Balochistan on the brink

Far away from Quetta, or Khuzdar or Naushki, it is often impossible to gauge the sentiments and feelings that swirl with the dusts of Balochistan.

But it is obvious that the ill-judged comments of the adviser on interior, Rehman Malik, while winding up a debate in the Senate on Balochistan, have created a storm that makes the sands fly still more fiercely. The remarks have, of course, added to the tensions that spur on the nationalist struggle in Balochistan, and made many people within the country’s largest province still more determined to break away from what they see as the oppressive hold of Pakistan.

Mr Malik could not have done a greater service to the nationalist cause had he been hired by one of the groups that has waged a struggle for autonomy in the province for decades.

Let us assume, just for a few hypothetical moments, that what Mr Malik alleged was strictly accurate: that the struggle in Balochistan is supported by India and Afghanistan and even by Russia – although there is reason to believe Russian involvement on a large scale ended by the 1990s, although till then nationalist forces had links with the former Soviets. The fact is that these nations have taken advantage of the strife that exists within the province and used it to serve their own ends. This after all is a tactic that should not be entirely unfamiliar to Pakistan; and since it has direct experience of such involvement it should also realize that the most effective way to tackle it is to address the factors that create internal dissent.

In Balochistan, these have been identified time and time again. They revolve around perceptions of grotesque injustice perpetuated by a Punjab-dominated federation. Whether or not their belief is accurate, the people of Balochistan believe their resources have been used to benefit other provinces – notably Punjab – rather than the people of Balochistan. One website after another run by Baloch nationalist groups – accessible only through proxy servers because of the ill-advised blockage of these sites by PTCL – speaks of people cooking on wood fires in Baloch villages while pipelines take gas out of the province to other places. The underdevelopment of Balochistan and the fact that figures that depict the state of education, health and welfare within it are significantly worse than anywhere else in the country lends credence to these concerns.

What is ignored in official comments attacking the, rather immature statements made by Brahamdagh Bugti, is that Baloch nationalism is not restricted to a few hired ‘agents’. It exists everywhere in the province – amongst housewives, schoolgirls and professionals with no direct link to any nationalist group. Children are brought up by mothers on stories on nationalist heroes. And in the unusual social context of Balochistan, nationalism is tied in with the Sardars – who otherwise are sometimes responsible for unchecked oppression and cruelty to their own people.

The principal point here is that the prime focus of Islamabad should be to draw Balochistan back into the mainstream of the country, before it is too late to do so. This would serve ’security’ interests far more effectively than diatribes which attack leaders seen by many a Baloch as heroes. The murder of three of them earlier this month only adds to their status as martyrs. It also seems odd that the government seems to be pulling in different directions on the issue of Balochistan.

President Zardari has made what we can assume to be a genuine attempt to initiate a reconciliation process. Others appear to be just as determined to wreck it. Questioning Baloch accounts of thousands being missing or women being tortured in detention centres at this point are blatantly unwise. The statements only add to the mistrust and hatred for central authority in Balochistan.

There is another reason too why it is unwise to totally alienate the people of Balochistan at this point. The fact is that today, the main enemy of Pakistan are the militants who threaten to Talibanize the whole of the country. Most citizens oppose them, wholeheartedly and with passion. Perhaps a few of the most blind believe they can bring positive change, The Baloch groups still include many who have no sympathies with religion in the form it is put forward by the Taliban. Forces such as the Baloch Students Organization (BSO) still speak of secularism and a just social order. For these reasons, these forces must not be crushed. Doing so would only open up more space for the militants to move into. This is indeed what happened when former president Musharraf tried to push aside mainstream parties. By doing so he succeeded in strengthening the Taliban. The same mistakes must not be repeated, particularly at a time when the militants are reported already to have their eyes on Quetta. This territory must not be left to them.

Are there then any solutions to the issues we face in Balochistan? Baloch leaders, in the last few weeks since the murder of three nationalist figures in Turbat have made it clearer than ever that they seek autonomy; some suggest the parameters of this must go beyond what has been laid out in the 1973 Constitution. Sadly, some manifestations of nationalism in Balochistan have taken the form of violence against people from other provinces. Such racism is unacceptable. It has had a tragic impact on families. But perhaps it is also inevitable given the situation that has been created in Balochistan largely as a result of the ill-advised policies pursued since the 1950s. Today, we must focus on ways to undo the effects of these and to persuade Balochistan that it may still be worth-staying within the federation. Whether accurately or not, nationalist groups argue that with a sparse population of just over ten million people, abundant natural resources that could include oil and a coastline, an entirely independent future is possible.

They must be persuaded to change their minds. For this to happen, the centre – and other provinces – must demonstrate a wisdom and maturity that has so far been lacking. There is a need for magnanimity rather than hostility. The primary focus must be to win back the trust of the Baloch people by addressing their concerns and drawing them back into the process of determining their own destiny. Attacks such as those we have seen recently will only add to the disgruntlement and growing distance that already exists between Balochistan and the rest of the country, making it even more arduous to achieve the task of persuading Balochistan to re-enter the federation of Pakistan as a willing unit ready to play a full part in a united future.

Clear and present danger from the Taliban

The nine years’ delay in agreeing upon a Constitution for Pakistan was because of ambiguity about what role Islam would play in governance, and how this role could be incorporated into the Constitution. Deciding this in a Muslim-majority state was unprecedented, complicated by 79 members forming the Constituent Assembly coming from different walks of life. Their understanding about what Islam was and how it should be practiced differed substantially.

Detailed discussions resulted in the “Objectives Resolution” being agreed to in 1949. This resolution never attracted criticism or rejection because its understanding of Islam is very broad and inclusive. It was later incorporated into successive Constitutions. It reads: “Whereas sovereignty over the entire universe belongs to Allah Almighty alone and authority which he has delegated to the State of Pakistan through its people for being exercised within the limits prescribed by Him is a sacred trust; This Constitution Assembly representing the people of Pakistan resolves to frame a Constitution wherein the State shall exercise its powers and authority through the chosen representatives of the people; Wherein the principles of democracy, freedom, equality, tolerance and social justice as enunciated by Islam shall be fully observed; Wherein the Muslims shall be fully enabled to order their lives in the individual and collective spheres in accordance with the teachings and requirements of Islam as set out in the Holy Quran and the Sunnah.”

Unfortunately, the content and meaning of the resolution and its importance thereof was never explained to the people. If Maulana Sufi Mohammad had been educated about the spirit of that resolution in his younger years he probably would have avoided making insulting and false remarks about the Constitution of Pakistan, and about democracy and its institutions.

Composed of people with different ethnic, cultural, religious and social backgrounds, Pakistan is not a country in the European or Western sense. Among Sindhis, Baloch, Pashtuns and Punjabis are urban dwellers, rural and tribal populations, there are also Christians, Parsis and Hindus. Our lawmakers in 1949 obviously understood that fact much better than many of us do today.

The Holy Quran tells us we are not responsible for the beliefs and worship of others, all communities having been created by the same God differently for a reason: so that we may know each other and may recognise that underlying all our differences – religious, ethic and otherwise – we all have something in common which unites us: we are all children of the same Creator. Those who follow a wrong path, who deny the truth will be made responsible for their deeds individually when Judgement Day comes. But in this world God has ordained no compulsion in religion; not even if I think I am right and I know much better than everybody else what is right and what is wrong.

Mullah Sufi Muhammad thinks he alone is right and wants to impose his version of the Truth on everybody. That is wrong, it is un-Islamic, a sure recipe for disaster in a diverse society as the Pakistani one. With corruption a blight on their lives, bereft of inexpensive justice at their doorstep that the Wali of Swat gave them before 1969, worn out by conflict and missing protection from the Pakistani State, the people of Swat welcomed Sufi Muhammad’s promise of honesty, elusive peace and justice.

