Missing persons remains unfinished agenda: Bizenjo

National Party leader says Baloch people’s love for Pakistan cannot be matched.

ISLAMABAD: At the age of four, his father, Mir Ghaus Bux Bizenjo, was sent to prison. It would not be the first time – Bizenjo was imprisoned during Ayub Khan and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s regimes.

“That’s when I joined politics,” says Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo, tracing a four decade-long career trajectory in Pakistani politics, a journey that began as a nationalist student activist. He currently serves as senior vice president of the National Party (NP). In an exclusive interview with The Express Tribune, Bizenjo said that before taking charge of  the provincial government in Balochistan last year, the party had three goals in mind: an end to enforced disappearances and discoveries of bullet-ridden bodies and an elimination of ‘parallel forces’ backed by the security establishment in Balochistan.



Of these goals, Bizenjo feels that progress has been made in all areas but one: “We have not been successful in resolving the issue of missing persons, but we are hopeful that the security establishment will accept the reality of the situation in the province, as the state and Baloch people have suffered due to enforced disappearances,” Senator Bizenjo says. “There is a sense of deprivation among Baloch people, and therefore their love for Pakistan cannot be compared with how people in Punjab feel,” the senator explains.

Focus on insurgency

“I think the security establishment is not taking the issue of insurgency in Balochistan seriously, as security officials call it a ‘low level insurgency’,” Bizenjo explains. He says that if the establishment were to increase its focus on the insurgency, “it will be difficult for insurgents to survive, but the ultimate losers will be the people of Balochistan”.

He says there is no future for insurgencies in the province, and ultimately, the insurgents will have to come to a table and seek resolutions to their issues. However, he is apprehensive that militancy in Balochistan is interlinked with war in the region, adding that insurgents could not survive without the interference of foreign countries.

Senator Bizenjo reveals that due to the ongoing insurgency, around 700 to 750 Baloch people have been killed while up to 600 remain missing and nearly 800 people have been killed by parallel forces backed by the establishment. The most unfortunate result of the insurgency, however, has been the exodus of nearly 2,000 non-Baloch – mostly Punjabi settlers – that include teachers, doctors and other professionals. Additionally, the Baloch people have suffered as development work in the area has been impeded over the last four years. “Political forces are under threat and society is being hijacked by the militants,” he says.

Bizenjo feels an independent Balochistan will not be acceptable to neighbouring countries, and therefore, the NP has decided to continue its democratic struggle within the ambit of the federation.

Education

The allocation for education in the province has increased from 4 to 27 per cent, Bizenjo says. “Balochistan’s issues can be resolved through education,” he emphasises, “And therefore our main focus is the social sector. We believe that an egalitarian, welfare and secular society can be established by educating people.” He adds that there is no restriction on girls’ education in the province and a chunk of the provincial budget has been diverted from unnecessary projects and into the education sector.

He says there is a need for at least 26,000 primary schools in the province and adds that three universities and medical colleges will be built here soon.

NP-PML-N alliance

The NP’s alliance with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Bizenjo says, is ‘incidental’. He says the NP reached out to the Pakistan Peoples Party in the early 1990s, but did not receive a response. He feels a relationship with the PML-N is preferable for several reasons. “I think Nawaz has brought major changes to society,” Bizenjo says, adding that the PML-N chief believes in the supremacy of parliament over the establishment and also seeks cordial relations with India. The party is also more pro-development than the PPP, he says.

He believes those in Punjab first realised the worth of the establishment after the October 1999 coup that removed PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif from power. He also cites the strong reaction in Punjab to the killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti in 2006, saying that more than 400 processions were held in Punjab at the time.

General election 2013

Senator Bizenjo rules out the involvement of the security establishment in alleged rigging during last year’s general election, while discussing controversies over the delayed announcement of results from some constituencies in Balochistan and the defeat of major political parties in the election.

The senator said the NP contacted BNP-Mengal chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal before the election, seeking an alliance that could lead to more national and provincial assembly seats. However, Mengal refused.

Discussing the defeat of Mengal’s party in the elections, he says the BNP suspended political activities for three years, with Mengal unaware of ground realities in Pakistan while he remained in Dubai in self-imposed exile. “Even though Mengal negotiated with the JUI-F for an election alliance, he did not accept our offer,” Bizenjo says.

With greater commercial interests vested in politics, as well as rampant corruption, the senator feels that the nature of politics in South Asia has deteriorated. However, he complained that the positive nature of politics is not highlighted enough.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 7^th, 2014.