Balochistan: The Unheard Cries of An Unknown People

REPORTED BY JUMA BALOCH


All of us have heard of Pakistan. Most people, especially those in the West,perceive Pakistan as a rogue nation that sponsors and abets terrorism andrightly so. However the knowledge of most people about Pakistan in general isextremely superficial. How many people know that Pakistan comprises of fourprovinces, namely Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and North West Frontier Province(also called Puktunkwha)?.Pakistan was basically carved out of the Indian subcontinent on the premisesthat Muslims and Hindus are separate nations and they cannot co-exist in onecountry. This formula was called the Two-Nation Theory which was the brain childof Chief Architect was Mohammed Ali Jinnah, also known as Qaid E Azam inPakistan. Jinnah, who had spent most of his lie abroad, was not really a goodMuslim. It is because, he was addicted to liquor and smoking (which incidentallykilled him later) and his love for ham (pork) and eggs for breakfast. The mainbone of contention for Muslims, who wanted a separate nation, was that theycould not bear the sacrilege of being ruled by kafirs whom their imaginedancestors had subdued through treachery.However the euphoria surrounding the creation of Pakistan was short lived. Thecountry could not really cater to the needs of its all Muslims. The Bengali,Baloch, Sindhi, Pashtoon, Seirakhi, etc. populations were given the sametreatment which is given to third grade citizens of a state. In fact, theseethnicities were only a few shades better than the minorities in terms oftreatment by the majority Sunni Punjabi dominated authorities. The Bengalis,assisted by India, seceded through a bloody war in 1971.Out of the other ethnicities, the Baloch people have suffered the most under anadministration dominated by Punjabis. The region of Balochistan is mostly wasteland covered by deserts and uncultivable land. However this area is also rich inmineral reserves such as natural gas and petroleum. In fact, 90% of Pakistan'senergy requirements are met by the natural reserves of the province ofBalochistan. But the irony is that this province does not even get 5% of theelectricity produced from the land in this region. So much for Islamicbrotherhood!The per capita income of Balochistan is next to zilch when compared to thenational average of the rest of Pakistan. Balochistan has hardly any schools orcolleges except in the capital city of Quetta. The Baloch people have to travelgreat distances even to get basic necessities such as water and food supplies.There are hardly any roads or major railway links in Balochistan. Most Balochpeople have to work as migrant labourers in the more developed cities of Karachiand Islamabad. The Pakistani Army treats the Baloch people the same way in whichan invading Muslim army treats dhimmies. They rape women and young girls, killnon-combatants; in general terms, they spread misery amongst the Balochpopulation. It is not as if the Civil or Military Administration is unaware ofthese facts. On the other hand, the Administration fully supports these crueltechniques used by the Pakistani Army to subdue the Baloch. This is actually areturn gift from the Pakistani Administration for the audacity of asking the forbasic human rights by the Baloch.There are no technical institutions where people from Balochistan can pursueeducation, which would enable them to achieve a respectable status. All the workin the various military or civilians are assigned to non-local labour. This isnot done because the Baloch people are lazy or unable to do work. Rather this isbeing done to add to the depravity of the already suffering people ofBalochistan.The Baloch people who are not so religious, but are however fiercely independentin spirit were ultimately fed up with the Punjabi-led administration decided torebel against it. Even though there is a long history of rebellion of the Balochpeople against the evil Pakistani Administration, I will confine myself to arecent event that has become epoch in the history of Balochistan. I will tellyou the short story of Nawab Akbar Bughti. He was a man who once believed in thenation of Pakistan and even occupied several important positions in thePakistani administration unlike most of his Baloch brothers who were not solucky. When he came back to his native place, he was really appalled to see thebarbarity with which the Pakistani army treated the Baloch people. He could nolonger tolerate the injustice and decided to fight the oppression. He fought,not in the name of Islam, but to secure basic Human rights for his people. ThePakistani Administration decided that this impudent Baloch, who had the guts toask for equal rights, should also be given a return gift. He was bombed in hishouse, which was actually a cave, in the middle of night. This was a warningfor the rest of the Baloch people to shut up or suffer similar consequences.This is just the tip of the iceberg. Now the Pakistani administration has founda new way of subduing the Baloch. They have started colonising the Baloch landin bits and pieces to establish colonies of Punjabi ex-army men in order todestabilize the ethnic balance of the area. To add to the woes of the Baloch,Afghan refugees have also been provided habitations in the Baloch land. This washardly done out of compassion for the refugees. The real reason was to turn thenative population of Balochistan into minorities. This way, they are beinggradually subdued with ease.While the Western Media chooses to cherry pick the events in Pakistan, we seldomget to hear the moans and cries of these unfortunate people, caught between thedevil and the deep blue sea. As I write this article, there might be a Balochwoman being molested by the Islamic Army of Pakistan, a child being beaten upfor being who he is. Nobody will ever be able to assess the exact extent of theatrocities the Pakistani Administration has committed upon the Baloch people. Ireally don't understand why the media of the free world chooses to ignore aHuman tragedy which occurs everyday in a country as well known as Pakistan. Ialso wonder why the Western leaders don't ask the Pakistani administration as towhy these people are suffering so much even after the billions of dollars inAid.Some of us might argue that this has nothing to do with Islam as it is an ethnicproblem. I beg to differ as I believe that this discriminatory polity is a byproduct of the Islamic thought. The problem starts at the grass-roots level;Islam propagates feudal arrangements as the concept of free land holdings andequity in distribution of resources. Although the concept of feudalism anddiscrimination starts with non-Muslim minorities, it ultimately boils down tothe ethnically non-dominant Muslim minorities in the absence of a sufficientnumber of non-Muslims who can be subdued. Soon after the Muslims of thesubcontinent achieved their aim of a separate state, the innate tendencies ofsuppressing others, inculcated by Islam in its followers, cannot be subdued.Hence, the poor Baloch people had to pay for being fewer in number and backwardin terms of education.Those who are still in doubt can draw examples from countries like Iraq wherethe non-Arab Kurdish people were almost ethnically cleansed by the SunniArab-led government of Saddam Hussein. Sunnis in Iran face a similar fate. Thecondition of non-ethnic Iranians in Iran is no better under the Shia dominatedAdministration. The list of those suffering includes non-ethnic Iranian Shiaswho are rounded up by the Iranian armed forces without any provocation. Darfuris an excellent example of my analogy. There are several parallels that canstated here to prove this analogy.Ultimately it all boils down to the same issue, Islam. Islam is an intolerant,militant philosophy. Just like other militant philosophies Islam has to spreadin order to survive. The spread of Islam is then again a vicious cycle as theIslam will not stop here. Islam has to kill in order to survive. Islam will makepeople kill till the time humanity becomes history.Although not a theist or a believer in any school of religious thought,sometimes I really feel that if there is a devil then Islam is certainly hisinvention. There could not be a better way to do away with humanity, couldthere?