An Appeal to Save the Baluchi Language

Baluchi is the oldest surviving off-spring of Avestan family of languages. Its survival is a miracle in the face of many odds that the language and its speakers had to undergo in the recorded history. Language is not only the cultural expression of a community but it is the greatest guarantor of national cohesion, unity and ultimately of its identity; even of its Entity in the Comity of Nations. Therefore, we call upon the Baluch intellectuals to rise and join hands with Sindhi intellectuals to save the Baluchi language from extinction.

Sindhi is also the oldest language of the Indus Valley and its five thousand years of known and recorded civilization. Though its growth was arrested during the Imperial time right from the invasion of Sindh by Muhammad bin Qasim down to the Mughal Imperial sway. It is alleged that a ruler of the Mughal era in Sindh nailed the tongue of one of his courtiers who had the audacity to speak Sindhi in his court . It was Persian all over as the Great Empires of Ottomans, Safvides and Mughals had adopted Persian as their official languages. It was the language of a seclected few who were the elite of the time and used to hover around the courts and darbars. But the sons of soil and common man kept speaking and writing there own language Sindhi. With the fall of Delhi in 1857 the last vestige of Mughal era was obliterated. The Britishers who already had started the process of introducting indigenous languages in other parts of India since long as their vernecular languages, it introduced Sindhi in the same year by an order of the Commissioner in Sindh.

The Punjab, which was the Avestan Haftab of ancient time, the language situation was a bit different as Dehli had already developed a hybrid synthetic language which was initially known as rekhta (which in Persian terminology meant the remnant) but with the passage of time it was known as Hindustani or Hindi as it has become the ‘lingua franca’ of Northern Regions of India. The Hindi Scholars used to write it in Devnagari script and the Persian scholars used to write it in Perso- Arabic Script. The former called it Hindi and the later termed it Urdu. The Britishers introduced Urdu as the vernicular language of the entire Punjab right from Delhi to Peshawar. But folks kept to Punjabi lore and language. At that time Frontier was not a separate province nor had Baluchistan been made a part of British Indian Empire. Ironically the Khan Gadh was gifted to Sir Jacob in Rs 300,000 in 1857 by the Khan-i-Kalat whom he had recognized as the sovereign of the Baluch land. Then the English built the first cantonment city of Jacobabad drawing the first line of demarcation to the detriment of the Baluchism/ Sindh. The Khan of Kalat also helped the Britisher colonialist to draw a line of demarcation known in the as Gold smidt in 1872 in the heart of Makran in lieu of getting the moeity of the rich land revenues and coastal custom revenues of that part of Baluch Peninsula.

The Britisher virtually conquered Makran and administered it in the name of the Khan who was a puppet ruler of them. Soon the Khan of Kalat tasted the bitter fruits of the imperial gardens. When he was obliged to sign a treaty in 1876. And in 1877 the Deputy Commissioner Dera Ghazi Khan Captain Sandeman arrived as the first Resident to be stationed in Quetta instead of Kalat. To force the Khan to give Shal-Kot ( Quetta) on lease in perpituity for Rs: 25,000 pa to build the Quetta Cantonment for the imperial hordes. Sandeman brought with him his office Vernacular Assistant Lala Hitho Ram with Urdu as vernacular language . The same imperial onslaught contimus till now in Baluchistan. Why? Because the imperial legacy contimus unabated not only with regard to the linguist deprivation of the Baluch people in South-East, but also in South-West. In addition to it keeping the conquered districts of Afghanistan to the south of Durand Line as part of this hybrid Province of Baluchistan in the north of it has been converting the Baloch people into a “major minority” on its on land .With Afghan influx since the 1980’s the demographic balance has badly been changed to the determinant of the Baloch benefitting the Pashto speaking Afghans and Persian speaking Hazaras who had become Pakistani National over-night without going through the process of naturalization of citizenship laws.

I do realize that it is very difficult to erase the imperial lines of demarcations which have become international borders, but the admistrative lines creating Provinces and districts cannot be held as Sacrocant relics of the imperial past. Unfortunately political bad faith seems to have not only pervaded the 63 years of history in this God-gifted state of Islamic Pakistan but had also perverted the aims of the State which was created by the expression of the Sheer General Political Will of Muslims Peoples of the Sub-Continent and voluntary accession of the States and Principalities by their rulers with the hope of theirs and firm commitment of Founding Father of Pakistan that all would be equal citizens of the one and same state without any discrimination of the caste, creed or colour. Be it the 1940 Lahore Resolution or the 1946 Delhi Resolution, the policy statement of 11th August 1947 in the Consitnent Assembly of Pakistan and later on the Accession Deed of the Baluch States, all stand testimony to the political reality that Pakistan was created as a multi-national state, and it can only be maintained, sustained and grown by accepting the multiple dimensions of it in letter and spirit. In essence it was a Federal State and must be accepted as such.

