When Balochistan bleeds, Why Pakistan Doesn’t Feel the Pain?

Political problems have political solutions. Military remedies would further aggrevate the situation. Such distrust towards the government of the day results from the ``NAB ENGINEERED`` representative assemblies. Bring back the true leadership into the country and give them the space to negotiate and restore order. If these guys are currupt, let the courts decide it once for all. When military institutions have given ``certificates of non curruption`` to all the ``currupt`` ministers of the previous regimes, then what is wrong with their leadership. If Chaudhry Shujaat is innocent so is Nawaz Shareef, similarly, if Faisal Saleh Hayat is ``clean``, there is nothing wrong with Benazir. If war is too sensitive a business to be trusted with Generals, governance is a far more sensitive issue.

The theory here is similar to the perception of the Western nations towardas Asia, Africa and the Middle East but on a different scale. Western nations think of everyone else as ``savages who need to be reformed and westernized``. It is exactly the same logic in Pakistan. Remember East Pakistan; the West Pakistanis thought of Bengalis as poor and hungry savages. Then it was primarily the Jamaat-e-Islami and the military. Today it is still the military and the Muhajir nexus. The thought being that if you are not Punjabi or Mohajir, you are illiterate and hence dont matter.

#208 harish_hyd

[I think TNT has come back to haunt Pakistanis of all persuasions. That is why you see this ``us vs. them`` debates all the time. Balochis and Sindhis are unhappy with the Punjabis, the Pushtuns are unhappy with everyone else, civilians are unhappy with the Army, the moderates are unhappy with the Islamists, and so on and so forth. ]

No, it has nothing to do with TNT. It has to do with the nature of people - of the region now called Pakistan - evolved through long history of trails and tribulations. Each group on any basis learn to maximize their group interests in a variety of ways. The hsotry of the people now comprising Pakistan, if I am not mistaken, is taught more than the hisotry of the people of Orissa or Kerala in India for certain definite reasons. There are other reasons besides just being on the western flanks of India and first to face the invaders from the west. You may call it frontier mentality of the Indus people but it is decidedly different from many other nations/ ethnic groups of the subcontinent.

People of the region of very independent minded and more than Islam or TNT, it is actually threat of ONT (one nation theory) of Indian nationslism, constantly fed through various means that keeps them Pakistani because they hope to enjoy more power in a smaller unit than becoming insignificant in the sea of more than a billion poeple. Moreover, they know that in a lrger and more powerful country like India, they could be ignored or crushed more easily.

TNT is actually a blessing in disguise of Islam for these people - given no option of being independent - who never thought for any reason to be part of larger subcontinent and history provides ample proof of these people being on their own during good and bad times, for more than 1000 years.

Actually this characteristic of the Indus people can be used for the better. But it has to start with more regional autonomy and more feeling of masters of their own destiny than present strong center and basically army controlling everything. That is why I am all for promotion of regional cultures at the expense of Islam as the glue that binds people of Pakistan. Islam has provided a bonding in the 57 years of Pakistan history but it has also given rise to side products which we are seeing flowering now. As a chemistry background person, I consider Islam as an excited state bonding ( high energy, unstable, require constant input to keep it intact, high enthalpy etc) whereas culture based bonding as ground state (low energy, more stable...due to various factors).

Pakistan must learn from the two opposite experiences, that of Mughals and British. Mughals kept them excluded and people ignored them, made jokes about them and did not do anything to stop the decline of Mughas despite being mostly Muslims. In case of inclusion by British in governance, they provided them with horses, soldiers, progressed and prospered (relatively speaking). Inclusion and feelings of master of their destiny are the keys for promoting harmony in Pakistan

I think TNT has come back to haunt Pakistanis of all persuasions. That is why you see this ``us vs. them`` debates all the time. Balochis and Sindhis are unhappy with the Punjabis, the Pushtuns are unhappy with everyone else, civilians are unhappy with the Army, the moderates are unhappy with the Islamists, and so on and so forth.

