Appeasing Balochistan: Back to barracks in two months, promises Kayani

Army chief says the last remaining battalion, the one in Sui, will be withdrawn.

QUETTA:

Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani announced on Monday that the drawdown of troops from insurgency-hit Balochistan would be completed in two months when the last army battalion deployed in the province’s restive district of Sui will return to the barracks.

“In future, no [military] operation will be conducted in the province without the permission of the provincial government,” General Kayani said at the inauguration of the Government Institute of Technology in Gwadar.

The army chief also announced that 5,000 Baloch youth would be inducted in the army later this month when the national census, currently under way in parts of the country, is completed. The latest recruitment drive will bring the number of conscripts in recent months to 9,000, some 4,000 of whom were inducted earlier – as revealed by the army chief.

General Kayani was blunt in his assessment of the problems facing Balochistan, citing in particular the lack of technical education as a major reason for the backwardness and underdevelopment of the province. Recognising the needs of the people, Gen Kayani said that the military is taking steps to resolve the problems of Baloch youth so that they could also use their talents and become involved in the prosperity of their country.

He pointed out that the army was playing an important role in the development of Balochistan. In the sphere of education, he said, some 23,322 students, including 4,418 Baloch students, are enrolled in 44 schools and six colleges set up by the army or its subsidiary organisations in Balochistan. Another 567 students are studying in prestigious institutes of other provinces under Chamalong Education Programme. Up to 4,500 students have completed their education at the Quetta-based Balochistan Institute of Technical Education, while another 3,600 students will start their training during the current month.

In his address, Gen Kayani noted that the army was playing a role in the country’s economic stability. The purpose of setting up the institute is to impart technical education to the local manpower so that they could earn their livelihood respectably and play their role in the development of the country. He congratulated the people of Balochistan upon the establishment of the institute and said that it would be catalyst in the progress of the province, especially Gwadar.

The Institute of Mineralogy, Army Medical College and Cardiac Treatment Centre will soon be established in Quetta, he said. Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani, Commander Southern Command Lt Gen Javed Zia, senior civil and military officials and respectable of the area also attended the inauguration ceremony.

Earlier in March when Gen Kayani inaugurated a marble project in Balochistan, he had said that the army was not conducting any operation in Balochistan and that troops were only deployed in Sui and that personnel elsewhere were restricted to the cantonment.

Gen Kayani said Balochistan could become prosperous by exploiting some of its vast reserves of mineral resources. “The people of the province are owners of these natural resources and local tribes have their share in them.”

Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani thanked General Kayani for taking personal interest in the affairs of the province and making initiatives for the progress in the province. He urged the youth of Balochistan to come forward and play their positive role in the development of the country. He assured the army chief of his full cooperation.

Later, the elders of the area met General Kayani and appreciated the ongoing development projects of the army in the province and assured their full cooperation.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 19^th, 2011.