In the beginning it was demanded that Bengal, Asam, Punjab, NWFP, Sindh and Baluchistan be grouped as Zone I-II to be the federating components of Pakistan as autonomous and sovereign states. When the muslims voters in 1946 voted for Pakistan, the word states was substituted with state. But the federating reality was not changed. In June 1947 the net result was : only one district of sylhut from Asam, half of Bengal, half of Punjab, Sindh, NWFP and Baluchistan were the given Pakistan not the demanded one . Therefore Mr Jinnah initially refused to accept “the truncated and moth-eaten Pakistan” as he showed his indignation to Viceroy . But later on acquiesced to have “this much of land to establish Pakistan” Practical politics has its own limitations. Those did prevail but did not change the principles or raison de etre of the creation of the newly formed State of Pakistan, as the members of the Constituent Assembly were also the founding father of the Indian Muslim Nationhood.

After the death of the Great Leader the Leader of House virtually converted Pakistan into a one-party state and could not tolerate the slightest criticism. So much so that he deseated the Bengali Stalwart Muslim League Leader Mr Hussaun Shaheed Suhrawardy on opposing his minority policy. It was the first brick of alienation of Bengal laid by the Prime Minister which rose high to become the “Shaheed Meeenar” within three years on the language issue and forced the Central Government to declare Bengali the National Language of Pakistan along with Urdu, nullifying the Dacca declaration of 19th March 1948 of the Quaid-i-Azam, that “Urdu and Urdu shall be the only State language of Pakistan” When the Governer General Jinnah made this declaration in the Convocation of Dacca University he for the first time had to hear hostile slogan of muslim students against him being led by young Shiekh Mujib-ur-Rehman. But the federal structure was intact as the rulers wanted to run the country under the 1935 India Act because the Governor General had retained his full powers and they could manipulate the House according to their interest, wishes and whims of each other. The first whimsical act was adoptation of the Objectives Resoulution. Mr Suhravardy was a member in March 1949. He pointed out that if this was implemented in totality Pakistan would lose its sense of directing the state and the state would lose the raison de etre of its coming into being: and the religious leaders would try to direct the rudders of the ship of Pakistan through sectarian frenzy and social pressure of religious black mail. He warned them to shun the policy of enforcing religious faith through the coercive power of the state as over the years it would lead the society to unfathomable sectarianism of faith. This would engulf the country into such a bloodshed that all would forget the bloodshed of communal riots of 1947. But no one heard this wise counsel of a visionary leader who dared to differ. It is what we are experiencing today because General Zai-ul-Haq put that in practice during his ruthless reign of terror.

Human spirit cannot be put in chains, even if his tongue maybe pierced by the forces of reaction. But life moves forward carrying the weight of its past on its back. When the Mongols dismantled the centralized political and theocratic authority of the Abasid Empire in Baghdad, the centrifugal and nationalist upsurges paved the way in the Muslim world for the establishment of petty kingdoms and Principalities in the ex-domain of the dismembered empire unleashing waves of incursions in the fertile land of the Indian Subcontinent. This created in and around Delhi a number of Sultanates and in the process also generated a process of duality of alienation in the social and cultural polity of the Region which is the present day Pakistan. But it was minus the old bastion of Baluch People which till that time had not undertaken the mass migration of the tribal conglomerate of its forty-four tribes. In the wake of the same turmoil the Kalmaties established a number of fiefdoms with the central authority of the feudal kingdom of Kalmatie Dynasty at Kalmat spreading its sphere of influence from the Sonmiani Beaches to the Straight of Hormuz (present day Bandar Abbas of Iran) The last ruler of this kingdom was Mir Hammal, who died a hero’s death defending his sacred land in a number of sea-battles with the Portuguese but could not save the Baluch sea and shore from their occupation. Yet the Rind supremacy remained on the land as previous but remaind fragmented, till the advent of Mir Chakar Rind, who established the Rind Confederacy with its head-quarters at Sibi in second half of 15th century. This period is known as the Golden Era of the Baluch political, social and cultural domination over the geographical mass land which is a part of a present day Pakistan in Sindh and Punjab around Indus and the present Baluchistan provinces of Pakistan and Iran.

The three hundred years of Kalmati Dynasty including the period of Rind Confederacy under Mir Chakar had produced the best Baluchi Classical Literature in Epic and Romance of the periods of war and peace. The best of Folk Literature and lore also belonged to this period of Baluch Sovereignty over there motherland as it was the peak of Cultural vitality of the Baluch nation. Therefore, through out the known history, the Baluch did not face any schism or duality in its national entity or cultural identity viz-a-viz Baluchi culture, language or its code of honour. With the fall of Mughal Empire in India and that of Safavids in Persia, rose waves of Turks and Afghans upstarts to cash the turmoil in their favour. But they had to acknowledge Nadir Shah Afshar as the King over the throne of Ismail and Abbas in Persia. He was soon assassinated by his military Sardars to be free to go on their own to the fertile zones of Sindh and Hind as marauders. It produced Ahmed Shah Abdali who established himself as the Ameer of Khandar in 1747. He made quite a good number of attacks on Punjab to defeat the Sikhs and contain their onslaugh which was making havoc in the region. But could not effectivery do it with all his religious zeal, tribal ferocity and military power as he was interested more in the wealth of the Punjab and the Punjabi : Be it Sikh or a Muslim. So the Punjabi memory is still fresh with the episode of his loot and grabbing of wealth. The Punjabi proverb , “Eat and wear as much as you can because whatever you save goes to Ahmed Shah” speaks of that reality.