I think all Pakistanis should just get together and agree to disagree with each other in a civilized fashion. Disagreements need not necessarily be resolved through abuse or violence. All Pakistanis must get about the business of creating a better future for Pakistan instead of bickering with each other. Too much time has been wasted already fighting, thus bringing Pakistan to the edge of the abyss.

I think TNT has come back to haunt Pakistanis of all persuasions. That is why you see this ``us vs. them`` debates all the time. Balochis and Sindhis are unhappy with the Punjabis, the Pushtuns are unhappy with everyone else, civilians are unhappy with the Army, the moderates are unhappy with the Islamists, and so on and so forth.

I think all Pakistanis should just get together and agree to disagree with each other in a civilized fashion. Disagreements need not necessarily be resolved through abuse or violence. All Pakistanis must get about the business of creating a better future for Pakistan instead of bickering with each other. Too much time has been wasted already, thus bringing Pakistan to the edge of the abyss.

your article really touched my heart. we need to do something to improve the situation. i`ve seen that a lot of Pakistanis have become indifferent to the sufferings of not just people from other parts of the wold but even to the sufferings of the people from our own country. its about time that the politicians and our leaders quit the policy of using force to solve problems. we really need to start believing in the power of peaceful dialogues.

#204 HP: It is true that Baloch sardars have bled Balochistan as much as the various central governments. I think that can be applied to some other parts of the country too where feudals, khans, sardars and others have been in control. That is the so-called elite class in Pakistan. Armed forces` officers, industrialists and businessmen have also joined the club to leech the masses.

But what you and other members of the forum think of the newly announced Senate committee on Balochistan? Do you think it will bring any good?

I doubt it. Most of the problems are related to true democracy and provincial autonomy. Today Pakistan is being ruled under a highly centralized system - worst form of the `One Unit`. Military has usurped most of the powers that belong to the people and the provinces.

As we all know the military is a big enterprise in the country now. It is in business and in industry. It has occupied almost all the higher level and even many of the middle and lower level positions in the government, semi-government and other sectors. Will they let go any of it to accommodate civilians? Doesn`t Pakistan deserve a little better than being an armed forces` estate? Shouldn`t armed forces go back to barracks never to be seen by the civilians? Shouldn`t the political wings of the intelligence agencies be done away with?

Please consider how Pakistan can establish itself as a modern country where all the people have equal opportunities, equal education and equal rights. Where no one has sole claim to patriotism and all the citizens are truly equal. No more, no less.

Narejo,
There are some factual errors in “Baloch” account. He also forgot to tell that Mengal’s son was also a chief minister of Balochistan and did not do much to help people out there. Anyway that is politics in Pakistan.
Yes! I remember General Sharov’s death in ‘93. He was a great man. Sardar K.B. Marri’s politics has changed after General’s death. He is a moderate and more incline to compromise then he ever was in his earlier days. It is unfortunate that Bizenjo is dead too. He believed in negotiations but was a better tactician then other Baloch leaders.

Balochistan is in worst spot it could ever be. Talk about a rock and a hard place. The US wants to go in the Iran and probably would use Balochistan to mount attacks or for infiltration. Baloch still can’t stand the Irani attitude. This is strange but Mullahs in Iran have not changed policy about Balochistan from the Shah’s days.
I hope things turn out better for Baloch. They have suffered a lot from Sardars and the central govt in Pakistan.
Independent Balochistan has become a dream for many Baloch nationalists. They ignore that Iran, Pakistan and US would never let that happen. The first step would be to get some political rights restored and then move towards independent but some of our Baloch leaders still live in a dream world.
Btw, I did have a chance to hit SAtribune forum. I am not sure of this Baloch guy. He lacks the emotions of Baloch Nationalist and some of his facts are not accurate but I think when people just rely on memory alone they are bound to make some errors.

#186 -- kkkandk, sorry dont really come on chowk that much or would have stepped in to lend a hand -- yes nothing wrong with that -- do they have a copy of your (gasp) passport ???

#201 HP: I agree with your analysis.

As news reports say Mr. Attaullah Mengal has already held two meetings with higher-ups in Islamabad. Third high-level meeting is to be held soon. After the second meeting it was indicated that the government is putting on hold (or slowing down) its work on cantonments until further talks.

