Galaxy
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Balochistan at the edge of precipice, slipping into chaos Perspective
ISLAMABAD: With a heavy heart and great sorrow, I am constrained to warn the present policy makers that Balochistan is fast slipping into chaos and turmoil that may result in disintegration of the State of Pakistan.
Being the first and only Baloch Inspector General of Balochistan Police in 2007, I do not want this to happen as the vast majority of the Baloch sub-nation does not want their province to be embroiled in the new great game being played in the region. What really bothers me is the lack of political will and wisdom to set things right. The security establishment has a barrel vision as its current strategy is perpetuating tit for tat killings and violence.
Rule of law and the writ of the State are the biggest casualties despite a strong message being given by the High Court of Balochistan to all the relevant stakeholders to come up with a strategy to foil the designs of the terrorists and insurgents. Recent spate of targeted killings of Shia community is a case in point. The State seems to be helpless or groping in the dark to take on proscribed militant organization Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. The Government of Balochistan has not come up with a concerted strategy after detailed review and consultation with the chief secretary, home secretary, inspector general police, DG Levies, IG Frontier Corps, IB, ISI, Special Branch, and CID. A few meetings to pay lip service will not do.
Everyone knows that after the escape of a hardcore LJ terrorist from the high security prison in Quetta, the LJ has regrouped and developed a nexus with BLA and other militant outfits in the province to cause systematic mayhem. It is not a secret that such forces have their hideouts near Mastung in Kabo and other Ferrari camps. These camps are located in the B Areas, which are out of the reach of Balochistan Police, thanks to power-hungry politicians and bureaucrats who have handed over 95% of the province to the rag-tag militias, called the Levies. A turf battle has been won by narrow-minded bureaucrats against the police. Consequently, there is no rule of law and peace in the entire province.
The Balochistan police are totally demoralized and their fractured command is unable to deliver peace. They were not even consulted when Police Act of 1861 was re-enacted with a new name. The IG is struggling to post even the SPs as bureaucratic control over the police has been re-established by law and Rules of Business. A junior home secretary has no guts to summon the command of all the law enforcement and intelligence agencies to evolve an action plan on law and order.
The Frontier Corps looks up to the army command rather than the Ministry of Interior to respond to acts of terrorism and disorder in the province. A huge force is being fed gigantic internal security allowance out of limited financial resources of the province, and yet it is not accountable and responsive to the needs of the provincial government to carry out raids in the 95% lawless areas of the province. With such fragmented administrative machinery, how can Balochistan not go down the road of utter chaos?
Intelligence Bureau, the civilian police-led agency of the Federal Government, has been made ineffective as power lies somewhere else. Its role in Balochistan is to act as glorified partner of the local special branch. The military-led all powerful ISI is not willing to part with its administratively acquired technological prowess for intelligence-based investigations against the terrorists and insurgents. About Military Intelligence (MI), less said the better in the context of Balochistan.
Balochistan faces major challenges on account of insurgency stoked by foreign sponsored sub-nationalists, sectarian terrorism by LJ and anti-state militants, lack of safety on the highways, poor policing by tribal levies, ineffective border control by the Frontier Corps, lack of will by the police, selective sharing of information by the intelligence agencies and above all lack of political will to steer the province out of its present quagmire. The provincial government, with Levies and police, the Federal Government, with Frontier Corps, IB, ISI, FIA, assisted by the armed forces have to sit together and come up with a concerted and effective plan that has political, economic and security solutions if Balochistan is to be pulled back from the edge of precipice.
We cannot afford to have another Hamudur Rehman Commission in our history. Political issues require political solutions. Economic help is the right of the deprived people of Balochistan. Security policies must not lose sight of dignity and self-respect of those seeking their rights. Absence of Baloch political parties from APC held on September 29, 2011, has been a setback. The saner voices like that of Senator Abdul Maalik and Hasil Bizenjo need to be heard. Death of Nawab Akbar Bugti in August 2006 under military siege should be probed by an independent judicial commission. The BNP-M and its leadership need to be brought back in the political mainstream. Issue of missing persons must be resolved by our security establishment.
