According to reports, 11-year-old Sher Ali was killed in a landmine blast yesterday.

Protesters are staging a sit-in along with the dead body of the boy, demanding to demine the region.

ہمارے وطن میں لینڈ مائنز کی اس فصل کو کسی اور نے بویا جب کے کاٹ ہمارے بچے رہے ہیں۔
کل لینڈ مائن دھماکے میں شیر علی نامی شہید بچے کی لاش سمت دھرنا شروع ہو گیا ہے اور حکومت سے لینڈ مائنز کی صفائی کا مطالبہ کر رہے ہیں۔
رابطہ نمبر
03310493085#DemineExFATA pic.twitter.com/dyGcSxNErA

— Alam Zaib Mahsud (@AlamZaibPK) April 17, 2023

In 2017, Pakistan reported the highest number of casualties in the world due to landmine explosions, mostly in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, as the country continues to hold one of the biggest stockpiles of landmines in the world, despite human rights activists protesting it.

A large number of landmines in the country are remnants of the war on terrorism. Pakistan has also used landmines on its borders due to conflicts with India, while non-state actors have also planted landmines.

Innocent civilians and mostly children suffer the most due to landmine explosions.

In February this year, at least two children were wounded when a landmine exploded in Mir Ali, a tehsil in North Waziristan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. 14-year-old Mohsin Ahmed and 10-year-old Amir Aziz were playing near Al-Quresh Petrol Pump when the landmine exploded due to which both the children were critically injured.

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Pakistan has witnessed a resurgence of terrorism with the banned TTP specifically targeting the military and police. According to a report by Reuters, the militant group is using sophisticated weapons, including weapons from the stock left behind by Western forces when they exited Afghanistan in 2021.

During the first three months of this year, as many as 127 policemen were killed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in various attacks.

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A large number of landmines in the country are remnants of the war on terrorism. Pakistan has also used landmines on its borders due to conflicts with India, while non-state actors have also planted landmines.

Innocent civilians and mostly children suffer the most due to landmine explosions.

Two days ago, a child was injured reportedly in an army-planted landmine explosion near a checkpoint in Bara, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The landmine planted by the army near a checkpoint for security reasons exploded, severely injuring the child.

The child lost both his arms in the blast.

In February this year, at least two children were wounded when a landmine exploded in Mir Ali, a tehsil in North Waziristan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. 14-year-old Mohsin Ahmed and 10-year-old Amir Aziz were playing near Al-Quresh Petrol Pump when the landmine exploded due to which both the children were critically injured.

In 2022, at least three people were killed and five others injured in a landmine blast in the same area when three people riding the same bike white the landmine.

In June 2021, a petition was filed in the Peshawar High Court by a group of lawyers on account of the killing of 800 people and 4000 cattle in South Waziristan due to 178 mine blasts over the years

In 2021, according to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), KP has already recorded a total of at least seven incidents of landmine explosions resulting in 14 deaths and over 16 injured.

Members of the rights movements like the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) have continuously urged the state authorities to remove landmines from Waziristan and other parts of the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas, affected by the war in North-West Pakistan.

April 4 marked the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action.

Pakistan is not a party to the Mine Ban Treaty – a global agreement to ban the use, stockpiling, production, and transfer of antipersonnel mines.

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The recent debate on “re-imagining Pakistan” has once again turned a spotlight, among others, on the long-running conflict in Balochistan. The Baloch ethno-nationalist movement remains the most intractable challenge to national integration. It has been marked by on-again-off-again resort to armed struggle alternated with phases of non-violent political struggle. The latest wave of conflict is the longest and most complex in form and nature.

Overview of the conflict landscape:

While the ongoing conflict has intermittently generated debate in mainstream media, it is focused on symptoms, rather than systemic drivers of the conflict. It is imperative to first map the conflict landscape, analyse and identify the systemic drivers of under-development and conflict and then explore potential solutions that can help the region break out of the poverty and conflict trap.

To begin with, it is worth emphasising that the conflict landscape in Balochistan has become increasingly complex over the years. On the one hand, there is a low-scale ethnic insurgency concentrated mainly in southern Balochistan. On the other hand, sectarian and religious militancy in northern and central Balochistan continue to pose a threat to peace and stability. Over the past decade, the Islamic State has also established a footprint in the province and built alliances with sectarian groups and splinter groups of TTP. The latter is responsible for some of the most deadly attacks carried out in the province in the last few years. The biggest systemic drivers of religious and sectarian militancy include a pro-Taliban Afghan policy, a double-faced national security policy, existence of a vast madrassah infrastructure, and presence of bigotry and hate content in educational curricula.

