by Munir Mengal | February 22, 2009
The historical record shows that the Balochistan upper and lower houses rejected the Idea logy of Pakistan and the concept of annexation of Balochistan states into Pakistan for only religious basis unanimously. So from that day the clash of ideologies started and certainly it was clash of civilization, clash of economy, clash of history, clash of humanity, clash of languages and clash of traditions and religious faiths.
Historical facts about Balochistan:
The area of Balochistan is approximately 340000sq. miles and Bloch’s population is estimated to 20 million world wide. The Baloch land is strategically situated at the tri-junction of South Asia, South West Asia and Central Asia. And it is distributed between Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran. Balochistan is the largest province of Pakistan (43% landmass of Pakistan) shares a 1,173 km border with the Iranian province of Balochistan (Sistan-Balochistan) and shares an 832 km border with Afghanistan the west. Balochistan has almost 1,000 km long strategic coastline which extends nearly to the northern shores of the strategically important Straits of Hormuz. Other than Pakistani region Bloch’s claim that coastline of Bandar Abbas and ChahBhar belong to them. Between 1870 and 1910, Baloch land was divided and gifted to Iran and Afghanistan by British colonial boundary commissions to appease the regimes against a suspected Russian advance towards the warm waters of Balochistan. Even today Bloch’s are living in Afghanistan Hilmand, and Farah provinces. And Iranian Persian regime is trying by its hook and crook to change the population statics of Zahidan which was once densely populated by Bloch’s.
Geographically Balochistan is a part of the Iranian plateau and culturally it forms part of South west Asia, also the area where South Asia ends. The Baloch resisted against Iranian attempts to domination up to 1928 when Raza Shah of Iran subdued them with British support. The eastern part of Balochistan was further divided into British Balochistan, Balochistan states, while a part of Seistan was given over as lease.
At the end of the nineteenth century, in greater imperial strategic interests the British imperial rulers decided to draw the Durand line and Goldsmith line as temporary which resulted in dividing Baloch homeland in three parts.
The first Baloch national conference was held in 1932 to shape the future contours of Baloch political idea logy. The movement has seen various ups and downs in the last hundred years. The land and the people of Balochistan have a distinct national, cultural, economic, political and administrative entity and identity from centuries. On August 11 1947, before the independence of India and Pakistan Balochistan’s Independence was accepted by British and Khan Kalat Beglar Baigy His Highness Khan Ahmed Yar Khan announced it. Later on Pakistan forces entered into Balochistan and On March 27, 1948, Balochistan was annexed by force into Pakistan. The Perpetrator of this army invasion was the Jinnah Ponja himself. As he him-self was nothing more than a mere lawyer hired by Khan Kalat for the return of the British Balochistan land back to Balochistan States confederation. On May 1948, Agha Abdul Karim Khan, the younger brother of Khan Ahmed Yar Khan and the governor of Makran, launched a rebellion against Pakistan and went to mountains with numerous Balochs and it is assumed that Bloch’s struggle for freedom is going on from that day till now.
Idea logical Conflict:
The Pakistani federal organs and the Islamofacist intelligentsia ISI, MI, etc. certainly wants to see and hear only one slogan “Pakistan ka Matlab Kia….. La Ilaha Illallah”. They used to promote and fund only those parties they have the concept of above stated slogan. As General (rtd) Aslam Baig claimed that he himself distributed millions of rupees to Islami Jamhori Ithhad (IJI) leaders. That is why including Muslim League we see more than a dozen fanatic organizations who are funded and supported by Islamofascist Intelligentsia. Pakistani intelligentsia has until now created, trained, funded and has given tasks to more than a dozen islamofascist Jihadi organization including Taliban, lashkar Tayyiba, Jamath Dawa, Jaish Mohammadi etc. As the Pakistani Islamofascist intelligentsia has made Islamofascist Slogans for Afghanistan Jihad, Kashmir Jihad, and for islamization through out the world similarly they funded and projected the islamofascist organizations in the Balochistan in order to confront the Baloch liberal, secular, and nationalist organizations and leadership. Other than creation of Thousands of Madressas they forcedly projected Jamiat Ullema Islam (JUI) in Balochistan and through rigging and horse trading they used to give them seats. During Pervaiz Musharaf regime it was said that the Intelligentsia has given G-3 and modern Machine guns to Mir Nasir Mengal and to Mir Majeed Bizenjo in order to crash Baloch Nationalists fiercely. On the other hand Jamiath people were also given arms in order to kill the liberal and secular Baloch nationalist. Ex MNA and Senator Mualana Ghafor Haidery was on the top who armed all Madressas of the Kalat Division in order to confront with Baloch Nationalists. Where as on the other hand we see Baloch Nationalists who are demanding for self rule and freedom have a different approach of State or country. They Baloch Nationalism idea logy declares Balochs as a separate nation on the basis of history, culture, traditions, language, economy, and on the basis of separate territories of land they claim their separate national identity and stand against the 1948 forced annexation of Balochistan States in to Pakistan merely because of religion.
