Re: BALUCH RESISTANCE…WHO ARE THEY??INDIAN TRAINED TERRORISTS…A REPORT.
These bloody Indian-armed Sardars are getting the pounding of their lives now.
Govt ready to call Baloch Sardars’ bluff
“I - don’t - bargain.” Hollywood leading man Tommy Lee Jones delivered this one-liner in his haltingly determined tone after he had just shot a hostage-taker in the head in the 1993 hit movie “Fugitive”. Governments in Pakistan have not been so determined in not bargaining with Baloch tribal sardars in the past. Military action has invariably been followed by protracted negotiations - at least with Nawab Akbar Bugti - till the next confrontation erupts. Will this time be any different? High-level sources believe so. In the backdrop of renewed clashes between the Frontier Corps and armed men, called miscreants by the government, policymakers now say this time they will play it to the end. “Enough is enough,” says a source who is in the know of things. He says this time the government is ready to take on the few sardars who are creating all the “mischief” in the name of Baloch nationalism. “They are now begging us to talk to them,” he says. “But we will not negotiate.” Another top official confided that the government had intercepted a satellite phone conversation of Nawab Bugti in which he was heard saying words to the effect: “They (government) have gone mad. They are breaking the tradition. We always talk after we fight. Why are they not talking?” The answer, according to sources, is that they have the key tribal leaders in a corner. They say the likes of Bugti, Marri and Mengal know that the noose is tightening around them, and this time there will be little reprieve through political negotiations. Such tough talk may be unsettling for some, but it portrays a single-mindedness within the government to deal firmly with the law and order situation in Balochistan. The urgency has been heightened after the rocket attack on a camp where President Pervez Musharraf was meeting local leaders. Then the commander of the FC and another senior officer were injured when their helicopter was hit by gunfire from the ground. The government now says it will not tolerate such lawlessness any further.
This is a tricky challenge. Every military action in Balochistan stirs up dark memories of the 1973 Baloch insurgency which the military battled for four years before crushing it. Those four years have left deep imprints on the psyche of the people of Balochistan. What has aggravated their wounds is the consistent neglect they have suffered from the centre. More than 58 years after independence, Balochistan remains the most backward province of the country. Schools, hospitals, roads, water, jobs - all these continue to be in short supply in a land famed for the richness of its natural resources. There is much that the people of Balochistan harbour genuine complaints about. These complaints are directed not at one, but all governments. There are very few people who can defend the federal governments’ attitude towards Balochistan, and even fewer who can claim that enough resources have been allocated for Balochistan. This accumulated reservoir of grievances has now become a combustible commodity in the province, making the job of the federal government even trickier.
But an insider argues that the government is aware of these sensitivities. He says a well-thought out approach can make a difference Such a difference, he says, is based on the recognition that lack of development and armed attacks are not directly linked. That’s why they are being dealt with separately. “We know development speaks for itself and empty words don’t,” says the insider. “We know we must deliver to the people of Balochistan and that’s why the President has announced a package of Rs 1.4 billion for Kohlu-but we also know that we cannot allow the writ of the state to be challenged by miscreants who do not represent the people of Balochistan.” So who are the miscreants? What is the Balochistan Liberation Army, known as BLA? According to official analysis they are a combination of hard-core followers of the sardars and criminal elements from the Punjab and Sindh. Their number, at the maximum, is not more than 2500, says a source. And that may be stretching it too, he says. Officials say they have reports that the financing of this armed activity is being done by Hyerbyer Marri. He is the brother of Balaj Marri and is a fugitive in Dubai after he was implicated in the murder of Justice Mohammad Nawaz Marri a few years ago. This money, say officials, is being used to buy arms as well as pay those who use them. One senior source said these people were paid Rs 4000 to Rs 6000 per month but now their salaries have gone up to Rs 15000 to Rs 20000. Then there is the question of foreign support to such groups. Conspiracy theories abound, but sources they have evidence that foreign intelligence agencies are meddling in Balochistan. But this remains a hush hush affair and it is unclear how the government plans to take up this issue with the concerned countries. What is clear however is that they the government is now going after the training camps of these armed groups (called Farari camps from the word farar. The word originated in the colonial times when Baloch tribesmen would hide from the British forces in such places as caves). A source said they had information about 53 camps, thirteen of which were in Marri area. All but few of these thirteen had been neutralized. In the Bugti area there are 13-15 camps which have not been touched while another 20-25 camps are dispersed across the area. This is clearly a lot of military activity. It has generated opposition within Balochistan and outside and resonated inside the parliament. India too issued a statement which was responded to harshly by Pakistan, raising concerns about its impact on the budding peace process. Officials say unless the influence of the few sardars and their off springs is not neutralized, Balochistan will never enjoy the fruits of development. They say Baloch nationalists have told them privately that they too want normalcy in the province -normalcy which can lead to major development works. They say these moderate elements within the province believe it is in their direct interest if the stranglehold of the few sardars is loosened so that they can emerge as the new leadership and move the province into the national mainstream. But publicly they cannot say this. "We are in touch with these people and they fully support our short term and long term goals, said an official. On Thursday, Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao again denied there was a full-scale military operation underway in the province. The same day high ups in the government said the Levies and the FC were involved in the operation and not troops of the army. They said the FC had been taken off its duties on the border and deployed for its original mandate - to ensure law and order. FC number a little more than 30,000 in Balochistan. Levies too were being imparted better training. But ultimately, it will not be the FC or the Levies which will produce a solution to the gnawing problem, officials admit. It will take patient politics, a big heart from Islamabad and a genuine process of development which could bring Balochistan on par with the other three provinces in all respects.