The Baloch ethnic conflict is significantly different in nature from the sectarian and religious militancy. While both involve ideational motives, the latter seeks to implement by coercive means a reactionary and retrogressive interpretation of religion against the will of the majority, whereas the former is striving for carving an autonomous political entity out of the existing political system, which they view as an incorrigibly authoritarian and majoritarian state dominated by the Punjabi elites. Unlike religious militancy, the Baloch ethnic conflict is fuelled by a popularly-held, genuine grievance about a history of brutal use of force and exploitation of natural resources by the State.

From an institutional perspective, the Baloch ethno-nationalist conflict is mainly a reaction to Pakistan’s authoritarian political system, centralized and majoritarian federal structure and an exclusivist approach to nation-building.

While the role of centralization of powers, authoritarianism and flawed approach to nation-building are widely acknowledged in academic debate on ethnic tensions in Pakistan, the role of majoritarian federal design is seldom understood.

Pakistan’s current majoritarian federal design makes Balochistan the least rewarding political constituency for political parties aspiring to come to power at the federal level. It offers little to no incentive to these parties to care about the province. This primarily explains why successive governments in Islamabad have tended to remain indifferent about Balochistan. Moreover, the Senate and Council of Common Interests (CCI), the supposedly majority-constraining institutions, have been ineffective in enabling smaller provinces like Balochistan to block policies or legislations that may impinge upon their rights.

Way forward:

The restoration of durable peace in the province requires a holistic but differentiated strategy.

Tackling religious and sectarian militancy requires a fundamental shift in our national security policy and Afghan policy. Externally, the decades-old pro-Taliban Afghan policy needs to be reviewed and revised in favour of a more balanced and progressive policy.

Taliban are unlikely to ensure sustained peace and stable political order in Afghanistan. Our security thinkers need to appreciate that the resurgence of TTP is, and shall remain, an inevitable outcome of ascendance to power of the Taliban in Kabul. With the Taliban in power in Kabul, durable peace is unlikely to be established in Pakistan, especially in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Similarly, at the domestic front, it is high time to adopt a policy of zero tolerance and indiscriminate action against sectarian and religious militant outfits.

The Baloch ethnic conflict merits a different strategy. The key takeaway from the nearly 19-year-long insurgency is that repressive measures and cosmetic development packages have both failed to bring the disaffected Baloch into the political mainstream. There is no denying that hard and kinetic measures have succeeded in temporarily curbing the intensity of the Baloch insurgency. However, the persistence and resurgence of violent conflict proves that a security-centric approach alone cannot deliver peace. Here is what the government needs to do to find a sustainable solution to the Baloch conflict:

First, the government should prepare a comprehensive strategy for reaching out to Baloch insurgents. This strategy should entail the engagement of credible political voices to lead negotiations, offer substantial concessions and implement confidence-building measures (CBMs) such as stopping military operations, withdrawing the FC from certain areas, releasing all Baloch missing persons and compensating the families of those killed extra-judicially. Mere offers of amnesty or exhortations to abandon violence won’t work.

Pakistan’s current majoritarian federal design makes Balochistan the least rewarding political constituency for political parties aspiring to come to power at the federal level. It offers little to no incentive to these parties to care about the province.

The military establishment’s support is a must for the proposed reconciliation efforts to make headway. The military needs to appreciate that a hard approach alone will ensure only temporary peace at best and that a low-level insurgency can continue almost indefinitely no matter what security measures are taken. The low-level violence is enough to put the state on the defensive, draw international attention and unsettle foreign investors. Previous efforts to reconcile Baloch insurgents failed because, 1) ) repression went hand in hand with reconciliation efforts, and 2) those leading the process had little credibility or freedom to make meaningful offers.

Moreover, the state should also be willing to abandon patronage of the cadre of artificial leaders it has propped up over the decades, notably tribal sardars. These people are the main beneficiaries of the conflict and, therefore, have an interest in its continuation. This State-Sardar alliance has also had a negative impact on development and service delivery outcomes.

Secondly, the following policy options need to be considered for diluting the majoritarian federal design. First, the option of introducing a minority veto can be explored. A minority veto would enable parliamentarians from Balochistan to block legislations in Parliament that they deem harmful for the people of the province. Minority veto can take multiple forms and is in place in a number of ethnically-diverse and conflict-affected countries including Northern Ireland, Kosovo, Belgium, and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Alternatively, the option of assigning the Senate co-equal powers with the National Assembly in all matters should be considered and the current method of indirect election may be replaced with direct elections. A directly-elected and powerful Senate is likely to incentivise country-wide parties to take serious interest in Balochistan. This will in turn induce more political competition and bring technical expertise and experience to the province. Besides, enhanced powers of the Senate will give smaller provinces like Balochistan more say in decision-making at the federal level.