Musharraf’s point man Tariq Aziz who met Mr Mengal in Islamabad has already held a meeting with Bugti. He may soon go to Karachi to meet Mr K.B. Mari.

It is also reported that Jamhoori Watan Parti, Balochistan National Party, National Party and K.B. Mari’s group have jointly presented a 35-point agends to the government for talks. The government has asked Baloch leaders to present names to form a committee to hold talks.

Lets see what happens. One only hopes they will come to a resolution through talks that will bring good news for the common men, not the ‘elites’.

And yes, we haven’t seen much about Dr Abdul Hai Baloch in press.

Here I quote interaction by someone from Balochistan who has just signed as ‘Baloch’ at a similar discussion on satribune. I don’t know who he is but readers of this forum may know few things about the present resistance movement in Balochistan and its connection with ‘sardars’.

Here he goes:

“Some of you might be interested in knowing a Baloch` perspective about Mr. Mengal.

”Mr. Ataullah Mengal is the leader of one of the biggest Baloch tribes i.e. Mengal. He is one of those who Pakistani minds have been taught to hate as the people behind everything that goes wrong in Balochistan. He was the first cheif minister of Balochistan in 1971. The Government lasted for ten months. One of the accusations put forth by the Federal Government to justify the sacking of the mengal government was that they were planning to secede away from Pakistan. Mengal, alonwith other Baloch leaders, were put in jail. The Baloch insurgency of 70s started after that. After being released from jail in 1978, he left for london, stayed there for a long time. Recently, he came back, and is currently being the spokeman for Baloch liberation forces.

”Mr. Mengal lacks the credibility with the Baloch forces. He has the tendency to compromise with the establishment. If he was given a choice, he would not believe in the miliary route for liberation of Balochistan.

”What most of the commentators do not know is that this insurgency is neither for the cheifs, nor by the cheifs. This is an independent movement, having links in the Baloch sardarless middle class. The sardars (Mengal, bugti and marri) can no longer enter a Baloch household, without being asked by angry gaze of the Baloch; `what has happened to us?`. They know very well if they oppose or obstruct the Baloch movement this time, there is no place that they can go.

”We actually consider these cheifs responsible for the defeat of Baloch forces in 70s. They chose to compromise, instead of fighting and dying. Most of you know that Mr. Bugti actually worked against the Baloch forces in 70s. But now, he has no choice but to side with them.

”Mr. Mengal or other cheifs can `say` whatever they want, as long as it is what the Baloch forces want to say. He and his ilk no longer control the destiny of baloch. This time, we will not be compromised by a few chiefs.”

Here is what he says about Mr. Khair Bux Mari:

“Thanks for asking. Nawab Marri is my personal favorite. He is the one who has preferred to remain alone, and not get into ministerial posts like nawab Bugti, or Sardar Mengal. Recently, he had given a lecture at Bolan Medical college at a BSO seminar. Talking about his return from Afghanistan, he said that he was expecting stones, and tomatos from Baloch public for letting them down, but he was greeted with garlands. For which he said, `why was i forgiven? Why wasn`t i held accountable for all my misdeeds?` Someone who has the guts so say this can only be my hero. Some say BLA is his creation. Nobody knows yet, but we know that he is sympathetic to our cause, and will not be the one who will watch , and let us die.

”Having said that, he still is a nawab. And we have no room for nawabs as our leaders. Elders? yes, but not leaders.

”Sher Mohammad Marri is one of our tallest figures. His voice was known as the roar of the lion. At the times of his death in 1993, he was very disappointed. Recently his young grandson died in Quetta, because he couldn`t be admitted in the hospital at the right time.

”Dear zorgon, yes, most of the public considers these nawabs, and sardars as self-serving. See, they have been on the stage for last 30+ years, and nothing has changed except their wealth. It is really hard for people to trust them, time and again. And by the way, none of them are against armed revolt. They just want to have the control of it, but we are not going to provide it to them.

