Summary
Since 15
December 2005, more than 170 innocent children, women and
citizens are reported to be killed by bullets and rockets
fired by the military in the Balochistan, province of
Pakistan. The current military operation started as a
sequel to a rocket fired on 14 December 2005, while
President General Pervaiz Musharaf was visiting in Kohlu,
a district of Balochistan province.
The security forces claimed that they are targeting at
the terrorists for their suspected involvement in the
attacks. However, the action is believed to be related to
the Baloch tribal leaders' demand for political autonomy
and a share of revenues from the area's natural
resources, as well as their opposition to the
establishment of military cantonments in the areas and
mega development projects, which have further
marginalized the local people.
The operation in the past few weeks has also neglected
the recommendations made by the Parliamentary Sub-Committee
on Balochistan, which provided peaceful solutions to the
root causes of the conflict between the Balochistan
province and the federal government.
At the moment, about 120,000 military personnel are
stationed in the province and the operation has been
escalated since last year. The army operation includes
the use of helicopter gunship, fighter bombers and other
weapons. Both media and human rights groups are
restricted in the region, or even attacked by the
security personnel. Independent verification of
information handed out by official spokespersons of the
government or the army did not exist.
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Sample
Letter
We write with deep concern about the
escalating military operation in Balochistan,
which has caused insecurity and a number of
causalities of innocent citizens.
We urge your government to stop the current
military operation immediately, as it should not
be veiled as an action against terrorists.
Instead, the violence and deprivation of life are
obvious and unacceptable violation of human
rights of the citizens in the province.
As a member of United Nations, may we remind your
good government to respect Article 3 of Universal
Declaration on Human Rights, which ensures "Everyone
has the right to life, liberty and security of
person", also to fulfill Article 9 of
Constitution of Pakistan, which states that
"No person shall be deprived of life or
liberty save in accordance with law".
We are aware that the conflict between
Balochistan and the federal government has been
on-going in the past years, due to the Balochis'
demand for political autonomy and an increase in
share of royalties revenues, as well as the
opposition to the establishment of cantonments
and the huge developing projects in the province.
We request your government to resolve the root
causes of the conflict through peaceful political
dialogue, and to implement the recommendations
made by the Parliamentary Sub-Committee on
Balochistan in March 2005.
We also request your government to allow the
media and human rights groups to monitor the
situation in the province, and to ensure their
safety. |
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Background
In the
past years, the Pakistani security forces have been
conducting war against terror, namely Al-Queda and
Islamic fundamentalist forces, in Balochistan. However,
according to the local source, the root causes of the
conflict in the province are actually political and
economic and predate the Musharaf regime.
Six disputes have come up since the independence of
Pakistan in 1947 between Federal and provincial
government of Balochistan.
The present dispute began in 2003 and increased in late
2004 and in the first six months of 2005. In January 2005,
trouble in the Sui area was the first major conflict
between the tribal elements and the law enforcement
authorities, where the Chief Minister of Balochistan
province made a formal request to the government to send
army to maintain law and order in the district.
In January and February 2005, gas pipelines, railway
tracks, passenger trains, power transmission lines and
other installations came under frequent attacks in which
rockets and explosive devices were freely used.
Problem of underdevelopment and political
autonomy
Balochistan is the largest, the poorest and the most
underdeveloped province of Pakistan. The illiteracy rate
is very high, with literary rate of 25%, and only 3%
among women. Even though it constitutes 44% of the
territory of Pakistan, the province has the smallest
representation in parliament.
Balochistan is the country's major source of natural gas
and oil, which produces around 36% of natural gas of
Pakistan. Ironically, the Balochis have not been
benefiting from the huge reserves of mineral resources in
their province; they receive no more than 12.4 percent of
the royalties generated for supplying gas. Poverty
remains the major problem. Their demand for an increase
in share of revenues has not been fulfilled.
In February 2005, the Pakistan government announced mega
projects of construction of a deep seaport in Gwadar and
the Saindak copper mining project in the province. The
Balochis said that 75% of their lands at Gwadar have been
acquired by serving military officers at throwaway prices.
The new development projects have not consulted the local
tribes and have further marginalized them. The Balochis'
objections to the development projects and establishment
of cantonments have been ignored.
Besides the conflicts raised by economical development,
the denial of autonomy is another major issue. While the
Constitution of Pakistan 1973 stated that the concurrent
list determining the quantum of provincial autonomy would
be revised after every 10 years, this has never been done.
When General Pervaiz Musharaf assumed power in October
1999, he promised to "strengthen the Federation,
removing inter-provincial disharmony and restoring
national cohesion", but he has failed to keep his
promises in the past 6 years.
Recommendations from Parliamentarians
On 29 September 2004, a Parliamentary Committee
comprising 29 members and headed by Pakistan Muslim
League, President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, was formed
"to examine the current situation in Balochistan and
make recommendations thereon." It was later divided
into two Sub-committees to address the question of
provincial autonomy and to address the immediate crisis
in the province, headed by former Chairman of the Senate
Wasim Sajjad and Senator Mushahid Hussein Sayed
accordingly.
In March 2005, the Parliamentary Sub-committees have made
suggestions such as:
complete
revision of the concurrent list;
announcement
of the National Finance Commission award before
budget;
biannual
meetings of the Council of Common Interests;
distribution
of federal resources on the basis of poverty,
backwardness, unemployment and development level
of provinces instead of the existing criterion of
population;
the
increase in gas royalty and surcharge;
maximum
representation to the province on the boards of
the oil and gas companies operating in the
province;
implementation
of the job quota of the Baloch;
training
for local youth for jobs;
7%
of the gross port revenue to go to the province;
taking
of Confidence Building Measures such as keeping
the visibility of the armed forces low;
holding
in abeyance the construction of cantonments at
Gwadar, Dera Bugti and Kohlu etc.
Unfortunately,
these recommendations too have been ignored.
Restricted access to the province
Although the Government of Pakistan has not imposed
formal restriction to access the area, journalists and
human rights groups seeking to observe, investigate and
report developments in the area were rejected, arrested,
or faced threats.
In January 2006, a Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP)
team on its way to Balochistan was allegedly shot by
security personnel to allegedly prevent a neutral
observer from finding out what was actually going on in
Balochistan. As the conveyance approached the Balochistan
border, a man beamed a torch at HRCP officials car and
then two gunmen sprayed bullets around it. Despite the
formal application made by HRCP Chairperson, Asma
Jehangir, the case has not been registered so far against
the incident.
Rights based organizations of the country alleged that
the government wanted to prevent the HRCP team from
visiting Balochistan to investigate whether there have
been human rights abuses.
The civil society organizations are in continued process
of demanding peace in Balochistan, stop "state
terrorism" and to protect lives and properties of
citizens in Balochistan. They also seek an independent
verification of the information besides those handed out
by official spokespersons of the government or the army.
Source:
Asian Centre for Human Rights
BBC news
local sources
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