VIKASH ANAND
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemned the human rights violations in Balochistan in all party meetings and also mentioned it in his Independence Day speech, Balochs across the world began thanking him and hoped he would continue to support them. With a view to having greater interaction between India and the people of Balochistan, All India Radio has decided to launch broadcasting services in Baloch languages.
In India, the main opposition party, the Congress, finds itself in confusion on whether they should support the Prime Minister’s tougher stand on Pakistan or not. Salman Khurshid, Kapil Sibal and Manish Tewari are critical of Modi’s approach on Balochistan. On the other side, the party`s chief spokesperson, RS Surjewala, supporting the Prime Minister on Balochistan, stated that India should raise the issue of Pakistan Army committing human rights violations in Balochistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on bilateral and multilateral forum.
The root of the atrocities by Pakistan Army goes back to March 27, 1948. Kalat (most of the Balochistan was then known as Kalat), a princely state of Balochistan after independence of nearly seven and half months, lost its freedom to Pakistan as the first Indian Prime Minister denied the King of Kalat`s request to accede Kalat to India. As a result Pakistan attacked Kalat and forcibly occupied it. Kalat`s king (Mir Ahmadyar Khan) had sought help from Nehru and expressed his desire to accede the state to India to avoid Pakistani occupation.
The contradictory stand in the Congress shows the main opposition party is divided on India’s new policy on Balochistan and PoK. Actually, today’s Congress is as confused as Jawaharlal Nehru’s Congress. The present condition of Balochistan is also a result of that confusion.
The root of the atrocities by Pakistan Army goes back to March 27, 1948. Kalat (most of the Balochistan was then known as Kalat), a princely state of Balochistan after independence of nearly seven and half months, lost its freedom to Pakistan as the first Indian Prime Minister denied the King of Kalat`s request to accede Kalat to India. As a result Pakistan attacked Kalat and forcibly occupied it. Kalat`s king (Mir Ahmadyar Khan) had sought help from Nehru and expressed his desire to accede the state to India to avoid Pakistani occupation.
A book titled, Balochis of Pakistan: On the Margins of History, published by a London-based think-tank, The Foreign Policy Center, cited an AIR broadcast on March 27,1948, that VP Menon in a Press conference, stated that the Khan of Kalat had been pressing India to accept Kalat`s accession. When Pakistan forcibly occupied the region, the king, under pressure from Pakistan’s military, denied that he had proposed such a deal to India. And Nehru also denied such a proposal.
Balochistan, under Pakistan`s control, is richer in terms of natural resources and far larger (347,190 km²) than any other Province of Pakistan. But the irony is that Balochistan is the least developed region of Pakistan. The people in the region also face the wrath of the Pakistani establishment. According to Human Rights Watch`s World Report 2015, “The human rights situation in Balochistan remains abysmal. Despite the May 2013 election of a civilian government, the military retains all key decision-making functions in the southwestern province and has blocked efforts by civil society organisations and media to cover ongoing violence there.”
The report further states, “Enforced disappearances of Baloch who are opposing Pakistan`s atrocities linked to the security forces continued with impunity. On March 18, plainclothes gunmen later identified as belonging to Pakistan’s paramilitary Frontier Corps, allegedly abducted Zahid Baloch, chairperson of the Baloch Student Organisation-Azad in the provincial capital, Quetta. Baloch’s whereabouts and safety remained unknown at time of writing.”
Farzana Majeed, a Baloch activist, has painted a similar picture of cruelty and human rights` violation against Baloch people by Pak ruler. Delivering a lecture on ‘Baloch Missing Persons and the Role of State and Society’ in Karachi, he said, “History of disappearances is as old as the history of colonisation of my motherland. It goes back to illegal occupation of Balochistan by British Empire in 1839. But the worst tragic episode of state enforced disappearances in Balochistan began from 1948 onwards. It was when the newly formed state of Pakistan invaded independent Balochistan and forcefully annexed it to its territory.”
He added, “The truth is, increasing number of disappeared Baloch political and human rights activists is a reflection of Baloch resistance against colonialism and occupation. Only and only for this reason, Pakistan has carried out five major military operations in Balochistan since 1948. In each of these catastrophic operations thousands of Baloch people including women and children have been killed and hundreds of thousands more were forced to flee their native towns and villages. Among these victims are those many thousands who disappeared without any trace. The inhumane act of disappearances, target killing and kill and dump of Baloch activists by state functionaries continues.”
The Pakistani establishment`s atrocities are not only being committed against the Baloch people, but are also rampant in Balochistan against the Hindus, the Christians, the Hazaras and the Pashtuns. Balochistan was ruled by a Hindu king before the invasion by the Arabs in 712 AD. Columnist Muhammad Akbar Notezai of the Daily Times writes in ‘The Balochistan Hindus’ dilemma’ that, under the Yar Muhammad Khan (the chief ruler of Kalat State), Hindus were getting their due respect and economic and religious freedom. That is why Hindu did not leave Balochistan during partition.
The columnist expressed shock over the living conditions of Hindus in Balochistan. IANS reported, referring to a Pakistani private channel, that nearly 35 Hindus were killed when the dictatorial rule of General Pervez Musharraf launched an operation against Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, a former Governor of Balochistan chief of the Bugti tribe. The report, disclosing the reason, said Bugti used to keep the Hindus in the proximity of his legendary fort in Dera Bugti to safeguard them from criminal elements.
Increasing atrocities by Pakistan Army on the Baloch people and the rising involvement of China with the help of Pakistan’s Government for exploiting the rich natural resources and strategic location of Balochistan, have forced the Balochs to look towards India with hopeful eyes. Earlier, the Balochs were being labelled by Pakistan Army as agents of Afghanistan and Iran. Now, the Army harasses the Balochs by calling them Hindu (Indian) agents. A report in Caravan (July, 2014) by Mahvish Ahmad, a Pakistani writer, explains the story of atrocities being committed on Baloch people. On the suspicion of a Hindu agent hiding in a remote village of Balochistan named Mai, Pakistan Army shelled the mud houses of the village. Mahvish reported, “It was as if the earth was on fire, and the sky was raining bullets.”
China, under the guise of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project, started intrusions in Balochistan. Under the CPEC, Pakistan surrendered approximately 2,000 acres of land in Balochistan to the Chinese Government for the development of Gwadar port. The port was officially leased to China for 43 years, until 2059. The objective of this port and corridor is to exploit the rich natural resources and with the help of China, to crush brutally the aspiration of the Baloch people. For China, it is also a strategic location to counter Indian influence in the Indian Ocean, Arabian Sea and Central Asia.
In the initial period of its tenure, the Modi Government, under the ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy, tried its best to reach a solution in a friendly manner and gave the message to the world that India wanted to resolve all issues with its hostile neighbour, Pakistan, amicably. But Pakistan has been unable to renounce its old habit. Now, it is the right time to take a tough approach towards Pakistan. The Indian leadership must raise the issue of Pakistani atrocities at every international forum.
(The writer is on the editorial board of Kamal Sandesh)