Article

2022-05-22 India-Pakistan

[Dawn] A COMMON perception that holds true within our society is that poverty and lack of education are the major factors contributing to youth being engaged in ~~violent~~ mostly peaceful murderous Moslem activities. Knowing that Shari Baloch belonged to a highly educated, upper middle class, respectable family in Balochistan
...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
was therefore a major ’shock’ to the nation. How could someone so literate, so open-minded, belonging to such a respectable family, be brainwashed to commit such a horrific act?

Unfortunately, this common perception is a flawed one. Over the last 30 years, we have repeatedly witnessed highly educated, middle-class youth being involved in terrorist activities all over the world, including here in Pakistain. Many of the United States 9/11 hijackers had middle-class, educated backgrounds, and in some cases grew up in secular families. Similarly, research points to the fact that youth joining the Islamic State

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...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group are not driven by poverty; in fact, the number of IS fighters joining from a particular country positively correlates with the country’s per capita GDP, with many imported muscle originating from highly developed European countries. The tragic Safoora Goth massacre in 2015 in Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
, where 43 non-combatants were killed, was perpetrated by youth who attended some of the most prestigious institutes of Pakistain such as, IBA, NED and Karachi University.

The point here is not to fixate on simply structural factors like the lack of education or poverty, but to get to the core of why youth, in this case Baloch youth, are being attracted to ~~violent~~ mostly peaceful extremism by groups such as the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), because unless we do that, we will never be able to achieve any semblance of a sustainable solution to this problem.

Residents of Balochistan in general and Baloch youth in particular, have been grossly marginalised and disenfranchised for decades, despite having their province significantly contribute to the welfare and prosperity of Pakistain for decades. What BLA provides Baloch youth with is a sense of purpose, a sense of shared Baloch identity and belonging, which they feel has been trampled upon by Pakistain’s government and military for decades.

With the advent of CPEC and other China-led projects in Balochistan, the exploitation of Balochistan in the eyes of Baloch youth has greatly increased, adding more fuel to their already defensive, marginalised mindset. The resulting effect is, unfortunately, what we saw in the form of the suicide kaboom by Shari Baloch.

One approach of fixing this problem is the counterterrorism one — going after the BLA perpetrators, conspirators and criminal masterminds behind this and any possible future attacks, which the government and military are rightly doing. I put this akin to bandaging or treating an open wound, which is necessary, but unless we address the cause behind the wound and take preventive measures, we are highly likely to get hurt repeatedly.

Countering ~~violent~~ mostly peaceful extremism experts will tell you that there is actually a sustainable solution to this, one that doesn’t involve disappearances, arrests and capital punishment, but rather, requires painstaking efforts to be taken, which start by engaging the community in a sincere manner, especially the youth at various levels of Baloch society — including in universities, vulnerable neighbourhoods within districts, cities and even down to the union council levels.

The first step is to give the disenfranchised Baloch youth a platform to voice their genuine concerns — one that is legitimised by the state machinery so that the youth believe the endeavour to be a sincere effort for the betterment of Balochistan. This can be done through gatherings in universities across the state and public places in vulnerable neighbourhoods, where there is representation from not only Baloch youth and intellectuals, but also the civil government and military leadership. Such gatherings should be given local and national media coverage whenever possible, as having these discussions in a publicised, open and transparent manner will act as a deterrent to the recruitment efforts of radical groups such as the Majeed Brigade, as youth will have a positive platform to air their grievances.

Once trust through sustained engagement has been established between the Baloch community and the government and military leadership, the key is to not simply leave it at that stage, but to follow it up by giving Baloch youth a greater practical role in shaping the development programmes in their regions. If gentrification and exploitation of the Baloch due to ’Chinese exploitation projects’ is the concern, then Baloch community leaders and youth should be included in the decision-making process of how Chinese projects will benefit Baloch youth, instead of threatening the erosion of Baloch society.

It is important that this entire process is led by a central government agency such as the National Counter Terrorism Authority, whose official mandate is to "to assume the crucial role of an effective coordinating entity ... synergise the efforts of law enforcement/intelligence agencies and other departments/ministries in countering terrorism, extremism, and factors leading to terrorism in the country" and implemented through local NGOs or organizations. What’s imperative for long-term success is that the organizations implementing these community engagement activities have the trust and buy-in of the community and youth leadership in Balochistan. This can only happen if the implementing organizations are already known to and trusted by the communities on ground. Simply awarding the funding for such programming to large national or international NGOs having little or no contextual knowledge and community buy-in, could further exacerbate the problem.

It is paramount for us to understand that no matter how many Death Eaters we arrest and punish, no matter how good our counter-intelligence becomes to prevent similar BLA attacks, we will never be able to find a solution to Baloch militancy unless our civil, political and military leadership engages Baloch community leaders, especially the youth in good faith, treating them as equals and giving them ownership in shaping the future of Balochistan.

Posted by trailing wife 2022-05-22 01:06|| || Front Page|| [11129 views ] Top
File under: Baloch Liberation Army

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