called, have been threatening them with death if they vote. Women narrate the same ‘damned if we do, damned if we don’t’ dilemma from Talar to Gishkore to Hub.

So what does this all mean? Essentially, that change is a dialectical process. Balochistan in particular shows that unlike evolution, political change does not automatically have a linear, forward direction.

The previous five years of an ostensibly democratic party, the PPP’s term in Balochistan was exploitative and regressive, and dysfunctional to the extent that the party’s federal set up had to eventually dismiss its provincial one, albeit much too late. There was no opposition within the assembly and the provincial government as good as operated from Islamabad. Many Baloch say they feel they lived under a siege – under attack from the FC, undermined by the sarmachaar and abandoned by the state.

The elections provide a rupture to this narrative. A change in trajectory and restoring old equilibrium, both are possible at this point. Which one will be chosen depends on the role the political parties take in the province. The mainstream national political parties already failed on the first count. The focus of this election should have been on Balochistan. It wasn’t. Not on campaigns of political parties; not on coverage in broadcast media nor critically a part of analysis in the intelligentsia.

But there is still space to do so.

BalochHaal, an online newspaper in its editorial assesses the candidates, finding Sanaullah Zehri, Jan Muhummad Jamali and Jangiz Marri with no democratic credentials and only tribal influence, and assuming that bringing in a Pukhtun CM through PkMAP would rack up ethnic tensions, endorses Dr. Maalik as the first non-tribal chief minister and one who would represent the middle class, with personal investments in education and democratic struggles; and alternatively promoting Akhtar Mengal as one of the last actual Baloch leaders willing to negotiate with the federation who would be an immense challenge to deal with on the opposition benches.

Whichever candidate gets the post, the success of the next government cannot be relegated to simply a provincial affair. The neglect and exploitation of Balochistan is attributed to the Center, making all other provinces complicit – some more than others. The redress steps therefore necessarily must also involve the center. Women across Balochistan tell me that they cannot get NICs (National Identity Cards) without paying someone bribes and still are not registered voters. A woman from Mashkay tells me that in 60 years, the state hasn’t been able to give her citizenship, so how can she expect it to give her anything else.

The separatist cause has gained unprecedented strength in the past few years, in reaction to corrupt governance but primarily through unabated numbers of forced disappearances and killings of nationalists and politically engaged youth, all within the context of a narrative of historic and systemic mistreatment. These elections must be seen for the last ditch effort that they are. If these issues are not addressed as a collective national priority, Pakistan will need to develop a rational response to dialogue with those seeking independence. The ‘foreign hand’ hysteria is misplaced. While it may very well be present, the foreign hand can only steer the articulation of grievances, it cannot produce the grievances themselves.

For Balochistan, the good news is that Aslam Raisani and Rehman Malik are out of the picture. On the rest of the concerns, the Baloch jury is still out. (Courtesy: Viewpoint Online) 

Nazish Brohi is a social activist and an author. Email: nazishbrohi@yahoo.com

Republished in The Baloch Hal on May 18, 2013

From Dawn

QUETTA, May 15: A division bench of the Balochistan High Court (BHC) issued show-cause notices to owners and editors of six newspapers on Wednesday for publishing statements of banned organisations accepting responsibility for acts of terrorism.

The bench comprising Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan issued the notices during the hearing of a petition filed by the Balochistan Bar Association.

Earlier, the court had taken suo motu notice of publication of such statements and directed newspapers to avoid publishing them. Later, a petition was filed by the bar association.

The notices seek explanation from the owners and chief editors of dailies Jang, Mashriq, Bakhabar, Qudrat, Intikhab and Azadi why contempt of court proceedings should not be initiated against them for violating the court orders.

They have also been asked to explain why they violated articles 19 and 5 of the constitution and why cases under section 11-W of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 should not be registered against them.

The court observed that the publication of the statements was tantamount to justifying acts of violence in which people were killed and maimed.

The court noted that the statements described murderers and criminals as ‘Mujahideen’ and ‘Fidayeen’ and used Islam, the religion of peace, as a pretext to justify violence.

It directed the owners of the newspapers to submit their replies at the next hearing to be held on May 30.

It appointed media expert Javed Jabbar and senior journalist Talat Hussain as amici curiae to assist the court on how terrorist acts should be covered.

Republished in The Baloch Hal on May 18, 2013

Photo by Jamal Tarkai

From Express Tribune

Even as the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F) waits on the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) to consolidate a coalition, the majority party has moved forward to solidify its plans for a government in the province with two major winners in the province joining it on Friday.

On Friday, the PML-N was joined in Balochistan by the PakhtunKhawah Milli Awami Party (PKMAP) and the National Party (NP) giving it simple majority.

The PML-N which bagged nine seats in the provincial assembly has already won unconditional support of all five newly elected PML-Q MPAs, four independent and one each of Wahdatul Muslimeen and Jamoot Qaumi Movement thus making it the largest party in the provincial assembly.

With the addition of PKMAP’s 10 seats and NP’s seven seats, it has secured simple majority.

Zehri top contender for CM slot

Almost simultaneously, the PML-N Balochistan chief Nawab Sanaullah Zehri emerged as the strongest contender for the chief minister slot after he was nominated as the party’s parliamentary leader in the provincial.

PML-N MPA-elect, Jan Mohammad Jamali presented Zehri’s name for nomination as the party’s parliamentary leader in the provincial assembly before the party’s parliamentary committee meeting and was consensually supported by all its members.

Republished in The Baloch Hal on May 18, 2013