”These nawabs have been trusted so many times. Baloch fought and died for them in 70s, and even today, but we know that they were always looking for compromises. Not for Nawab Marri, but in case of Mr. Mengal, he still talks about rights `within` Pakistan, which is not any longer acceptable to us.

”We know that Mr. Mengal, Mr. Marri, and Mr. Bugti are not the monsters, responsible for all the miseries of the Baloch, that pakistan wants us to see them as, But they definitely are not saints.”

#197 by stuka
``True. Though there was a significant Hindu population in Quetta there were no riots there``

Quetta is a pakhtoon town for a long time. Before partition, it was a british cantonment and most of minorities were British activity related and only a handful were local. They left after partition.
Most of the Hindus in Balochistan were near sindh borders and were ethnically Sindhi. There may be a few Hindu of Baloch descend, if any at all.

There is lot going on in Balochistan and lots of emotions are involved. We will not find out until sometime whether it is a national rights issue or bargaining for money by Sardars.

Narejo, I hope you would agree with me that Khair bux Marri, Ataullah Mengal are not the old Sardars of the 70s. Akber Bugti has always played his cards close to the heart and his role in the 70s was more to make money than to support Baloch National movement.
I heard that Sarar Mangel is already in Islamabad to negotiate some deal.

What Dr. Abdul Hai Baloch has to say about this. I have not seen any thing from him yet. Have any idea?

While I totally agree that the Baluch Sardars are also to be blamed for the present poor conditions in Baluchistan, one should not lose focus on the injustices meted out to the people of Baluchistan from outside (read, army, punjab, federal govenment etc).... The following few facts should be considered to comprehend the frustration of the people of Baluchistan ....
1) from 1950s to 1980s, gas from Sui Baluchistan was accounting for more than 90% of the entire country`s gas requirement (residential, industrial,fertilizer power )... during which time baluchistan was and still remained extremely poor ... despite that .... baluchistan was NOT paid ANY ROYALTY for the gas for about 35 years during the 1950 to mid 1980s period
2) while the rest of the country was using Sui (baloch) gas), i bellieve that first time the Sui gas was provided to the local Balochs was in late 1980`s and that too in Quetta, 35-40 years after the rest of the country .. Even right now many major areas of Baluchistan do not have sui gas connections ....
3) since the last 15-20 years gas has been discovered in Sindh and Punjab also .... however Baluchistan share of gas production still remains the highest .. .. but even now Baluchistan receives the LOWEST royalty per unit as compared to the other provinces maybe on the pretext that since the Sui wells are old and depreciated the extraction cost is lower .... this would have still made sense if royalty was paid to Balochistan for the entire 1950 to 1980 period ...
4) Balochistan faces severe water shortage while catering to the gas requirement of country, despite that Punjab had out rightly refused sharing its underground water (not river ) with the other provinces (including Balochistan) on the pretext that underground resources belong to the province and therefore can not be shared .... surprisingly Punjab’s position was accepted by the Federal government without any problem ..as a result Punjab DO NOT share its underground water with the other federal units including Baluchistan ...
5) recently when Senator Baloch inquired Mr Aziz in a Senate session about how the revenues from Gwador would be given to Baluchistan ... his response was that the revenues from Gwador belong to the Federal government .. and the provinces would get their share through NFC awards based on their population percentage ... baluchistan population is 5% .... ...
i rest my case

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``While at the time of partition of India, millions of innocent souls were victimised on both side of the border. It was Balochistan, where fraternity and brotherhood prevailed among all religious groups, and not a single person from minority groups was ever killed. ``

True. Though there was a significant Hindu population in Quetta there were no riots there. Wonder why??

ikonoclast #193: “You are so full of hate and bigotry that you fail to hold an objective view”.

In this little world of ours it is hard to find saints. And then it is so easy to accuse anyone of bigotry and hate mongering and so difficult to prove that one is not. Just reverse the roles as if I am accusing you of the same thing. Read your mail one more time as if I am reading yours and try to find out how unbiased you are? Can you do it? Is it possible?

I think we can leave it to other forum members to read my mails and yours and see where we stand.

ikonoclast #193: “By the way, I used ``we`` in the collective sense of being Pakistanis.”

