THE situation slightly eased when the 49-year-old head of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in Balochistan province, John Solecki, was released after being kidnapped in the provincial capital of Quetta in Pakistan. However, the kidnappings and callous murder of three prominent Baluch nationalist leaders – Balochistan National Movement (BNM) president, Waja Ghulam Mohammad Baluch; BNM Vice President, Waja Lala Munir Baluch; and Baluch Republican Party (BRP) central deputy secretary general, Sher Mhohammad Baluch in Turbat has worsened the situation yet again. Balochistan holds true possibilities of development. It is rich with resources of coal, copper, oil and gas. The world's largest gold and copper deposits have been found at Reko Diq in the Chagai District of Balochistan. It also makes possible the link between the East and the West due to the reviving of its centuries-old expressway ‘Resham'. This has come to pass by the construction of the new deep sea port ‘Gawadar' which is a strategically important town. This is the reason why the US wishes to benefit from the port and arterial highway. Russia is another country which cannot ignore these benefits. The deep sea port is projected to be the hub of an energy and trade corridor to and from China and the Central Asian republics. Nobody can deny the legal and principled right of China on ‘Gawadar' port, as it has invested in Gawadar port and has supplied its skilled labor. The total cost of the project is estimated at more than $2 billion. China has also invested in a coastal highway to link Gawadar with Pakistan's largest city, Karachi. There is also Chinese involvement in the nearby ‘Saindak' gold and copper mining project. Though China and India have several trade ties for mutual benefit, they are not the best neighbors. Many skeptics believe that India does not wish to see the development of Gawadar port as fruitful for China as well as for Pakistan. The condemning statement of Owais Ahmed Ghani, former Governor of Balochistan and the present Governor of NWFP, is on record, which says: “India is not only helping annoyed people with weapons, but is training them as well.” The Geopolitics report of the International Crisis Group on Balochistan stated: “Islamabad insists that Baluch ‘miscreants' have foreign, political and material backing. Some government officials have implied that the US and British intelligence agencies support the militants to undermine the proposal of Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline and to prevent Gawadar from becoming a functional port where China's presence might threaten US oil and naval interests in the Gulf region. But the brunt of the blame is placed on India.” The report further articulated that “Balochistan governor Owais Ghani accused India of financing the insurgency and Afghan warlords and drug barons of arming the militants.” Indeed, it is worth noting that the people of Balochistan can ask for shares in their own land resources, or they can correctly protest against being deprived of an equal share in government seats, but how is it that they could blow up the electricity towers and Sui gas pipelines in their own place and kidnap those foreigner engineers who are working on development projects in their land. This raises the question of ‘who' are these elements who are actually doing all this evil and ‘how' and ‘why' are they successful in their dreadful task. The tale of the deprivation of the Baluchi people is long and nobody can deny that despite the pledges by each government in Pakistan, nothing has been done for them. This factor has irritated the Baluchi people and has elevated anti-federal government approach. In these circumstances, President Asif Ali Zardari was acknowledged when announced that poverty will be elevated in the province, political reconciliation will be reached and that those rebellions would be taken under the national umbrella. The federal government has established a committee to know the problems of the Baluchi people which had raised their hopes. However, sadly, no outcome report of the committee has ever appeared. This is the responsibility of the national leaders to work together for solving the Balochistan issues. The credibility and trust of the government should be restored. Balochistan should get special help in its development, education, economic growth and usage of its own resources. There is a need to get all parties to agree to a mechanism and undermine those who are using the situation to promote regionalism and Baluch nationalism. The Balochistan Liberation United Front (BLUF) claimed the responsibility of Solecki's kidnapping and threatened to kill him if the government did not free more than 1,100 prisoners. BLUF also demanded immediate relief for the missing people of Balochistan. This incidence has raised the issue of the missing people as the three murdered Baluch nationalist leaders were struggling for the recovery of the missing people. Four days after the disappearance of these Baluch leaders, their dead bodies were recovered in Turbat district. However, Solecki's release became possible after a series of backdoor negotiations held between government officials, some US embassy officials and Solecki's kidnappers. Indeed, Solecki is not a terrorist neither is he responsible for the chaos in Balochistan. But, unfortunately, the people's voices have driven the responsible to take up this wrong step. The increasing law and order situation in Balochistan is being constantly ignored. The voices of the people of Balochistan have been snubbed. Many skeptics compare the current situation of Balochistan to the insurgency and 1971, while others call it propaganda because the Baluch people are too thinly spread across the region to launch the kind of effective resistance that the Bengali-speaking East Pakistanis raised in 1971. However, the notion cannot be called a ‘hype', particularly if some outer hands are financing the insurgency in this province. Neglect from the past continues to haunt Pakistan and further ignorance will only cause more disaster. If the government fulfills the demands of its people then no outsider will be able to use them for any false purposes.
