EDITORIAL : THE DAWN, PAKISTAN

Sui withdrawal

THE planned withdrawal of the army from the Sui area has finally been announced, with security responsibilities to be transferred to the Frontier Corps over the next couple of months. Does the move offer an opportunity to begin to turn around the disastrous security situation in the insurgency-hit province of Balochistan? It remains to be seen. While the army’s move has been publicly positioned as a nod to the wishes of the Baloch people, there is a sense that perhaps the catalyst may be a section of opinion within the army that has been opposed to using the military as a lethal instrument inside Balochistan. Moreover, the Baloch insurgents, and a considerable section of the public, believe that the main instruments of terror are the paramilitary forces, such as the Frontier Corps, and the ubiquitous intelligence agencies, meaning that the army withdrawal may not have much impact on Baloch perceptions.

Nevertheless, anything which sends conciliatory signals in the restive province ought to be welcomed. Balochistan is still not a lost province, in political terms, but the warning lights have furiously been blinking for some time now. As Baloch grievances spread further and deeper among the province’s population, there is a grave risk of an entire generation of Baloch youth growing up with little to no faith in the idea of Pakistan. Even the old tribal system is increasingly frayed, with a generation of angry youth inching towards hard-line stances and away from the guidance of the tribal sardars and nawabs. Complacency or indifference at the centre could yet push the Baloch beyond the tipping point.

Central as the role of the security establishment and the political government in Islamabad may be in recovering the situation in Balochistan, the abysmal role played by the provincial government cannot be overlooked. Gen Kayani was right in exhorting the provincial law-enforcement agencies and administration to improve their performance. In a sea of under-performing administrations, perhaps the performance of the Balochistan government has been the worst. Routinely accusations of monumental incompetence and corruption are laid against the provincial authorities. In that environment, the hard work of recovering a grim security situation becomes doubly difficult. Missing persons may be a critical issue and the provincial authorities do face serious security threats, but there is a sense that were the presence of the provincial government more visible and purposeful, at least the everyday terror that has invaded the lives of ordinary citizens could be pushed back. What’s really needed is a concerted plan of action bringing together all the instruments of the state, central and provincial. But is there the will?

Energy plans

THE decision taken by the government to “totally” restructure the country’s oil and gas sector in order to expand domestic production and ensure fair distribution of available resources among the consumers appears to have come a little too late. Yet its proper and quick implementation should help prevent shortages from aggravating further and provide the government with a reasonably solid foundation to build upon and develop an integrated energy policy for meeting the future energy needs of the country.

The overhaul of what is now known as one of the most inefficient sectors — oil and gas — was long overdue in view of the falling level of fresh investment in exploration and little improvement in the existing distribution system. Pakistan, experts opine, could attract reasonable foreign investment if it could address some key issues that hinder exploration operations: poor law and order, circular debt, bureaucratic delays and political interference. The failure to woo fresh investment over a long period of time for enhancement of domestic gas production and non-implementation of plans to import gas from Iran and other regional producers has brought us to a point where government officials themselves are forced to concede that the “country would sink if a plan for importing liquefied natural gas is not put in place in three months”.

By admitting the seriousness of the situation in his first interaction with the media after his induction as the federal adviser on petroleum and natural resources, Dr Asim Hussain has underlined the need for working on a war footing to narrow the supply gap. Effectively, he has given himself three months to avert a major energy crisis in the country. The scale of the challenge is immense and time is scarce and the shortages created over the last several years may prove to be difficult to overcome soon. The least the government can do is to immediately remove the procedural and bureaucratic hitches in the way of importing LNG before the situation gets out of control. The private sector is also ready to play its role if the security of its investments is guaranteed.

Inadequate support

DURING the attack on the Sakhi Sarwar shrine in Dera Ghazi Khan earlier this month, two members of the district Civil Defence Department struggled to defuse an explosive jacket worn by one bomber who had failed to blow himself up successfully. According to a report in this newspaper, the men were unequipped and had to cut through the wiring with a knife handed to them by an onlooker. Thankfully, they succeeded in their attempts, but the incident points once again to the need for more support for civilian security forces.

A neglected department of the interior ministry, the CDD is charged with providing emergency relief assistance, including bomb disposal services. Reports have emerged from time to time, however, about its severe lack of personnel and equipment, and they have now been borne out by the very real danger that CDD personnel were placed in at Sakhi Sarwar. And although members of the Border Military Police, an outfit responsible for security in the border areas between Punjab and Balochistan, were able to capture the bomber, they do not seem to have provided assistance with defusing the bomb. At a time when suicide attacks have become all too common, bomb disposal should surely be an undertaking that policemen are trained and equipped to deal with.

Second, amidst the obvious concerns this incident raises about the quality of security in the country, the bravery and commitment of the CDD men must be noted. Despite being under-funded and ill-equipped, they put their own safety in grave danger to prevent further loss of life. Their narrow escape should be taken seriously as a reminder that more support must be channelled to security forces that routinely place themselves in harm’s way given the violence that continues to rear its head across the country.