The Plight of Baluchistan and Baluchi People

The Plight of Baluchistan and Baluchi people

Baluchistan is the most breathtakingly beautiful but equally bitter province of Pakistan. Bleeding at the hands of ruthless separatists, ethnically targeted killings and with thousands of people gone missing, life in Baluchistan is that of fear, violence and a blatant abuse of human rights. The Province which is larger than Germany and covers more than 44% of Pakistan has huge deposits of gold, copper, coal, lead and other natural resources.

It offers the most spectacular landscape of a tall, hazy brown mountain range, against gray skies with a peculiar chill. The social repression is further compounded by the stark levels of poverty, economic suffering and a consistent lack of opportunities to secure livelihoods. Contrary to the enriched mineral and natural resources that Baluchistan has, its population seems completely denied of that wealth, doomed to go further down the drain. The Province has the highest prevalence of rural poverty in Pakistan (at 70%) and according to UN’s human development index, 10 out of the 20 lowest ranking Districts in Pakistan are from Baluchistan. These are the places where 91% of the population lives. To add to this depressing list of statistics, let me quote the World Food Programme, which has declared that 13 most under fed Districts of Pakistan are that of Baluchistan. So ugly is the reality, which is a result of decades of political exploitation and injustices for the control of resources, economic deprivation and lack of a peoples approach to development.

The plight of education in Baluchistan is even worse than what one can imagine or is encountering in other parts of the country. Extremely beautiful and innocent young children, are seen everywhere except in schools as more than 59% children of school going age do not have any access to schooling. Firstly there are no schools and if they are, they are not enough for everyone. Cows, sheep and all sorts of herds of cattle have comfortably made themselves at home.

The terrain is extremely scattered and there are no adequate transportation networks but, travelling within Baluchistan is a fantasy. Female literacy is only as low as 14% yet women are fairly active in public life in the provincial capital of Quetta, but as one moves to the scattered interior of Baluchistan, mind boggling state of women becomes disturbingly obvious. The female child has been completed missed out and practically denied everything starting with adequate food to school and to being given a medical care, even in times of dire need.

Why did we ever think that these people would be different from the rest of the world? These are the children who have a painful history, a legacy of prejudice and are reaping the poisonous fruits of a bitter war. They are brave survivors today but are bound to become unforgiving fighters tomorrow, if they are not engaged in a peaceful process of mainstreaming, through the provision of equal educational, social and economic opportunities. Their world view has to be opened up and expanded over a horizon which reflects the ideals of peace, social justice, equality and above all integrity.

The time to act is now because the unrest of the people of Baluchistan has escalated to a point of no return. They are fuelled with hatred, anger and frustration towards the federation, other Provinces particularly Punjab and towards Pakistan itself.

The grievances of Baluch population, particularly Sardars and tribal elders are not unjustified. They are valid and most of it is owed to the selfishness of ruling elite in Baluchistan which supported tyranny, anti-people policies and approved of military’s power brokering role in the province. There have been years rather decades of political exploitation over natural resources, covert intelligence operations, extra judicial killings and abductions which to date are unaccounted for. The ISI’s approach to divide and rule the Baloch has completely alienated this population from the state and society of Pakistan. Islamabad’s policy has always been to subtract the Baluch from Baluchistan and this approach has been extremely dangerous and detrimental to the cause of development.

Also, the missing persons issue is highly critical and needs to be resolved. One hopes from the incumbent Chief Justice of Pakistan who was re-instated as a result of peoples backed street movement to take firm action. The hesitation probably is due to the involvement of intelligence agencies in virtually selling these people, but then that is an open secret in Pakistan. There have been a series of heart breaking protest rallies in Quetta by relatives of people gone missing, which make one question the existence and integrity of the legal system which fails to come to the comfort and legal aid of these grieving families.

Pakistan’s current Government and among the very few things it is struggling to get right is to resolve the long standing issues of Baluchistan. Whether it was the revised formula for distribution of the National Finance Commission Award, or the Baluchistan package followed by the constitutional reforms which provide much demanded independence and autonomy to the Provinces, the process for resolving the conflicts and tensions dominating Baluchistan has started.

The strategy adopted by Government and its indented outcomes are quite debatable, because Baluchistan package has not practically yielded anything concrete as yet, but there is some hope and optimism for a less painful future. In 2008, the People’s Party leadership had offered a public apology against the ‘atrocities and injustices’ committed against the people of Baluchistan. Even if the political will was there, there has been not much follow-up.

Amidst all fiscal, militancy and security challenges that Pakistan is dealing with, Baluchistan should not be allowed to disappear from our radar. The issues here were not created overnight and cannot be resolved in the short term. That being said, a sustained focus is needed because there is immense potential and Baluchistan can offer such a promising future for the rest of the country.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=1203

Posted by Momina Khan on Oct 22 2011. Filed under Opinion, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry