Go B's Double Standards Vis à Vis Malik's New Policy

The explosion was masterminded by a Sunni militant organization and not the Baloch nationalists. But, the government banned five Baloch outfits.

Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik has announced Islamabad's decision to take stern action against Baloch armed groups. As a part of the new plan, five armed groups have been banned and the Frontier Corps (FC), a federal paramilitary force, has been given the policing powers.

Islamabad intends to weed out the armed groups which employ violence to advance their goals. These organizations stand for an independent Balochistan and regularly use violence against the government officials and installations. Islamabad has time and again held foreign hands responsible for the turmoil in Balochistan.

Ironically, the central has moved swiftly after a recent deadly suicide bomb blast in Quetta city which killed around seventy people and injured more than two hundred. The explosion, which took place at a religious gathering, was in fact masterminded by an underground Sunni militant organization and not the Baloch nationalists.

In return, the government banned five Baloch outfits. The ban has been imposed on Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), Baloch Republican Army (BRA) Baloch Liberation United Front (BLUF), Lashkar-e-Balochistan and the Baloch Musla Defai Tanzeem (BMDT). While the first four organizations operate differently in spite of sharing the same common anti-Islamabad agenda, the last one actually does what Malik is in the process of planning to do soon in the province.

The BMDT has been killing the top Baloch nationalist leaders, attacking their political rallies and pressurizing the local Press not to cover the nationalists' events at all. Such an odd decision makes it very hard to understand what the government actually wishes to accomplish by imposing a ban on organizations coming up with two totally conflicting backgrounds. If banning BLA-type of organization is essential in the greater "national security" then what is the logic behind restricting BMDT, an organization created to counter the Baloch armed groups?

Malik did not suddenly announce this decision. He had surely come to Quetta to "deliver" a message about a decision which had already been taken by his bosses somewhere in Islamabad or more probably in Rawalpindi. The Inspector General of the Frontier Corps (FC), who is an officer of the Pakistan Army, will not agree to work on a mission without the prior consent of his military officers. Therefore, it is irreverent to believe that the army is fully backing the upcoming operation in Balochistan.

It is important to analyze the role of the Balochistan government amid such an important decision. This is a crucial period of history-in-making. The provincial government is clearly playing double standards with the people of Balochistan on the issue.

Firstly, an unknown spokesman of the government of Balochistan has issued a statement in the media completely disowning the decision of the Interior Minister about the ban on five armed groups and entrusting the FC with police powers. The statement said Quetta had not been consulted at all while taking the decision.

Secondly, the decision was announced in a press conference in which two key ministers -Home Minister Zafarullah Zehri of BNP-Awami and Younas Mullazai of PPP - were present. Prior to the announcement , the interior minister had also met with chief minister Raisani and other top officials of the Balochistan government. If the Balochistan government was annoyed with the decision then why did both the ministers not vent their disapproval to a military operation during the press conference?

The Provincial governments in Balochistan have always been responsible for paving the way for a military operation in the past. Previously, the same parties, PML, JUI and BNP-Awami, supported a military operation in Balochistan when they were in power during the government of Jam Yousaf. When they went to beg for votes at their consistencies, they told the masses that they had never been taken into confidence on the issue. While General Qadir Baloch of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Nawaz) has said his party had not been consulted about the upcoming operation, utter silence from Sardar Sanaullah Zehri, a minister in the Balochistan government from his party, also translates into PML-N's complete approval.

A statement by an anonymous spokesman of the government does not answer many questions.In a democratic system, people have the right to know the answer to their questions. The government of Balochistan is once again playing double standards. The presence of two ministers in Malik's press conference is a clear endorsement of the operation and all decisions taken by the federal government. A counter statement is in fact intended to give a green signal to Islamabad to carry out an operation by assuring it that the provincial government would take care of the front as far as expected public sentiments are concerned.

Chief Minister Raisani had also been playing double standards with the people of Balochistan. He had called the Frontier Corps (FC) in Quetta city to counter target killings but in an attempt to please his voters said he strongly opposed FC's presence in Balochistan by accusing the latter of maintaining a parallel government. In an interview with Karachi-based Herald magazine in July 2009, Raisani had wished that if he were powerful enough, he would driver the FC out of Balochistan. On the other hand, the FC was operating across the province on directives of the chief minister.

Operations are nothing new to Balochistan. They are launched without taking into account the resistance of political parties and criticism by the local media. What urgently has to come out is the true stance of the provincial government. Chief Minister Raisani should make a public policy statement about Rehman Maliks' decision instead of issuing statements through nameless spokesmen. After the killing of former government spokesman Raziq Bugti by BLA, no one is even willing to become a government spokesman in Balochistan!

It is known that press clippings with opposition to Malik's decision will do wonders during upcoming electoral campaign but we believe the people of Balochistan should not always wait for elections to hold their leaders accountable.