No respite in site for Baloch people as military, intelligence still rules in Pak

London, Jan.30 (ANI): Even as the 'democratic' Pakistan government is trying hard to pacify the Baloch people through a special reconciliation package, it is highly unlikely that the government will succeed in ending the insurgency in the province, as it is the army and the powerful intelligence agencies which still rule the roost in the country.

Dousing the fire of wide spread public mutiny and accepting the demands of the Baloch people are some of the biggest challenges confronting the Pakistan government, and it is trying to find a middle path, however, it seems to be a difficult task considering the fact that the government is only in office and not truly in 'power'.

The Gilani government recently announced the 'Rahe-i- Haqooq Balochistan' package for Balochistan, as a reconciliation move, but the more powerful military and intelligence services, including the Intelligence Bureau (IB), Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) and Military Intelligence (MI) are likely to stonewall the government's step forward to stabilise the region.

Together with the army, these intelligence services are the real power in Pakistan. They are implicated in six decades of disappearances, torture, detention without trial and extra-judicial killings in Balochistan, an article in The Guardian said.

The newspaper also pointed out that despite it having been over two years since the former military ruler General Pervez Musharraf was ousted from power, his 'cronies' still hold many of the key levers of power, especially in the all-crucial military, security and intelligence agencies.

"They continue to call the shots and pull the strings, regardless of what the democratic, civilian government says and wants," it said.

These facts have not only sunk hopes of a settlement deal between the government in Islamabad and Baloch nationalists who are campaigning for self-rule, but they also mean further suppression and oppression of the Baloch people on their own soil. (ANI)