Baluchistan a sea of oblivion

[member_22938]

At the first appearance when I met Sazzad in Delhi little did I know that this meeting will inspire me to meet him and his family for next 6 months. They were a few Balochs who have migrated to India during the first Baloch Uprising in 1963.The family stays in shadow cross by lanes like hundreds of Muslim family lives in Dariyaganj area of the old Delhi. After 66 years of independence and so called amalgamation into Paak-E-Staan has yielded a per Capita Income of less than 30000 Pakistani Rupiah per annum for an average Baloch to survive. In Pakistan’s northwest hinterland of Quetta which is the Capital of Baluchistan when a western journalist lands it feels coming to a different Pakistan with in Pakistan. There is a mark difference in the attire the dialect and the attitude in the mass that can catch the eye very easily. It’s not surprising when All Zazira surveyed Lahore and Pindi where out of 100 only 2 Pakistanis could manage to tell a name of any city in Baluchistan then that tells you a story. The land has been forgotten by the Kayad e Azaam’s (Mohammed Ali Jinnah Father Of Pakistan) decedents of Pakistan’s political establishment. UNESCO survey shows there is only one school in Baluchistan for 40000 households and 20 Square KMs. WHO data in 2010 came up with a shock. IMR (Infant Mortality Rate) in the region is much higher than Uganda and Sub Saharan nations. So let us look into the problem from all stakeholder’s perspective.


Baluchistan’s ascendance into Pakistan:

After the Partition of 1947 between India and Pakistan for nearly a year Baluchistan was an independent state. If the facts to be believed Mir Ahmed Yar Khan who was the then leader of the Kalat (The assembly of 21 tribes of the area) requested Indian premier Jawaharlal Nehru that he is willing to join Indian State with economic and administration autonomy with military and foreign policies controlled by India. Due to some unknown reasons Mr Prime Minister did not respond to his requests and it stayed independent for a year. Analysts believe Nehru’s ambition of being the third world leader and Nobel Peace Prize let India loose the greatest opportunity to take control over the region and most importantly it’s strategically closeness to the Middle East. In 1948 Pakistan army stormed into the region and forced Mir Ahmed Khan to surrender and sign the ascendance into Pakistan. With this started the separatist movement under Ahmed Khan’s brother Prince Abdul Karim Khan which yielded little result because of the untrained Baloch soldiers without any support from the world and Pakistan army was able to control the movement with mass murders and abduction which till date has been fought in international Human Rights court in Geneva. This was followed by Pakistan’s one Unit Policy of centralizing of power and this has left the Balochs furious as their ascendancy to Pakistan was based on Economic and Administrative Autonomy. So what followed was an uprising in 1958 again and continued till 1969 when the two sides signed a cease fire and Pakistan abolished the one unit policy and made Baluchistan a regional province. It all changed when President Bhutto abolished the provincial status of NWFP (North West Frontier Province) and Baluchistan and imposed Martial Law. During the five year’s period followed the region saw the worst kind of human right’s violation with more than 10000 balochs lost their lives, more than 50000 abducted bodies were never found. This conflict started the BPLF (Baluchistan People’s Liberation Front) which till date is responsible for their fight against Pakistan army establishments. In 2004 led by Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti and Mir Balach Marri the BPLF took the fight to a new level by targeting non Baloch ethnic civilians residing in Balochistan. That followed the infamous massacre of 40 Sindhis and Punjabi traders in the region. Pakistan army started the offensive boosted by the newly acquired US weapons delivered to them to fight against Al Qaeda and in a bloody gun battle Bugti was killed. His body was not given back to his family for several days and left under the sky for scavengers to eat every bit of flesh and blood.



