Pakistan treats Balochs as second grade citizens

Saga of deprivation and human rights abuse in this most-under reported armed nationalist freedom struggle of South Asia

(Second and concluding part of the article ‘Pakistani annexation of Balochistan a historical blunder: Deprived of international support insurgency keeps boiling under brute military force’)

Baloch insurgency is fuelled by economic oppression and lack of development. This largest province of Pakistan (44% of the country’s total area) and least inhabited (5% of total population) boasts of enormous reserves of gas, gold and copper, oil and uranium but still remains the poorest and least developed of all provinces with highest infant and maternal mortality rate, highest poverty rate and lowest literacy rate. There have been charades of giving rights and concessions and packages which turned to be hollow and meaningless. Exploitation of province’s natural gas has never been to Baloch advantage; royalty is too low and wellhead price five times lower than Sindh and Punjab. Pakistan returns little of loyalties citing high operational cost, leaving province in perpetual debt.

Gwadar mega-port did not usher in prosperity for Balochs but served China’s strategic and economic interests. Balochs now view it as ‘of the Chinese, by the Chinese and for the Chinese’. Disenchantment runs so deep that labour had to be brought from Karachi to unload a few ships of grain that berthed there as people do not want to be a part of this exploitative project. The land grab around the port turned so ugly that Pakistani Supreme Court was forced to cancel the allotments. Gwadar promised employment to locals but is Chinese engineers and labourers who grabbed the jobs. A parallel town is being built to segregate Balochs from the growing influx of outsiders. Balochs apprehend that import of skilled workers and resultant multiculturalism might reducethem to minority like Sindhs in Karachi.

China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and increasing Chinese investment is widely perceived as inherently exploitative with the sole intent of depriving land, port andresources. The Saindak project has been revived with Chinese help at terms exceptionally unfavourable terms to Balochistan.

The scale and depth of human rights abuses are appalling with rampant abductions, torture, mutilated bodies, and targeted killings. Physical human rights violations are exacerbated by denial of economic rights and social rights. A report released by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan documented 143 missing persons and 140 recovered bodies in Balochistanfrom 2006 to 2011. During 2003- 2012, 8000 people were estimated to be abducted by Pakistani security forces in Balochistan. Bodies with burn marks, broken limbs, nailspulled out, and holes drilled in their heads are found on roadsides as the result of a kill and dump campaign conducted by Pakistani security forces, particularly Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Frontier Corps (FC). Such inhuman acts have earned military the dubious distinction of being an army that keeps trying to conquer its own people.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan issued a report in July 2011 on illegal disappearances in Balochistan and identified ISI and Frontier Corps as the perpetrators. Supreme Court found more than 5,000 cases of ‘forced disappearances’ while investigating the ‘missing persons’ and conceded that matter was going out of control. Justice Iqbal said the issue of missing persons had become a chronic problem and, therefore, the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances, should be made permanent. The Supreme Court issued an arrest warrant for the former Military Dictator PervezMusharaff and advised the military to act under the government’s direction and follow well-defined parameters set by the Constitution. Amnesty International, observed that Baluch activists, politicians and student leaders are being targeted in forced disappearances, abductions, arbitrary arrests and cases of torture and other ill-treatment.

Pakistani army has been crush Baloch independence movement through excessive use of force. A report by the Pakistan Security Research Unit notes, ‘Islamabad’s militarized approach has led to violence, widespread human rights abuses, mass internal displacement and the deaths of hundreds of civilians and armed personnel. ‘The International Crisis Group also notes that, as in the past, the attempt to crush the insurgency is feeding Baloch disaffection. Many Balochs have been imprisoned and held without charges, and the kidnapping of dissidents has become routine, alienating moderate Balochs from the mainstream.
Pakistan alleges involvement of foreign hands, especially that of India but never substantiated simply using to justify atrocities on the Balochs terming them as agents of foreign power.

Former Af-Pak envoy Richard Holbrooke dismissed Pakistan’s allegations of India’s involvement as without evidence and advised ‘Pakistan would do well to examine its own internal problems’. Nationalist leader Brahamdagh Bugti’s 2008 interview invited assistance aid from India, Afghanistan, and Iran for Baluchistan liberation. This has similarity with other movements like Sindh ethnonationalism. Pakistan army, dominated by Punjabis deny due representation to Balochs which is reflective of Punjabi Baloch ethnic struggle for power. Mir Suleiman Dawoodclaims that the people in Balochistan remain deeply resentful of Pakistan’s policies in the region and openly called for India’s assistance in Balochistan’s separation from Pakistan.

Pakistan treats Baluchistan like a colony, torturing people and exploiting resources hand in glove with imperialist China. As Baloch nationalists wage a self-determination struggle, not mere provincial autonomy but freedom is what they want. Their demand is elemental; a free democratic Balochistan-free from oppression, human right abuse, ethnic discrimination and exploitation- where there is economic and social justice for all. Keeps International community has so far been kept in dark about Pakistani suppression due to inaccessibility of the province to media and independent observers. Baloch struggle has not received the international attention it deserves making it South Asia’s most under-reported armed movement.

http://www.newdelhitimes.com/pakistan-treats-balochs-as-second-grade-citizens123/