Hayar Bayar Marri, a son of Nawab Khair Bux Marri, sits in the provincial assembly of Balochistan despite refusing to take the prescribed oath pledging “loyalty to Pakistan”. Nawab Akbar Bugti and Sardar Attaullah Mengal have rejected the NFC award signed during Mr Meraj Khalid’s caretaker government. They have forced the ouster of Gen Imranullah Khan as Governor of Balochistan and are demanding that a hand-picked nominee be appointed in his place. They are insisting that the federal government should immediately withdraw the Frontier Corps and the Coast Guards from the province. And they are threatening to sabotage any attempt by Islamabad to hold a census in the province or to collect WAPDA dues from defaulters.
The NWFP government also refuses to accept the NFC award. It refuses to allow the Kalabagh Dam to be built. It wants to change the name of the province to Pakhtunkhwa. It is demanding billions in “royalties” from a bankrupt federal government. Some weeks ago, it forced Islamabad to remove the ban on the interprovincial movement of wheat so that ANP-PML stalwarts with a monopoly of flour mills in NWFP and insider knowledge of Nawaz Sharif’s proposed “agricultural package” could make a financial killing by “exporting” subsidised wheat to Afghanistan or hoarding it in anticipation of the price rise.
The MQM, which has already commandeered the choicest posts in the provincial cabinet, has a similar list of “demands”. It wants all the criminal cases lodged against its terrorists withdrawn. It wants Rs 40 crores in “compensation” for the “victims” of the “Clean-up operation” of last year. It is giving one ultimatum after another to Islamabad. Now the Sindh government has also got into the act and refused to accept the NFC award.
All these demands are, of course, vouched in the language of “provincial autonomy”. Some of them seem reasonable enough. Unfortunately, however, a few evoke uncomfortable memories of Sheikh Mujib ur Rehman’s “six-points”. All of them emanate from persons or groups who have expressed some sort of “separatist” or “anti-Pakistan” sentiments in the past.
Is all this a harmless manifestation of the “din of democracy” following the repeal of the “notorious” 8th amendment? Are all these demands genuinely based on the principles of provincial autonomy as enshrined in the constitution? Are all the “leaders” making these demands paragons of virtue who are dying to serve their people?
Pakistan has degenerated into a state without protected and secure international borders. Wanted men can hire speedboats and launches when they want to flee to Dubai. Smuggling along the coast of Balochistan and via the Rann of Kutch is flourishing. The border with Iran and Afghanistan is flush with guns and oil and multi-million jeeps for the “Nawabs” and “Sardars” of Balochistan. The NWFP is a haven of narcotics traficking, gun running and smuggling. At least US$ 1 billion worth of goods are smuggled via the long border with India. Banks and steel mills and municipal corporations in Karachi are choking with unwanted MQM employees hired at gun-point. And so on.
Will the advent of “undiluted democracy” and “provincial autonomy” expand such “problems” manifold and further erode the national and economic security of the state? Is the “democratic” political leadership of Pakistan up to facing this challenge fairly and squarely?
We have grave doubts. Four former chief ministers — Abdullah Shah, Zulfikar Magsi, Manzoor Wattoo and Arif Nakai — face serious charges of corruption. Yet no one has clapped a hand on them. The reputation of the current chief minister of Sindh, Liaquat Jatoi, clings to him like the plague. Established cases of corruption against all the top-dogs of the ruling parties are being withdrawn. Nawab Akbar Bugti is one of the most notorious warlords of the country. Sardar Mengal’s cabinet is chockablock with smugglers, gun-runners, drug traffickers and separatists. The MQM leadership has bled Karachi dry and is itching to have another go.
Unfortunately, prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s approach to such issues betrays worrying contradictions and flaws. Mr Sharif has stripped the Presidency of all the moral and political powers of federal unity and security. Yet he has lamely succumbed to the blackmailing tactics of dubious political partners in the provinces. Are we then fated to witness a resurgence of urban anarchy in Karachi, warlordism in Balochistan, ethnicity and Talibanism in Pakhtunkhwa and militant sectarianism and unmitigated corruption all over the country?
The state seems frighteningly hollow. Its writ does not extend far enough for comfort. The country faces a national security threat on the periphery. The power problems of the “democratic” 1970s and “dictatorial” 1980s seem to be merging together in the late 1990s. If Mr Sharif ignores these incipient threats to the state or gives in to them, his “undiluted” federal democracy will degenerate into provincial anarchy. But if he deals with them unfairly and harshly, he will provoke a provincial backlash against federal autocracy.
Islamabad therefore needs to fashion a firm and fair policy in the periphery. Anything less or more than that could lead to an abuse or alienation of the security organs of the state. That is unacceptable. Forewarned is forearmed.