Balochistan conundrum: Hearing spotlights ‘crumbling’ Khuzdar situation

CJP says province is not govt’s priority; claims everyone is responsible for crisis.

QUETTA:

Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhamad Chaurdhry expressed on Wednesday his frustrations over the deteriorating law and order situation in Balochistan, and the government’s continued failure to address the issue.

He also said that the complete closure of Khuzdar district for a month was tantamount to rejecting the implementation of the Constitution.

Chief Justice Chaudhry made the remarks at the ongoing hearing of the deteriorating law and order situation of the restive province at the Supreme Court’s Quetta registry.

A three member bench, headed by the chief justice, and comprising Justice Jawad S Khwaja and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain, was presiding over the hearing.

Advocate Raja Salman told the apex court bench that elements responsible for the deteriorating law and order were identified, but no action has been taken against them.

The assisting lawyer of the court, Qadir Shah, informed the bench that Khuzdar was shut down for a whole month due to the worsening situation.

The chief justice also asked Balochistan’s Inspector General of Police Tariq Omar Khitab whether the closure of Khuzdar was not a rejection of the implementation of the Constitution. Justice Khwaja said that the Supreme Court held 70 hearings on the Balochistan crisis and had issued an order for the implementation of the rule of law and the Constitution in Balochistan. He added that despite assurances from the government in this regard, no action had yet been taken.

“Should the Supreme Court do nothing then?” he questioned.

When the deputy attorney general requested for more time to come up with solutions, Chief Justice Chaudhry expressed his ire and said, “Balochistan is not your priority. Allegations are levelled against the government and the Frontier Corps (FC) but the government is doing nothing.”

“We are all responsible for the destruction of Balochistan ourselves,” he added.

Advocate Salman continued his arguments by giving examples of the social injustices witnessed in Balochsitan, which he said were increasingly frustrating the Baloch people, upon which the chief justice claimed that the judiciary had already highlighted these aspects.

Advocate Salman said he was informed by locals that a local armed group was behind the crumbling situation in Khuzdar which, they believed, was organised by intelligence agencies.

He also suggested bringing intelligence agencies under the rule of the Constitution to prevent them from operating outside the law.

He also told the bench that there should be a mechanism put in place to hold agencies and the government accountable if they resorted to committing excesses.

Advocate General of Balochistan Amanullah Kanrani said that the government never claimed that the law and order situation had improved in Balochistan, but when compared to other provinces, it was relatively better. The chief justice then asked him why the UN working team had come to Pakistan to investigate the missing persons’ cases.

Kanrani replied that the UN team had not solely come for Balochistan, and said that the Balochistan government was ready to implement whatever orders the judiciary would give them.

He concluded his statement by saying that security forces had also rendered big sacrifices to bring peace and stability in the province. Chief Justice Chaudhry said the judiciary recognised the fact that security forces’ personnel were also being killed in Balocistan, but despite the killing of so many people nobody seemed bothered.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 11^th, 2012.