NEW DELHI: Pakistan while making statements regarding ‘elimination of all forms of terrorism’ does exactly the opposite when it comes to its eastern border with India.
In the latest flare-up of violence in Pakistan, dozens of militants affiliated with the banned Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) launched a well-coordinated wave of attacks on the night of 25/26 August across Balochistan, targeting security personnel as well as civilians.
The date is significant as the Baloch Leader Nawab Akbar Shahbaz Khan Bugti had been killed by Security Forces on 26 August 2006 in his cave.
At least 50 people, including 14 security men, lost their lives as militants went on a rampage across the province, storming Police Stations, blowing up railway tracks, a crucial bridge, and setting fire to almost three dozen vehicles including trucks loaded with coal and fruit.
They attacked police stations, a paramilitary camp in Bela, Levies stations, and blocked key roads, including Coastal Highway. In Khadkocha, a group of militants stormed the local police station and took Levies officials hostage for several hours. They managed to escape after security forces arrived at the scene but not before setting the premises on fire.
In Kalat, militants attacked a Levies station, besides setting alight a toll plaza on the national highway. In Lasbela, the militants stormed a camp of the Frontier Corps after ramming an explosive-laden vehicle into the main gate and entered the premises under the cover of heavy gunfire. Among those killed were 23 people in Musakhail, mostly labourers from Punjab, who were offloaded from trucks and vans and shot dead after an identity check.
The banned Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the attacks. In a statement, the banned outfit said the Majeed Brigade carried out the attacks and two suicide bombers, including a female attacker, targeted the FC camp in Bela. The pictures of the bombers were released on its social media platform.
PAKISTAN’S RESPONSE
In response, security forces claimed to have neutralised 21 militants. Prime Minister Shehbaz visited Quetta and chaired a high-level meeting of the National Action Plan’s Provincial Apex Committee which included the Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir, Deputy PM Ishaq Dar, Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal as well as other top government and security officials.
He vowed to root out “terrorism that has surged again since 2018” from not just Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but from the entire country.
The Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, told reporters in Lahore that the decision to launch the Azm-i-Istehkam operation in Balochistan was a tricky matter, but added that the political leadership would decide in a few days. He said that a tit-for-tat response would be given to terrorists, besides seeking a political solution.
The truth remains that similar resolves have been made in the past regarding Balochistan. Yet, the recent attacks have shown, that the separatist threat has grown in lethality and reach. Furthermore, the recent violence indicates an intelligence failure of significant proportions. The assaults were not in a limited area; but at multiple locations across Balochistan. In fact, their sophistication points to a high level of coordination and planning.
GROWTH OF BALOCH MILITANCY
While there is unanimity regarding the state’s right to the use of force to fight terrorism. But there is also a need to look at the roots of the political unrest that feeds insurgency. Pakistan despite its resort to kinetic measures, has failed to contain the insurgency.
In fact, the increasing alienation of the population due to deprivation of democratic and economic rights, use of force to suppress protests and growing incidents of enforced disappearances has fuelled anger, particularly among the youth. This has provided the separatist groups increasing sympathisers and recruits. There is no doubt that failure to address the genuine demands of the people have resulted in the rise of such attacks.
Tariq Khosa a police officer who served in Balochistan and was the Director General of the Federal Investigation Agency wrote an article before this incident on how state atrocities turned Dr Allah Nazar, a gold medallist from Bolan Medical College, into a dissident and the manner in which the leadership of Baloch dissidents passed on from Tribal Sardars like the Marris, Mengals and Bugtis to the lower-middle- and middle-class youth. The policy of persecution turned a young Doctor Mahrang Baloch whose father was murdered into a leading leading human rights activist against alleged enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings. Opposing violence, she has said that “solution to the Balochistan conundrum lies in the rule of law, which those in power don’t want because chaos strengthens their grip on power”.
Further the massive rigging carried out in the 8 February elections in Balochistan have led to anger at the blatant misuse of authority and corruption by those who conducted the polls leading to an erosion of the state’s writ.
In his article in Dawn he wrote about citizens “feeling that the social contract between them and the state is on the verge of collapse”. The “national purpose, postulated through constitutional frameworks and based on the rule of law, justice and equity no longer holds them together” and “the state seems to have lost its narrative of national cohesion due to the follies of those who wield actual power in the province.”
The leader of the Baloch Liberation Front, Allah Nazar had earlier been picked up by intelligence agencies in 2005. His brother was killed in illegal custody. The continuing enforced disappearances and dumping of tortured dead bodies are pushing many of the victims’ family members towards militancy. Even those who have been peacefully protesting against the state excesses are branded traitors.
There are also concerns that many Baloch have regarding “developmental” projects like CPEC and mining rights. Gwadar’s historic fishing communities, for example, have seen their livelihoods destroyed by corporate trawlers, while the wider population has been ravaged by state and private profiteers, and the province gets very little in terms of royalties for its mineral wealth.
The current round of insurgency in Balochistan has raged for almost two decades, and was originally triggered by the regime of General Pervez Musharraf, who, had announced “they won’t know what hit them”. The flawed approach of the security apparatus is responsible to a large degree for the present state of affairs.
It is apparent that the Baloch militants are now better organised and seem to have a stronger support base that allows them to operate effectively. The attacks have also taken place in a region that has long been the epicentre of political discontent. The Province is now fast turning into a full-blown insurrection with the growing alienation of the local population.
The government, is now being challenged by people’s power, as demonstrated by the recent protest marches in Gwadar and Turbat. The latest high-profile militant attacks took place after weeks-long mass protests in Southern Balochistan.
WAY FORWARD
Implementing an effective strategy to counter the insurgency requires developing a multi-pronged approach that combines military, intelligence, and law enforcement operations with political and socioeconomic measures. To restore peace in its restive provinces, Pakistan’s leaders need a whole government approach focusing on all aspects simultaneously in a mutually supporting manner addressing the many dimensions fueling these conflicts.
Domestic insurgencies require political solutions as they involve issues regarding the nature and legitimacy of governance of a particular territory and the aspirations of the people who inhabit it. Human rights abuses, disappearances, and staged encounters do more harm than good and agitate the population and can be counterproductive and undermine the very institutions they are fighting to protect.
But instead of looking inwards historian Ishtiaq Ahmed has “called it a declaration of war on Pakistan by BLA” and stated on social media that the only time a separatist movement can be successful is when it is supporteded by “a powerful neighbour”.
Geography also plays its role. An unsettled border with Afghanistan and the Taliban 2.0 not being a puppet in Pakistan’s hands has led to like the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and TTP to hiding in Iran and Afghanistan when the pressure builds up. This sanctuary gives them time to regroup. The ability of the TTP to reconstitute itself in Afghanistan after being routed by the Pakistani military is further evidence geography makes a purely military victory impossible.
Unfortunately, Pakistan while feeling the pinch of terrorism in its west and making statements regarding “elimination of all forms of terrorism” does exactly the opposite when it comes to its eastern border with India in J&K and Punjab. Hence statements such as these are of little consequence because they act in a different manner.
CONCLUSION
While the latest surge in violence demonstrates the growing capacity of the separatist groups to carry out high-profile terrorist attacks, it also raises questions about the state’s failure to deal with the serious security challenge extending from KP to Balochistan.
Both Pakistan’s strategically located Western Provinces have become battlegrounds for diverse militant groups challenging the writ of the state. One is primarily being waged by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), while the other is being waged by an assortment of Baloch ethnonationalist groups in Balochistan.
While the security forces are fighting the group that seeks to enforce Taliban rule in parts of KP, the Baloch separatist organisations have expanded their operations. The latest surge in violence has exposed the vulnerability of an increasingly fragmented state. The large toll of casualties suffered by the security forces underscores the gravity of the situation.
In battle success comes by destroying an enemy’s capacity and will to fight. However, in an insurgency the will to fight is primarily political and social due to the perceived injustices committed by that government or its lack of legitimacy and competency. Resolving these underlying issues can lead to stability. Till then the insurgency represents a failure of the Pakistani state.
Maj Gen Jagatbir Singh, VSM (Retd) was formerly with the Indian Army.