The chance the Baloch were never given
A couple of days ago, I was amazed when a so-called analyst said on a television channel that “the Balochistan issue started after 9/11.” There are other such people who see the issue in the backdrop of East Pakistan. As the armed insurgency heats up, solutions and formulae of all hue and colour have been proposed.
The prime minister is fervidly trying to organise and APC. But who will attend this APC? The current parliamentary parties and leaders? What good will that do as the insurgent groups categorically reject their legitimacy. The fact that is not being foregrounded is that the provincial assembly of Balochistan and parliamentarians and senators belonging to Balochistan are increasingly under pressure. These people have no links with the people of their province and no influence to speak of in Islamabad. What will the inclusion of these toothless non-representatives in the APC achieve? Any promises that may make, they will not have the authority and ability to follow through on them. The people who will purportedly represent Balochistan will for all intents and purposes be de facto representatives of the government of Pakistan.
Neither does the government on Pakistan have any control over Balochistan neither the local influentials or tribal leaders who conduct their politics in the name of Balochistan. Balochistan is currently ruled by might – the might that is wielded by the military and that which is wielded by the armed insurgents. The might of the military extends merely till the boundaries of their cantonments and checkposts. Outside these limits, their authority vaporises and the real people in control are the insurgents. These are the areas where a Pakistani flag cannot be raised and the Pakistani administration is not effective at all. Out of the leaders conversant with the federation, only Akhtar Mengal is the one who can visit these areas freely and is also in contact with the insurgents. But due to his personal and familial experiences, his bent and political agenda is now increasingly closer to those resisters.
Another proposition is to form an advisory commission. As per this suggestion, the commission will present its report after hearing the perspective of all stakeholders. In the current scenario, this suggestion seems like a joke. The power to find a solution is with those who exercise power outside the military-controlled areas and these people are no longer willing to present themselves before any official government commission or accept its validity.
The experiences of the Baloch with Pakistan are not that pleasant. They are filled with bitterness and hardship and then some. Before Partition, Balochistan wasn’t in the complete control of the British. Tribal leaders ruled their own areas and the state of Kalat was ruled by the Khan of Kalat who was respected as an elder. He had no administrative authority or any written or constitutional basis for any decisions related to partition. His authority stemmed from tradition or riwaj. This is why when the Khan of Kalat agreed to accede to Pakistan, this decision was not automatically applicable on the Baloch sardars. It was required that these areas be integrated as independent entities within the Pakistani federation like those of the then NWFP or that these areas be negotiated with individually or collectively. But the political leadership that came after the Quaid did not have this historical acuity through which such problems could be resolved peacefully. The result was that the army was used repeatedly to put the stamp of authority on Balochistan and to bring it under administrative control. Each one of these effort was strongly denounced and resisted by Baloch sardars. So much so, that rebellions even surfaced in the area of Kalat which had formally acceded to Pakistan.
The government opted for the stick over the carrot and it declared the political activities of Kalat leaders illegal. These leaders included Muhammad Amin Khosa and Abdus Samad Achakzai (who was a supporter of the Congress in united India). During this time, the whole of Balochistan operated under the tribal system. There was no provincial administration to speak of. When rebel activity restarted in 1958, Lt-Col Tikka Khan (who later became chief) conducted an army operation against Sardar Nawaz Khan. He was arrested and subsequently hanged. Other tribal leaders were also called in on the pretext of negotiation but were arrested and death became their fate.
Balochistan stayed in the throes of instability for a very long time. When Yahya Khan came into power and reversed the One Unit, Balochistan was also restored as a province. General elections were conducted under this new arrangement. After the fall of Dhaka, the 1973 constitution that was evolved was also signed by the then elected Baloch leadership. Only Sardar Khair Bux Marri did not accept that constitution. But still, it was after the implementation of the 1973 constitution that Balochistan formally became a part of Pakistan. A coalition government of ANP and JUI was formed there and the chief minister elect was Sardar Ataullah Mengal.
But as soon as democratically elected government were formed after the passage of the constitution, military operations were also initiated in Balochistan. An area which had never operated under any formal central or provincial system was given no time to integrate into a modern state system. If the local leadership had been allowed to implement the imperatives of the new constitution, Balochistan would have been slowly but surely brought into the mainstream and the province would have accepted the writ of state and rule of law.
But as soon as the democratically elected dispensation was disposed and military operation initiated, those old system were revived and the tribal mode of authority was in practice again, the people compelled to rise in action for their rights. The Baloch struggle for rights should not be seen as a movement for independence. In reality, these are tribal people who are not accustomed to living under a state. And after they became a part of the state of Pakistan, they were not given the time to go through the gradual process of actually becoming a part of the state. They were not give the time to learn the ropes of becoming citizens of a rational state as opposed to living as people under the tribal system of authority.
To change one’s lifestyle that one is accustomed to takes a long time. We did not give them that time and are still not willing to. We want to bring them under the rule of law on our own terms and when they refuse to do so, we use force against them. Even the British whiled away their time using arms and military might against the Baloch and we too are doing the same thing. We didn’t let the historical processes that would integrate Balochistan into the Pakistani federation kick in. I would like the powers that be to explain to me that a person who has lived his entire life according to the tribal code, how do they expect him to become a law-abiding citizen as per the state’s code by bombing him.
Even today, we are committing the same follies. We never gave them a chance to become a part of the state but we are dealing with the rebellion as if a proper part of the state is up in arms, and not a periphery that was never under its writ to begin with. The people of the tribal areas of Pakhtunkhwa spread throughout the rest of Pakistan by participating in economic and trade activities. They brought back the effects of urbanisation to the tribal areas. Even this didn’t happen in Balochistan. We want them to leapfrog a developmental gap of centuries to talk to us in our idiom and on our terms.
