Solution to
Balochistan Quagmire: Crush Feudalism
By Pervaiz M. Alvi
US
I find the article by Mr.
Sddique Malik (February 24, 2005 ) very heart
warming. In Balochistan the problem is not only
the land owning feudalism that is prevalent all
over the country, it is also the Sardari System
of administration legally allowed under the constitution
of Pakistan. Eighty percent of the land falls
under the system. The Quaid himself sought the
allegiance of these sardars some of whom were
simultaneously negotiating with Gandhi for independent
status of their state lets. They were given the
assurance that if they supported the idea of Pakistan
their fiefdoms would be left untouched.
No politician has ever been able to hold public
meetings in any area of Balochistan without the
support of the local sadars. The framers of the
1973 Constitution of Pakistan have left this system
intact as well. Today just like India there are
no princely states in Pakistan; all state lets
were absorbed by the West Pakistan province in
the sixties. However the princes, nawab, sardars,
khans all were allowed to keep their lands and
estates. In case of Balochistan these sardars
were also allowed to be the administrators of
these state lets. They own the land, collect all
legal and illegal revenues as personal incomes,
maintain local militias, reward loyals and punish
opponents, negotiate political and financial deals
with governments in Islamabad, Delhi, Kabul, and
other capitols of the world.
Whenever elections are held in the country they
find a seat in the assemblies for themselves and
other kin and then one of them becomes Chief Minister
or Governor of Balochistan. The presence of central
government in the province is in the form of civil
and military officers who, if were not corrupt
before they got there, become so when they are
wined and dined by the sardars during their stay
in Balochistan. There is a definite alliance on
the ground between sardars and the government
officials that has kept the populace poor, ignorant
and backward. Pakistan military and civil bureaucracy
and the sardars collectively are not interested
in the elimination of the system. The present
unrest will go away after a new deal is struck
between the parties of interest. Damn the poor
common man. However, Islamabad should better move
fast. There are other suitors in the market.
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