Army Operations and administrative Problems:
Since 1948, all successive civil and military regimes had used specific objective oriented policies to keep the people of Balochistan economically, educationally, culturally and religiously suppressed. The people of the Balochistan have had no say in decision-making or in affairs of governance. In the last 60 years, thirteen non-Baloch Governors have been appointed to govern Balochistan, all of them have failed to respond to the needs and demands of the people and enforced state policy of repression towards Balochistan. Repeating the same policy all the key administrators including the Governor, Inspector General Police, Inspector General Frontier Core, Heads of military and civil intelligence agencies and provincial secretaries have been sent from outside with clearly assigned tasks to promote Pakistani idea logy and to pay billions of rupees to make the tribal heads as nominees of Muslim league, Jamiath Ullema Islam, Peoples Party Pakistan or any other pro- Pakistani political organization. But all of these policies has failed and resulted nothing good for the Pakistani Idea logy.
The current army operation is the fifth army operation by the state forces against the Baloch people. Although the usage of thousands of troops with modern weapons and usage of F-16, Mirage fighting jets, Chopper Helicopters for air strikes against Baloch civil population until have killed hundreds of people including females and children but all of these could not gave any sort of defeat to the Baloch people idea logical will for autonomy.
In order to promote the idea logy of Islamization Pakistan has established thousands of Madressas in all over the Balochistan. The idea logy behind this forced religious fanaticism is that a fanatic Muslim has to support the idea logy of Pakistan. That is why the Islamabad and Pakistan Intelligentsia are supporting religious organizations and parties in all means in order to replace the liberal and secular Baloch leadership and Idea logy from Balochistan.
Economical conflict:
The Balochistan provincial government runs by who ever for the last sixty years have been under financial constraints. Until now all the economical and socio economical policies have been planned in the Islamabad and by the GHQ. Therefore all of the Macro and Micro economic Policies are sketched in Islamabad and with respect to Balochistan they differ from the pros and cons of the Baloch economy. The provincial budget 2005-06 had a deficit of Rs 13.24 billion.
Despite of the fact that huge amounts of money have been announced by the Pakistan government for mega development projects in the province, the people do not own the development agenda and their participation has always been ignored. The State Bank of Pakistan placed Balochistan on the top list of borrowers (Rs 17 billion overdraft) at the end of 2008.
Mining contracts for the province’s copper and gold deposits were awarded to Chinese and Chilean companies without making any specific provisions for the local people and local area development. Balochistan only gets two percent (2%) royalty out of its wealth but Islamabad and Beijing shares 48% and 50% of the profits respectively. But there is no allocation for the local area development and all direct and indirect tax collection is made by the Federal Govt. And the employment data differs highly from the narrated job allocation and employment policies.
The market structure has been modified in such a way that all minerals extracted anywhere in Balochistan shall has to be transferred to Karachi or Punjab for refining or for Marketing or for exporting. This is very similar to the Bangla people economic discrimination before partition by Punjabis. And today we see that the Pakistani state economical policies and development plans are very opposite to that of the Baloch nation and Balochistan economical Benefits.
As the Balochistan has a coastline of 712 nautical miles and its all land is rich in minerals and oil and gas resources. All development projects under progress in Balochistan including the Gwadar deep sea port, Sandak Project, Rekodek Project, Gas and oil projects and other mining projects are in contrast with the development objectives of common Baloch people and therefore not a single Baloch has been involved in the project planning process. Similarly all the financial transactions are routed through either from Islamabad or from Karachi so financial institutions on the same way are not interested to make their branches in Balochistan. By this financial transaction routing bypass Balochistan economy has also been affected worse.
As for as the Balochi economy is considered certainly it is composed of mineral resources industry, gas and oil reservoirs, copper and gold reservoirs, Marble, Graphite, Chromites, coal etc. reservoirs. Therefore all these industries needs some specific rules with respect to the extraction, refining, marketing, and transportation and export policies and on the same time there shall be some specified laws are required for the investment, employment, taxation, royalty, and profit sharing. Otherwise it would be a complete looting of resources of a nation. There is no any binding on the companies to spend a prorate portion of its profit to be spent on education, health, social infrastructure and debt repayment for the province. Therefore the Baloch people realize this fact very clearly that Pakistani economical policies are in concurrent to the looting of the Baloch resources in all means.
