Boluchistan want? rights/freedom (Muhammad Shahid Imran)

Balochistan wants……..Rights or Freedom?

Balochistan has lowest living and health standard in the country, it wants respect, schools, hospitals and food.

Rights of biggest province Balochistan is subject of many since Pakistan got freedom. After the death of bugti tribe leader Nawab Akbar bugti in a military operation many baloch re-evaluate their loyalty with federal Govt. Veteran nationalist leader Sardar Ataullah Mengal believes that the Baloch has reached the point of no return that they consider the slow unfolding of large-scale killings justification enough for going their separate way. This is not in the hands of Islamabad to stop this war. Glumness is on its extreme in Balochistan. When you talk about the rights of Baloch people it looks like a joke and sorry to say Baloch people are not to have such jokes daily. It is true that there is no rationale of what the Baloch youngster thinking for future but Pakistani govt. is responsible for that kind of thinking.

Courts daily insist for missing persons but no one gives ear to that, and has continued the game of mutilated bodies and disappearances.

We must realize that Baloch need respect, not only the development. They are ready to live with us even without development if we only give them respect. It is our national and moral obligation, however to give them both respect and development. Hamid mir host of capital talk said that mega projects worth billions of rupees were launched under the Musharraf administration but they were also accompanied by proposals to establish military cantonments at Khuzdar, Gwadar, Dera Bugti and Kohlu. While they were probably meant to protect the projects underway in `enemy zones, the impression created was that development was to be achieved at gunpoint. We humiliated our Baloch brothers in the name of “Aghaze- Haqooq-e-Balochistan.” We claimed to give rights to Baloch under the so-called package but Baloch leaders rejected it on the grounds that the government had not even mentioned a date for the cessation of military operations or the recovery of `missing` persons. True, the package addressed some of the genuine grievances of the province but how good it could be that when the Baloch continued to pick up the mutilated and bullet riddled bodies of their compatriots?

Balochistan has extreme diversity among tribes and different other non-Baloch nations. A hazara youngster studying at NCA Lahore when asked about situation of Balochistan said: it is in the hands of Pakistani intelligence agencies whether they want peace in Balochistan or not. Hazara’s are mostly peaceful people but agencies set us on war with Baloch. They paste hatred publications on our walls signed by Baloch leaders but we know that they do the same with Baloch people.

“I am not afraid of dead bodies now I am used to it , daily we see our relatives return home in coffins,  bullets in their head. My brother and school friend was shot dead. There was enforced disappearances in Balochistan agencies work with the slogan of “we can torture, kill or keep you for years” As hazara are shias so they are targeted also because of their sect. we want only rights, rights to live free, rights to live with respect, we do not want to live at a distance with Pakistan but some Baloch leaders who do not represent the whole Balochistan wish to do what they want in Balochistan. They are supported by many stake holders; some assisted by Indian, Russian and American agencies, some by Pakistani agencies that harm only common people as leaders got their share in advance.”

Balochistan has undergone longtime army operations to maintain peace and fight with insurgency. Fahid hussain a known Pakistani journalist argued that the military high command has to change its approach. Blame cannot be heaped on the military or FC alone. If the FC and the security agencies are spilling blood – and lots of it – they are not the only one. The BLA and others have also done their share of killing and murders. But the tit-for-tat has got so bad, and so ugly, and so gruesome, that it is very easy to lose sight of the bigger picture. What is required now is a game-changing approach which enables every stakeholder to step back from the brink, and start talking.

He said “the FC and the military will therefore need to cut back on the heavy-handed approach, release political prisoners and reduce their visible footprint on the Balochistan landscape. Call it a confidence building measure. In return, the moderate Baloch leadership will have enough grounds to start a meaningful dialogue. The extreme fringe among the Baloch may still remain on the fringe, but that’s a cost that can be borne. More importantly, this will signal a sincere intent to find a workable solution.”

On February 17, 2012, US House of Representatives tabled a bill which called upon Pakistan to recognize the right of self-determination for Balochistan. The bill was introduced by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher who indirectly tried to make an effort of materializing earlier set CIA agenda of “Greater Balochistan” which comprises of territory of Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan and alleged Pakistani security forces for violence and extrajudicial killing. United States, along with the EU, needs to move fast to do at least three things, Moen pirzada says:

First, it needs to develop a communication strategy to assure Pakistanis that it respects Pakistan’s territorial sovereignty and believes in it.

