The main characters behind the present precarious situation in Balochistan appear to be Brahamdagh Bugti and Hyrbiar Marri, who draw their sustenance from India and UK respectively. A cable from US Embassy in Islamabad leaked by whistle-blower website WikiLeaks disclosed that there were enough evidences of Indian involvement in Balochistan and other tribal areas of Pakistan including Waziristan. At the present, the sad plight of Baloch people is due to insurgents and centrifugal forces that have hampered the growth and development of the province.
They reportedly run private jails and torture camps for their defectees and rivals, and are also involved in abduction, kidnapping of local civilians for ransom and also security personnel for acceptance of their illegitimate demands. Continuing with his father’s tradition, Brahamdagh Bugti openly calls for the murder of all non-Balochis, including innocent women and children. On third death anniversary of Balach Marri in November 2010, defunct Balochistan Liberation Army had appealed for a shutter-down strike, which was partially successful in the areas under their control. In November 2007, Balach Marri, a key militant separatist leader, was killed in Afghanistan, according to some news reports at the time, due to a NATO air strike that mistook him and his men for Taliban. The Pakistani source claimed that Marri had in fact been killed in a suicide attack in Uruzgan. His dead body was brought to the military hospital in Kabul, and later was handed over to his family, and was buried in Balochistan. According to another report he was killed in an airstrike by NATO forces inside the Afghan territory, and that he had led the banned Baloch Liberation Army.
In his article under the caption of ‘India in Afghanistan’ carried by The Caravan, Mathieu Aikins wrote: “The NDS has also been accused by Pakistan of harbouring militant Baloch separatists, including Brahamdagh Bugti, leader of the Baloch Republican Party”. The Caravan is a journal of politics and culture, published in India, and the author had been candid, which is a rare case in India. In addition to their unreasonable demands, nationalists and Baloch sardars were blowing the issue of disappeared persons out of proportion. While there could be some persons arrested by the government departments or intelligence agencies, but a number of missing persons could be in Afghanistan and India on the behest of Brahamdagh Bugti and other groups. According to a news report carried by national English daily a few months ago, more than 100 Pakistani Baloch dissidents have been sent to India by the Indian consulate located in Kandahar (Afghanistan) for six-month training. President Hamid Karzai seems to have realized that some elements in Afghanistan in cahoots with Indian RAW and the CIA that stir crisis and are responsible for destabilization of Afghanistan.
For quite some time, Balochistan is in the throes of ethnic, sectarian and tribal schisms. There have been targeted killings of Punjabi settlers in Balochistan and for some time teachers and professors are being targeted. Ethnic and Shia-Sunni fracas has shaken the erstwhile ethnic and sectarian harmony, as criminal gangs are stoking ethnic and sectarian divisions. Pashtun political parties have strongly opposed the target killings in Quetta and demanded of the Baloch nationalists to openly condemn these killings and disassociate themselves with the elements responsible for such heinous crimes otherwise they would demand that Pushtun areas be amalgamated with Pakhtunkhwa (NWFP).
In fact, rivaling international eyes, including world powers and regional countries are eyeing Balochistan avariciously to push it into their own orbits of influence and domination. According to political and defence analysts, the US, Russia, India and even Iran are either directly or indirectly widening the ethnic and sectarian schisms in Balochistan and FATA. There are reports that the US and UK are also supporting the centrifugal forces and insurgents. Iran has a large Baloch population on its side of border with Pakistan and the Indian desire of weakening Pakistan by creating independent Balochistan could cost Iran heavily because greater Balochistan plan includes Sistan province of Iran. The public meeting adopted a resolution urging the United Nations to intervene to stop the killing of Baloch people in military operations, detaining of political activists and plunder of Balochistan’s resources. In another resolution, the BNP vowed to effectively use whatever means it deemed fit to achieve the right to self-determination, including creation of ‘a national state for the Baloch people’. Another resolution rejected the Gwadar project, as it will destroy the traditional economy of native fishermen and displace the Baloch population.
If one dispassionately examines the situation prevailing in Balochistan, one would reach the conclusion that on one hand strong center syndrome in the past and on the other hand centrifugal tendencies on the part of some Baloch sardars were responsible for continuous confrontation and crisis in Balochistan. Baloch sardars should also be given their share in income if accrues from the land they own. It is unfortunate that some sardars are not willing to accept less than independence, and they openly talk about secession. But no state worth its name would turn a blind eye to any efforts aimed at disintegrating the country and hold talks with such elements. Those who insist that the government should have talks with them, they should first ask these leaders to wean off from secessionist tendencies. In many countries of the world there are such contradictions that are resolved through talks. The question is why sardars do not
choose the conciliatory path?