Socio-Economic Conditions:
Due to the specifically designed policies of the Pakistan that they shall keep the socio-economic conditions in the Balochistan worse. So, that Baloch people shall not be able to stand on their own legs in order to stand against Pakistan and ask for autonomy and for their freedom as they have asked for it several times and have sacrificed their lives. That is why the most resourceful or rich in resources region in South Asia (Balochistan) shows the following socio-economic indicators.
As per survey reports Balochistan ranks highest in Pakistan for infant and maternal mortality rate, the country have 100 deaths per 10,000 live births, whereas Balochistan has 108 per 10,000. The country’s maternal mortality rate is 350/100,000 and the province has a frighteningly high 600/100,000. With disturbing figures for poverty, Pakistan’s Integrated Household Survey 2001-02 revealed that Balochistan has the highest poor population with 48 percent and the worst in rural areas with 51 percent living below the poverty line.
The years of military operations, and non participation of Baloch people in ill-conceived development policies and priorities, and the idea logy of Baloch people for autonomy and does not believe in Pakistani State for their social development has made the socio conditions so worse. Despite of being a resource-rich region, it lacks very basic facilities and infrastructure. As compared to the 75% in country only 25% population in province have access to electricity.
Balochistan, which has been supplying natural gas to the rest of the Pakistan and even thousands of miles far to Punjab cities for power generation, industry, fertilizer-production, steel industry, and for domestic consumption, has only 3.4 percent of gas consumers as compared to 51 percent from Punjab alone, which (Punjab) contributes only 4.75 percent gas. As per 2006-2007 financial data only the net revenue contribution to federal from Sui Gas was Rs 85 billion but the Balochistan receives only Rs 7 billion from the federal government. The Human Development report 2003 ranked Dera Bughti as 91 districts with respect to Human Development Index although it is the wealthiest district due to gas production.
As per the Social Policy and Development Center (SPDC), the percentage of districts that are classified as “high deprivation” are 92% in Balochistan, 62% in NWFP, 50% in Sindh and only 29% in the Punjab. The SPDC review also revealed that the percentage of the population living in a high degree of deprivation stands at 88% in Balochistan, 51% in NWFP, 49% in Sindh and 25% in Punjab.
According to literacy rate Balochistan has the lowest literacy rate because of the “Specific Objective literacy” policy of the Pakistan State for Balochistan. It indicates the idea logy of Islamabad which believes that an educated and politically conscious Baloch population certainly will resist against the looting of Baloch wealth or the well educated Baloch would highly appreciate the idea logy of Balochistan autonomy. Baloch youths are kept deprived of almost all forms of modern educational institutions and the systematic denial of basic education and scarcity of education-related facilities in Balochistan clearly indicates the disrespect and apartheid policies of Pakistan towards Balochs in order to promote its Islamofascist Idea logy. On the other side we see more than 30% annual increase in the State funded Madressas.
Human Rights Abuses by Pakistani Islamofascist Army:
All basic human rights have been revoked for the Baloch people irrespective of where they live and what they do. Although for the last sixty Balochs have not been given freedom of expression. But in the current era of army operation we see much worse instances. i.e. the putting of live human beings (Bughties) into fire, bombardment on the marriage ceremony and killing of more than a dozen of people including bride and groom.
Despite of the lack of any official ‘State of Emergency’ in Balochistan, Pakistani forces are using heavy force for the last more than four years that is often excessive, indiscriminate and in violation of Pakistan’s constitution and international solemn undertakings for the right of people.
Islamabad’s militarized approach has lead to nearly more than four years of violence, widespread human rights abuses, mass internal displacement and the deaths of hundreds of civilians and armed personnel. According to Asian Human Rights Watch report hundreds of Baloch political activists and civil citizens including females and children have been involuntary disappeared, and torture by the security forces of political opponents, students, and news reporters has become routine. Military operations in the province have frequently been accompanied by allegations of excessive use of force, particularly in periodic air strikes Kohlu Marri, Dera Bugti and on Naushkay Districts. The killing of killing of Bugti and of Balach Marri in different controversial military operations plunged Balochistan into further unrest. And were followed by new rounds of arbitrary arrests and disappearances of Baloch civil citizens including females and children. The report of AHRC about Zarina Marri a Baloch lady being used as a sex slave in army dungeon has shown the ugly picture of Pakistani Islamofascist army. As the PPP political government including president Zardari himself has no control on intelligence organizations. Therefore the bluffing of the information and interior minister will be as per routine on the directions of the intelligentsia and army.
Today I remember the Miss Fatima Jinnah I hope she would have nominated Pakistan army as the killer of her brother Jinnah Ponja if she would have been given freedom of expression. (Refer Fatima’s unpublished book “My Brother”.)
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