Furthermore, in order to ensure the effective operationalization of CCI, the position of Deputy Prime Minister can be created with the specific mandate to head the CCI and look after matters specified in Federal Legislative List II.

Thirdly, concrete steps need to be taken to ensure Baloch control over their natural and coastal resources. In this respect:

A statutory commission or authority, like IRSA, may be constituted with the mandate to ensure the effective implementation of Articles 172(3) and 158 of the Constitution. This body should replace the existing Federal Directorate of petroleum and gas. Only the federalization of institutional structures governing oil and gas will ensure provinces their due share in the ownership, management, and revenues of oil and gas resources. Balochistan’s concerns with regard to the pricing, taxation and distribution of its natural gas should be addressed on priority basis.

Ownership of the Saindak copper-gold project should be transferred to the Balochistan government as committed under the Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan package.

The Reko Diq agreement should be made public. The establishment of a refinery in the province should be ensured. A Chagai foundation with a corporate management and board must be established. At its disposal must be CSR funds, two per cent of the company’s profits, two percent of federal profits and half of the royalty payments to ensure the socioeconomic uplift of the local community. Lastly, a Sovereign Wealth Fund out of the expected revenue inflows from Reko Diq should be created.

As far as China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is concerned, Islamabad must adopt a more inclusive development approach prioritizing the basic rights, dignity and development needs of the local people, respecting the marine ecosystem and promoting local livelihoods. Unnecessary check posts must be abolished and drinking water projects should be expedited. A public sector company should be created to harness the potential of desalination and reverse osmosis technology along the coastal belt. Balochistan should be given a share in revenues from the Gwadar port.

Fourthly, well-designed and targeted interventions are needed to alleviate poverty and mitigate the adverse impact of fencing the border on livelihoods.

One of the most important takeaways from the past decades is that the traditional model of growth (i.e. trickle-down economics) and development (i.e. promote human development and livelihoods through public investments in physical and social infrastructure) have failed to achieve the desired results in Balochistan. Although the political and fiscal decentralization introduced by the 18th Amendment has improved local participation in the economic and political sphere, these gains have been undermined by the highly exclusive, and thus fragile, nature of political settlement at the provincial level. High degree of State-led political engineering over the years has facilitated the dominance of the political stage by a group of artificial and more pliant leaders, who are unaccountable to the public at large and use development funds to accumulate wealth, reward their patrons and strengthen clientelistic networks. The cumulative result is that socio-economic outcomes have remained stagnant largely despite massive public spending.

As far as CPEC is concerned, Islamabad must adopt a more inclusive development approach prioritizing the basic rights, dignity and development needs of the local people, respecting the marine ecosystem and promoting local livelihoods.

It is high time to revisit the traditional approach to development in favour of a more targeted and direct approach, consisting predominantly of cash or in-kind transfers to citizens. In this regard, the small population size of the province is good news from the perspective of poverty alleviation and social protection. Nearly 71% of Balochistan’s 1.75 million households live in multi-dimensional poverty. The government should consider providing guaranteed minimum basic income to the entire poor population of the province (1.2 million households approximately). The financial burden would be far less than is usually imagined.

For instance: the estimated cost of extending BISP to the entire poor households of Balochistan is nearly PKR 30 Billion, which is peanuts when compared with the large amount of funds spent by the federal and provincial governments on physical infrastructure and law and order. The law and order expenditures of the provincial government are progressively increasing and currently amount to PkR 60 Billion. Similarly, the development funds allocated informally to MPAs and MNAs by the provincial and federal government exceed PkR 80 Billion. We not only need to streamline and rationalize the chaotic plethora of MPA and MNA schemes but also redirect a portion of these as direct transfers to the people.

A formal border trade gateway with all allied facilities and necessary trade logistics needs to be opened up in each district along Balochistan’s borders with Iran and Afghanistan. This will promote local livelihoods and boost regional trade.

Rafiullah Kakar

The writer is a public policy and development professional from Balochistan. He is currently serving as Member (Social Sector & Devolution) at the Planning Commission of Pakistan. He has served in public and international organisations in the UK and Pakistan. He holds two Masters Degrees from the University of Oxford and is a Rhodes Scholar.

