The province is in the grip of strong separatist movement with large-scale Baloch sentiments stimulating it day by day. Whatever writ the state has in Balochistan is only due to the strength of its armed forces. Majority of the people do not have any good feelings towards the state.
The process of development of Balochistan should now no more be dictated and the government could best stem the rot by handing over all provincial resources to the province and its people forthwith
Among the maladies that inflict the country, Balochistan crisis is, arguably, the most critical. Some analysts might contend that the problem of clerical militancy in the tribal areas and NWFP is a bigger problem than Balochistan. In large parts of FATA, the state may have lost its writ to the Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters, the tribesmen are fundamentally not against the state. The Taliban militants have also showed in words their 'goodwill' to the country by vowing to fight shoulder to shoulder with the military against India.
In this sense, Balochistan is a bigger problem than extremism and militancy in FATA. The province is in the grip of strong separatist movement with large-scale Baloch sentiments stimulating it day by day. Whatever writ the state has in Balochistan is only due to the strength of its armed forces. Majority of the people do not have any good feelings towards the state.
The traditional politico-democratic Baloch national rights movement assumed a somewhat militant nature in the ongoing decade. However, still an overwhelmingly part of it is democratic in shape, spirit, scope and approach; herein lies the hope for every Pakistani.
It is also important to note that the Baloch nationalist movement developed some militant fangs as a reaction to state's blatant use of force against the Baloch. Previously, despite large-scale military operations by the state against Baloch, the latter did not resist with arms. During the 1970s when a massive military offensive was launched, the largest of the ethnicity tribes, Marri and Mengal, opted to migrate en masse to Afghanistan instead of taking up arms against the country's forces.
Although one cannot justify or support the armed struggle launched by certain Baloch groups like Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF), Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), Balochistan Republican Army (BRA) etc. the reasons why they do what they do need to be carefully seen. Baloch nationalist leaders justify the taking up of arms by certain Baloch groups due to the continued indifference of successive military and political governments and above all the atrocities perpetrated by the Musharraf regime.
The real cause of concern in Balochistan is perhaps not militant organisations but the disenchantment of political forces with the state and its institutions. One could point at the following objective factors or reasons. First and foremost is the well-entrenched apprehension among the Baloch of becoming a minority in their own land, on account of the expected onslaught of the non-Baloch to 'develop' Gwadar. This has compelled the ethnicity to rise to avoid being reduced to the pages of history. The fear of becoming Red-Indians has permeated to all sides of Baloch society. The powers that conceived this plan did not count the costs and risks involved, particularly the reaction of the Baloch.
The simultaneous launching of military operations in Balochistan by Musharraf regime clearly shows they were aimed at pressurising the Baloch to accede to government's plan of 'developing' Gwadar into a metropolis. But all such policies very much like the lebensraum (living space) of German leader Adolf Hitler, eyeing the land of others for one's own unsustainable population, always had pernicious repercussions.
Balochistan has an estimated population of 07 million of which 50-55 percent are Baloch and the rest predominantly Pashtoons. So if in Gwadar three or four million non-Baloch take up residence, attracted by the lure of jobs, Baloch would no more be in command of their ancestral motherland population-wise -- stretching right from outside Quetta to Gwadar in the South West and Mai Kolachi in Karach in South and Dera Ghazi Khan in the east. The argument by the inventors of the Gwadar 'development' plan within the establishment that Balochs also have equal right to go and settle in large numbers in Gwadar is specious. Because with relatively so small a population, Baloch can't compete with outsiders to outscore the latter. The non-Baloch dominated Pakistani establishment should keep in mind this Baloch fear and sensitivity to become a minority while formulating any plan or vision for development of Gwadar or for that matter the whole of Balochistan. Unfortunately, it is still not realising it.
Another important reason for the present Baloch crisis is that a big intergenerational change has taken place in the Baloch society -- the realisation by the majority of extreme exploitation by Islamabad of the province's billions of dollars worth of natural resources without paying anything in return. This change was effected by the growing Baloch population with critical stress on the already insufficient means of sustenance, the rising number of youths -- the section of society which is always prone and attracted to revolutionary ideals and methods to overthrow the status quo and rectify the situation -- growing knowledge and hence realisation of Baloch due to the development of information and communication technologies (ICTs). This can be termed as Baloch reawakening.
This change in Baloch society can be gauged from the fact that the Baloch nationalist movement which was traditionally spearheaded by nationalist parties and Baloch Students Organization (BSO), cross cutting party loyalties, is today a mass movement in Balochistan. Interestingly a large number of women are also a part of this movement; itself a great indicator of the change in the profoundly patriarchal and conservative society, where women traditionally are limited to domestic premises. Indubitably this is a positive development and the credit goes to democratic Baloch nationalists like Bizenjos, Marris, Mengals, Dr Abdul Hai, Sanaullah Baloch and many many others. This sufficiently outwits the establishment's stance that the crisis in Balochistan is the handiwork of certain 'anti-state' Baloch leaders getting help from India and Afghanistan. Had this been the case why did President Asif Ali Zardari publicly apologise to the Baloch nation.
The rise of mass Baloch national rights movement also negates the decades-old establishment stance that a few Baloch 'sardars' have kept the Baloch people captive and prevented all state-led development efforts of the province. Those with no personal experience of Balochistan may have a perception of Baloch society being dominated by 'sardars'. This is absolutely icorrect. First, there have been very few big 'sardars' in Balochistan like Sardar Khair Bakhsh Marri, Ataullah Mengal and Akbar Bugti. Of them Marri and Mengal have been part of Baloch nationalist democratic struggle for rights and development while interestingly, slain Bugti, who is now an icon of Baloch nationalism, had been the most ruthless of Baloch sardars during his life but establishment always supported and funded him. On the other hand there is Makran or mostly the coastal belt of Balochistan. This belt has traditionally been purely non-tribal, non-religious and secular. But Baloch nationalist movement has been equally strong there.
The powers-that-be and the present government should realise these important socio-political changes and dynamics within Balochistan and then approach the problem. Although most of Baloch leaders today argue that the problem has gone far beyond provincial resources and rights, nevertheless, the government could best stem the rot by handing over all the provincial resources to the province and its people forthwith. The process of development of Balochistan should now no more be dictated and it should be left to the people of Balochistan to undertake as the results of 60 years of central government's management of development of Balochistan is known to everyone. Any delay in this regard -- like waiting for compilation and implementation of standing committees' recommendations -- would not serve any purpose. This is the least the government could do -- to pull back Balochistan from the brink of separatism. And mind you this would be only the short-term solution; the long term way-out of the crisis is the restructuring of the state's federal structure through a new social contract.
(The writer is a political analyst and PhD scholar: razapkhan@yahoo.com)
Source: http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/sep2009-weekly/nos-27-09-2009/pol1.htm#6
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