What is going on in Balochistan?
Is it terrorism? Is it struggle for provincial autonomy? Or is it a Baloch
revolutionary movement, aimed at breaking the chains of slavery and changing the
status quo--Pakistan’s totalitarian colonialism?
Baloch professors, politicians, intellectuals, human right activists and
journalists are brutally gunned down during daylight, while students, political
activists and poets are kidnapped in the darkness of night. Their bodies, when
found, reveal cruel and agonizing deaths.
News reports make it sound as if the government of Pakistan is unaware of who is
behind the chain of murders; the country's law enforcement agencies also feign
ignorance. The victims, however, blame the country’s intelligence agencies for
these hideous acts. National and international human rights organizations, like
the Human Right Commission of Pakistan, Amnesty International and Human Rights
Watch, draw similar conclusions: they all blame the intelligence agencies of
Pakistan.
Officials of Pakistan’s intelligence agencies, however, deny such allegations.
To date, these intelligence agencies have held foreign hands responsible for the
chain of assassinations in Baluchistan. If Pakistan’s intelligence agencies
claims are true, the fundamental question is why have they failed to prevent
these brutal acts and bring the perpetrators to justice?
Logically, there are three possibilities that account for the failure to prevent
the serial killings of Baloch intellectuals: 1) The government, particularly its
intelligence agencies, is unwilling to prevent these criminal acts, 2) they are
incompetent to do so, or 3) they themselves are behind the murders.
The overall impression of the public is that the Pakistani government at large
is not willing to take any actions to prevent these organized crimes against the
Baloch people. In the last six decades, not one individual has been caught or
brought to justice for any of these murders. This injustice and failure on the
part of Pakistani officials has widened the mistrust and disrespect of Baloch
people towards Pakistan.
In the past 60 years, Pakistani officials at both the federal and provincial
levels have continuously made false promises about positively changing the
conditions in Balochistan, whose people have been reduced to poverty. Each ruler
coming to power in Pakistan apologizes to the Baloch people for past wrongdoings
and promises to change the living conditions of Balochs, a suppressed nation,
but they all have failed to abide by their promises. Instead, the stated mission
of "doing more," in effect, translates to a kind of torture on a variety of
levels related to the quality of human life, e.g., economical, educational,
basic rights, human rights--all are negatively impacted by Pakistan's efforts to
do more for the Baloch.
Considering the bitter experiences of the past, as well as the present's fearful
circumstances, many Balochs have once again given up hope and have stopped
dreaming of a better future within Pakistan. The reason and logic behind such
decision is vivid: their future will never be bright while living under, in
effect, Pakistani captivity.
For the Balochs to rid their lives of brutality, racism, totalitarian rulers,
inequality and injustices, those men and women who have a vision of national
prosperity--a prosperity that can be enjoyed by the entire Baloch nation--have
again organized and started a revolution with the aim of winning the rights of
the people of Baluchistan. Simply put, they are organizing to secure their human
rights, civil rights, civil liberties, and democratic rights as described in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Like every other independence movement, this struggle or movement for liberty
has been continuously suppressed by Pakistan and labeled as "terrorism and
anti-state activities." The irony is, of course, that every meaningless visit by
Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Gilani or Interior Minister Rehman Malik to
Balochistan (aimed at reconciliation) is welcomed by the recovery of innocent,
disappeared Baloch youth's tortured dead bodies.
Mir Sohaib Mengal, in his latest article "The killings and the promises"
published in a leading Pakistani newspaper, Daily Times Pakistan, on 19 October,
2011, writes about the recent visit of the Pakistani Prime Minister to
Balochistan. It seems that Mr. Gilani was unaware of what his men in uniform and
plain clothes were doing in Khuzdar, Gwadar and other parts of Balochistan while
he was enjoying dry-fruits in the garrison city of Quetta on his short visit. In
the very short span of three days, nine mutilated bodies of Baloch missing
persons were found in different parts of Balochistan.
