From the ruins of Awaran: Top military official makes peace overture to Baloch rebels

Says everyone needs to ‘join hands’ to help Balochistan’s impoverished regions

AWARAN:

In a statement that can be construed as a much-needed but rare peace overture amidst a violence-plagued earthquake relief effort in Balochistan, the region’s top military official has said that all quarters, including the ‘rebels,’ need to join hands to pull the strife-torn province out of years of impoverishment.

Talking to journalists at Army Earthquake Relief Centre in Awaran, Maj Gen Samrez Salik held that years of fighting and conflict had given nothing to the people of Balochistan – in particular those living in the region devastated by an earthquake late last month. Maj Gen Salik, who commands the 33 Division of the army, said that the army would continue to work to bring relief to the quake survivors – but added that work remained to be done over and beyond recovering from the natural disaster.

The region, which is a hotbed of rebel activity, is amongst the poorest and most backward in Pakistan – and all stakeholders needed to brush aside differences and work to help the people there, he said. Though he expressed great satisfaction over the response to the earthquake, he said that, in relation to the overall effort to bring this region prosperity, this exercise was a drop in the ocean.

When approached by The Express Tribune to clarify if he meant that everyone “joining hands” in the effort was also a reference to the insurgents, he replied in the affirmative. “I mean everyone,” he emphasised. He did, however, add that the army would continue their relief effort despite the clashes.

Clashes in Awaran district have been a big issue in relief work. The rebels had charged the army with conducting an operation in the garb of relief work – a charge that Maj Gen Salik strongly denied. There is no on-going operation, he said, nor is there any planned for the span of the relief and rehabilitation process. On the contrary, he claimed, the army is exercising extreme restraint.

Following an IED attack, which claimed the lives of two soldiers, Maj Gen Salik said that an army helicopter had two four suspects, riding on two motorcycles, in sight. There was a strong chance that they were responsible for the attack, he said, pointing out that the suspects were fleeing the scene. He was on that helicopter and stopped the gunman from engaging the motorcyclists, he claimed, because there was still a small chance that they were innocent.

Incidents of violence continue during the relief effort, and, according to the army’s count on Monday, have reached 19 in number – including one IED attack, four rocket attacks and 14 incidents of firing – and have resulted in two soldier casualties and one injury. The army deployment has built up to a massive 2,400 personnel in the region, which is aside from the 500 personnel of the Frontier Corps.

Currently, there is no count of those killed on the side of the rebels.

The army’s relief work continues despite the conflict and reports of relief supplies being torched. According to their data, they have distributed some 2,632 tonnes of rations along with 34,053 tents, 23,200 blankets and 1,000 sleeping bags in an area that has seen most homes flattened.

All this has required a herculean effort, given that the affected area, though thinly populated, is made up of extremely harsh terrain and no roads. Villages in the area are spread out and often isolated, which means that over 500 trucks that have arrived in the area cannot deliver the relief directly. The effort has come from the air: 74 sorties had delivered 190 tonnes of relief goods by Monday, and continued on Tuesday.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 9^th, 2013.