By Yaqoob Bangash
THE recent show of barbarism in Balochistan where some women were shot and then buried alive for the sin of trying to choose their own life partners should not shock us.
When an area is deliberately left in the Dark Ages, actions which are reminiscent of those times should not cause us such consternation.
For the last 200 years the area of Balochistan, which for the most part constituted the princely State of Kalat, has been repeatedly left a couple of centuries behind the rest of the subcontinent. For the Indian political service, which oversaw the Indian princely states, it was not to their benefit to interfere in the internal matters of princely states unless there was grave misrule.
Following suit, the Pakistani establishment not only continued the British policy, under-the-table deals concerning the mineral and natural resources of the province meant that local landlords had a free rein to do almost anything if they cooperated with the authorities. No wonder the province hardly showed signs of human development over the past century or so.
To the horror of revisionist historians, it is very clear that those provinces which were under direct British rule experienced a larger degree of social development than the princely states (a few exceptions excluded). When suttee was being gradually banned in British-ruled territories, it took decades for the Government of India to convince the princely states to eradicate the evil. Jaipur took till 1836 to finally declare suttee unlawful, and even then the law was very lightly enforced. It is, therefore, hardly surprising that out of the 50 odd cases of suttee since 1947 in India, an overwhelming number have occurred in the former princely states in Rajasthan.
Similarly, when slavery was banned in India in the 1830s, it again took decades for the princely states to be convinced of its immorality. As late as the 1930s when Sir Edward Wakefield was forced on Kalat as prime minister, slavery was still officially permitted. As recounted in his memoirs, Sir Edward was horrified to see legally owned slaves in Kalat when the practice has ceased in the rest of India nearly a century ago. Over the protests of many, Sir Edward then at least officially banned slavery in 1933.
However, passing legislation, which looks good on paper, is never enough. The government can ban honour killings and repeal the Frontier Crimes Regulation of 1901, but if no real effort is made to effect change on the ground, nothing concrete is going to change. The central problem with Balochistan is the problem of governance. Once a system of government is clearly and visibly established, only then can the problems of social and economic development be aptly tackled. Parallel jurisdictions, conflicting policies and hollow announcements have all been the bane of Balochistan over the last 60 years.
The British ruled Balochistan under the Sandeman system which stipulated that Baloch and Brahui tribes were to be controlled by establishing good relations with their tribal elders. British interference was to be virtually non-existent in their internal affairs, and limited to communication and defence links. For the British the Sandeman system ensured peace and unhindered communication links, but for the locals it meant the maintenance of an antiquated status quo.
With the advent of Pakistan, the authority of the State of Kalat was slowly eroded, first through the accession of its vassal states to Pakistan and then through its nearly forced accession to Pakistan. Later, the four Baloch states were merged into a federation which itself died when West Pakistan was born in 1955.
However, despite all these administrative changes of the past, and the recent changes, hardly anything has changed on the ground. Repeatedly the provincial government has been content with leaving tribal sardars in control of their erstwhile fiefdoms. And when the state is challenged, an army and air force contingent is sent to quell the ‘rebels’. This happened in the 1940s, the 1950s and the 1970s and is still happening. Therefore, the most visible form of Pakistani government the people of Balochistan have seen has been the hated paramilitary forces’ forts, or the attacks of the regular army.
Numerous times special ‘Balochistan packages’ have been formulated by governments which show remarkable potential for progress on paper. Yet most of these grand schemes fail to materialise. Of course the main reason behind this failure is that Balochistan is still governed as it was 100 years ago. Tribal chiefs control everything and the local populace is at their mercy. Even in certain urban areas, where tribal control is somewhat diluted, the presence of the Taliban has generated concerns that effective control, and respect, is not with the government but with militant leaders.
There is unfortunately no quick-fix solution to the problem of Balochistan. A grassroots overhaul of the archaic social and political system of the province needs to be undertaken. Beginning from the very harsh treatment meted out to the Khan of Kalat in the aftermath of accession, to the repeated military actions, there is great mistrust of the Government of Pakistan in Balochistan. So first that trust needs to be (re)established and a new political formula in the province needs to be worked out. It cannot be established by harassing the population or by the target killing of one of their most revered leaders. It can only be established when a concerted effort is made to redress the wrongs of the past and begin from a clean slate.
The social system of the province also requires an overhaul. Belief in the equality of men and women, especially through the medium of education needs to be ingrained in the people. It is absurd to establish universities in the province when there are very few decent high schools for boys and hardly any for girls. Rather than creating a clientele of cronies, a whole class of educated and motivated people has to be encouraged so that it can transform the social milieu of the province.
Despicable incidents like the ‘honour’ killing of women will only become a thing of the past when the hard task of going back and resolving long standing and thorny issues is initiated. I hope the PPP government, which as Senator Raza Rabbani remarked recently, has made Balochistan its top priority, takes note of the past in dealing with the future of Balochistan. It might take decades for Balochistan to change, but the change has to begin now before it is too late.
The writer is a historian at Keble College, University of Oxford.
yaqoob.bangash@keble.ox.ac.uk
http://www.dawn.com/2008/09/15/op.htm
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