They reportedly run private jails and torture camps for their defectees and rivals, and are also involved in abduction, kidnapping of local civilians for ransom and also security personnel for acceptance of their illegitimate demands. Continuing with his father’s tradition, Brahamdagh Bugti openly calls for the murder of all non-Balochis, including innocent women and children. On third death anniversary of Balach Marri in November 2010, defunct Balochistan Liberation Army had appealed for a shutter-down strike, which was partially successful in the areas under their control. In November 2007, Balach Marri, a key militant separatist leader, was killed in Afghanistan, according to some news reports at the time, due to a NATO air strike that mistook him and his men for Taliban. The Pakistani source claimed that Marri had in fact been killed in a suicide attack in Uruzgan. His dead body was brought to the military hospital in Kabul, and later was handed over to his family, and was buried in Balochistan. According to another report he was killed in an airstrike by NATO forces inside the Afghan territory, and that he had led the banned Baloch Liberation Army.
In his article under the caption of ‘India in Afghanistan’ carried by The Caravan, Mathieu Aikins wrote: “The NDS has also been accused by Pakistan of harbouring militant Baloch separatists, including Brahamdagh Bugti, leader of the Baloch Republican Party”. The Caravan is a journal of politics and culture, published in India, and the author had been candid, which is a rare case in India. In addition to their unreasonable demands, nationalists and Baloch sardars were blowing the issue of disappeared persons out of proportion. While there could be some persons arrested by the government departments or intelligence agencies, but a number of missing persons could be in Afghanistan and India on the behest of Brahamdagh Bugti and other groups. According to a news report carried by national English daily a few months ago, more than 100 Pakistani Baloch dissidents have been sent to India by the Indian consulate located in Kandahar (Afghanistan) for six-month training. President Hamid Karzai seems to have realized that some elements in Afghanistan in cahoots with Indian RAW and the CIA that stir crisis and are responsible for destabilization of Afghanistan.
For quite some time, Balochistan is in the throes of ethnic, sectarian and tribal schisms. There have been targeted killings of Punjabi settlers in Balochistan and for some time teachers and professors are being targeted. Ethnic and Shia-Sunni fracas has shaken the erstwhile ethnic and sectarian harmony, as criminal gangs are stoking ethnic and sectarian divisions. Pashtun political parties have strongly opposed the target killings in Quetta and demanded of the Baloch nationalists to openly condemn these killings and disassociate themselves with the elements responsible for such heinous crimes otherwise they would demand that Pushtun areas be amalgamated with Pakhtunkhwa (NWFP).
In fact, rivaling international eyes, including world powers and regional countries are eyeing Balochistan avariciously to push it into their own orbits of influence and domination. According to political and defence analysts, the US, Russia, India and even Iran are either directly or indirectly widening the ethnic and sectarian schisms in Balochistan and FATA. There are reports that the US and UK are also supporting the centrifugal forces and insurgents. Iran has a large Baloch population on its side of border with Pakistan and the Indian desire of weakening Pakistan by creating independent Balochistan could cost Iran heavily because greater Balochistan plan includes Sistan province of Iran. The public meeting adopted a resolution urging the United Nations to intervene to stop the killing of Baloch people in military operations, detaining of political activists and plunder of Balochistan’s resources. In another resolution, the BNP vowed to effectively use whatever means it deemed fit to achieve the right to self-determination, including creation of ‘a national state for the Baloch people’. Another resolution rejected the Gwadar project, as it will destroy the traditional economy of native fishermen and displace the Baloch population.
If one dispassionately examines the situation prevailing in Balochistan, one would reach the conclusion that on one hand strong center syndrome in the past and on the other hand centrifugal tendencies on the part of some Baloch sardars were responsible for continuous confrontation and crisis in Balochistan. Baloch sardars should also be given their share in income if accrues from the land they own. It is unfortunate that some sardars are not willing to accept less than independence, and they openly talk about secession. But no state worth its name would turn a blind eye to any efforts aimed at disintegrating the country and hold talks with such elements. Those who insist that the government should have talks with them, they should first ask these leaders to wean off from secessionist tendencies. In many countries of the world there are such contradictions that are resolved through talks. The question is why sardars do not
choose the conciliatory path?
Mohammad Jamil
Pakistan Observer
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