Balochistan was once the land of peace, harmony and brotherhood. The People of the land are peace loving, hospitable & resilient in nature and have strong affiliation with their land and culture. Despite aggravating economic and security situation they adhere to their land. Over the last two decades the people of Balochistan have experienced the worst in terms of security, economy and governance. The security situation in Balochistan is highly volatile, there is never a day passes with peace. Each day some unpleasant happens, neither people nor law enforcement personnel feel save and protected. The ever-aggravating situation of Balochistan poses a far greater challenge for the Government, adding on to this, the poor governance legacy of the previous Government especially since 2008 has made the situation more complex. The current government with a dynamic Chief Minister, who has the understanding of the complexity of the problem and also has a resolve to fix it, is a ray of hope for the peace-loving people of Balochoistan. The approach of the Chief Minister towards engaging with the people with remorse and dressing their wounds is evident. He opens himself up to the public and trying to reach out to as many people as possible. His constant efforts to engage with the public and working out on solution for restoring peace in the province are quite serious. Nonetheless, the peace in the province is still a far-fetched dream. The disillusionment of the young Baloch with the system and mistrust on the Government and the state is unfathomable. The educated minds are drifting away and resorting to militancy to gush out their anger and frustration. Their intoxication with the so-called freedom struggle and alluring terrorists is horrendous.
The time necessitate to apply minds and handle this delicate issue with a holistic approach. Most of the people take it as an outcome of a mix of issues, like lack of development, unemployment, sense of deprivation, foreign powers, exploitation of resources etc. Are these issues new one for Balochistan, of course not. There have been serious attempts to address these issues but it did not work. We need to precede diagnosis before the treatment. The minds of the youth got polluted through constant feeding of misinformation about the historical facts like merger of Balchistan with Pakistan, putting blame of their backwardness and injustice on federal Government, Punjab and establishment. Undoubtedly Balochistan never be treated fairly by the federal Government but this premise is so unfairly exploited by the local leaders, that people developed strong sense of hatred towards Federal Government and even with the people of other provinces especially Punjab. This hatred and misinformation gradually shaped into militancy and freedom struggle among the educated youth. Neither any of the Provincial nor Federal Government has taken this issue seriously. Continued meddling of establishment in forming and deforming Governments and disenfranchising the people of their right to choose their government has put fuel to fire. There is a need to limit the use of guns and force by improvising Governance and working out a political engagement with the people who are unarmed. The armed ones need to be isolated by inviting dialogue unconditionally with those, who furthering their agenda politically and through peaceful struggle. The things will improve not by unleashing force but by engaging political thinkers and workers and with an unending conviction, because it would not be an easy and quick solution but knocking the door incessantly will end up with an open door.
By Azad khan
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