Outside the valley, outside the Pashtun areas and outside the Taliban way of thinking there are millions of other Pakistanis, Muslim and non-Muslims, educated, uneducated, urban dwellers and rural population, rich and poor. They do disagree with the mullah’s ideas and understanding. The Holy Quran and the Constitution of Pakistan gave them a right to be different, to think differently, and to live differently. While the Quran and our Constitution are inclusive documents of a diversified but united Islamic civilisation, Sufi Mohammad wants to be exclusive, that all others are wrong and need to be corrected, that he knows much better than all those who disagree. It is Sufi Mohammad who is acting against the spirit of the Quran and the spirit of our Constitution, it is time to tell him this in no uncertain terms.

By attempting the peace agreement in Swat, the ANP government showed real Islamic spirit by conceding that different interpretations of the Sharia have a right to be exercised. They gave Sufi Muhammad the opportunity to demonstrate his version of Islam in Swat, the condition being it should be a peaceful exercise, not a violent one. We are seeing the exact opposite. It exposed Sufi Muhammad camouflaged as a man of peace when he really is a convenient mouthpiece for his brutal son-in-law, Maulana Fazlullah. The Taliban kept their guns, have attacked the FC, looted and destroyed offices of the state and of NGOs, violating not only the peace agreement but also the spirit of the Pakistani Constitution and of Islam. We cannot and should not tolerate this.

The well–intentioned but ill-advised game plan for peace put the Army into a no-win Catch-22 situation, damned for not doing enough when they were in fact on the verge of success, damned as such by some for doing too much. The Army has to wake up as to who is badmouthing them, why, and more crucially, where? A national government can restore the credibility of the state with respect to governance, a democratic “doctrine of necessity” measuring those who govern to be symbols of honesty and integrity. Otherwise, we are playing hypocrisy with the destiny of the nation. Terrorism may be the present focus of our prime attention, priority must eliminate the root causes thereof, corruption and injustice. Anyone who says otherwise does so with ulterior motives.

The concept of a “clear and present danger” enunciated by US Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes involved the “freedom of spesech” and licence thereof. A man starts yelling “fire, fire” in a movie theatre, the stampede towards the exits results in injuries (even deaths) among the cinemagoers. Restraining the man or punishing him would technically violate his freedom of speech, allowing such “freedom” would result in injuries and deaths to innocent bystanders, what should be the logical course of justice? When any individual misuses any freedom (in this case of speech), endangering others in any manner, Judge Holmes maintained that the concept of application of justice must recognise the situation as a “clear and present danger” and the individual must be restrained, relying more on the tenets of logic rather than the pure letter of the law.

The Taliban in Swat constitute a “clear and present danger” to the state of Pakistan. That danger needs to be eliminated

How to clear the Mess

The reason why there is so much despondency in Pakistan is because there is no road map to get out of the so-called War on Terror – a nomenclature that even the Obama Administration has discarded as being a negative misnomer. To cure the patient the diagnosis has to be accurate, otherwise the wrong medicine can sometimes kill the patient. In order to find the cure, first six myths that have been spun around the US-led “Global War on Terror” (GWOT) have to be debunked.

Myth No. 1: This is Pakistan’s war

Since no Pakistani was involved in 9/11 and the CIA-trained Al Qaeda was based in Afghanistan, how does it concern us? It is only when General Musharraf buckled under US pressure and sent our troops into Waziristan in late 2003-early 2004 that Pakistan became a war zone. It took another three years of the Pakistan army following the same senseless tactics as used by the US and NATO forces in Afghanistan (aerial bombardment) plus the slaughter at Lal Masjid, for the creation of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). If our security forces are being targeted today by the Taliban and their suicide bombers, it is because they are perceived to be proxies of the US army. Iran is ideologically opposed to both Al Qaeda and the Taliban yet why are its security forces not attacked by terrorists? The answer is because their President does not pretend to be a bulwark against Islamic extremism in return for US dollars and support.

Michael Scheuer (ex-CIA officer and author of the book Imperial Hubris), writing in The Washington Post in April 2007, cited Musharraf’s loyalty to the US even when it went against Pakistan’s national interests by giving two examples: the first was Musharraf helping the US in removing a pro-Pakistan Afghan government and replacing it with a pro-Indian one; and, the second, for sending Pakistani troops into the tribal areas and turning the tribesmen against the Pakistan army. To fully understand Musharraf’s treachery against Pakistan, it is important to know that almost a 100,000 troops were sent into the tribal areas to target around 1000 suspected Al-Qaeda members – thus earning the enmity of at least 1.5 million armed local tribals in the 7 tribal agencies of Pakistan.

The most shameful aspect of the lie that this is our war is that the government keeps begging the US for more dollars stating that the war is costing the country more than the money it is receiving from the US. If it is our war, then fighting it should not be dependent on funds and material flowing from the US. If it is our war, why do we have no control over it? If it is our war, then why is the US government asking us to do more?

Myth No. 2: This is a war against Islamic extremists ó an ideological war against radical Islam

Was the meteoric rise of Taliban due to their religious ideology? Clearly not, because the Mujahideen were equally religious – Gulbadin Hekmatyar (supported by the ISI) was considered an Islamic fundamentalist. In fact, the reason the Taliban succeeded where the Mujahideen warlords failed, was because they established the rule of law – the Afghans had had enough of the power struggle between the warlord factions that had destroyed what remained of the country’s infrastructure and killed over 100,000 people.

If the Pushtuns of the tribal area wanted to adopt the Taliban religious ideology then surely they would have when the latter was in power in Afghanistan, between 1996 and 2001. Yet there was no Talibanisation in the tribal areas. Interestingly, the only part of Pakistan where the Taliban had an impact was in Swat where Sufi Mohammad started the Shariat Movement. The reason was that while there was rule of law (based on the traditional jirga system) in the tribal areas, the people of Swat had been deprived of easy access to justice ever since the traditional legal system premised on Qazi courts was replaced by Pakistani laws and judicial system, first introduced in 1974. The murder rate shot up from 10 per year in 1974 to almost 700 per year by 1977, when there was an uprising against the Pakistani justice system. The Taliban cashed in on this void of justice to rally the poorer sections of Swat society just as they had attracted the Afghans in a situation of political anarchy and lawlessness in Afghanistan. It is important to make this distinction because the strategy to bring peace must depend on knowing your enemy. Michael Bearden, CIA station chief in Pakistan from 1986 to 1989, wrote in Foreign Affairs magazine that the US is facing the same Pushtun insurgency that was faced by the Soviets in Afghanistan. According to him, as long as NATO is in Afghanistan, the Taliban will get a constant supply of men from the 15

million Pushtun population of Afghanistan and the 25 million Pushtuns of Pakistan. In other words, this Talibanisation is not so much religion-driven as politically-motivated. So the solution to the problem in the tribal belt today does not lie in religion and “moderate” Islam but in a political settlement.

Myth No. 3: If we keep fighting the US war, the super power will bail us out financially through aid packages.

Recently, the Government’s Adviser on Finance stated that the war on terror has cost Pakistan $35 billion while the country has received only $11 billion assistance from the US. I would go a step further and say that this aid is the biggest curse for the country. Not only is it “blood money” for our army killing our own people (there is no precedent for this) but also nothing has destroyed the self-esteem of this country as this one factor. Moreover, there is no end in sight as our cowardly and compromised leadership is ordered to “do more” for the payments made for their services. Above all, this aid and loans are like treating cancer with disprin. It enables the government to delay the much needed surgery of reforms (cutting expenditures and raising revenues); and meanwhile the cancer is spreading and might become terminal.

Myth No. 4: That the next terrorist attack on the US will come from the tribal areas.

First, there is an assumption, based purely on conjecture, that the Al Qaeda leadership is in the tribal areas. In fact, this leadership could well be in the 70 % of Afghan territory that the Taliban control. More importantly, given the growing radicalisation of the educated Muslim youth – in major part because of the continuing US partiality towards Israeli occupation of Palestinian land – why can it not follow that the next terrorist attack on the US could come either from the Middle East or from the marginalised and radicalised Muslims of Europe, motivated by perceived injustices to Islam and the Muslim World.

Myth No. 5: That the ISI is playing a double game and if Pakistan did more the war could be won.

If Talibanisation is growing in Pakistan because of the covert support of ISI in the tribal areas, then surely the growing Taliban control over Afghanistan (70 % of the territory) must be with NATO’s complicity? Surely a more rational understanding would be to see that the strategy being employed is creating hatred against the US and its collaborators. Aerial bombardment and its devastating collateral damage is the biggest gift the US has given to the Taliban. According to official reports, out of the 60 drone attacks conducted between 14 January 2006-April 8 2009, only 10 were on target, killing 14 alleged Al Qaeda. In the process almost 800 Pakistani civilians have been killed, while many lost their homes and limbs.

Despite its military surge effort, the US will eventually pack up and leave like the Soviets, but the “do more” mantra could end up destroying the Pakistan army – especially the ISI which is being targeted specifically for the mess created by the Bush Administration in Afghanistan.

Myth No. 6: That Pakistan could be Talibanised with their version of Islam.

Both Musharraf and Zardari have contributed to this myth in order to get US backing and dollars. Firstly there is no such precedent in the 15-hundred years of Islamic history of a theocracy like that of the Taliban, outside of the recent Taliban period of rule in Afghanistan. However, as mentioned earlier, the Taliban’s ascendancy in Afghanistan was not a result of their religious ideology but their ability to establish order and security in a war-devastated and anarchic Afghanistan.

In Swat, the present mess has arisen because of poor governance issues. Also, it was the manner in which the government handled the situation – simply sending in the army rather than providing better governance – that created space for the Taliban. Just as in Balochistan (under Musharraf) when the army was sent in rather than the Baloch being given their economic and provincial rights, similarly the army in Swat aggravated the situation and the present mess was created.

What Pakistan has to worry about is the chaos and anarchy that are going to stem from the radicalisation of our people because of the failure of successive governments to govern effectively and justly. Karen Armstrong, in her book The Battle for God, gives details of fundamentalist movements that turned militant when they were repressed. Ideas should be fought with counter ideas and dialogue, not guns. Allama Iqbal was able to deal with fundamentalism through his knowledge and intellect. The slaughter of the fundamentalists of Lal Masjid did more to fan extremism and fanaticism than any other single event.

Pakistan is staring down an abyss today and needs to come up with a sovereign nationalist policy to deal with the situation. If we keep on following dictation from Washington, we are doomed. There are many groups operating in the country under the label of “Taliban”. Apart from the small core of religious extremists, the bulk of the fighting men are Pushtun nationalists. Then there are the fighters from the old Jihadi groups. Moreover, the Taliban are also successfully exploiting the class tensions by appealing to the have-nots. But the most damaging for Pakistan are those groups who are being funded primarily from two external sources: first, by those who want to see Pakistan become a “failed state”; and, second, by those who wish to see the US bogged down in the Afghan quagmire.

What needs to be done: A two-pronged strategy is required – focusing on a revised relationship with the US and a cohesive national policy based on domestic compulsions and ground realities.

President Obama, unlike President Bush, is intelligent and has integrity. A select delegation of local experts on the tribal area and Afghanistan should make him understand that the current strategy is a disaster for both Pakistan and the US; that Pakistan can no longer commit suicide by carrying on this endless war against its own people; that we will hold dialogue and win over the Pushtuns of the tribal area and make them deal with the real terrorists while the Pakistan army is gradually pulled out.

At the same time, Pakistan has to move itself to ending drone attacks if the US is not prepared to do so. Closure of the drone base within Pakistan is a necessary beginning as is the need to create space between ourselves and the US, which will alter the ground environment in favour of the Pakistani state. It will immediately get rid of the fanaticism that creates suicide bombers as no longer will they be seen to be on the path to martyrdom by bombing US collaborators. Within this environment a consensual national policy to combat extremism and militancy needs to be evolved centring on dialogue, negotiation and assertion of the writ of the state. Where force is required the state must rely on the paramilitary forces, not the army. Concomitantly, Pakistan needs serious reforms. First and foremost we have to give our people access to justice at the grassroots level – that is, revive the village jury/Panchayat system. Only then will we rid ourselves of the oppressive “thana-kutchery” culture which compels the poor to seek adjudication by the feudals, tribal leaders, tumandars and now by the Taliban also – thereby perpetuating oppression of the dispossessed, especially women.

Second, unless we end the system of parallel education in the country where the rich access private schools and a different examination system while the poor at best only have access to a deprived public school system with its outmoded syllabus and no access to employment. That is why the marginalised future generations are condemned to go to madrassahs which provide them with food for survival and exploit their pent up social anger. We need to bring all our educational institutions into the mainstream with one form of education syllabus and examination system for all – with madrassahs also coming under the same system even while they retain their religious education specialisation.

Third, the level of governance needs to be raised through making appointments on merit in contrast to the worst type of cronyism that is currently on show. Alongside this, a cutting of expenditures is required with the leadership and the elite leading by example through adoption of an austere lifestyle. Also, instead of seeking aid and loans to finance the luxurious lifestyle of the elite, the leadership should pay taxes, declare its assets and bring into the country all money kept in foreign banks abroad. All “benami” transactions, assets and bank accounts should be declared illegal. I believe we will suddenly discover that we are actually quite a self-sufficient country.

Fourth, the state has to widen its direct taxation net and cut down on indirect taxation where the poor subsidise the rich. If corruption and ineptitude are removed, it will be possible for the state to collect income tax more effectively.

A crucial requirement for moving towards stability would be the disarming of all militant groups – which will a real challenge for the leadership but here again, the political elite can lead by example and dismantle their show of guards and private forces.

Finally, fundamentalism should be fought intellectually with sensitivity shown to the religious and heterogeneous roots of culture amongst the Pakistani masses. Solutions have to be evolved from within the nation through tolerance and understanding. Here, we must learn from the Shah of Iran’s attempts to enforce a pseudo-Western identity onto his people and its extreme backlash from Iranian society.

The threat of extremism is directly related to the performance of the state and its ability to deliver justice and welfare to its people.

Stop the Taliban advance

While all forms of colonisation and occupation spell disaster for the way of life of the conquered, whose institutions and systems are demolished and replaced by new ones, the most recent colonisation of large parts of Pakistan by the Taliban is by far the most dangerous one, as it seeks to destroy the very basis on which the state and society rest.

The Taliban occupation resembles most other forms of colonial occupation in a number of ways, including: 1) Forcible control over territory and large swathes of the population; 2) use of violence and force to accomplish political aims; 3) imposition of a specific minority version of religion not accepted or followed by the majority; 4) induction of collaborators from among the local people to further their aims; 5) planned demolition of the political, economic and social systems of the defeated; 6) belief in the superiority of the values, practices and systems of the coloniser, coupled with complete disregard for the culture and ways of the vanquished.

1. Forcible control over territory and population: The Taliban established control over large parts of FATA, a territory which was never properly integrated into Pakistan. In the past few months, the Taliban have speedily acquired control over Swat, first through armed violence and finally legally and politically through the Nizam-e-Adl agreement signed by President Zardari on April 13 and supported by Pakistan’s elected assembly. As Farrukh Saleem informs us, the Pakistani state has ceded another 5,337 square kilometres of Pakistan adding to the 14,850 square kilometres of Chitral and 5,280 square kilometres of Dir which were already under the control of Sufi Muhammad’s Tehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi. According to Dr Saleem this constitutes around 16 percent of our landmass.

Ecstatic over their triumph in Swat the Taliban quickly moved on to Buner, Shangla and are said to be close to Mansehra and Haripur and about 60 miles from Islamabad. They have openly declared that they will impose their own brand of Shariat on the whole of Pakistan and ultimately the entire Muslim world. Such imperial fantasies of world conquest portend disaster not only for Pakistan but for the world beyond.

2. Use of Violence for political aims: Like many other marauding hordes in history, the Taliban have demonstrated their enormous propensity for violence, brutality and savagery. The reign of terror in Swat before it finally fell involved beheading, murder, public display of decapitated bodies, flogging of women and cold-blooded murder of men and women accused of “immoral” behaviour in the Taliban’s distorted code of morality. Those killed, butchered and tortured had not violated any Pakistani law while the Taliban have committed capital crimes against Pakistan’s law and Constitution.

3. Imposition of minority religion: Pakistan constitutes a plural and multiple society where different religious groups, sects and beliefs have co-existed for centuries. There are Deobandis and Barelvis, Shias and Sunnis and followers of Sufi saints like Bulleh Shah, Sultan Bahoo, Sachchal Sarmast, Rehman Baba, Ghulam Farid, Khushhal Khan Khattak, Shah Abdul Lateef Bhitai and others. Additionally, Pakistan has a substantial population of Hindus in interior Sindh and Christians all over the country.

Pakistan is a multi-religious society where one single religion cannot be imposed on everyone. The Taliban represent a Wahhabi version of religion to which a tiny minority subscribes. Their notions of the universe represent a grotesque version of religion that carries no moral purpose other than its own imposition, and prohibits no crime, butchery or violence in single-minded pursuit of power, territory and control. Subsidised by the sale of poppy and the underground drug and arms trade, this version of “religion” makes a mockery of religion itself and reduces it to bloodshed, cruelty and barbarism. It is a version that has been rejected by mainstream religious leaders also.

4. Collaboration: Local and national administrations and political leaders of our country have become forced collaborators in the Taliban enterprise of destruction. The failure of our security forces to protect the country and its people has led to the capitulation by the National Assembly and the government to their illegal and unconstitutional demands. The fear generated by the no-holds-barred violence of the Taliban has led to the muting of any critique of their inhuman actions. The civilian government and legislators, dependent upon the police, administration and the army to protect civilians against the occupation of their country, had no choice but to relent when those responsible for protecting the country seemed to be retreating.

5. Demolition of political, economic and social systems: Like all colonisers, who entrench themselves in the society of the colonised and make sweeping changes in local systems and institutions, the Taliban have already threatened to destroy democracy which was only recently wrested from the hands of a dictator reluctant to relinquish control.

The Taliban have declared democracy, the judiciary and the Constitution as being western impositions to be removed by them once they gain power in Islamabad. They are not bothered by the obvious contradiction that they themselves are a product of the same western world that they so despise. Their version of religion comes from a westerly direction and is not an indigenous manifestation of the rich South Asian context.

Their own worldview comes from the west – from west Asia, to be more specific – and has no roots within the subcontinent which boasts syncretic versions of religion that are tolerant of difference and are peaceful in their actions. The Taliban threaten the essential multiplicity of South Asia and the traditional peaceful tolerance of its people by planning to transform the political, economic, social and cultural landscape of the country.

The worst sufferers of the Wahhabi imperialism that they represent will be women and the minorities, as is already evident. The Taliban’s insecurities often tend to be focused on cultural and religious policing of the weaker sections of society. The prohibition of women’s education and work – as well as of all music, art and higher culture – is as clear a sign of degradation as any and promises a world in which civilisation would become a thing of the past.

6. Belief in superiority: Like the former colonisers, whether Muslim or non-Muslim, the Taliban have a deeply embedded view of their own superiority. They believe that the cultural and social norms and values that they represent are better than those of most Pakistanis, and that it is the Bearded Man’s Burden to correct the morals of society and inculcate higher values among the populace.

In spite of the fact that they kill, butcher, cut off limbs and heads with wild abandon and loot and plunder resources mercilessly (demonstrated by the takeover of the Emerald Mines), they project all their vices onto “the other.” They accuse liberal and progressive people of lacking virtue, morality and piety. Yet, it is the Taliban who clearly lack any moral compass and have been reared on an ideology of hate, bloodshed and violence.

The onslaught of the Taliban must be resisted with all the resources at our disposal – administrative, political, military, intellectual and cultural. If we have to fight them, we must fight; if we have to dance and sing, we must dance and sing to challenge their Stone Age worldview and to assert our own humanity. It is no use blaming our civilian elected leaders for capitulating to the Taliban under pressure, as disappointing as that may be. The real issue is, why is a 600,000-strong army powerless against them? Why was the army not able to subdue an insurgency in Waziristan before the poison spread to the settled areas?

The Pakistani people give a huge chunk of their hard-earned resources to the army – the largest chunk after debt-servicing. All they want in return is protection, security and not abdication of responsibility. Why is a half-a-million-strong army ineffective against 5,000 marauders, criminals and thugs?

It has become our national pastime to blame only our elected governments when in reality they have no options and have been forced to accept Talibanisation of Swat due to the failures of others. If we do not fight back the Taliban today, we may not even live to regret it, for they will not spare our lives.

Thank you, Sufi Mohammad

NNWFP Chief Minister Amir Haider Hoti announced on April 21 that the government was facing a revolt in the province and that the salaries of the police were being doubled to cope with this threat. Hoti’s warning calls to mind a similar foreboding expressed by the king of France at the time of the French Revolution. On July 12, 1789, two days before the storming of the Bastille, when the duke of La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt warned Louis XVI of the state of affairs in Paris, the king is said to have exclaimed, “This is a revolt.” The duke’s reply: “Non, sire, c’est une révolution.” (“No, majesty, it is a revolution.”)

In a revolt, only the ruler is toppled as a result of a popular uprising. But in a revolution, the entire ruling class is replaced. In our history, we have only known coup d’états, but neither a revolt nor a revolution. We do not know yet whether we are seeing the beginnings of a revolt or of a revolution in Pakistan. But whatever it is, it is certainly not a law and order problem and it is not going to be stopped by raising the salaries of policemen.

Our newspaper columns, airwaves and cyberspace have been saturated with the bloviations of our “liberal” commentators of different stripes chattering endlessly about the state being threatened by Islamic militants and extremists. In a rare display of unity, the apologists for our political class have also been saying the same thing. Hillary Clinton would be pleased that her call to the Pakistanis to speak out against the Taliban has been heeded.

Following in the footsteps of Musharraf, who not so long ago used to wax eloquent about how his brand of military dictatorship stood for enlightened moderation, the self-appointed protagonists of our hard-won democracy have been lamenting how our modern, enlightened way of life is being challenged by obscurantism and fundamentalism, when actually they are mostly defending only their class interests. Few, if any, votaries of this new enlightened moderation have pointed out that the Taliban movement in Swat has been able to win support among so many young men because the state has failed them, massively and comprehensively.

To portray the ferment in Swat as a medieval backlash against modernism is either a blinkered view or a deliberately misleading one. It ignores or tries to cover up the fact that the wellspring of Islamic militancy in Pakistan is to be found in the alienation of the mass of the population by a ruling elite which has used the state to protect and expand its own privileges, pushing the common man into deeper and deeper poverty and hopelessness. Past governments, whether military or civilian, dictatorial or democratic, have been little more than convenient tools of the privileged few for perpetuation of the status quo.

What has changed now is that people are much more aware of their rights – and their power. The availability of uncensored information on television has widened their horizons. In much of NWFP, the Afghan jihad gave them access to military training and modern weaponry: the Kalashnikov, the rocket launcher and the machine gun. With an annual population increase of four million in the whole country and an economy which is stagnant, there is a fast growing army of unemployed angry young men waiting to be recruited.

The turmoil in Swat and in the adjoining areas is being portrayed by some as a contest between obscurantism and enlightenment, between bigotry and tolerance and between extremism and moderation. Actually, it is more like a movement of the common man against vast disparities in wealth and the failure of the authorities to provide justice, jobs and those essential services like education and health for which governments are supposed to exist. In some areas at least, it has pitted landless tenants against wealthy landlords and there are reports that big landowners are being forced to leave the valley. Once such a movement gains momentum, it acquires its own uncontrollable dynamic. As Joseph de Maistre, a French political philosopher, wrote in 1796, it is not men who lead revolutions, but it is the revolution which employs men.