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On February 17th, three militants from the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) stormed into Karachi police headquarters, leading to an hour-long operation. During the operation, three militants were killed while two policemen, one Rangers official, and a civilian embraced martyrdom.

Earlier, a blast in Peshawar mosque inside a police compound claimed the lives of more than 60 people. The TTP claimed responsibility for one of the deadliest blasts in the city. Last month a police station in Peshawar was also targeted, resulting in three deaths. Meanwhile, the day after the deadly Peshawar attack, Punjab police thwarted an attack on a police station in Mianwali.

According to a report by Reuters, the banned TTP is targeting Pakistan’s military and police while using sophisticated weapons, including weapons from the stock left behind by Western forces when they exited Afghanistan in 2021. TTP is supported by the Taliban-led Afghan government.

In comparison, police in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa not only lack manpower but are also not equipped with sophisticated weapons, which could be considered at par with the TTP’s resources. The Taliban also have access to thermal goggles, making it easier for them to conduct operations at night. However, police stations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have power outages, making it difficult for them to charge those goggles even when they were provided with a few.

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ہمیں بلیک ہول میں رکھا گیا ہے، آج کی 5G کے دور میں انٹرنیٹ کی سہولت سے محروم ہیں، اور اسکے ذمہ دار فوج ہے، آخر کب تک سیکورٹی کے نام پر ہمیں بنیادی سہولت سے محروم رکھا جائے گا۔ کیا انٹرنیٹ کی سہولت پر ہمارے بچوں کا حق نہیں بنتا۔ #Restore3g4gInWaziristan pic.twitter.com/3GsCLCI5sG

— Alam Zaib Mahsud (@AlamZaibPK) February 10, 2023

Addressing a gathering, Pashtun Tahafuz Movement’s Alam Zaib Mahsud demanded the restoration of internet services in Waziristan.

Mahsud claimed that the security forces are responsible for depriving the region of basic necessities like the internet in this “day and age when 5G is available” to the rest of the world.

“How long will they deprive us of basic necessities under the guise of security?” he questioned.

“We have been living in the ‘stone ages’ since we can’t connect with the world,” he said while adding this was a violation of the Constitution.

انشاء اللہ امید ہے کہ آج رات 12 بجے میں تحصیل برمل میں انٹرنیٹ سروسز بحال کر دیا جائے گا #restore3g4ginwaziristan pic.twitter.com/2WCRJJLGTO

— Maula Noor Danish (@MaulaWazeer) February 10, 2023

People in Waziristan have been protesting against the non-availability of the internet in the region for many years. The region was heavily impacted by the war on terrorism.
In 2020, the Kyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly adopted a unanimous resolution calling on the federal authorities to “provide Internet on an emergency basis” to the parts of the province.

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Pakistan, especially Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has been in grips of terrorism for decades, with extremist groups carrying out countless acts of violence and destruction across the country.

After the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, the terrorist groups have reunited and re-established in neighbouring Pakistan as well. There have been several high-profile terror attacks in the country, causing widespread fear and outrage among the population. These attacks have prompted people to take to the streets in protest against terrorism, calling for an end to the violence and greater accountability for those responsible.

The Peshawar blast that targeted a mosque in a heavily-guarded police compound, claiming over 50 lives, is one of the most recent and deadliest terror attacks in the province. The attack is said to be claimed by the banned militant group, TTP,  and was seen as an attempt to destabilize the country and spread fear among the population.

Besides this blast, the Taliban have claimed responsibility for many other attacks, as well as the targeted killing of police officers. They are also involved in extortion from businessmen and political leaders. They also threaten schools, especially girls’ schools, and locals as well.

In response to these attacks, the people of KP have been taking to the streets, calling for an end to the violence and greater accountability for those responsible. The protests have been organized by a range of groups, including human rights organisations, civil society groups, and ordinary citizens.

The protests are being held in a number of cities across the province, with protesters demanding that the government take effective measures to counter terrorism, and promote peace and stability in the region.

People are calling these protests the end game for terrorists and their sponsors.

Despite the challenges, the protests against terrorism in KP continue to gain momentum, with a growing number of people taking to the streets.

The message of these protests is very clear: terrorism is unacceptable, and the State should take immediate steps to counter terrorism.

In conclusion, the recent terrorist attacks in KP and the protests against them have highlighted the ongoing threat of terrorism in the country.

It is imperative that the international community take action to support the people of Pakistan in their fight against terrorism and only then can we hope to achieve lasting peace and security in this region.

Aizaz Khan

The writer is a student of Bahria University Islamabad Campus

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