Lost identity

Pakistan has to sort out Baloch grievances for is own good

The Baloch were reluctant members of the new Pakistan Union in 1947. In fact they had declared themselves independent on August 5 that year and Mohammed Ali Jinnah, who was the Legal Counsel to the Khan of Kalat, had agreed to this arrangement. Subterfuge and coercion followed and the Balochis were dragged, kicking and screaming, to the altar.

Historians in Pakistan have naturally fudged accounts of the events leading to Balochistan’s acquiescence to Pakistan, but the Baloch never considered themselves to be a part of India under the British. So when the British left in 1947, the Baloch felt they were free to go their own way. For them the departure of the British meant a return to the pre-1839 days when the Khan of Kalat owed no allegiance to any one in India.

Perhaps the Baloch relied too heavily on the 1940 Lahore Resolution which spoke of providing adequate, effective, and mandatory safeguards for the protection of their religious, cultural, economic, political, administrative and other rights and interests. Obviously the Baloch, naïve as they were, had misread this. The reference to sovereign and autonomous constituents of the new country in the Resolution was not meant for the Balochis, or Sindhis, then or now.

The new rulers of Karachi, sufficiently tutored in the ways of their former Imperial Masters, began to nibble away at Baloch territory while the negotiations to cajole/coerce the Khan were still on. (He was made to sign the Instrument of Accession in April 1948). Makran was sliced off preemptively from Kalat, some other areas like Kharan and Las Bela were similarly parceled off to neighbouring provinces for early merger with Pakistan. This province had to be cut to size. Disillusionment was quickly expressed in a minor revolt in 1948 and with no improvement in the situation, again in 1958. The seeds of mutual suspicion had taken root at the time of birth of Pakistan.

The Pakistani establishment had begun quite early in the day to try and change the demography of Balochistan by inducting Punjabi settlers. Radicalisation of the Baloch youth along Marxist lines followed. Youth from the three main tribes, the Marris, the Mengals and the Bugtis, led by Sher Mohammed Marri, first launched armed campaigns against the authorities between 1963-69 but these were sporadic.

The second campaign (1973-77) was well-organised but brutally suppressed by the Pakistanis. The Shah of Iran, well equipped with sophisticated American hardware, helped his friend Zulfiqar Bhutto with Huey Cobra gunships and even Iranian pilots. The Pak Air Force brought in their F-86 Sabres and the French Mirages to counter the rebellion. About 5000 Baloch rebels and 3000 Pak soldiers died in hundreds of encounters.

For some years now Balochistan has been simmering and threatening to boil over. Some Baloch nationalists have been saying that the Fifth Baloch War began in January 2005. House to house searches by the regular Army supported by the hated Frontier Corps militia, accompanied by tanks, APCs, artillery helicopters and drones were looking for those alleged to have been involved in the attack on the Sui gas plant earlier the same month. Among those hunted were the Nawab Akbar Bugti’s son, Jamil Bugti and grandson, Burhamdagh Bugti.

Massive arrests and reprisals have followed all over the province. Despite this, violence has continued. Gas supplies have been interrupted, sometimes for days; rail tracks blown up at different places. There have been attacks on Frontier Corps constabulary and even the Army has been targeted. In the last one and half years there have been more than 1500 rocket attacks and more than a hundred bomb attacks. Later in March this year there was a massive stand-off when Bugti tribesmen surrounded the Army.

Pakistan’s largest province with the smallest population, lowest literacy and poorest economic development indices, is also the richest in resources. Today, the leaders of the 1973-77 insurrection, Sardar Ataullah Khan Mengal, Nawab Khair Bux Marri and Nawab Akbar Bugti, assert that Islamabad and the Punjabi Army continues to exploit Balochistan.

Discrimination is seen in many other ways also. The one long abiding allegation against Islamabad has been that the Baloch get no benefit from the natural resources – oil, gas, copper, gold and uranium --of their province. They say these assets, particularly Sui gas, which meets 70% of the country’s needs, belong to them and they should have a deciding vote in how the revenue is to be shared. Ironically, Quetta was the last major city of Pakistan to get gas.

Balochistan’s vast coastline and the ports of Gwadar and Pasni provide strategic advantage to Pakistan, especially Gwadar at the mouth of the Gulf of Oman and as an alternative to the Iranian port of Chahbahar. Gwadar, when developed could be the port of entry for goods for the Central Asian states. It will also be the exit point of the gas pipeline from Turkmenistan passing through Afghanistan and a naval base for the Chinese who are helping to develop it. An airbase with US Centcom assistance is being built at Pasni.

The Baloch fear Islamabad is developing Gwadar by importing Pashtun and Punjabi labour and resettling ex-servicemen, considered loyal to Islamabad around the port. Local Balochis have been displaced from their ancestral homes and the Hindus sent to Sindh. Gwadar could one day become another Karachi with a similar population (about 14 million), then the Baloch (6 million) will become a minority in their own province. This is in addition to the pressure after the arrival of Afghan Pukhtoons since the anti-Soviet jehad bringing with them their Taliban mindset. Quetta is no longer a Baloch city.

The Baloch also see plans to establish three new military cantonments in Gwadar, Dera Bugti and Kohlu as another device to keep them under control and in the process divest the locals of land and give it, once again, to outsiders. They would resist any such move.

There are other grievances. Baloch agriculture has been in a sorry state for years now. The Baloch, like the Sindhis, fear that plans to construct dams at Kalabagh or the Thal Canal, will deprive them of even more water. Both Kalabagh and Thal will benefit the Punjabis.

Pakistan, as usual blames outsiders for the turmoil in Balochistan This time, however, the suspect list also includes Iran. On the other hand, Iranians suspect Pakistan has helped USA acquire military presence in Afghanistan, including that close to the Iranian border, and Central Asia. They are they are convinced that this, including their presence in Pakistan, is directed against them. There have also been reports that anti-Iranian groups like the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq operating against Iran from southern Iraq had been allowed to shift to Balochistan.

The USA has other interests in Balochistan. About 30 % of the oil and gas interests in the province are controlled by American companies. Naturally, they would want to protect their investments and personnel. Growing Chinese presence in Gwadar, so close to American interests in the Persian Gulf is another worry. Some Baloch already see this developing as the Baloch Chapter of the New Great Game and even say that the USA may essentially be interested in securing Balochistan rather that the rest of Pakistan.

While China, Iran and the USA may play their Great Game in Balochistan, Pakistan has to try and sort out Baloch grievances before they engulf Pakistan. Instead, it is being sucked into an End-Game where it does not quite know the rules.

Source : Hindustan times 18th April 2005