Similarly, Mr. Rehman Malik, who was recently awarded an honorary PhD degree by
the University of Karachi (a very divisive point among scholars who question in
which capacity he was awarded such a prestige degree), has always filled his
pocket with lot of phony stories about issues in Balochistan during his visits.
Just recently, for example, Dr. Rehman claimed that he is in touch with the
leadership of Baloch separatist groups and has made them agree to table talks.
He has said further that the nation would soon hear good news related to this
matter.
Prior to Dr. Malik's statement, the same tactic was used by Senator Lashkari
Rasani, the younger brother of the Chief Minister of Balochistan. Both
statements were rejected by different pro-independence groups who described them
as propaganda for the purpose of creating misunderstanding among the groups and
among the people of Balochistan, and to jeopardize the movement by employing
mischievous strategies to fan hostility within the Baloch groups and political
parties.
For their part, Baloch insurgents reject accusations that they are involved in
terrorism or anti-state activities. They characterize their activities as a
revolution, one in which hundreds of Balochs of different ages and backgrounds
have lost their lives at the hands of Pakistani intelligence agencies who
disappear and extra-judicially murder Baloch. Baloch locals also describe
military operations carried out by Pakistani forces in many different districts
of Balochistan. In this insurgency, Baloch tribal chieftains have also not been
spared. The Chief Minister, the Governor, ministers and bureaucrats have all
been attacked, as have Balochs who belong to various pro-autonomy parties and
who would prefer to remain a part of Pakistan, as well as settlers, particularly
the Punjabis (an ethnic group from the Punjab province of Pakistan and also
known as the ruling class of the country). Some of these attacks are claimed by
Baloch insurgents. Responsibility for others is harder to determine for claims
and counter-claims are routine and there is no one to investigate anything in
the fog of this war. Baloch insurgents have long appealed for international
human rights investigators and journalists to come to Balochistan to conduct
their own investigations, but very few have ever responded to this plea,
primarily because the Pakistan government both discourages and/or outright
prohibits outsiders from visiting Balochistan.
The Baloch insurgency shares some features with sister revolutions in Libya,
Egypt and Tunisia. Like the citizens of these countries, the Balochs suffer from
relative deprivation, meaning that they are deprived of real political power and
democracy. In addition, many are tortured to death because of their political
activism. If the Baloch, like others, want to change their future, they have to
rid themselves of the tyrannical regime under which they live. 60 years of rule
by successive Pakistani governments has done nothing to improve the lot of the
Baloch people. In fact, the Baloch, as a whole, probably suffer a level of
deprivation greater than many of the citizens in Libya, Egypt and Tunisia, for
little revenue from resources extracted from Balochistan by Pakistan has ever
reached the Baloch public. It is this overwhelming deprivation that drives the
insurgency. The Baloch want to harness Balochistan's natural resources to meet
the needs of its population long deprived of adequate food, shelter, health
services, physical and mental security, and an ability to assert its identity
and so on.
This time the current movement has an edge over previous ones--and that is the
enthusiastic involvement of educated Baloch youth from different professions,
intellectuals and women. There is an eagerness on the part of the public and
activists to bring change in order to enjoy a better future in their homeland.
Furthermore, it is observed that preference is not given to emotional speeches
and press statements by the leadership, the effects of which are not lasting.
What the Baloch have to admit, however, is the harsh reality that their unity,
at present, is not healthy enough to bring rapid change. The Baloch still have
to work hard to overcome their flaws. Due to their hard work, the world now
knows about the barbarism of Pakistan towards the Baloch people. But now the
Baloch pro-independence political parties have to step up. They should come up
with clear policies regarding how they can make Balochistan a better place to
live and invest in. They have to focus on how to unite their people and they
have to stop sniping at each other. They should concentrate on table talks to
end their differences, rather than giving rivals ammunition with which to
imperil the revolution. They still have a long way to go to accomplish that
which can only be achieved by unity, committed persons, visionary leadership and
excellent team work, but start they must--this fog of war will never lift and
development will never begin without it.