A tendency to ignore possible lessons from mistakes made in the past seems to have become a recurring theme in the way this country is governed. 16th of December came and passed, with the general level of unease, suppressed anguish, and awkwardness that weve traditionally reserved for all things related to that particular chapter in our history. A sense of guilt pervades in certain quarters, while other quarters still hold a grudge, using this particular day to refresh sentiments of betrayal and treachery, and of subversive machinations undertaken by an ever-plotting enemy. If anything, 39 years on from that fateful day, Pakistan, and the Pakistani state in particular, has yet to separate the proverbial wheat from the chaff that could allow it to come up with an objective assessment of history.
But all things considered, there is still a tug at the consciousness of our intelligentsia and the urban public, particularly in Punjab. Regardless of the fact that the tug comes from a distorted image of history, it continues to suggest an association with Bangladesh, as a geographical entity that was once part of this country. Worryingly enough though, despite the presence of an expanded media sphere, there is a definite lack of association with roughly the same set of problems surrounding a totally different part of the country.
A few weeks ago, during a civil society conference in Balochistan, a local NGO worker remarked that the plight of the Baloch people was not being heard in Punjab. Sift through expedient ethnic strokes and its fairly easy to see how even moderate and educated Baloch provincialists remain disenchanted with public discourse about their province in urban areas across the rest of the country. For example, major centres of opinion generation in Punjab, which includes print and electronic media, universities and other public platforms rarely talk about Balochistan. Even when the topic is brought up, it is normally done in terms of foreign involvement, primordial suppression under a suffocating tribal system, and near-orientalist depictions of wild and untamed territory. Needless to say, these are hardly ingredients for nuanced opinion formation.
Its true that the problems in Balochistan are multi-faceted and not easy to grasp. But its also true that, as history has taught us, the real policy-makers will continue to see the problem first and foremost as a military issue, despite alternate attempts by the political government. The problem with both the myopic anti-insurgency perspective, and its passive consumption by the public at large, is that it creates an artificial distinction between the geographical territory of Balochistan, and the people who happen to reside in it.
For the army, this is a question of maintaining the sanctity of the Federation. A piece of land, thats a part of Pakistan, needs to be defended and protected at all costs – against threats emanating from both domestic as well as foreign actors. As a military question, it remains a fight for land, nothing more and nothing less. But what is happening by portraying the problem in a singular dimension is that the process of alienating the Baloch public continues to gain impetus on a daily basis. Political attempts at engaging with the disenchanted population have also either been subverted by the powers-that-be, or have been too meek to begin with.
The lesson that the state needs to learn from this mess is that there is no artificial sanctity of land which magically transcends the people who reside on it. Pakistan is a country with 180 million people. Without those people, the little scribble on a map is of no importance whatsoever. In the same vein, problems in Balochistan are not just of security/defense concerns, but are also humanitarian issues of a very fundamental nature. Yes, there have been protests and legal interventions over the 2000 plus missing persons, but the simple fact that intra-provincial fractures are perpetuating show that such voices have been too few and far between to win back the trust and confidence of the Baloch population.
It is in situations like these where public opinion is of crucial importance in setting the boundaries of the policy agenda. We see continuation of the current policy trajectory precisely due to the fact that the rest of the country, especially the intelligentsia in urban central Punjab, has been disinterested and has hence absorbed discourse on Balochistan as the security apparatus has framed it. To challenge this current discourse would be a very concrete step towards a peaceful solution.
It is at this time when Punjab needs to step up and play its part as the largest province in the federation. The media, academia and even the religious authorities need to look beyond tribalism and the barren topography and see this as a humanitarian issue, where long-standing problems of inequality and oppression are being compounded by armed conflict. If there is a reason to mourn the secession of Bangladesh, it is that there was tremendous loss of innocent human life. This should be the very same reason that dictates a re-orientation in our understanding of the long-standing problems in Balochistan.
The writer is an alumnus of LUMS and SOAS and is currently working in the development sector. Read more by him at http://recycled-thought.blogspot.com
