Of Bangladesh and Balochistan

A case of refusing to learn from history

In my piece last week I had merely touched upon the bogey of the ever convenient ‘foreign hand’ supposedly at work in Balochistan. However, the troubled province needs to be given a closer look. We as a nation seem incapable of learning from our own history and keep repeating the same mistakes.

Take the question of separation of East Pakistan to emerge as the sovereign state of Bangladesh way back in 1971. So keen are we not even to recognize the consequences of our own collective doings that we create myths to deceive ourselves and our coming generations.

Let’s start with the fundamental aspect of the conversion of the dwellers of the Indus Valley that constitutes Pakistan to Islam. The falsity here that we have been learning and teaching is that some conquerors from Arabia, Afghanistan or Central Asia converted the people forcefully to Islam.

How on earth is that possible? Nobody can be forced to convert to a different belief system from the one he truthfully believes in? Religious conversion is always within, in the heart and soul. We shall revert to this aspect another day.

For now, let’s take a look at another prevalent myth that Bangladesh was created by India. Nothing could be farther from the truth. We – those in the pre-1971 West Pakistan – created Bangladesh through our persistent neglect of East Pakistan’s defence and development all through 1947 and 1971.

Not only that, most of the West Pakistanis looked down upon the Bengali compatriots. To call some West Pakistani a Bengali was taken as something of an abuse. On top of it all was the initial folly of declaring Urdu as the national language, whereas the mother tongue of the majority of the national population that belonged to East Pakistan was Bengali.

We only reaped what we had sown. The Indians merely took advantage of the situation and sent in their army. They would have been fools not to do that. Later, however, they came to regret helping create Bangladesh. There is this famous saying of Mrs Indira Gandhi that, after the creation of Bangladesh, India had had to contend with not just one but two Pakistans!

After sweeping the 1970 elections in East Pakistan and coming to get a majority of seats in the constituent assembly that was to be formed, what exactly were Shaikh Mujeeb-ur-Rahman and his Awami League’s demands? That their ‘Six Points’ be accepted.

The ‘Six Points’ called for greater provincial autonomy but not separation of East Pakistan. Even that was not acceptable to Bhutto and the army. There then followed another chapter of national shame for Pakistan when our army committed unspeakable crimes against their compatriot East Pakistani men and women.

As for defence, the people of East Pakistan felt totally vulnerable when no army was deployed there during the 1965 war with India. If India wanted to capture East Pakistan then, it could easily have done that. New Delhi did not take that step as it well knew that the brave Bengali Muslims could not be held under subjugation.

All these facts are necessary to recall in the context of the evolving situation in Balochistan. This province and most of its people too have remained neglected throughout the past 66 years of our nominally independent history. The consequences are now here for the world to see.

In this context again, our enemies would be fools if they did not fish in the troubled waters of Pakistan’s largest and geostrategically highly important province. The parallels between Bangladesh and Balochistan are chillingly true. How and when did the current trouble start?

The second insurgency movement in the province, as it is referred to, started in 1973 when the provincial government of Ataullah Mengal was dismissed by the then Prime Minister Bhutto. The movement was launched to get greater provincial autonomy and did not aim at separation. The people felt that if they did not resist their identity as a nationality would be destroyed.

During the 1973 movement, intelligence agencies operating at the behest of the state started the illegal practice of abducting people. They would be described as ‘missing persons’. At that time, their number was not large and only active members of the movement would be taken away to the Kulli Camp or other unidentified places.

During the Musharraf era, however, this practice became very common. Not just that, mutilated bodies of people – the ‘missing persons’ that is – would be found on roadsides and desolated areas. Earlier, incidents of torture were well known, but it was only during Musharraf’s years in power that killings started.

In its report titled “Balochistan: Giving the people a chance” issued in Lahore last Sunday, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has called upon the government to hold immediate talks with Baloch insurgents, both within and outside the country, without any impunity to individuals among them causing grave human rights violations.

An earlier HRCP report stated that the government is powerless in Balochistan and “has failed to raise peoples’ issues and is subservient to the military.” It also stated that the situation in the province is so precarious that “even the courts had failed to ensure compliance with their orders.”

Finally, let’s take a look at some social indicators. The overall literacy rate in Pakistan is 47 per cent, whereas it stands at 26.6 per cent in Balochistan. Similarly, the female literacy rate for the country is 33 per cent. Balochistan lags far behind with just 15 per cent.

As for primary school enrolment, it is 68.3 per cent for the country and 49 per cent for Balochistan. Female enrolment for Pakistan is 49.2 per cent, but only 21 per cent for the province. Access to sanitation for the country is 18 per cent and a shamefully low seven per cent in the case of Balochistan.

Village electrification for the country as a whole is 75 per cent but a pathetic 25 per cent in Balochistan. Only 20 per cent of population in the province has access to safe drinking water, while the figure for the entire country is 86 per cent.

All this reflects not gross neglect, but through the military action, alienating the Balochis just as the Bengalis were through the 1950s and 1960s. May one remind the consequences to the powers that be?

The writer is a senior journalist and analyst whose latest book on Iran’s nuclear programme, ‘Iran and the Bomb: Nuclear Club Busted’ has recently been published. He can be reached at [email protected]