SHEHZAD BALOCH
On August 15, 2016, India commemorated her 70th Independence Day at Red fort Delhi, where the Prime Minister of the world largest democratic country, Narendra Modi, delivered one of his most famous speeches in which he first time openly mentioned ‘Balochistan’. It signalled that India would take the cognizance of the atrocities that Pakistan has been committing on the Baloch people. It is widely believed that the Modi Government has marked the beginning of a major foreign policy shift in Indian politics.
Markedly, that speech turned the course of politics of South Asia towards Balochistan, where Bangladesh and Afghanistan soon followed suit. This stand has made millions hear and learn about the Balochistan dilemma since its forcible occupation by Pakistan.
Modi’s moral backing to the Balochs has raised expectations. We are waiting to see how India formulates her foreign policy in favour of the Baloch freedom struggle. Keeping in view the parameters of the Baloch national cause, Balochistan expects the world will support the long-lasting Baloch freedom struggle, which is for the restoration of Balochistan’s lost sovereignty as an independent state.
The question is still in the minds of the people around the world that, on which regional and international forum India would raise the genuine question of Balochistan’s independence, for which the Baloch people knocked every door of civil society and human rights organisations and influential countries. The most prominent efforts among them are two the long marches held by Voice of Baloch Missing Person (VOBMP) from Quetta to Islamabad followed by another long march from the German city of Dusseldorf to Berlin arranged by Baloch leader Hairbyar Murri on the platform of Free Balochistan Movement.
But the question that still seeks an answer is: Will Baloch diplomacy succeed in gaining the attention of a country with 1.25 billion people? This is because the suppressed voice of the Balochs has been raised only on moral grounds (human rights violation), which is indeed a major issue for south Asian nations. But merely mentioning the sufferings of the Baloch on humanitarian ground isn’t all that the people of Balochistan are expecting.
The Indian stand under Prime Minister Modi needs more firm ground. It must penetrate deep into the issue of the Baloch people. Pakistan says that Balochistan is peaceful and that Balochs are with them. If this is the case, who then is committing the genocide of the Baloch people? Let us put Pakistan on trial. It has been hoodwinking the world by saying that the Balochs are with the federation and struggling for more resources and provincial autonomy. But if that’s the case, why has the Pakistan Army and agencies never certain Baloch political parties like the National Party, BNP Mengal and Awami? The ‘carrot policy’, is being pursued by the Pakistan Army for them. This is despite the fact that all these parties secured just three per cent of the votes during the bogus election of 2013. But the ‘stick policy’ has been imposed on the remaining 97 per cent of Balochs who didn’t vote for them. In fact, the non-vote is a referendum that Balochistan is not part of Pakistan and that the Baloch people do not want to live under the confederation of the occupier.
Balochistan has been turned into a military garrison. Thousands of Balochs are missing and hundreds of them have been killed and dumped. Several mass graves were recovered from Tutak Khuzdar. This is proof that the Baloch issue is not only based on human rights but also an ideological one – which is the restoration of Balochistan’s sovereignty.
Indian moral support to the Baloch people no doubt heralds a new era for the decades-old suppressed Baloch people, but Balochistan is also expecting India to go beyond political and diplomatic support.
Modi’s moral backing to the Balochs has raised expectations. We are waiting to see how India formulates her foreign policy in favour of the Baloch freedom struggle. Keeping in view the parameters of the Baloch national cause, Balochistan expects the world will support the long-lasting Baloch freedom struggle, which is for the restoration of Balochistan’s lost sovereignty as an independent state.
The implications of Prime Minister Modi’s support to the Baloch cause will be felt equally by both India and Balochistan. Pakistan will increase its terror activities in Kashmir and Afghanistan and redouble its atrocities in occupied Balochistan. At international forums, it is hoped that India will present the genuine narrative of the Balochs.