‘Balochistan conflict gaining ground’

* New York Times report says PPP government has done little to address Baloch grievances

Daily Times Monitor

LAHORE: Three local political leaders were seized from a small legal office from Turbat in April, handcuffed, blindfolded and hustled into a waiting pickup truck in front of their lawyer and neighbouring shopkeepers. Their bodies, riddled with bullets and badly decomposed in the scorching heat, were found in a date palm grove five days later.

The New York Times on Sunday quoted local residents as saying that they were convinced the killings were the work of intelligence agencies. The deaths fuelled an existing insurgency in Balochistan, with nationalists taking to the streets across the province.

Although the level of this building insurgency is not the same as that of the Taliban, the conflict is gradually gaining ground.

Politicians and analysts have warned that the conflict could open another front for the government, which is already engaged with the Taliban and Al Qaeda-linked terrorists in the north.

Baloch nationalists and several politicians believe the Balochistan situation has the potential to disintegrate the country, unless the government deals with the Baloch anger as a priority.

Thousands of Baloch people were believed to have been rounded up by former president Pervez Musharraf’s regime.

Baloch nationalists maintain the abuses continue under President Asif Ali Zardari and promises to heal tensions stand broken.

“It’s pretty volatile,” said Nawab Zulfiqar Magsi, the governor of Balochistan.

Efforts: Much of the Baloch resentment is a result of years of economic and political negligence. President Zardari had promised to remedy it all, but the Baloch people believe his government has done little in reality to address the grievances.

The Baloch people are becoming increasingly sceptical about the government’s sincerity to deal with their issues.

Sayed Hassan Shah, the provincial minister for Industry and Commerce, said his party was determined to attain provincial autonomy. “This is our last option,” he said. “If we fail, then maybe we have to think of liberation or separation.”

Even Governor Magsi expressed his exasperation at the government’s inaction in addressing the needs of the population.