I have just finished reading my good friend Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur’s article, “Platitudes palmed off as justice” (Daily Times, April 29, 2012). After reading the facts he has given and the interpretation he has made of those facts, only a simpleton will say that there will ever be justice for the Baloch people. Talpur has amply shown that from the Supreme Court to the army down to the provincial assembly, no one has the will or intention to give justice to the Baloch. Now the question is: what will happen to Balochistan?
This question is not new, as it has been bandied about in the print, electronic, and social media. Many journalists and commentators have spoken about how East Pakistan ceded from Pakistan because the former were denied their democratic rights. It has been argued that if Balochistan is denied its legitimate rights, it may go the East Pakistan way. Is such a thing possible?
My take on this issue is: no.
However, before I come to this, I have a little observation to make. We often hear about Balochistan, but seldom of the Baloch, or the people of Balochistan. We hear about the Balochistan issue, and not the Baloch issue. If ever we hear about the Baloch, it is in terms of terrorism and being Indian agents. Anyway, this may not be an issue, so I will pass on.
Retired generals who now act as political analysts and civilian political experts have claimed that Balochistan will never go the East Pakistan way because there was a one thousand-mile distance between East Pakistan and West Pakistan. Had there been no distance, East Pakistan would still be “ours”. They also claim that if India had not interfered and “attacked” East Pakistan, “our” army would have crushed the separatists.
They are right. Had there been no powerful consensus built against the Pakistan army’s genocide of the Bengalis, the world would not have allowed India to intervene in the civil war in East Pakistan. It is as simple as that. General Tikka Khan had infamously declared, “I do not want people. I want the land.” Supported by Al-Badar and Al-Shams, he would have done his job, if the Pakistan army had not been stopped by the Indians. No wonder the general is remembered as “the Butcher of Bengal”.
Balochistan cannot cede from Pakistan. The ground realities are in favour of the anti-Baloch forces. First, over the past few years, the Taliban have proliferated in Balochistan. They are armed and backed by the army. The Baloch are no match for the combined Taliban-army power. Second, there are few audible voices in Pakistan condemning the treatment of the Baloch. The Pakistani media has by and large portrayed the Baloch in a binary: the sardars and the masses. The media has been projecting the Baloch sardars as evil and greedy and the Baloch masses as dirt poor only because of their sardars. Third, there is no palpable international outcry over the condition of the Baloch. You cannot switch on your TV and hopping from one (national and international) channel to another, come across a word about the suffering of the Baloch. Fourth, there is no Baloch diaspora in cities like New York and London, which can highlight the plight of their fellow Baloch. Fifth, the persecution of the Baloch has not been documented from the Baloch point of view; if such documentation exists, it is not widely available. And finally, the Baloch leadership does not seem to be standing united.
What are the options for the Baloch, then? They cannot defeat their formidable opponents who possess every weapon in the book, conventional and otherwise. In the course of time, the Baloch will find not one but scores of trigger-happy Tikka Khans. One option one can think of is build internal pressure, i.e. within Pakistan. But it will not get any positive response from the judiciary, the army, and the media. Another option (favoured by Edward Said for the Palestinians) is to go to places like university campuses and tell students and academics about human rights abuses of the Baloch. But I think it will fail too because our academic world is as ideological as our media. If the Baloch leadership can campaign for provincial autonomy as envisaged in Pakistan’s constitution, there might be an opening there. I believe that Balochistan as a part of Pakistan is a better option than an independent Balochistan; an independent Balochistan will become a battleground for the imperial powers of the world. The Baloch can launch an intense campaign at the international level. The power elite of Pakistan do not wish the Baloch to pass from nature to culture. For them, the only good Baloch is the one who is a noble, amorphous savage. No wonder Nawab Aslam Raisani is such a darling!
The writer is the author of Two and a half words and other stories. He can be contacted at [email protected]