Balochistan package meant to strengthen the common citizen of Balochistan or Nawab, Sardar or Khan is yet to be determined. You cannot have a cake and to eat it.

          General Musharraf's (in my view) bad luck was that he was an Army General and had taken over the power unconstitutionally; otherwise, he was a farsighted person. He spoke on the situation of Balochistan eloquently and like a good spirited person. He said that the condition of Balochistan was the same as it was when he had visited the area as an Army officer decades ago. No school, no road, no health facilities and no progress in the lives of the people. He enumerated many causes for this plight but the main was the unjustifiable and unnecessary control of the big ones on the lives of the common people. What amount was given to these big ones went in the purchase of arms and ammunition and appointment of persons primarily meant for militancy. People who disagreed with these big ones were compelled to live in exile in the Province of Sindh or other Provinces. The rest of the people lived in serfdom by these unruly Chieftains. Then I saw on the PTV those who people who went back to their homes with help of General Musharraf. Actually, the powerful Lords of Balochistan have virtually crippled the Civil Administration that is why every move to change the lives from the outside Balochistan is futile. Law of the Country has not reached to lives of the people and these big ones are the main impediments in the way. It is experience of my life from my own area that in those villages where Khans or other influential have holds on the people, it is very difficult for the people to say anything against the big ones. Actually, the maverick General Musharraf treated a big one from Balochistan in that way in which these tribal chiefs treat each other, the difference was that State force was used against a person who had already taken gun in this hand. Complete accountability is necessary in the case of Balochistan that where the amount went which was paid from the Government Exchequer. This is a contradictory view that the common man would flourish amid the tribal chiefs. One should diminish to the progress of other.

          The Government should open schools, hospitals, construct roads, utilize the hidden resources beneath the earth for finding opportunities of employment etc. with the help of para-military forces and should ask the people to take part in the national construction without any fear of any big one. If the Government succeeded in winning the heart of common people then the implementation of every Package is no problem. At present, the people are in the clutches of the big ones, how they can side with an outside Government person. He will have to live in the area. It is similar to a maxim, to live in the sea and enmity with crocodile. The Government would have to remove the trust deficit in the common people of Balochistan. The people of NGOs are more fit to this job with the help of Government. People from other parts of the Country should be appointed as Teachers, Doctors, Engineers etc. on big salaries as if a person is working abroad on higher salaries. Without sufficient interference from the other parts of the Country in shape of Teachers, Doctors etc; any expectation of progress is mad man dream.

          The recent sugar crisis showed the nation that how the sugar barons got united everywhere and created problems for the people for the sake of money. How the big ones of Balochistan cannot unite against the common citizen of Balochistan. Every Government claims to be more sincere than his predecessors but time proves every subsequent Government more incompetent than the past one. The long queues before utility stores shows that World War Second has past just days ago. The people face the terrorists boldly but the injustices of the State Institutions and big ones of society have sucked the blood of people. If the big ones sincerely wish that this Country should run, they will have to minimize their lust for wealth and power to a certain extent otherwise no package— how sincerely it is presented— would have any effect.
Manzoor Ahmad Yousafzai
Friday, November 27, 2009.
 
Balochistan package (The Nation news)

THE Balochistan Package has finally been tabled in Parliament. Following the mind shift reflected in the NFC deliberations and agreements on certain principles, this package also reflects a major shift in the thinking of the ruling elite at the Centre. The measures suggested in the Package reflect a recognition of the rights of the provinces, the need to move towards autonomy, to rid ourselves of the concurrent lists, to allow the people of the province a larger voice in their development and to respond to the sensitivities of the Baloch people to the presence of the army in their midst. There is also an acknowledgement that Balochistan has been alternatively ignored, or exploited and dealt with unfairly for decade after decade. The government has suggested all manner of economic initiatives and reforms as well as a political outreach to the people of this province. The Package contains proposals for the release of political prisoners and a call for the return of the exiled leaders. Cantonment-building has been stopped and the FC will replace the army inside the province. On the face of it, the Package has much going for it and offers more than anything the ruling elite has offered before, to the people of Balochistan. Its title, "Aghaz-e-Haqqooq-e Balochistan" though says it all. Sixty two years on, the state of Pakistan is merely beginning to move towards giving the people of Balochistan their rights. No leader, military or political, moved on this for all these years. Therefore it is not surprising to find the Baloch leadership, including the nationalist parties, not jumping for joy at this Package. Many feel that without the relevant constitutional amendments, the Package will not be able to deliver on all it promises. Most important, the major political grievance has yet to be fully accommodated. That is the removal of all cases against the Baloch leaders, both within Pakistan and in exile. There is an unacceptable conditionality attached to the return of exiles and political prisoners in terms of not removing all the politically-motivated criminal cases registered against them. After all, if the NRO could whitewash murder cases of the political leadership of other provinces, why should there be selectivity in terms of the Baloch leaders. As things stand, most of those in exile will not be able to return. Merely "facilitating" their return is a vague suggestion signifying nothing. Again, in the case of the murder of Nawab Bugti, constituting a commission is simply not enough, given how commissions have a record of being used to delay matters. The government should have given a timeframe, identified the commission members and their terms of reference to have given some credibility to this particular proposal.
The Package is good but unless the Baloch leadership can be taken on board, the Package becomes meaningless - regardless of good intent.