Balochistan at the edge of precipice, slipping into chaos Perspective
ISLAMABAD: With a heavy heart and great sorrow, I am constrained to warn the present policy makers that Balochistan is fast slipping into chaos and turmoil that may result in disintegration of the State of Pakistan.
Being the first and only Baloch Inspector General of Balochistan Police in 2007, I do not want this to happen as the vast majority of the Baloch sub-nation does not want their province to be embroiled in the new great game being played in the region. What really bothers me is the lack of political will and wisdom to set things right. The security establishment has a barrel vision as its current strategy is perpetuating tit for tat killings and violence.
Rule of law and the writ of the State are the biggest casualties despite a strong message being given by the High Court of Balochistan to all the relevant stakeholders to come up with a strategy to foil the designs of the terrorists and insurgents. Recent spate of targeted killings of Shia community is a case in point. The State seems to be helpless or groping in the dark to take on proscribed militant organization Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. The Government of Balochistan has not come up with a concerted strategy after detailed review and consultation with the chief secretary, home secretary, inspector general police, DG Levies, IG Frontier Corps, IB, ISI, Special Branch, and CID. A few meetings to pay lip service will not do.
Everyone knows that after the escape of a hardcore LJ terrorist from the high security prison in Quetta, the LJ has regrouped and developed a nexus with BLA and other militant outfits in the province to cause systematic mayhem. It is not a secret that such forces have their hideouts near Mastung in Kabo and other Ferrari camps. These camps are located in the B Areas, which are out of the reach of Balochistan Police, thanks to power-hungry politicians and bureaucrats who have handed over 95% of the province to the rag-tag militias, called the Levies. A turf battle has been won by narrow-minded bureaucrats against the police. Consequently, there is no rule of law and peace in the entire province.
The Balochistan police are totally demoralized and their fractured command is unable to deliver peace. They were not even consulted when Police Act of 1861 was re-enacted with a new name. The IG is struggling to post even the SPs as bureaucratic control over the police has been re-established by law and Rules of Business. A junior home secretary has no guts to summon the command of all the law enforcement and intelligence agencies to evolve an action plan on law and order.
The Frontier Corps looks up to the army command rather than the Ministry of Interior to respond to acts of terrorism and disorder in the province. A huge force is being fed gigantic internal security allowance out of limited financial resources of the province, and yet it is not accountable and responsive to the needs of the provincial government to carry out raids in the 95% lawless areas of the province. With such fragmented administrative machinery, how can Balochistan not go down the road of utter chaos?
Intelligence Bureau, the civilian police-led agency of the Federal Government, has been made ineffective as power lies somewhere else. Its role in Balochistan is to act as glorified partner of the local special branch. The military-led all powerful ISI is not willing to part with its administratively acquired technological prowess for intelligence-based investigations against the terrorists and insurgents. About Military Intelligence (MI), less said the better in the context of Balochistan.
Balochistan faces major challenges on account of insurgency stoked by foreign sponsored sub-nationalists, sectarian terrorism by LJ and anti-state militants, lack of safety on the highways, poor policing by tribal levies, ineffective border control by the Frontier Corps, lack of will by the police, selective sharing of information by the intelligence agencies and above all lack of political will to steer the province out of its present quagmire. The provincial government, with Levies and police, the Federal Government, with Frontier Corps, IB, ISI, FIA, assisted by the armed forces have to sit together and come up with a concerted and effective plan that has political, economic and security solutions if Balochistan is to be pulled back from the edge of precipice.
We cannot afford to have another Hamudur Rehman Commission in our history. Political issues require political solutions. Economic help is the right of the deprived people of Balochistan. Security policies must not lose sight of dignity and self-respect of those seeking their rights. Absence of Baloch political parties from APC held on September 29, 2011, has been a setback. The saner voices like that of Senator Abdul Maalik and Hasil Bizenjo need to be heard. Death of Nawab Akbar Bugti in August 2006 under military siege should be probed by an independent judicial commission. The BNP-M and its leadership need to be brought back in the political mainstream. Issue of missing persons must be resolved by our security establishment.
Balochistan at the edge of precipice, slipping into chaos Perspective