Pakistan’s Role in Baloch Conflict: From 1948 till date Pakistan’s political and military establishment has not shown the attitude and the mental flexibility to resolve the issue which could have been resolved by giving the Baloch’s a little more concession and representation in the politics and the army. In the army there is no sizable Baloch representation though it is the biggest province in terms of size. Pakistani political establishment in 65 years have not made any effort to strengthen the growth of the region and bringing it to the mainstream with other Pakistani provinces. The puppet provincial government in Quetta does not have the support of the majority of the Baloch population who feel they are being exploited day in and day out. The renewed interest of Pakistan in the region came into light when they found out large number of Copper and Gold reserve in the region. They allowed mining licenses to Multinationals like Antofagasta Minerals and Barrick Gold. But this extraction of minerals and natural resources has helped very little towards developing the economy of the province. The root cause is these lease are being given under export licenses to these MNCs who does not care about the local sentiments. Though in mathematical terms the GDP growth of the province has been doubled from 2000 the real impact is far from reaching to the masses who still lives in a pathetic condition.


China’s Interest in the Region:

The region has long been seen as strategically important and the Dragon realized it sooner than later. From 2000 to 2010 Chinese companies started mining the region with huge investments. In Gwadar Pakistan is building a new Deep Sea Port in the Arabian Sea with the help of the Chinese. Experts estimate China has invested more than 100 Billion Dollar in the project. So why is China so interested in the region? Two different perspectives can be inferred one is economic and other one is China’s growing ambition of becoming the geopolitical superpower in the region. China needs a huge oil supply to support its growing economy and Gwadar sea port will help them to build large Oil Reservoirs from neighboring IRAN and then transport it to Mainland through the newly build Karakoram Highway in TIBET. So Chinese plan is to build an Oil Pipeline through Pakistan into Tibet and then to the Mainland China. China is also planning to build a SEZ in the region where State Owned Petro China will invest 30 Billion.

But China’s real interest in the region is strategic. The region is in the close proximity to Middle East, Afghanistan, IRAN and importantly another power house India. By dominating this region of Arabian Sea China will get the much needed boost to increase its naval presence in the Arabian Sea which is now dominated by Indian Navy. Chinese plans to make Gwadar a Naval Base is a well-known Myth which is roaming around in the South Block in Delhi for years now. It is part of Chinese plans to upgrade their NAVY to Blue Water Navy and flexing mussels in the Arabian Sea with India.


India: Historically India has been supportive to the Baloch movements but it failed to recognize or deny its direct involvement. During 1950s Indian foreign policy was way too defensive and was so busy with international Public Relation work that they failed to recognize the opportunity presented by Balochistan.Through 1970s and 80s Indian policy towards Baluchistan remained the same. Things started changing after India’s involvement in the rebuilding of Afghanistan with the NATO forces. It has been long alleged that RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) is secretly supporting the BPLF with arms and logistics. But there is very little proof in the argument. BPLF is an unorganized militia headed by Sardars of tribes and going by the recent attacks on Pakistani towns by them it shows no indication of sophistication in the weaponry or training. If for an argument shake India is supporting them then the support on the ground is very less which failed to impact in any significant result. India needs to be on the offensive to the economic and strategic battle played in Baluchistan by China and it is for the interest of greater strategic benefit for India to eliminate any threat coming out of Baluchistan. Another major perspective is due to the large development work by BRO in Afghanistan and India’s significance presence there it will be part of India’s bigger strategic advantage to support the Baloch uprising. Now that IAF has an operational base outside India (Farkhor Air Base in Tajikstan) it will be in India’s strategic interest if independent Baluchistan becomes a reality. India cannot afford to let the region be used as a strategic military base of the Chinese.





In between all these vested interests of different stake holders Azad Baluchistan is a distinct dream that people like Sazzad still harnessing in their hearts. It’s the freedom of expression freedom to choose nations which are at stake here. I don’t know if that can be a possibility in near future but I am truly amazed by the overwhelming courage that these fighters have shown for more than 60 years. May be India is wrong may be Pakistan is wrong I am not here to judge any one’s right or wrong yardstick but Human Right should take the utmost importance in the region. Growth has to be inclusive if things have to change in Baluchistan. Time is running out for the fragile government in Islamabad and Pakistan as a state which is still debating democracy or Martial law which is the way forward. Let us not make Baluchistan another Kashmir though the data of Economic Standard Bureau indicates India Controlled Kashmir is a far better place to live in than Baluchistan. I will end this with a poem written by Asif Balochi from Karachi

Ah! Balouch
You don't know how it feels
when one sleeps with a yearn to be slept
with no dreams to be found
with no more soul to be cleft

Likewise Janab Abdullateef Qadri Sahab summarizes everything in his shayari

Kabhi is majlis e aqwaam par aayega woh din bhi!