Second, it must quietly pressurize Islamabad, behind the scenes, to understand the urgency of political solutions in Balochistan and even Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Third, it must impress upon the Baloch insurgent leaders that they need to end the violence against other ethnicities and state structures and be prepared to sit on negotiation table to find a solution within the constitutional framework of Pakistan. This won’t happen unless the US puts a firm end to their dreams of a “Dubai Solution” or dreams of a “Greater Balochistan” being inspired by the likes of Ralph Peters and Dana Rohrabacher. This is a time for reflection and sensible decision making.

Killing and arresting of angry baloch sardars is another major cause to give birth to insurgency. Negotiation at gunpoint can only result a further few more fighters. According to haribyar muree Balochistan was not the part of Pakistan we are occupied territory, they said you are anti Islamic and anti Pakistan, how we are anti Pakistan as we are occupied not the part of it. We are not nationalist but the patriot of Balochistan; we want to work for Balochistan people.

“It is true; in past we are part of govt. but Islamabad exploits our rights and humiliates us. Balochistan Liberation Army is working for Balochistan and we will defend it till it is operational for independent Balochistan. Why force us to become Pakistanis by taking our land and its riches, this is why we fight with authorities and those working for them.”

It is now time for Islamabad to realize the injustice with baloch people. Auria Maqbool jan leading Pakistani columnist believes that Balochistan situation is out of control now, Islamabad and Baloch both know that Balochistan is nothing without Pakistan and that was the point on which we are exploiting their rights. If we give our total revenue to Baloch people they would be less happy than giving them respect and honor. Baloch are not anti Islamic they are more pro-Islamic than any other in Pakistan. They can live hungry but not with out respect, so if one is serious to give them rights, give them respect first.
Teachers, professors, and school administrators have found their lives increasingly under threat in Balochistan. Between January 2008 and October 2010, suspected militant groups or agencies targeted and killed at least 22 teachers and other education personnel in the province. The Human Rights Watch laments that the most affected ethnic group currently is the Baloch because it is they who are losing teachers. It is their children whose education is affected, and it is their future that is at stake.

A blame game could result in nothing; all stake holders have equal part in worsen the situation. When asked an ex- bureaucrat on situation he said that everyone asks about no education in Balochistan but why do not quest Baloch separators, why BLA is killing teachers and doctors? Why non Baloch families especially Punjabis and hazara’s targeted by BLA, BLF and BRA? Why 100,000 families migrated from Balochistan forcefully? You must have to visit the developed areas near cantonments and the underdeveloped areas where Baloch separators rule; they resist development with their full powers.

Over the past 10 years, the Pakistan’s powerful establishment has launched a systematic and widespread campaign to subjugate the ethnic Baloch population. Thousands of cases of killings, torture, enforced disappearance and forced displacement have been documented by Amnesty International, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and Human Rights Watch.

It must also be stated that there is no military solution to Balochistan. The solution to Balochistan lies in rapidly developing it and educating its people – regardless of what ethnicity they are. Jamhori Watan Party leader Shahzain Bugti said that if Govt. is interested peace talks with baloch leaders, it should be arrested General (r) Pervez Musharraf in the Akbar Bugti murder case; military operation should be stopped and all forces should be withdrawn from Balochistan; controversial security posts should be abolished from Balochistan; the killing of innocent people should end; 13,000 missing persons of Balochistan should be traced; the role of intelligence agencies in Balochistan should come to an end, any Baloch being prevented from returning to their homes by intelligence agencies should be allowed to go back, and the responsible officials of intelligence agencies who carried out the attack on Chief of Baloch Republican Party Barahmdagh Bugti’s sister and niece on January 31 in Karachi should be arrested.

The media needs to initiate debate on the suppression of rights of Baloch with a view to doing away with their genuine grievances, Mustafa Nazir editor The News argued. He said media should also highlight how provincial autonomy is crucial to smooth functioning of a federation like Pakistan. The role of the Upper House of parliament or the Senate also needs to establish since it better takes into account concerns of all the federating units of Pakistan. Balochistan situation could be calm down by closing down some of the military cantonments, releasing Baloch freedom fighters, giving Balochistan more representation in federal jobs, access to natural resources over their land and most importantly by empowering the Senate.
The cause of negative sentiment in Balochistan, however, is not limited to economic deprivation. It is also ignited by the general sentiment amongst the Baloch people that their human rights, cultural rights, and social rights are violated, and they are not in a position to make decisions about their own destiny. Federal Govt. should reconsider its policies on rights of balochistan, if it really wants peace in region.