The province is home to separatist forces alienated from the Pakistani government
The Globe and Mail, Monday, March 5, 2007
SONYA FATAH
ISLAMABAD — Former Canadian politicians joined tribal leaders, political activists and elected officials in Pakistan’s capital over the weekend to offer Canada’s experience to efforts to bring stability and democracy to the country’s largest and most alienated province.
Baluchistan has become a key concern for Ottawa as Canadian troops fight the Taliban in southern Afghanistan. With many in the restive province openly hostile to Pakistan’s national government, and the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan becoming mobile across the country’s border with the region, the weekend conference addressed the root causes of the conflict, hoping to help find long-term solutions to Pakistan’s deeply entrenched problems.
Using Canadian federalism as an example of a system that works, the politicians shared their provincial and federal government experience with Pakistani politicians, activists and journalists.
“It’s a hard reality that the intellectual, religious and financial centre of the Taliban is as much in Pakistan as in Afghanistan,” former Ontario premier Bob Rae, who also attended a conference in January, said.
“The difficult truth about Pakistan is that this government is still a military dictatorship . . . we’re all looking to the elections for change.”
Anne McLellan, a cabinet minister in the former Liberal government, gave a presentation on the ownership, control and management of natural resources in Canada. Another former Liberal minister, Martin Cauchon, explained the workings of the Canadian taxation system. He also drew parallels between Quebec and Baluchistan, both of which have had strong separatist movements.
“The challenges here are tough,” Ms. McLellan said at the close of the two-day conference. “The challenges in Baluchistan were here long before Sept. 11. The so-called war on terror makes it harder, because the focus is on the Pakistan government and other issues. The focus ends up being on the short term.”
The timing of the conference is significant. The Baluchi sense of alienation from Pakistan has deepened since the summertime military bombing in which a noted Baluchistan tribal elder was killed.
“After the killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti we cannot take Pakistan’s name in Baluchistan,” said Hasan Bizenjo, secretary of the National Party.
The main issues under discussion were Pakistan’s increased military action in their area, economic projects controlled in Islamabad rather than locally, and inequitable distribution of resource wealth from the province.
Ms. McLellan emphasized the importance of natural resources in building a strong local and national economy. “The backbone of our country continues to be, as it was 140 years ago, when our country was created, our natural resources,” she said.
At the heart of the debate, however, lay the question of a return to democracy and the end of military rule.
“We appreciate Canadian involvement. We think this may provide us with ways to resolve the situation,” Pakistani Rukhsana Zuberi said. “We need the international community to get us out of a uniformed president.”
The discussion was the last in a series conferences organized by the Washington-based National Democratic Institute for International Affairs and supported by a grant from the Canadian Foreign Ministry.
Participants, who represented nine political parties, drew parallels and differences between Canadian federalism and the Pakistan experience, but they all agreed that military rule was not conducive to real change.
Popularity: 2% [?]
