The tactic of killing the
Balochs will not suppress the call for justice
According to Pakistani
officials, in circumstances where law and order can't be maintained by a regular
police force, its most trustworthy law enforcement agency, the Frontier Corp
(FC), which is essentially a paramilitary force, has been given control of
Balochistan to ensure law, order and to protect the lives of the people. But
unfortunately, according to the relatives of victims, eye witnesses and human
rights organizations, this "self proud" force itself is found to be guilty.
The lynching and extrajudicial killings of Balochs still continue. The
bullet-riddled bodies of missing persons--Balochs activists--mutilated and
decomposed, are being found in different parts of the most neglected, deprived,
poverty-stricken and occupied province of Pakistan, Balochistan. In addition to
poverty and the deprivation of basic human needs, this piece of suppressed land
is witnessing a massacre of the aborigines of the province, Balochs. To date, no
single person has presented any justification for the killing of this educated
cluster of society in a province which suffers from a high illiteracy rate due
to the disastrous policies of its occupier, Pakistan.
According to Pakistani officials, in circumstances where law and order can't be
maintained by a regular police force, its most trustworthy law enforcement
agency, the Frontier Corp (FC), which is essentially a paramilitary force, has
been given control of Balochistan to ensure law, order and to protect the lives
of the people. But unfortunately, according to the relatives of victims, eye
witnesses and human rights organizations, this "self proud" force itself is
found to be guilty. Indeed, they themselves are behind these inhuman crimes.
According to the Human Right Commission of Pakistan, "During the first four
months of the year 2011, as many as 25 journalists, writers, human rights
defenders, students, nationalists and political activists were killed extra
judicially." It states that "one prominent human rights defender and journalist,
Mr. Siddique Eido and his friend, Mr. Yousaf Nazar Baloch, [were] arrested by
the FC and police on December 21, 2010 and on April 28, 2011, their mutilated
bodies were found along the Makran coastal highway near Ormara, Balochistan.
Five more dead bodies of missing persons were found on May 11, 2011. They
included: Dr. Abid Baloch, a prominent leader of the Baloch Student Organization
(BSO Azad), Abdul Sattar, a teacher, Safeer Baloch, Tariq Rahim, a BSO activist,
and Mohammad Jan. The Baloch Hal reports these youths had been whisked away
nearly nine months ago by the FC.
In the past four months, hundreds have been executed and there is no sign of the
whereabouts of hundreds of missing persons. The murder and disappearances of
Balochs clearly indicates that Pakistan has adopted this approach to suppress
the voice of those Baloch who are demanding their rights to their resources,
equality and justice. This method will not work for long. Pakistani officials
must know that they cannot suppress the voice of Balochs through torture and
killing. Pakistani officials kill Balochs simply because the Baloch want to
enjoy their basic human rights and justice. This brutal tactic will further
increase the abhorrence for Pakistan, its law enforcement agencies and its
peoples of other ethnicity.
This hatred, suppressed by the Balochs for the last six decades, turned into
resistance. Balochs at large cannot tolerate the ruinous policies of Pakistan,
policies that were designed to utilize the resources of Balochistan for the
development of the country and leave Balochistan undeveloped. This unequal
development created this schizm between Balochistan and Pakistan.
The reason for the extreme dislike for Pakistan amongst the Baloch is
justifiable and genuine. Each successive democratically elected civilian or
military government has acknowledged this deprivation in the first few months of
their tenure and blamed the previous government for the injustices done to
Balochistan. Yet they continue to trick the innocent people of Balochistan with
wicked apologies and false promises in the name of infrastructure development,
increasing employment opportunities and development packages, and so on. Balochs
are wise people and thus cannot be cheated by false promises. In reality the
government gives nothing. Their words are limited to speeches and documentation
in the upper and lower house of parliament and they continue to play the role of
rival instead of developer.
In a recent editorial "The man who betrayed Balochistan," the editor of The
Baloch Hal lists the name of the Chief Justice of Pakistan amongst the betrayers
of the Baloch because of his silence on the extrajudicial killings of the
Balochs. Moreover, the current comments of Justice Javed Iqbal praising the work
of military and secret agencies and calling the huge number of missing person
"propaganda," shows his lack of interest in the matter of extrajudicial killing
of the Balochs and clearly indicates that the Baloch should not hold any
expectations of justice from these institutions of Pakistan.
The Baloch are alone in this battle of seeking justice for the victims of
Pakistani kill and dump policies and the missing Balochs. They have to find a
way to seek justice by themselves. They have to raise their voice to tell the
world about these atrocities. They have to unite to get justice. Nawab Akbar
Bugti said of the Pakistani forces "They are powerful. They are forceful. They
can destroy us, but we can also in self defence drop a few drops of blood from
their bodies."
Developed countries like Australia also adopted a policy of inhuman acts toward
its aborigines. But in the end Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, on February 13, 2008,
apologized to its aboriginal communities in parliament for past mistreatment and
policies.
"As Prime Minister of Australia, I am sorry. On behalf of the government of
Australia, I am sorry. On behalf of the parliament of Australia, I am sorry. I
offer you this apology without qualification. We apologise for the hurt, the
pain and suffering that we, the parliament, have caused you by the laws that
previous parliaments have enacted. We apologise for the indignity, the
degradation and the humiliation these laws embodied. We offer this apology to
the mothers, the fathers, the brothers, the sisters, the families and the
communities whose lives were ripped apart by the actions of successive
governments under successive parliaments."
Pakistan is pushing the Balochs to a point where an apology from Pakistan will
not win the hearts or forgiveness of the Baloch. An apology will not satisfy the
grievances of the Baloch and what they have suffered through. If Baloch leaders
do accept any apology, they will not be forgiven by those who lost their loved
ones who wanted justice in the form of freedom for the Balochs and who accepted
death rather than betraying their ideals.