Dialogue participants: Will army, intel chiefs be part of Balochistan APC?
Ruling party unsure; says political participation foremost priority.
ISLAMABAD:
With the announcement of an all-parties conference (APC) on Balochistan, the government set the ground for dialogue on the simmering issue.
The more important question it faces now is who will sit at the table.
The ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), which called for the APC to seek a ‘political solution’ to the unrest in the province, is yet to decide if the military, a key stakeholder on the issue, will be invited.
“No, there is no decision yet,” said Nayyer Bokhari, leader of the house in the Senate, when asked if military and intelligence leaders would be invited to the huddle. They have been invited, and have participated, in all APCs on national security issues in the past.
However, given the struggle to bring political forces to the table, the military’s presence may, at the moment, not be their primary concern.
“Right now, we are focusing only on how to motivate the political leadership to participate,” Bokhari said.
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani constituted a 13-member committee to launch efforts to ensure maximum participation by political parties in the event. Bokhari is a member of that committee.
No date has been announced for the APC so far.
Will they sit together?
While Bokhari refused to explicitly mention whether the government would ultimately decide to invite the military and intelligence chiefs, some other members of the committee said Baloch nationalist leaders might not want to sit with them.
“We will do whatever is possible to persuade all angry Baloch leaders to participate in the APC … because it is an issue of country’s integrity,” said a top PPP leader.
“We will have to keep it an entirely political affair … Of course, we will seek input from the military as well, but their personal participation is neither likely nor important,” said another PPP leader.
Hurdles to huddle
Baloch nationalists, who had refused to participate in the event despite an announcement by the government to withdraw criminal cases against some of them, have blamed the military for enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings in the province.
Meanwhile, former premier Nawaz Sharif, who heads his own faction of Pakistan Muslim League, has set tough conditions for making himself and his party available for the conference.
Bokhari, however, played down the refusal of Baloch nationalists and Sharif’s tough conditions. “We, as a committee, haven’t contacted anybody yet. The reaction that is coming is not to our efforts but to media reports … we will see how our efforts are responded to when we actually start them, possibly from next week,” Bokhari said.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 25th, 2012.
With the announcement of an all-parties conference (APC) on Balochistan, the government set the ground for dialogue on the simmering issue.
The more important question it faces now is who will sit at the table.
The ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), which called for the APC to seek a ‘political solution’ to the unrest in the province, is yet to decide if the military, a key stakeholder on the issue, will be invited.
“No, there is no decision yet,” said Nayyer Bokhari, leader of the house in the Senate, when asked if military and intelligence leaders would be invited to the huddle. They have been invited, and have participated, in all APCs on national security issues in the past.
However, given the struggle to bring political forces to the table, the military’s presence may, at the moment, not be their primary concern.
“Right now, we are focusing only on how to motivate the political leadership to participate,” Bokhari said.
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani constituted a 13-member committee to launch efforts to ensure maximum participation by political parties in the event. Bokhari is a member of that committee.
No date has been announced for the APC so far.
Will they sit together?
While Bokhari refused to explicitly mention whether the government would ultimately decide to invite the military and intelligence chiefs, some other members of the committee said Baloch nationalist leaders might not want to sit with them.
“We will do whatever is possible to persuade all angry Baloch leaders to participate in the APC … because it is an issue of country’s integrity,” said a top PPP leader.
“We will have to keep it an entirely political affair … Of course, we will seek input from the military as well, but their personal participation is neither likely nor important,” said another PPP leader.
Hurdles to huddle
Baloch nationalists, who had refused to participate in the event despite an announcement by the government to withdraw criminal cases against some of them, have blamed the military for enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings in the province.
Meanwhile, former premier Nawaz Sharif, who heads his own faction of Pakistan Muslim League, has set tough conditions for making himself and his party available for the conference.
Bokhari, however, played down the refusal of Baloch nationalists and Sharif’s tough conditions. “We, as a committee, haven’t contacted anybody yet. The reaction that is coming is not to our efforts but to media reports … we will see how our efforts are responded to when we actually start them, possibly from next week,” Bokhari said.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 25th, 2012.