Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur
TIME and again, well-meaning people have demanded the creation of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to resolve the problems of alienation and insurgency in Balochistan, believing that this commission would be just as workable here as it was in South Africa in the ’90s.
However, they disregard some critical factors which had impelled and facilitated the TRC’s efforts to heal the wounds of apartheid. Remember that this commission became possible only when the scenario changed completely after the white minority under F.W. de Klerk accepted the principle of majority rule in 1991 and negotiated the end of apartheid with the ANC.
Following transfer of power, the TRC was set up in 1995 and a person of Bishop Desmond Tutu’s eminence undertook the responsibility of conducting the exercise. Black South Africans, in spite of the rancour and hatred fomented by decades of discrimination, indignity and exploitation, accepted the commission because it had the support of Nelson Mandela. The white minority, meanwhile, went along with the idea since it had run out of options.
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Baluch Sarmachar 