The slogan of independence is being raised by a few educated Baloch. This slogan means nothing to the ordinary Baloch. Because a Baloch is born free and he spends his life according to the customs and traditions of his tribe. His independence is linked to this way of life – his riwaj. Our idea of independence is not their idea of independence. His law is his riwaj. If a policeman arrests a Baloch for thievery and tells him to sit by a tree and say that he will come back for him in the evening, he will still find that man sitting there by the tree. He doesn’t know what the state’s might is; all he knows is how to follow his tradition.
The problem that we have been trying to solve for 65 years, we still haven’t understood it properly. How in the world do we expect to solve it?
The writer is one of Pakistan’s most widely read columnists.
Mr.Naji blaming is not required, present some solutions.
Instead of respecting the Baloch as Pakistani citizens the Centre has tired to subjugate them into subservience. It is no wonder after 60 years of repression the youth of Balochistan have rebelled.
It will be only after these terrible kill and dump come to an end, can peace feelers be extended to these enraged people. One cannot suppress a culture with barbarity, it only engenders anger and hatred. And that is what we have on our hands now.
The Pak state
The Pak state does not have the inclusive and tolerance of dissent instincts of a democratic state such as India (where critics might say that talk is all that happens and nothing gets done!). The brutual suppression of free Balochis is the same as that of Kashmiris in Gilgit-Baltistan and Pak Occupied Kashmir. The inability to concede that another might have a legitimate point of view will be the undoing of Pakistan. Though tribal in origin as the Author states, the only way forward is a free, independent Balochistan (and Pashtunistan, another tribal based society). The best outcome for Pakistan would be to negotiated a federated relationship with Balochistan where the economic and foreign policies can be coordinated but Balochistan is free to disagree and follow an independent economic and foreign policies. If Pak does not do this, Balochistan will break away and then develop these federal relationships with India. You heard it here first.
Well said Bro…
So, Baluchis are just tribals? They were never part of a state?
What happened to "Baloch Regiment 1820-1947"? Didn't we feed them to Punjabi's?
It's not just we never gave them a chance to become a part of the state…
The absence of real democracy is the real issue, bring real democracy.
Rule of the people
Yes! correct..rule of the people, by the people & for the people, but does the rich politicians of our country believe & acts like this ?
Nazir Naji ne 50 Years Journalism ke naam par Hakoomaton ki khidmat ki hai. Jerk !
Hang musharraf for killing bugti and it will bring the political temperature down.
The whole debate on Balochistan seems to built on faulty assumptions and conjunctures. Can anyone search the amount doled into Balochistan viz other provinces in last ten years? Where had it gone? Every MNA/MPA got 27 Millions this year alone, most of them spent it on themselves. Balchis are perived, its correct, but not by anyone else but their own Sardars? Who is against construction and education? NOt Army, FC or Punjabis. These are Bugtis, Mengals and alike, a spade has to be called spade. The whole issue seems to be an effort to extract maximum in an election year.
Hey mr haha huhu… if dont have any knowledge about Balochistan so dont misguide people ok.. What about Mekran and some other places in Balochistan where there is no sardari system, no Bugti, Marri and Mengal tribe lives there, why there is no development ????
Sir,Is there any way to change their my mind by using psychological equipment? Can we socialize them as you said the are still unknown about socialization and sense of society ?
pathetic analysis!!! it wasnt a nazir najee calibre thing..
Nasir Naji has gone senile in his old age. The fight is of the Sardars and has nothing to do with the people, they were poor and will remain poor till these Sardars are gotten rid of. Democracy cannot survive without education and these Sardars won't let education come into there controlled areas. All they want is royalty and money so they can go and enjoy in Switzerland. Who cares here for the real Baloch.
wake up plz !!! if baloch sardars are cruel then there tribes people are not fool to fight for them….ok. They would do the same thing as people did to saddam and qadafi. Dont put the blame on sardars!!
Although desirable, it is not enough for the rest to simply understand the history and culture of the Baluchi people. Integration is a two way street. Nothing justifies taking up arms against the state and joining hands with its enemies. These are treasonous acts just as blowing up bridges, power lines, gas pipes, trains, buses and wanton killing of innocent non-Baluch civilian men, women and children are acts of terrorism. It is also perverse logic to ignore or minimize the gravity of these crimes and condemn the State for acting to protect the country and its people.
The portrayal of Baluchis as victims of usurpation and mal-treatment by the rest of the country is contentious. Exactly how have the Baluchis got an unfair deal is never spelt out in any detail. If it is about the distribution of resources by the federal government, with less than five per cent of Pakistan's population the province receives nine per cent of the total federal funds allocation. How can this be a raw deal? If it is about exploitation of resources, the rules for this are laid down in the Constitution and are the same for all the provinces, as they should be. If Baluchistan felt it had been unfairly treated it could have gone to the Supreme Court with relevant proof for redress —- an option that has never been exercised perhaps because there is no basis to it.
It is true the situation concerning law and order, education, health, agriculture and job creation in the province lags behind the rest. All of these subjects fall under the purview of the provincial government which has almost always been in Baluchi hands. If blame is to be assigned it should be laid mostly, if not completely, on persons that have ruled the province as representatives of the Baluchi people in all this time.
By resorting to terrorism in collaboration with foreign powers in the name of Baluchi nationalism and killing or evicting teachers, doctors, businessmen and professional people in no way helps the cause. Thousands of jobs have been lost because of schools, hospitals and business closures and prospects for the future rendered bleak. This is not something that can be attributed to the centre or any of the other provinces or, for that matter, to anyone else who has the good of the Baluch people at heart.
Listen!!! Baloch never killed women and childerens….ok. and which superme court your talking about, still unable to do anthing for missing baloch persons.. dont misguide people with your false statements…ok
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