Kahegaa Ibn e Aadam uth ke "Sun lo! Main bass insaan hoon!

Mera koi naheen mazhab mera bass deen hai sulh e kul!

Na Eisaai hoon main naa hoon Yahudi nae Musalmaan hoon!

Merey jeeney ka maqsad hai faqat behbood e insaani!

Main is duniya mein nafrat ka naheen raahat ka saamaan hoon!

Mere haathon se hogi bass hifaazat haq e insaan ki!

Suno ahl e mazaahib! Main naqeeb e bazm e insaan hoon!"

[brat]

IB$TL

[Dilbu]

Eye Bee Four Tea Yell

[ramana]

First of all its poll. When there are so many Paki threads what does one more do?

Any way have the IB4TL folks voted?

ramana

[harbans]

I wish a similar thread starts up on Freeing Tibet from the Han clutch. Also freeing Kailash and Mansarover region and bringing it under India.

I am surprised that no one takes up Kailash/ Mansarover..the holiest spots for hundreds of millions of Dharmics being in Han CPC clutches..so Shiva is meditating in China i guess.

[member_22938]

Hi Harbans,

I totally agree with your views on Tibet and Kailash/Mansarovar.I have to gather some detailed info to start a thread on it but will be on it it's in my next to do list. I guess have to learn some Mandarin to take the Chinese point of view as well.

[Narad]

IB4TL

[Baikul]

In b phor....

[Baikul]

And for gawd's sake, learn to distinguish between 'lose' and 'loose'.

[Yogi_G]

eye-bee-four-tee-yell

[Ravi Karumanchiri]

I voted yes, not so much because it is a strategic imperative (because I think the end result will be the same, regardless); but because a small effort by India re: Baluchistan would speed-up the inevitable end result; and this speeding-up is a strategic imperative.

Basically, the British-made maps of the region are wrong, and are at the root of many of the problems in the world. In Africa, rather than drawing the lines on the maps using natural borders, such as rivers and whatnot, that had been established by the tribes of Africa; the Brits drew straight lines, such that every "country" would have a minority population that they could play against the majority population -- divide and conquor. This favoured the Brits (and still favours the West), but it is wretched disorder and heartache for the people living with it, still to this day.

IMVVHO, India and the rest of the world should rubish the "Durand Line" and allow room for an Independent Pashtoonistan and an independent Baluchistan (and why not Sindh? et al.? al la Bangladesh?)......

The Pashtu and Baluchis (and Sindhis) would make progress for their people their strategic imperative, and rightly so. My guess is that right-minded people in all of these places would like to arrange their own affairs, and will likely be keen to do business with whoever is willing to pay their price, be they Chinese, Indian, Russian or CAS, whoever -- that would be their business.

Such a strategic statement by India (and probably not very much more, ), would drastically tip the dialogue, and open the door for discussions "around" the TSP, about breaking-up the TSP (and not about "Containing China", as the US would frame the dialogue, nor about "Punishing Pakistan", as the US Senator from Texas has framed it).

A durable dispensation for the region must be built on human rights, chief among them the right to self-determination, given the ground necessary to accomplish that. The single thorn in the heart of this solution is the TSP as it is currently "constituted" (under force of arms from the TSPA).

If the world had a Baluchistan for Baluchis (and the US had reliable land access to Afghanistan, over the long term; and the Chinese had land access to the port of Gwadar (sp?); and this didn't involve a large "NATO" presence in the region, so as not to worry the Russians; thereby providing Afghanistan with reliable access to sea trade and the rest of the world...... who would oppose that? There is only one constituency remaining........... and it is not "Pakistan", which would certainly run better if it could focus on living with others and helping her people, rather than on "converting" others with suicide bombers.

JMT

[SBajwa]

ib4tl

[Nandu]

I'm
Browsing
For
The
Lulz