Why then it is so hard to convince the people of Balochistan and the common men from other provinces that they are included in that “we” in Pakistan? So far they don’t seem to be convinced. Any clues why?

ikonoclast #193: “Yes the army action initiated in the 70s by Bhutto was wrong. But action going on now is against the international terrorists. Do you want the political and social dispensation of the Talibans? ”

What an argument! 70s action was wrong but whatever dictator Musharraf is doing is right! What about the military actions of 1948 and 1960s? They were right too? Right? Wrong?

And look at the audacity of the respected contributor to call the secular Baloch movement as being part of international terrorism and equating the people involved in it with Talibans! Can we still argue on something?

ikonoclast #193: “Did any one of you bleeding hearts ever raise the issue, that why a substantial number of Baluch still live in caves? Why are the sardars maintaing their private jails and torture houses?”

It is a great tragedy that after 57 years of independence, a resource rich country like Pakistan finds itself in a quagmire that it is in now and the people are so helpless living under so miserable condition. Many people including this scribe have been writing on it and many more are actually engaged in a struggle to change things. The change must come but through a democratic way and the way the people want it to be. Not the way that the military establishment and its collaborators want it to be.

Please read my recent article in last week’s satribune: http://www.satribune.com/archives/august04/P1_an.htm

ikonoclast #193: “And I would also like to know, that how many of the people commenting here on this topic, have ever visited Baluchistan? And you I do not mean Quetta, I mean the interior.”

Do you mean to say that people opposing military establishment’s highhandedness within Balochistan are outsiders?

ikonoclast #193: “The massive development going on in Gwadar and to a lesser extent the construction of cantonments will accrue a large economic dividend to the province.”

Could you please explain why the Baloch people don’t see it that way? Anyone old enough would remember that exactly same kind of arguments were put forward by the government in 1970s in the support of the military action then. Sardars and the development!

By the way could you please quote any instance where I supported Sardars?

And do you want to understand what this bogey of the common men opposing development is? Please read this letter published in daily Dawn on 19th May, 2004:


Dams, ports and NFC


The authors of fantastic ideologies, fables and fairy tales have crafted a myth that the people of Sindh and Balochistan are anti-development. This falsehood has been based on Sindh`s opposition to mega water projects and Balochistan`s concerns over the under-construction Gwadar port. Instead of finding out why this is so, the two provinces have been discredited and condemned.

Why does Balochistan have reservations about the port? Baloch leaders say the project would create a demographic imbalance, turning the local people into a minority in their own province. They say the people should be co-opted for any development projects in their areas.

Why do Sindhis oppose mega water projects? They look at the history and tremble at what any new dams and canals upstream will do to them. They see broken promises, agreements and treaties.

How did the upper riparian unilaterally bypass the 1945 Water Agreement, the only accord between Sindh and Punjab reached without any coercion or intimidation? They have seen what has happened to six water commissions since the British Raj. They know how the Indus Basin Treaty was concluded behind their backs.

The people of Sindh are also aware how an unrepresentative regime was forced to sign the 1991 Water Accord. And today even that agreement is not being followed. The people know under what agreements and promises the Chashma-Jehlum and Taunsa-Panjnad canals were built and how these agreements and promises have been trashed.

It is universally accepted that the upper riparian can`t undertake any mega projects as it pleases and that already existing projects have precedence over any new projects.

That was the principle why the British administrators rejected the Greater Thal Canal project. And today our own government is building the same project. When there is already a huge shortage of water in the Indus River system, where will water come from for the canal?

The same is the case with the NFC when the provincial governments and the federal authorities are hoodwinking the people. Instead of seeking 80 per cent share for the 97 per cent population, the provinces are nowhere near even presenting their case properly. It all looks like a pre-arranged affair where the people at large will suffer and the federal government, its agencies and a few powerful lobbies will be the beneficiaries.

Still they say Sindh and Balochistan are at fault - they are anti-development. Nothing could be farther from the truth. They need it the most. But only if they are co-opted and if it is beneficial to their people.