Gwadar has been the site of a weeks-long protest of late. Locals, under the leadership of Jamaat-e-Islami’s Secretary General Balochistan Chapter, Maulana Hidayatur Rehman Baloch, have come out on the streets.
The JI leader states and the locals concur that “the people of Gwadar have been deceived in the name of CPEC and Gwadar port while they have not benefited from it. If CPEC and Gwadar port are not for the prosperity of the local people, then they do not need to be here.” Feeling betrayed after promises made before the initiation of the mega project have not thus far been delivered upon, the people of Gwadar are now losing complete trust in the state and its operations, thereby taking to the streets as a last resort, in a bid to protect their rights.
Although the protest has been going on for the past couple of weeks, it has suddenly attracted attention from previously inattentive corners when news arrived of the local women, children, and female students joining the sit-in. Making the most of the development, the JI representative lost no time in insisting that the participation of women and children in the demonstrations was an indicator of the severity of the conditions faced by the people of Gwadar.
It’s not so much the “protest” that is unprecedented, but the “coverage” of it.
The outpouring of Baloch women onto the streets has not only attracted attention but has also been lauded by national – even global – intelligentsia as remarkable, with some calling it an ‘unprecedented’ event. While it is commendable that local women in traditionally conservative Balochistan are partaking in civic engagement, hoping to leave a mark on the social and political life of the city, however, the participation of Baloch women in a protest is by no means an unprecedented event.
Women across Balochistan have lately been taking to the streets – quite often on their own – to protest against a plethora of events: from enforced disappearances, and extra-judicial killings to the state machinery itself. The trend has been rolling for several years now. In September 2016, the women of Turbat – near Gwadar -could be seen, dressed in traditional Balochi attire, taking to the streets with placards in hands which said, “Harassing Baloch women is state oppression”, “Stop abducting Baloch women” and “End the ongoing siege of Rauf’s house”. Signed, BNF – Baloch National Front. A year later, the Baloch Republican Party protested violence against Baloch women and children, this time on the safer streets of Germany. This year alone has seen several protests by the Baloch – men, and women – within and without Balochistan, and even across the world, mostly against what they term state oppression of the people of Balochistan.
Many of these rallies, however, fail to be covered by the local television or print media – except for this one.
This protest has received coverage not only from the local English language media but also from the much more widely accessible Urdu media. Articles appeared in the leading Urdu newspaper as well as their websites. In the official language, English, leading newspapers did not shy away from giving the news the center stage in their respective publications, nor did local mainstream news channels.
So, it’s not so much the protest that is unprecedented, but the coverage of it. Perhaps the sit-in is too critical, too protruding for even local media outlets to turn a blind eye to? But then again, the local media has played the ostrich during Balochistan’s much more severer uprisings and calamities – one of the main bones of contention between the state and the people of the cornered province.
The writer is a student and teacher of history.