One of those people who was never afraid to speak his mind..Nur Khans comments are interesting..
ISLAMABAD, May 14: Pakistan owes an apology to the people of Balochistan, FATA and those living in the interior of Sindh for letting development and progress bypass these people, sinking them deeper into the dungeon of poverty, sickness and ignorance, according to former air force chief Air Marshal Nur Khan.
Talking to Dawn over the weekend, he said the continuous neglect of the people of the largest province and the tribal areas had consigned them “to seemingly a bottomless pit of deprivation”.
“And the failure of successive governments to do away with the coercive laws like the Frontier Crimes Regulation in FATA and the continued adherence to Sardari system to rule Balochistan from Islamabad has made the people of these regions feel like aliens in their own country,” the Air Marshal added.
If these people put up armed resistance to attempts by the current government to establish its so-called ‘writ’ in these regions, **no one should feel surprised or betrayed because their peaceful protests have been continuously ignored all these years and they now know no other language, maintained Nur Khan **who served as deputy martial law administrator and as governor of the then West Pakistan during the military rule of Gen Yahya Khan in 1969.
The former air chief condemned the use of force by the government in Balochistan and FATA to establish its writ and termed the move as ill-advised and illegal. “As somebody said, if governments do not do all they can to honour non-violent resistance, then by default they privilege those who turn to violence,” he contended.
The Taliban phenomenon was also the product of continuous neglect and perpetual deprivation of the people of the tribal areas, he said, adding “people would certainly listen to those who preach violence in the name of religion if their peaceful pleas for due attention and assistance have fallen on deaf ears. And the use of massive fire power against these elements to subjugate them instead of engaging them through peaceful negotiations would only get a violent response which often degenerates into terrorism.”
“These regions are not war booties. The people of these regions joined Pakistan by their own consent and free will,” he said.
“They are as much masters of this country as any Pakistani. Therefore, their consent needs to be sought prior to any action the centre would take in their areas. You cannot establish your writ over your own people by military action. You need to have their consent for the purpose and the writ needs to be shared with them and not imposed on them by a military edict,” argued the Air Marshal.
He said the military mindset seemed to have made it impossible for the generals who were ruling the country today to understand the complexities of governance and how to deal with the opposition, both peaceful and violent.
He said it was improper on the part of the president to call the Sardars of Balochistan ‘pygmies’ and ‘miscreants’ and their resistance to the military action in their areas as mere ‘pin-pricks’.
“Instead of calling them names, they should be treated like honourable citizens of the country. If the democratic process in the country had not been halted by the army every 10 years and the political development had been allowed to continue without any let-up or hindrance any of these Sardars would have got elected to the offices of president, prime minister and provincial chief minister,” he added.
**“These are honourable and brave people and they are patriotic. I know all of them - Sardar Marri, Sardar Mengal and Sardar Bugti and the late Mir Bizenjo. I have dealt with them when I was governor of West Pakistan in 1969. They are very intelligent people and they are not secessionists. Even in their worst moments they would not contemplate hitching their fate and future with any foreign country. **Unfortunately my negotiations with them remained inconclusive because I had left the then martial law government in January 1970,” he added.
Nur Khan noted that Balochistan and FATA were still being ruled through the most primitive laws and rejected the Sardari system as too obscure to remain in vogue in the 21st century.