What he could not do with the Punjabi Sikhs, ironically his lieutement Naseer Khan, whom he had installed as Khan of Kalat, could do it against Mekrani Zikri Sect (whom he had termed as the Sikhs of the Muslim community of Mekran and it dubbed the Gichki as Sikh forever) when he defeated and killed Malik Mir Dinar Gichki, the ruler of Ketch Mekran in a furious battle. Then he undertook a systematic massacre of Zikri community; closing down all the places of worship and literacy centers and burning all books of teaching and religious instruction with the book of hymns (Sipat-o- Sana) which were written in Baluchi language as the medium of instruction both in Madrissa and mosque was in their mother tongue i.e. Baluchi. So a millennium old tradition of teaching and praying in Baluchi was put to sword by an alien commander whose tongue was Dari (a variety of Persian). At least a couple of Arab Geographers had reported in 4th century that in Kech, Panjgur and Khuzdar the main commercial centers of Mekran teachers were instructing their pupils in a strange dialect ( it was the old Baluchi).

When the soul of Mekran Gul Muhammad Natiq after having completed his education from Persia had came back to his native land ( Panjgur, Mekran) found it devastated culturally and educationally; he had thus written the following quadrian in a state of shock and then had gone to India:

No one is carrying a book under his armpit;

Nor anyone has a pen in his hand;

I find everyone carrying firewood under his armpit;

And a hatchet in hand.

Rose blended sugar candies are available to others to enjoy;

(But) I find The people of Mekran to nurture on their liver blood.

So the Baluchi language and literature were consigned to the record by the autocrat of the time in the last quarter of the 18th century,

After almost two centuries Baluchi language found its soul back in early 1950’s when the Baluch writers began to write and produce literature in their National Language. It is evident that no language or its literature flourishes well unless supported or patronized by the ruler or the Government. The Central Government has been providing it support to the subsistence level since the inception of Pakistan through its Baluchi broadcasts from Radio Pakistan since 1951; telecasts since 1961 from Pakistan Television since 1974 and Baluchi publications through the TPO and PID of MIB since 1961.

The Government of Baluchistan, since its inception in 1970, has done nothing substantially to establish the Baluchi as a language or to introduce it as the medium of instruction in the schools of Baluchi speaking children or even to introduce it as a subject in the middle, secondary and higher secondary level. Therefore so far it could not become the language of literacy at the root or primary level. So the rate of literacy in Baluchi is zero. There are many who get Master or PhD degrees in Baluchi at university level. But at primary level have not standardized even their way of writing uniformly. The teaching of Baluchi at university level is not productive because students at college level do elect Baluchi as a subject but there is no departments of Baluchi in all the colleges. So these cosmetic arrangements have failed to produce any tangible result as the degree holders of Baluchi cannot deliver what they posses. Not due to any fault of their own but of finding no institution to exercise their skills except the university or a few colleges which have already reached the saturation point in respect of teaching staff.

It is high time that the Government of Baluchistan shuns the psyche of reluctance and takes a firm decision introducing Baluchi not only as a subject but as a language also. After 1972 History has again given a chance to the elected leaders of the Baluch to introduce and establish Baluchi as a language and subject at the primary level and as an elective subject onward up to college level.

Now the subject of Education stands transferred to the Provincial Government, therefore, there should not be any hitch or hesitation to begin the teaching of Baluchi, Brahvi and Pashto as the medium of instruction in the respective schools where the pupils speak these languages. The Provinces of Sindh and Khyber Pakhtun Khwah have already done this. Punjab is doing it on large scale at private level. Baluchistan is lagging behind . If they fail this time Baluchi and Brahvi will suffer irreparably. Pashto in Afghanistan is one of its national languages. Punjabi and Sindhi both are national languages of India. But the Baluchi and Brahvi languages have no patronage anywhere. So the only and last hope is the Provincial Government which we, as Baluch, are sanguine, will not fail us like the previous ones.

At the same time we call upon the MNA’s and the Senators in Parliament to fully support the National languages Bill being introduced in the National Assembly by 46 MNA of Sindh.

We are in touch with the Culture Minister Mir Shah Nawaz Marri, who has kindly assured us to patronize and spearhead the move to get the Baluchi language its due status both at National and Provincial level.

I, therefore, beseechingly appeal to the Baluch Intelligentsia, Academia, Youth, Students, Print and Electronic Media to join hands and save the Baluchi Language from extinction.

Abdul Hakim Baluch,

Chairman.

Balucea Literacy, Cultural and Research Institute,

Quetta, Baluchistan.

http://www.thebalochhal.com/2011/04/an-appeal-to-save-the-baluchi-language/