The appeal of the sharia and Islamic justice gives the Taliban an unparalleled ideological motivation. As the Persian saying goes, ham khorma wa ham sawab ast. There are rewards both in this world and the next. It is this combination of revolutionary and religious zeal which makes the Taliban such a formidable force. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair came close to the truth in a speech on April 22 in which he likened militant Islam to revolutionary communism for its tenacity. It would not of course be the first time that what began as a religious movement also acquired the character of a socio-economic upheaval. Examples can be found in the history of most civilisations.

The Swat deal, it has been said, signifies a retreat from Jinnah’s Pakistan, that it is a negation of his vision. A Pakistani journalist has equated the “capitulation in Swat” with the surrender document signed in Dhaka in 1971, incidentally a comparison first made by a retired colonel of the Indian army by the name of Harish Puri in an op-ed in this newspaper. All this is shocking, because it suggests that before the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation, Pakistan was well on the way to becoming the country of Quaid-e-Azam’s conception. Nothing could be farther from the truth, because the retreat from Jinnah’s Pakistan and the betrayal of his vision began much earlier. It started shortly after his death, continued under successive civilian and military governments and accelerated under military dictators, reaching its culmination with Musharraf. The responsibility for this betrayal lies not with the Taliban or Sufi Muhammad but largely with the same class which is now howling the loudest.

Fundamental to the Quaid’s vision of Pakistan was the concept of Islamic social justice. But we have seen none of that in the policies of the government in the last six decades. Instead, the main role of the state has been to enable the ruling class to keep its hold on power, privilege and national wealth. The gap between a thin upper crust of the rich and the vast majority who live in privation is growing. Greed and rapacity have now been officially sanctioned by the NRO. An ordinary Pakistani born into destitution has little chance of breaking the shackles of poverty. The machinery of government, the political system and the upper classes are all arrayed against him.

In most countries, there is a single universal education system for all, which helps to blunt class differences. In Pakistan, not only is the level of school enrolment abysmally low, but there is a stratified school system which replicates and consolidates the class divisions. The elites send their children to the best schools which are beyond the means of the common man and which generally ensure a secure place in the system in later life. For the others, there are either the government schools or the madressas. Even the most talented of those who go to a government school find it hard to break the glass ceiling which keeps them down in the job market. And the most gifted of those educated in madressas become Taliban.

To accuse those who have risen against our exploitative socio-economic system of obscurantism is scandalous. In reality, it is Pakistan’s ruling class, desperately clinging to its privileges, that is seeking to preserve an outdated medieval order. They are the ones who stand for obscurantism. We do not yet have a full-blown class conflict but the genie is out of the bottle and it cannot be put back in.

If – and that is a very big if – our ruling elite and the government are smart, they will have been jolted out of their complacency by the Swat deal and will have focussed their minds on issues of social justice. But that is unlikely. At least, they have been warned. Thank you, Sufi Muhammad.

Why military action is not the answer?

The chaos following the Swat deal and the Nizam-e-Adl Regulation have been reflections of the failure of the writ of the state to actually enforce these arrangements. This has allowed the Taliban to go beyond the terms of their deal and assert a ‘give-more’ mantra similar to the US ‘do-more’ mantra we have been afflicted with in the face of an increasingly weak state and government that shows absolutely no signs of wanting to govern. The net result is an expansion of the Taliban efforts to seize power in the surrounding areas of Swat and the renewal of military operations with all the chaotic fallout of displaced persons fleeing the fighting. Clearly, such desperate military action is not a desirable or valid long-term solution to the threat of extremist violence confronting us today. Already, we have seen the military-centric approach cause more chaos and suffering for our people – not to mention the deaths of thousands of innocent people caught in the crossfire of the Taliban, the security forces and the US drones. We have also seen the growth of the suicide bomber and as has been pointed out in earlier columns the Pakistani suicide bomber comes from the marginalised population with no hope or opportunity to improve his family’s lot.

Many solutions have also been discussed not only in these columns but also by a wide-ranging and divergent group of people to deal with our multi-dimensional threats from terrorism – ranging from the religious extremist variety to the sub-nationalist. While the latter really is a matter of righting political wrongs, in the context of the former, the urgency of the situation requires a quick but long-term strategy to deny space to more extremist militants. A beginning has to be made by altering the operational environment in the state’s favour and that can only be done by distancing ourselves from the US, for it has now become part of our own terrorism problem. That is why US dollars are not the answer but an aggravation of the problem given the perception of the US within all levels of Pakistani society. There is no middle-class Pakistani majority that wants drone attacks – regardless of the claims made by a few Pakistani ‘advisers’ to the US who say what the US wants to hear.

Beyond that, we need to focus on the sleeper cells for the obscurantist militants. These are the madressahs spread across the country. Already, a move has begun by the militants to take over madressahs in southern Punjab, but one has to actually see the scope of the problem in numbers to realise why military or other violent action by the state is not even the beginning of a solution.

Just take the case of southern Punjab and the madressahs that operate there. Some are large with adequate resources, but there are also the small ones with barely any resources and these are highly susceptible to being taken over by the militants who have the resources. The data discussed below is part of the data collected for three districts of southern Punjab during 2006-2007 and details sought ranged from the sect, number of students (and their age groups) and teachers, the level of mainstream education in addition to Islamic education, the political affiliations, funding sources and general reputation – for instance, jihadi, non-jihadi etc.

In Dera Ghazi Khan (DGK), taking both its tehsils, there are 185 registered madressahs of which 90 are Deobandi (with a total of 324 teachers), 84 are Barelvi (with a total of 212 teachers), six are Ahl-e-Hadith (107 teachers) and five are Fiqah-e-Jafria (10 teachers).

Of the Deobandi madressahs, only the Jamia Atta-ul-Uloom in DGK, with 200 boarders and 20 day students ranging from 5-25 years and eight teachers, which receives donations from Kuwait as well as from private local and religious trusts and is affiliated to the JUI with a reputation of belonging to the Hezbul Mujahideen, offers education up to matric. Another madressah, Jamia Darul Rehmania in DGK tehsil, with the same credentials, offers education up to middle and has 350 boarders plus 230 day students and 28 teachers. Four Deobandi madressahs of DGK offer primary education but the bulk only offers what is termed ‘Islamic’ education. The bulk of this sect’s madressahs are locally funded, are regarded as non-jihadi and are medium to large, with only a few containing less than 50 students. The total number of Deobandi madressah students in DGK district is 11,535. Interestingly, in this category, it is the large madressahs linked to the JUI and the Hezbul Mujahideen that receive foreign funding which in the case of DGK district is almost solely from Kuwait. In fact, funding from Kuwait also goes to non-jihadi Deobandi madressahs.

Of the 84 Barelvi madressahs of DGK district with a total of 7,335 students ranging from 5-25 years, only the Madressah Alia Mehmooda Mehmoodia receives foreign funding from Saudi Arabia and is the only one with a fair number of teachers (18) offering education up to matric. Of the rest, only one offers middle level mainstream education while six offer primary education. None of the Barelvi madressahs are known to have political party or jihadi affiliations. Also, barring the madressah mentioned above, all of the rest have two to three teachers while the Deobandi teacher average is around four per institution with some exceptions for the larger ones.

All the six Ahl-e-Hadith madressahs, which seem to be only in DGK tehsil (none in Taunsa tehsil), with a total of 1,610 students, receive funding from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait. Three of them are linked to a political party, Jamiat Ulmae Ahl-e-Hadith while four are regarded as non-jihadi. Two are reputed to be part of Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jamaat-ud-Dawa and they are part of the three that are funded entirely from donations from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait. These three have a large number of teachers (60 in one, 30 in another and 11 in the smallest one) and offer the most mainstream education including computer and vocational training, with one of them offering education up to BA while the other two offer up to matriculation. One other madressah in this sect offers matriculation also while the remaining two offer only Islamic education.

The five Fiqah-e-Jafria madressahs have a total of 300 students (from 5-20 years). They are all funded locally and only offer Islamic education.

The data for Rajanpur and Rahim Yar Khan is equally interesting and almost on the same patterns – with a few local variations but paucity of space prevents a detailed discussion on that data. However, certain patterns can be deduced – that most of the madressahs are poorly equipped for any form of education at all given the terrible student-teacher ratio and the vast age range of the students – who come from the marginalised poor of the area. The foreign funding may not be as ominous as it looks but it needs to be established whether it comes from private zakat or other charitable donations or official sources. In some cases, like three of the four non-jihadi-reputed Ahl-e-Hadith madressahs, Anjuman Markaz Al Touheed, Markaz Umer Ibne Khatab and Markaz Umer Bin Khitab, the main donor is transparent and identified as being Abdullah Salfi, Kulyat ul Banat.

The main point that has been raised for some time in these columns now is that in order to remove the three main issues of madressahs in Pakistan – that is, the marginalised poor students, the lack of mainstream education and therefore lack of any future prospects and problem of transparency of funding – can only be removed by bringing in the private sector to pump in funds, provide mainstream education alongside the religious education which the various madressah boards can continue to supervise, and offer employment opportunities so that the very poor do not need to offer their children as suicide bombers and cannon fodder for violence. Let the Pakistani nation take up the challenge because the state has failed miserably and time is running out. All the state can do is to offer incentives for what I refer to as the ‘adopt-a-madressah’ scheme alongside the necessary legislation.

When one sees the human figures involved the massive scale of the problem becomes all too evident for it is these deprived youth that will keep the extremist violence continuing within Pakistan just as the marginalised Muslim youth of Britain are the future terrorist threat for that country despite the British leaders’ inability to do introspection rather than indulge in a convenient blame game. Military action can never resolve this issue – how many of our people will we kill? The solution lies in justice and restoration of dignity alongside a future of hope for the dispossessed.

Balochistan woes

When exclusion through discriminated access and lack of equitable distribution of benefits from resources gets a regional or religious identity, it turns the natural resources from a blessing to a curse. This is exactly what is happening in Balochistan for many decades. Balochistan’s underdevelopment and poverty is exaggerated by political instability, the law-and-order situation, and growing insurgency. Americans are openly claiming that Al Qaeda leaders are in Balochistan and the option of drone attacks there is already on the cards.

One cannot ignore the ground realties and blame external factors for the unrest in Balochistan. The Baloch have been deprived of their due share and local resources for too long and now they have come to a stage where they don’t believe in sharing but demand “local resources for the local people.” The mysterious killing of three nationalist leaders has reignited the anti-federation movement in Balochistan. Even those nationalist parties which want to be part of the political system have to face strong criticism because of their failure to win their rights of the province through the formal political process. The ordinary Baloch still faces police cases filed on political grounds, abductions, and extrajudicial killings. For an ordinary Baloch the provincial budget is always deficit where the public-sector development programmes are linked to the release of royalty funds by the central government.

Balochistan was the first province where gas was discovered, back in 1953. Even today it produces almost 30 percent of the natural gas in Pakistan. It has received only 12.4 percent its royalties from the federal government. The backlog dating back to 1953 runs into tens of billions of rupees. The federal government confesses it does not have the funds to pay them. The effect of non-payment of royalties on the public development in Balochistan could have been compensated by supply of gas to the province. However, it is an irony that Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, did not receive gas until 1986, and partially, because a military cantonment had been established there. Even today just five out of 26 districts in Balochistan have gas supply and Quetta city has only 4 CNG filling stations. So the province receives neither its share of the gas it produces, nor the royalties. This situation provides the provincial government an easy excuse not to fulfil its obligations for public development in the province.

According to research carried out by the SDPI and the United Nations’ World Food Programme, Dera Bugti is the worst food-insecure district of Pakistan, after Tharparker. The worst 20 food insecure districts of Pakistan contain 11 districts of Balochistan. Poverty and marginalisation have a direct linkage with violence and militancy. When people get deprived of their basic rights find no harm in challenging the status quo through violence. At least they get their voice heard and may turn the system in their favour. While in the NWFP one may blame Islamic militants behind the militancy and growing insurgencies, in Balochistan extremism is increasing due to socio-economic marginalisation.

All major political parties are supportive of reforming the current population-based criterion of the NFC Award in a way that would take into account regional disparities and other concerns of federating units. Perhaps one should ask Rehman Malik whether India and Russia are also supporting the existing conflict-generating formula for resource distribution among provinces and the centre.

We may not have learnt anything from fall of Dhaka. However, one needs to learn from fall of Swat and Buner. The grievances of the Baloch have to be addressed without ado; otherwise it would be impossible to control the fire in Balochistan.

Seeds of rebellion

Look into the seeds of time and you shall get the answers you seek. Pakistan’s history doesn’t lie; our leaders lie. They continue their yarns as the nation of 176 million face death, disintegration and disaster. Chivalrous chatter straddling out of the presidency and the Prime Minister’s House leave us cynically cold. The PPP and ANP information ministers manufacture messy fluff about the Taliban. Gecko-like their statements take new hue each day. They want us to believe it. Even the words of our army chief and his generals cause small comfort. Rebellion is in the air and our rulers sit in their imperial fortresses playing dumb charades with dozen-a-day foreign interlocutors who come to chastise them. Our land, our space, our national news has been invaded by foreign VIPs and the Taliban alike. The scenes and statements are getting sickeningly repetitive.

And then you have to listen to the baloney of two Baloch emigre singling out Punjab as their enemy. Kill one Punjabi a day shouts Brahamdagh Khan Bugti hiding in Kabul; while Hyrbyair Marri demands an independent Balochistan. Amidst their call to arms and ethnic purging, descends a lady in white with diamonds and Swiss lace. She’s come all the way from Kalat to apprise our prime minister on affairs of Balochistan. How bizarre? Begum Khan of Kalat is photographed in all her majesty briefing all-ears-and-eyes Gilani at the PM House. ‘Sab theek hai’ is the conclusion both must have drawn. Can someone explain the jaw dropping seditious statements from Bugti and Marri? Or should we trash them as talk by two ‘rebels?’

We once had a ‘rebel,’ Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. He too had whipped up angst against the Punjabis just before East Pakistan broke away. I lived in Chittagong then and loved to stroll around New Market looking for pink pearls and kanjeevaram saris. Not only did I stop going when we heard incidents of stabbings at shops, was sent back to Karachi on the next flight out. The Mukti Bahini (Freedom Fighters) struck terror by kidnapping West Pakistani officers and torturing them to death. It was gruesome. When the PPP swept the polls in 1970 and the battle for power between Sheikh Mujib and Bhutto raged, a team was sent to Dhaka to fly the incarcerated Mujib back to Pindi with clear instructions: eliminate Mujib should India intercept their flight. “Under no condition should Indians get Mujib alive,” was the bottom line.

Forty years today, a senior officer who met Mujib when he was in jail at Dhaka tells me a fact that is bone chilling. “Do me a favour” Mujib told the officer one day, “arrange a 30-minute meeting between Bhutto, Yahya and myself. Let the three of us debate as to who is breaking up Pakistan. You be the judge.” I wait for the officer’s next sentence. Without a blink, he tells me it was not Mujib but Bhutto and Yahya who inflamed the fires of 1971 war that led to the breakup of Pakistan!

“You can give up women; you can give up alcohol; you can give up smoking; you can give up gambling, but the one addiction you can never give up is power. It’s a devi that sits on your lap!” says the officer and quotes the Mughal emperors who imprisoned/killed their fathers/brothers and all other male relatives competing for the throne.

