Francesca Marino - Balochistan: Bruised, Battered and Bloodied

BALOCHISTAN

BALOCHISTAN

Bruised, Battered and Bloodied

Francesca Marino

BLOOMSBURY INDIA

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This edition published in 2020

Copyright Francesca Marino 2020

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ISBN: PB: 978-9-3898-6763-3; eBook: 978-9-3898-6765-7

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To my father

Those who live in fear die every day, the fearless die just once.

Paolo Borsellino, the judge who was killed by the Mafia in 1992

CONTENTS

Foreword by Husain Haqqani

Introduction

HISTORY AND THE PAST

A bit of historical background

Forced annexation to Pakistan and Jinnahs betrayal

Revolts between 1940 and 1960

The London Group and the 1970s fight

Nuclear tests

Musharraf s time and the beginning of the present revolt

A return to arms

THE PRESENT

Of old and new militancy

Kill and dump and other atrocities

Missing persons and the Long March

Mass graves and torture

The ghost of liberty

A Bangladesh in fieri

Of women and womens rights

NEOCOLONIALISM AND THE NEW SILK ROAD

Tale of two countries: Sistan-Balochistan

The China-Pakistan economic corridor

Neocolonialism and neo-Dompas

Jihadis, strategic assets and ethnic cleasing

Free Balochistan campaigns and Chinas handMehran Marris case

Conclusion

Endnotes

About the Author

FOREWORD

Like the Kurds in the Middle East, the Baloch people aspire for autonomy and independence while their traditional homeland remains part of several countries. Currently, eight million Baloch live across the south-east of the Iranian Plateau, ruled by Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Their aspirations remain unrealised even though active Baloch insurgencies have existed for years in both Pakistan-controlled and Iran-controlled Balochistan. Pakistans Balochistan province comprises the largest segment of traditional Baloch territory and is also home to most of the Baloch people.

Successive governments in Pakistan have deployed force against the Baloch since the March 1948 annexation of the princely state of Kalat. Pakistan considers Balochistan as an integral part of its territory and claims that the Khan of Kalat voluntarily acceded his domain to Pakistan.

The Khans successors and other Baloch people dispute that. They point to Pakistans military action that forcibly included an otherwise semi-autonomous state into the newly created Islamic country of South Asia.

Globally, there is little appetite for changing colonial borders and the periodic Baloch insurgencies, since 1948, have failed to attract international attention for Baloch demands. On the other hand, the iron hand of Pakistans military has failed to vanquish the historically independent people to give up their aspiration for freedom.

The middle path of autonomy within a federal Pakistan has been discussed between Islamabad and Baloch leaders several times, usually to end a particular round of insurgency. But the Baloch feel that Pakistans leaders covet their regions natural resources too much to be willing to concede constitutionally guaranteed autonomy.

A few years ago, Pakistans then federal minister for Ports and Shipping, Mir Hasil Bizenjo, acknowledged that if a referendum were held in Balochistan today, the militants would win. However, he added that there would be no referendum, implying that the status quo would prevail through force. Bizenjo is himself a Baloch nationalist and reflects the disillusionment of those who are unwilling to fight against superior force but also know the frustration of the people.

The life of another Baloch leader, Nawab Akbar Bugti (19272006), reflects the troubled relationship between the militarised central government of Pakistan and the Baloch people living in Balochistan province. In 1948, Bugti had met Pakistans founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, and supported Balochistan joining Pakistan, based on promises of autonomy and inclusion.

Fifty-eight years later, in August 2006, Bugti was killed as a rebel and a traitor by the armed forces of Pakistan on direct orders of military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf. In between, Bugti served in Pakistans federal cabinet and as the Governor and the Chief Minister of Balochistan.

Pakistanis seldom reflect on how a man who embraced the idea of Pakistan soon after independence and served at the highest levels of government ended up being a rebel to the Pakistani state. Pakistan has still not learnt the lesson from the transformation of erstwhile East Pakistan into Bangladesh in 1971. There are limits to the role of military power in building a nation or keeping a country together.

Pakistans history is replete with mishandling of various ethnicities and nationalities. Pashtun leaders, such as Bacha Khan, Abdul Samad Achakzai and Khan Abdul Wali Khan, Bengali leaders, such as A.K. Fazlul Huq, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, as well as Sindhi and Muhajir leaders were labelled as traitors when they disagreed with the overly centralised Pakistani state and advocated alternative policies than those embraced by Pakistans post-British establishment.

The Baloch and the East Pakistani Bengalis were among the first to disagree with the West Pakistani security establishment. After military resistance to inclusion in Pakistan failed, the Baloch have sporadically fought, since the 1970s, for independence or more autonomy within Pakistan. Their struggle has been brutally suppressed by the Pakistani state.

Although Balochistan is geographically the largest of Pakistans four provinces, but it is the least developed. Pakistan is urbanising quickly with 40 per cent urbanisation, but 75 per cent of Balochistans population remains rural. Pakistans overall literacy rate is 57 per cent (69 per cent for males and 45 per cent for females) but in Balochistan, it is 26.6 per cent (only 15 per cent for females).

While only 22 per cent of Pakistans population lives below the poverty line, half of Balochistans population lives below poverty line. Poverty levels in Balochistan are twice that of Pakistans Punjab region, which is home to most of the countrys power brokers, civil servants and military officers.