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For more than a week, academic activities were marred in Quetta due to protests staged by a group of Baloch students. The students on strike, which led to the suspension of exams, said the protest was in reaction to the alleged abduction of two students from inside the university campus in Quetta in early November.
Over the past couple of months, Balochistan has seen a spate of protests. Thousands of people staged a sit-in to protest economic injustices in Gwadar. Young doctors too were on strike and boycott government hospitals for almost one month. In October, there were similar protests in Kech and Gwadar against extrajudicial killings, and lack of development as was promised at the start of CPEC. Other than this, members of the Hazara community have staged similar protests in Quetta in the past. Like his predecessors, the current government of Quddus Bizenjo has responded with absolute silence.
In the wake of the current protests by Baloch students, the YDA, or the protests led by Mulana Hidayatur Rahman of the JUI-F against economic injustices in Gwadar, representatives of the Balochistan government are nowhere to be seen. Everyone sympathised with the protesters in Balochistan, whether for missing persons or economic injustices – except government representatives and some factions of national media.
Amidst these protests, overall the security situation in Balochistan has deteriorated too. Just between October and November, more than a dozen civilians and law-enforcement personnel have been killed in various acts of violence.
The strong resentment among the Baloch youth continues to grow despite the Rs600 billion package for development projects in southern Balochistan announced by Prime Minister Imran Khan in November last year – though the prime minister expressed displeasure over the slow pace of development projects under the Southern Balochistan Development. The fact is that alienation runs so deep among the Baloch people that economic packages alone can barely yield any fruitful results. Former prime minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani announced the multi-billion Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan Package in 2009; that and the Rs35 billion package by former PM Minister Nawaz Sharif in 2015 didn’t help heal Balochistan’s wounds.
Likewise, the current relief package and a reconciliation commission led by JWP chief Shahzain Bugti can neither heal the wounds of Balochistan nor appease the angry public who are on roads either protesting for the recovery of their loved ones or against the economic injustices they face.
Islamabad must know that economic packages and reconciliation committees for Balochistan cannot work alone till the safety of the people’s life and property is guaranteed. Still, if implemented in actual means, it might be helpful to address some of the alienation caused by economic injustices. However, massive corruption, misuse of power and bad governance are serious hurdles in implementing such economic packages in Balochistan in a fairway. Corruption has infiltrated so much in Balochistan that it has damaged every institution. Unfortunately, corruption has never been treated as a serious issue that creates serious law and order problems.
Meanwhile, the national media’s approach to highlighting anti-government protests in Balochistan has been disappointing. This is a strange approach – both by the media and by those in power in Quetta and Islamabad. Do they believe these protests don’t matter or do they have no time to do something about this? These protests trigger the alienated youth in Balochistan. This, in the long run, fuels anti-state sentiments and poses a real danger to national security. For example, the fury following the assassination of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti was largely ignored. That bred anarchy and resulted in a strong uprising. Unfortunately, the recent protests that started in Gwadar and continued in Quetta haven’t been heard.
The fact is that the federal government and Balochistan’s provincial government both have no policies to resolve Balochistan’s grievances. The people then have no other option but to protest in order to draw government and media attention.
If Islamabad wants to see a prosperous and developed Balochistan it should make sure everyone in the province, especially the youth, is protected. If students have committed a crime, they must be produced before a court. Academic institutions should be safe spaces.
If politicians are ignorant about Balochistan’s problems, the national media must effectively perform its role so that those in positions of power act accordingly. That is when students will not go missing inside university campuses and their angry peers will not shut down universities in protests, nor will the prime minister have to announce multi-billion economic packages for the province.
Today, when angry youth, including Baloch women, are on the streets in the freezing cold, it is the provincial and federal government’s responsibility to meet and address their demands immediately. The government must ensure that Balochistan’s academic institutions are safe, similar to varsities in Islamabad and Punjab. The residents of Balochistan must be given their due shares under development projects, and they must not feel humiliated or unprotected anywhere in the province. Failure to urgently address the alienated youth’s grievances or economic injustices can result in even more alienation – and unrest and insecurity.
The writer is a freelance journalist. Twitter: @KiyyaBaloch