The destiny of Pakistan has been shaped by a claque of megalomaniacs. They have inflicted a thousand cuts on the constitution, economy, foreign policy, civil service, law and order, religion, human rights, health and education. It’s a small miracle that Pakistan has survived. But now with thugs like the Taliban, seditionists like the Baloch emigre, jihadis of south Punjab and militant political parties involved in target killings in Karachi, the state is fast losing its grip. To top this, 18 countries have appointed special envoys for Pakistan. These nosy parkers descend upon us daily to show the mirror to our leaders who perhaps are wearing blinkers and cannot see the writing on the wall. Added to this perversity are newspapers like Washington Post and New York Times shouting ‘disaster ahoy!’ Pakistan is breaking! “The channels here show Pakistan’s invasion of the Taliban all the time,” a Pakistani living in the US tells me.

The American screams get louder. Read April 26’s New York Times editorial which berates Asif Zardari, Nawaz Sharif and General Kayani in one breath. Are then our leaders asleep at the wheel or has the rest of the world gone crazy with worry about Pakistan?

General Kayani spoke and the Taliban left with their tails between their legs in Buner, so we’re told. Does this mean that unless the army chief brandishes his stick in the air, the militants don’t listen to any lesser human? While we wish our soldiers Godspeed, we need to be alert to the criticism creeping out from the west regarding Pakistan’s weakness to fight the extremists. Our army chief has rightly denounced the hand-wringing while the GHQ has castigated America and Britain for casting aspersions on the ISI. But such sentiment is ephemeral, it quickly vanishes. If history has taught us any lesson then we must watch what’s happening around us with eyes wide open. Don’t forget generals Yahya and ‘Tiger’ Niazi. They told us all was well in East Pakistan; the insurgency was under control. Both were intoxicated with power, women and wine. Still we believed them. We also took Bhutto’s words as gospel truth, never questioning his oft-quoted sentence idhar hum, udhar tum. If this is not the seed of sedition, what then is it?

The army and the ISI have been tools in the hands of civilian prime ministers and dictators like Ayub, Zia and Musharraf. Notorious names like Brigadier Imtiaz and Major Amir have sullied the ISI with operations like the ‘Midnight Jackal’. Zardari is said to have offered Major Amir the post of head of Intelligence Bureau (IB). “I told the people, close to President Zardari, that I am comfortable in my own affairs and thanked them for offering me different assignments,” Maj Amir was quoted in this newspaper recently. Our rulers’ fascination and need for such shady characters is bottomless. Still, we always criticise our civilian leadership but give a pass to our faujis. Why? Should one assume that all the army chiefs and the ISI heads have been angels with the exception of Aslam Beg, Hameed Gul and Asad Durrani? The three have received enough brickbats. Leave them alone. What about the rest? What was the ISI doing – given that its headquarters are a stone’s throw – as the clerics at Lal Masjid built a virtual arms depot in the mosque’s premises? Why did one ISI chief — in the early 90s show a ’soft corner’ for the US at the cost of national interest? One day I saw him with his family at a car showroom buying the most expensive car standing there.

If a journalist like Nazeer Naji acquires another plot or a bureaucrat has one too many plots, the grunts in the media get loud. Not a tweet from the press on the number of homes/plots/farmhouses our military men, air force and navy, own. Why quarantine us?” says a retired defence officer. Instead, the ruling party and its coalition partner in Peshawar fatuously cling to their alter egos, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Bacha Khan, reminding us of the awesome legacy the two parties have inherited. Sure, but let’s talk of today, not yesterday.

If it’s any consolation, let me leave you with a thought: Indira Gandhi whose Congress party may win in India would allegedly receive briefcase full of US dollars from her ministers, including her foreign minister, regularly. More of it another time from my reliable sources.

Time for sanity

Anger has erupted once again after the cold-blooded murder of three Baloch nationalist leaders, reminding one of the aftermath of the killing of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti and Nawabzada Balach Marri. The protests and violent riots brought the whole province to a standstill with scores of people killed.

Baloch National Movement’s (BNM) chief Ghulam Muhammad Baloch, Baloch Republican Party’s (BRP) Sher Muhammad Baloch and BNM’s Munir Ahmed Baloch were kidnapped by unidentified armed men on April 3, at 12:30 pm from the chamber of their lawyer Kachkol Ali when they were discussing a case. Officials of Turbat police station says that three mutilated bodies of these leaders were later recovered from Pedrak area near the Pak-Iran border.

Of the three leaders, Ghulam Baloch is believed to have played an important role in the safe recovery of UN official John Solecki, who had been kidnapped from Quetta on Feb 2, and later released on April 4.

“I was sitting in my chamber with the three leaders when, all of sudden, over a dozen people barged into my chamber and whisked them away at gun point. They had come in four to five land cruisers,” Kachkol Ali recalled, while talking to media. “They were carrying guns in their hands, spoke Urdu, tied the leaders’ hands on their back.

“Soon after the incident, I went to the Turbat police station to lodge an FIR about the kidnapping incident. I even wrote letters to Chief Justices of Balochistan High Court and Supreme Court of Pakistan about the details of the incident appealing them for immediate intervention. I wrote that some agency personnel had picked them from my chamber. But nothing was done. And then we found their dead bodies on April 10.

“Had the judiciary acted promptly, our important leaders would never have got killed,” said the lawyer.

In a routine exercise, the federal and Balochistan governments announced to pay Rs2.5 million reward to anyone providing information about the culprits. Similarly, the federal government constituted a fact-finding investigation team, headed by the Balochistan Inspector General of Police, in addition to the inquiry tribunal to probe the killings.

Senior Vice President, National Party, Senator Mir Hasil Khan Binzenjo held the agencies solely responsible for the killings.

Meanwhile, the parliamentary committee (PCC) constituted by President Asif Ali Zardari for the solution of Balochistan problems is believed to have made some headway and its recommendations being given a final shape. The committee comprises parliamentary leaders of all composite parties in the Nawab Muhammad Aslam Raisani-led coalition government.

Balochistan’s senior minister for Planning and Development, Maulana Abdul Wasey said: “the recommendations will soon be presented to President Asif Ali Zardari by the Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani, so as to make it the part of the country’s constitution after approval from the parliament.”

The recommendations include: provincial autonomy under 1940 resolutions; issuance of NFC award on the basis of area and backwardness, besides population; handing over of Gwadar deep sea port to Balochistan; employments to locals in all development projects and institutions operating in Balochistan; due share of the province in the Reko dik, Saindak and other projects etc.

Nationalists have their reservations about the committee and its recommendations. “As we had boycotted the general elections, so at present no nationalist, or for that matter no progressive secular-minded person, is in the assemblies. Thus whose committee is this and for whom?” asked Habib Jalib Baloch, Secretary General Balochistan National Party-Mengal.

Senator Hasil Bizenjo said the Baloch people have lost their trust in such committees and packages. He referred to a parliamentary committee formed in the Musharraf era comprising all political and nationalist parties. “As an outcome of the committee, Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti was martyred while three Baloch leaders were martyred as an outcome of this committee headed by Babar Awan. So, Balochs have lost their trust in such committees. It seems the government is deliberately spoiling the situation.”

About the solution of Baloch concerns, Bizenjo said that there’s a need to implement the joint document that had been submitted to the government. “It was asked to withdraw the army, recover the missing persons, resolve the NFC issue in the best interest of Balochistan, empower it (Balochistan) and acknowledge the right of the province on its resources. If this is done, only then the wounds of the people of the province would heal.”

There is a lot of talk about the involvement of external forces or foreign hands in Balochistan. Bizenjo said: “I will not deny it totally since Balochistan is strategically located.”

Despite all the natural resources, its history is stagnant and future bleak. The ratio of unemployment and poverty has escalated while numerous socio-economic problems, including ethnic polarisation, have taken roots. One dangerous aspect is that the locals are feeling alienated.

Successive governments have made tall claims about the development of this largest but most backward province of the country, but the situation has only worsened. A strong opposition of the mega development projects initiated during the Musharraf era still persists.

