Islamabad/Brussels, Sept 16 (Press Release)The Balochistan insurgency will not recede until Islamabad ends its heavy-handed, armed response to legitimate Baloch grievances and negotiates matters of political and economic autonomy.
"Pakistan: The Worsening Conflict in Balochistan", the latest report from the International Crisis Group, examines the troubled Pakistani province and finds the situation deteriorating in the wake of the killing of Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti in August 2006 and the deadly riots that followed. The conflict will escalate further if the government continues to insist on a military solution to what is a political problem. The international community, especially the U.S., should recognise the price involved for security in neighbouring Afghanistan.
“Eliminating a political leader like Bugti will only fuel the insurgency in Balochistan�, says Samina Ahmed, Crisis Group South Asia Project Director. “By using indiscriminate force, the military government is perpetuating this conflict�.
After almost seven years of military rule, deprived of representative participatory institutions and with their natural resources exploited by Islamabad, Baloch alienation is at an all time high. Although regional parties and leaders are still struggling to obtain their rights within a democratic, federal, parliamentary framework, militants have picked up the gun.
Baloch political parties and militants have a common goal – to assert provincial control over Balochistan’s natural resources and gain a voice in shaping its political, economic and social development. By choosing confrontation over negotiation, however, the government of Pervez Musharraf bears responsibility for the state of the conflict.
If the dangerous and fast widening gap between the Baloch and the centre is to be narrowed, the restoration of democracy is the only way out. Free and fair general elections in 2007 would restore representative institutions, once again giving the Baloch political avenues and mechanisms to voice their grievances and demands.
Disturbingly, the military government’s reliance on Pashtun religious parties to counter Baloch opposition has strengthened Pashtun Islamist forces at the cost of moderates in Balochistan. With their chief Pakistani patron running the Balochistan government in alliance with Musharraf’s Muslim League, a reinvigorated Afghan and Pakistani Taliban are attacking international forces and the Kabul government across Balochistan’s border with Afghanistan. Pakistan’s Western allies seem oddly unaware or unconcerned.
“Dropping the failed military response to Baloch demands and empowering moderate forces in Balochistan would improve stability in the region�, says Robert Templer, Director of Crisis Group’s Asia Program. “It is in the interests of the international community to ensure the 2007 election is democratic, free, fair and transparent�.
Link: