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Selig Harrison says no US aid to
Pakistan till it stops military activity in Baluchistan
26 May, 2006
By Priscilla Huff,
Washington: Noted American expert on South Asian Affairs, Selig Harrison,
has urged the Bush Administration to withhold U.S. aid to Islamabad until
Pakistan ceases military activity in Baluchistan.
Speaking at a seminar organised by the United States Institute of Peace,
Harrison, who is the director of the Asia Program at the Center for
International Policy, said: "In my view, future US military and economic
aid to Islamabad should be withheld until Musharraf (Pakistan President
Pervez Musharraf) stops his military repression of Baluchistan and enters
into serious negotiations with Baloch leaders.”
Harrison expressed the view that “Pakistan is likely to become
increasingly ungovernable in the absence of a political settlement with
the Baloch."
He warned that continued military confrontation in Baluchistan could well
intensify the long-simmering ethnic unrest in neighbouring Sindh and
involving a variety of anti-Musharraf groups around Pakistan.
But despite the serious international implications the Baloch issue has
not found mainstream attention in Washington.
Harrison blamed the lukewarm response to the near isolation of the region,
particularly by the military, which has led to a huge sense of ambiguity
about Baluchistan. Harrison said with conflicting reports and disputed
claims of chemical weapons and rights abuses, it’s tough to know exactly
what's going on.
“This time it is harder to pin down the facts. We know that Pakistan still
gets Sui gas from Baluchistan to meet 22 per cent of its gas needs. We
know that the central government has consistently refused to pay fair
royalties for that gas to Baluchistan for its development. But just what
is happening militarily right now in Pakistan and Baluchistan is really
not clear, because the army itself doesn't even officially acknowledge
that there is an operation in Baluchistan and hasn't admitted that and so
its been able to keep most journalists out,” he said.
But Harrison is convinced it is a policy the US needs to change as a
stable Pakistan was in Washington’s strategic interests, particularly with
respect to its war on terror.
“This policy in my view should be reversed, not only to stop the carnage,
but also because the United States has a major strategic stake in a
peaceful accommodation between Islamabad and Baloch leaders,” Harrison
said.
Frederic Grare, an expert attached with the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace further said the issue could become a cauldron of
fresh tension with neighbour Afghanistan, which has been at a bitter war
of words with Musharraf over the rebel issue.
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan deteriorated sharply this year
after Afghanistan said Taliban insurgents were able to operate from the
safety of Pakistani soil.
Many Afghans blame Pakistan for supporting the Taliban, or at the very
least turning a blind eye to Taliban operating from Pakistan lawless
border regions.
Pakistan, which is battling Taliban and al Qaeda-linked militants on its
side of the border, denies helping the Taliban.
“A number of people refuse to see the reality of the problem and this is
much more important than any foreign intervention per se. You know the
risk...of mutual recrimination between Afghanistan on one side, Pakistan
on the other, because of this Baloch issue may eventually degenerate and
clearly it will be an additional incentive for the two countries to
continue this war of words and again, we know where we are now, we don't
know where we will be in some time to come, so this is definitely
something I would not take lightly,” Grare said.
Balochs complain of a lack of political representation and resent their
resources being used to benefit Pakistan's other regions, most notably the
populous Punjab province.
Many of the tribals in the area have taken up militancy and have been
fighting for more autonomy and control over Baluchistan oil and gas
resources for decades but they intensified their campaign over the past
year.
In a taped message senator Sanaullah Baloch, a top leader of the
Baluchistan National Party (BNP), said the message was clear that his
people must have the ownership of their homeland.
“There is a clear demand from the Baloch intelligentsia, Baloch
politicians, Baloch political workers that the international boundaries
created between Baluchistan, that divide Baluchistan should be softened
and the people of Baluchistan be allowed to govern their territory and
their regions and their state declared as a non-nuclear region, a
de-militarized region and the ownership of the resources of the region
should be accepted for the people of Baluchistan,” he said.
The Pakistani military launched a major crackdown against militants in
Baluchistan after a rocket attack on December 14 during a visit by
President Pervez Musharraf to the town of Kohlu.
Baloch nationalists say almost 200 people have been killed. The government
has not commented on casualties but analysts say the militants' figure
could be exaggerated.
The crackdown has coincided with the announcement of plans to privatise
two gas distribution firms in Baluchistan, which is home to Pakistan's
main gas fields.
Pakistan's top rights group as well has slammed Musharraf’s regime over
the “war-like situation” prevailing in the region.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) last month rejected
government claims that it was not using regular armed forces in a
crackdown in the southwestern province launched last month after rocket
attacks by tribal militants.
The group said it had "received evidence that action by armed forces had
led to deaths and injuries among civilians" and that "populations had also
been subjected to indiscriminate bombing".
The HRCP team has also found widespread instances of 'disappearance', of
torture inflicted on people held in custody, and on those fleeing from
their houses.
Source: http://www.newkerala.com/news3.php?action=fullnews&id=934
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