Pakistan since its inception has faced many separatist movements with demands such as Pakhtunistan, Bangladesh, Greater Balochistan and Sindhudesh. The Balochistan issue is a hot debate these days, after the US Congressman from California Dana Rohrabacher presented a controversial resolution in the US House of Representatives calling for the right of self-determination for the oppressed people of Balochistan. On the one hand, this resolution has marred the efforts being made by the US for the resumption of its estranged relations with Islamabad, but on the other hand, it has also accentuated the gravity of the Balochistan issue in the eyes of many, especially television anchorpersons.
The Balochistan conflict first surfaced soon after the inception of Pakistan in 1947 when Pakistan army troops were deployed to subdue insurgents based in Kalat, who rejected the Khan of Kalat’s decision to accede to Pakistan. A subsequent Baloch guerrilla movement gained momentum during the 1960s. Amid consistent political disorder and instability at the federal level, the government ordered a military operation in the region in 1973, assisted by Iran, and inflicted heavy casualties on the separatists. Insurgency, however, again gained strength in the 1990s and 2000s.
The issue intensified further in 2005 when Baloch political leaders Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti and Mir Balaach Marri demanded greater autonomy and presented a 15-point agenda to the Pakistan government. Their stated demands included greater control of the province’s resources and a moratorium on the construction of military bases. This led to a military operation in August 2006, where the 79-year-old Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti was killed during fighting with the Pakistan army. He was charged by Pakistan’s government with a series of bomb blasts, killings of the people he professed to protect and the rocket attack on President Pervez Musharraf.
On August 12, 2009, the Khan of Kalat, Mir Suleiman Dawood declared himself ruler of Balochistan and formally announced a Council for Independent Balochistan. The council’s claimed domain includes ‘the Baloch of Iran’ as well as Pakistani Balochistan, but does not include the Afghan Baloch regions, and the council contains all separatist leaders including Nawabzada Bramdagh Bugti. He claimed that the UK had a moral responsibility to raise the issue of Balochistan’s illegal occupation at international level.
Where many intellectuals when talking about the Balochistan issue are highlighting the human right abuses, more autonomy or economic dimensions (more royalties) to the conflict, the nature of the conflict is nationalist and the self-determination thirst and will of the Baloch to secede from Pakistan.
There is no doubt Balochistan was considered a neglected province where the majority of the population lacks amenities. Members of Balochistan’s elite society, including provincial government ministers and officials, owned pieces of land greater in size than some small towns of the country, and had luxury vehicles, properties, investments and businesses valued at millions of rupees.
The covert presence of foreign intelligence agencies is also jeopardising the Baloch conflict. Bramdagh Bugti in an interview stated he would accept aid from India, Afghanistan and Iran, which would help in the defence of Balochistan. Pakistan has also repeatedly accused India, and occasionally the US, of supporting the Baloch rebels in order to destabilise the country; India has categorically denied this.
The Americans do not want the Chinese in Balochistan. The Chinese are interested in Gwadar port facilities for export of their goods and of gas. The Iranians see Gwadar as a threat to their economy in the region.
Human rights violations including torture, enforced disappearances of those suspected of either terrorism or opposing the military, ill treatment of those suspected of criminal activity and extrajudicial killings in Balochistan are a major cause of concern in this conflict. This has caused an economic brain drain in the province and if it continues at the same rate will push the Baloch nation at least one century back because it has compelled large numbers of the skilled workforce to leave the province out of fear.
The Baloch conflict is too volatile, composite and perplexing and is worsening with each passing day. We will have to perceive the issue from a multitude of directions to discern the origins and root causes of the conflict. The real issue of Balochistan is a political one and cannot be resolved through the use of force. It is not what it appears to be.
The federal government and its bureaucracy seem to be unmindful of the seriousness of the Balochistan issue. It will no more work to annunciate the ‘Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan’ package. This incautious attitude of the government is creating more problems than it is solving.
The Baloch are our brothers through any angle if observed, whether creed-wise, geographically, country-wise, culturally or even if considered by physiognomy. We need to pay serious heed to the Balochistan issue and take concrete and result-oriented actions like arresting the killers of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti to win back the confidence of the Baloch people.
We will have to address the issue in two main directions. First, to address the economic dimensions of the Baloch people by obviously paying more royalties for their precious minerals being used by the rest of Pakistan. And second, to replenish the educational deprivation of the Baloch people through bestowing more educational scholarships to students. The other provinces will have to relinquish some of what they claim as their own in this regard, as they are benefiting from Baloch resources.
Throughout the solution process, time will play the most important and pivotal factor. If the issue once approaches the point of no return and resultantly, separatists decline to sit in talks with the government, this may lead to civil war and disaster for the province.
The writer is a freelance columnist and a Civil Engineering student. He can be reached at: [email protected]