What is happening in Balochistan? Why has insecurity prevailed in a province where law and order was exemplary? In short, what are the Baloch grievances?

Nationalist leaders make almost unanimous replies that merit repetition. The people of the region have been neglected since independence and deprived of the fruits of rich gas, mineral and natural resources. While Islamabad exploits their resources, it gives little in return. Islamabad has intentionally kept Balochistan backward so as to utilise its resources in Punjab. After partition, Balochistan was given the status of a province as late as 1970 while the Baloch people have experienced five military operations in the past.

The only sane solution of Balochistan problems lies in a negotiated political settlement and long-term policies that can address the longstanding issues of the province and remove the sense of deprivation of its people. The government must bring the estranged Baloch nationalist forces on to the dialogue table to find a way out before it is too late.

Stemming the rot

In 1927, HG Wells wrote that “human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.” More than 60 years after its creation, Pakistan – like a rusted and rickety old bus; shaky administration at the wheel and a payload of terrorists, fanatics, inept politicians and a corrupt elite – splutters and coughs along a barren, potholed road which at this point seems sure to lead it to a precipice before which there are no pit-stops in sight and beyond which there is no likely return. Two of Pakistan’s four provinces are currently in flames: one having been surrendered to a pack of armed fanatics who challenge the writ of the state in the name of their self-styled and perverse interpretation of religion; and the other finally threatening secession having endured decades of neglect and exploitation by the Centre. The country is bounded on either side by hostile neighbours and – with a crumbling economy – it finds itself at the mercy of international financial institutions and in a discomfited alliance with an increasingly intrusive superpower. While many an obstacle has beset the country on the road to progress and the establishment of a truly democratic, modern and just society, the diabolical manner in which the mass of people have been and continue to be denied their basic right of access to quality education has been instrumental in guaranteeing its decline. Education impacts all aspects of a nation’s evolution: social, economic, political and religious. A first step in understanding this is to examine the evolution of the world’s developed economies: At the dawn of industrialisation in eighteenth century Europe, individual craftspeople were the harbingers of innovation and informed the technology of the earlier stages of the Industrial Revolution. This brand of knowledge had its basis in experience, and could be acquired through practical instruction and observation. It was gradually replaced with more structured and systematic knowledge upon which hinged the development of industry and manufacturing processes, and which could only be acquired through a gradual process of instruction beginning with quality secondary education and leading into higher education. Industrialisation slowly spread beyond Europe, all the while advancing into more sophisticated forms well into the twentieth century. By this time, all developed countries were industrialised with the Third World still trailing far behind and relying on primarily agrarian economic models with trace elements of technology. The living standards between the first and third worlds were accordingly disparate and continue to be so to the present day. In the latter half of the twentieth century, knowledge-based economies began replacing the more traditional manufacturing economies. This phenomenon, which ushered in the information age, was a composite of progress in communications, scientific research and financial services. These knowledge-based economies use human capital as the primary driver of economic growth and, therefore, increasingly focus on specialised and technical theoretical and practical knowledge. With the enablers of economic progress having undergone this radical transformation, the world has become increasingly competitive with little space for people with basic skills or general education. That is why countries like Pakistan – without a mass education system that is able to equip people from all economic backgrounds with the knowledge and skills to participate in a globally integrated, complex and swiftly evolving world economy – are unable to participate in the economic progress and improving living standards their developed counterparts are able to enjoy. Second, the absence of free quality education determines the degree to which archaic interpretations of religion affect the everyday life in developing countries. People are left with no option but to rely on misinterpreted religious knowledge gained from informal institutions as a panacea for all their dilemmas. The most obvious example is when parents in marginalised communities, without any established public education system, find the alternative offered by madrassas (seminars) run by militant groups attractive for their children. In these institutions, young minds are brainwashed into believing that the most glorious achievements of Islam are to do with military conquests and that all Muslims in today’s world – surrounded as they are by belligerent Hindus, Jews and Christians – are obligated to wage war for protecting themselves and their religion. Because of the ignorance of the managers of madrassas, children fail to learn about the accomplishments of Islam in the field of mathematics or science, and the emphasis placed on the acquisition of worldly knowledge. Without sound intellectual development through formal and balanced instruction in religion, science and the humanities beginning at the primary level and progressing through to at least the secondary school level, the ability to question tradition, superstition and dogma will not be instilled in young minds. This is the reason for the popularity of pirs and faqirs in our country, for the perpetuation of large scale quackery in every field from medicine to plumbing and carpentry, and for engendering an attitude of resistance and suspicion towards all forms of scientific progress and social change owing simply to its western origin. As a result, the mass of people are vulnerable to exploitation and economic deprivation, unwittingly surrendering their lives to mediocrity. Third, the above has a complementary effect on the political voice possessed by the people of a country and their ability to participate in politics. Without education, the opportunity to make informed choices in selecting leadership and ensuring that it serves the people’s interests is compromised. Decade after decade, we have continued to elect the same political representatives from a handful of political parties, many of which have gradually acquired a distinctly feudal character. For new politicians and parties, breaking into the political scene is at least a gargantuan task because few people are prepared to break vote casting habits that elect parties on the basis of ethnic, religious or emotional ties. Moreover, the majority of people – because of their illiteracy – are unable to enter the arena of politics to represent their communities. With no competition and a secured vote bank, political parties elected time and again are liable to incompetence and corruption and, therefore, sure to disappoint. In the end, what is left is a jaded public that in our case even hankers for the return of a failed dictator. Fourth, the protection of the rights of women and their ability to participate in and contribute equally to the economic, social and political arenas can only be guaranteed through literacy. One wonders if the poor girl flogged in Swat would have suffered the same fate had she been part of an empowered community of women capable of standing up to men and challenging their barbarism. Studies all over the world reveal that women from literate communities are better placed to protect their sexual, physical and economic rights, and are able to guarantee higher mortality and literacy rates for their children. Fifth, an educated mass of people is required to protect the sanctity of democratic institutions. Regardless of the criticism that was hurled at lawyers in the last year and despite the probability that the decision to reinstate the ousted judges was more a case of political expediency, it must be acknowledged that the impetus for this historic achievement came from the perseverance of a body of professionals responsible for ensuring that the writ of law prevails in the land. Had it not been for the efforts of this group, can we for certain claim that the decisions taken by the ex-president in this regard would have ever been challenged? In Pakistan, the foundation for a sound public education system was never laid down. As a consequence, the investment in the sector, both intellectual and financial, has been maintained at dismal levels, fluctuating only in accordance with the manifesto of successive ruling parties or army generals in power. Quality education, therefore, became restricted to the private sector which, taking advantage of free market economics, has managed to make it one of the most profitable businesses in the country. The problem, of course, with private enterprise and profit maximisation is that it discriminates on the basis of wealth. With no place on their campuses (housed mainly in the plush residential sectors of the country’s urban centres) for the children of common people, private educational institutions cater primarily to the elite, and in the last three decades have done little more than promote class divisions and emigration. They have done so by endorsing a hodgepodge of western values and culture, the product of which is an army of confused and alienated young men and women who find they have no resemblance and only a token connection with the social, cultural and political landscape of their country. This confusion in its least damaging form manifests itself in the boys and girls who speak in foreign accents without having stepped outside the country, who grow up worshipping the cult of western celebrity and its hedonistic lifestyle, and who eventually emigrate from the country to enjoy the economic and social freedoms that the rich economies of the West are able to offer. In its worse form, this confusion leads to disillusionment, accompanied with drug use and moral decay. Pakistan has only a few quality institutions of higher education and they are out of the reach of the common people. The public universities, for lack of resources, struggle to compete with their richer competitors and are unable to develop curricula and facilities or employ faculty capable of delivering modern education. However, progress is still possible in Pakistan, provided there is political will and commitment to achieve it. If education continues to suffer from the same neglect it has in the last 60 years, there is every possibility that the country will become the embodiment of the catastrophe HG Wells was referring to.