The duty of every state is first and foremost towards its citizens. Unfortunately, the Pakistani state has rarely cared about its citizens, especially its sub-nationalities whether Pashtun, Muhajir, Seraiki, Sindhi, or Baloch.
For some months now there is a stalemate between the state and the Baloch Yakjehti Committee and this has paralyzed life in Balochistan. Negotiations have failed to end the impasse, and the protesters have refused to call off the weeklong BYC sit-in in Gwadar. The BYC has demanded that all detained protesters be freed, and cases against them withdrawn.
As an editorial in Dawn notes, the state needs “a longer-term strategy to ensure that the province’s people are not frequently compelled to take to the streets because the state refuses to acknowledge their grievances. Sadly, successive governments have failed to earnestly address the actual problem in Balochistan, dealing with it as a law-and-order issue, and refusing to see the underlying political and socioeconomic factors fuelling widespread discontent in the province.”
As the Editorial warns, “Today, it is Mahrang Baloch who has managed to unite wide cross-sections of Baloch society under the BYC banner, with women at the forefront of the protests. Before her, it was the Haq Do Tehreek and various campaigns for the release of Baloch missing persons that raised the same issues the BYC is highlighting. Has the state bothered to look into the issues beyond superficial talk of enemies stirring up trouble in the province? Hostile foreign elements may well be involved in fuelling militancy, but when the state refuses to engage with peaceful citizens demanding their rights, it pushes more and more people into the embrace of extreme elements.”
In conclusion, the Dawn editorial calls upon “those who wield power to Balochistan’s aggrieved voices with compassion, and work to solve the province’s burning issues, chief amongst which are the missing persons and socioeconomic disparity. Speaking at a press conference on Friday not directly related to the BYC sit-in, the federal law minister announced a financial package for families of the missing persons. He said it should not be viewed as compensation, but as ‘support’. The announcement of state financial support to the families of the missing should serve as a symbolic gesture, and temporary relief. The actual issue remains to be tackled: bringing to an end the deplorable practice of enforced disappearances.”
