Combating Balochistan problems

By Mohamamd Aslam Though, geographically Balochistan is the largest province in the country and the richest of all regarding its natural wealth, it is still the most bedraggled region of the country. There have been so called attempts by various governments in varying degrees and commitments. Ironically, with the advent of every new government, the first speech by the head of the state always comprises of the words that “Balochistan has been ignored by the previous governments but we will contrive to contribute to the progress and prosperity of the province” but Alas! Nothing except speeches has been witnessed by the natives of the geographical unit. However, The Musharraf’s regime gave number of plans for Balochistan, but they are to be implemented yet. Interestingly, amongst other issues, the Musharraf era will be in the pages of history for its deep interest both in negative and positive sides towards Balochistan. General Musharraf practiced the “carrot and stick” policy to merge the military presence in the province and at the same time advanced the pace of development to lessen the resistance in the province. Although Musharraf is criticized for his hardliner policies yet the ground reality is that his was the only era that did some work in the province, that seemed to be contributing to the development and progress of the province, the only leader who regularly visited the province and contrived to accomplish the projects and plans that he had envisioned for the development of the region. The law and order situation of the province should be the top of the priorities of the government, by absolving the crises, there can be secure and conducive environment for people, investors and especially for the foreign direct investors. The grievances of the local peoples need to be heard and removed through dialogue rather than coerciveness to settle issues. The security agencies responsible for maintenance of law and order should be provided with special training opportunities and incentives so that they are capable of improving the security situation of the Balochistan. As compared to other provinces of Pakistan, Balochistan has high illiteracy rate due to lack of educational institutes. There is much difference between literate and illiterate people. The literate people want to promote the province in a positive way, they want peace in the province but not war as compared to the illiterate people who are misguided by foreign hands and they are properly trained and supported by them. These illiterate and poor masses are concerned about money because in their opinion, where there is money there is chance of survival in that society. They are easily misguided and arise the nationalist sprit in them. Due to which the circumstances in Balochistan are worsened till to date. This all is because of illiterate people of the province, they have no consciousness due to lack of education and prevailing poverty. If the government have provided more educational institutes in the province then people knows their rights, differentiate between good and bad. Through which there would be law and order situation in the province. The educated persons of province and foreigners which were gone outside province due to insecurity, came back and benefit the province in more optimistic way. The other cause of educational flaws in Balochistan is the role played by provincial leaders as well as federal government. There is a governance issue and absence of rule of law in the province. The provincial elections are held on the basis of selection. The voters are only stamp rubber. The leaders who are sitting on the treasury benches in Balochistan assembly were not concerned about providing recreation and facilities to their public instead they are only concerned about only in making money. Another main reason for deprivation, backwardness and political crises in Balochistan is the inherited Sardari system. This is as a whole accountable for the lagging behind of the province as the Sardars are the least bothered about their tribesmen. At present, the Sardari system is the basic weakness of Balochistan in general and of Baloch areas in particular. In this region, the Sardars enjoy relentless and unquestioned power and authority and maintain hegemony over the masses without fear of the slightest challenge. They are not investing the provincial budget in required field. The budget is only for making their bank balances and luxuries of their lives. The people are ignorant and poor. The poverty has a direct influence on educational structure. The poor people cannot afford fees of schools to get education because of less family income. On the other hand the government provides no facilities to these educational institutions, there are no libraries, laboratories and teaching faculties. The government should make more educational institutes to promote education. The federal government is equally responsible for the backwardness of Balochistan in the education sector. Education is the sector that is very crucial to the progress and prosperity of any area and population but the federation and the provincial government have showed great amount of consistency in neglecting the most pivotal, significant and important sector of the development. For quite a long time in the history of the province there has been only one university for whole the province namely as Balochistan University but it’s not important to the authorities and politicians because education is not serving their interests nor do they want to interfere much in this department because the budget approved for this department is not much to fill their pockets and pay for their lavish lifestyles. It takes a lot more than the budget of education department to pay for the fuel of thirty to forty vehicles that comprise the protocol of each of these so-called political leaders. In the province another set of prominent institutions are madrassas, a religious schools. They also plays a major role in giving education and holds about 7% of the total population in the province. The poor families in Balochistan get education from these madrassas schools, where they also get food and shelter along with religious education. But unfortunately these religious schools are not modernized with the age and they also followed a different perspective in imparting education. These student of madrassas are mostly not able to compete the modern age, they have less opportunity to work and also these schools creates a sense of deprivation and orthodox through which they see the world in a different view. So these schools should be updated and modernized. These seminaries are nothing but a clear symbols of the divide of the rich and the poor, the intelligentsia and the fundamentalists, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. A person who cannot bear the expenses of the education of his children is compelled to send his children to the seminaries so that they may get, at least, the basic education about the religion and become a useful part of the society. And, as it is an open secret the seminaries are doing more bad than good to the society and the individuals that are being yielded by the seminaries are doing much more destruction than construction. Hence the basic purpose for which the parents send their child to the seminary, is not achieved and all the exercise results in nothing. The writer is student at National Defence University Islamabad. ]]>