Balochistan Rejects Deal, And Fights On For Freedom
By Peter Tatchell, human rights campaigner, London UK
The Samosa - 15 December 2009
Baloch nationalist leaders have rejected the latest settlement package proposed by the Pakistani government, on the
grounds that it is inadequate and coincides with increased military repression.
The "Rahe-i- Haqooq Balochistan" deal offers a cessation in military activities, a ban on the
construction of new military camps (although existing ones would remain), the release of most (not all) political
detainees and a payment of $1.4 billion in gas royalties over 12 years.
This sounds not unreasonable on paper but Baloch nationalists complain that the offer does not give the people of
Balochistan control over their own natural resources or a fair price for them. Moreover, of the 4,000 Baloch people who
have disappeared, only a handful have been released since the democratic government was elelected in 2008.
The torture of Baloch rights campaigners remains routine and widespread. Promises of de-militarisation are contradicted
by the on-going military operations, attacks on civilian targets and by the building of more police and military
garrisons, including a 62% increase in police stations and a 100% increase in paramilitary checkpoints.
Baloch human rights groups report that the kidnapping and torture of peaceful, lawful Baloch activists continues
unabated. Indeed, the Pakistani government itself has admited that this year alone at least 1,102 persons have been
disappeared in Balochistan. In recent years, an estimated 80,000 Baloch people have been displaced by Pakistan military
attacks.
These attacks have been aided and abetted by military supplies from the UK, such as
small arms, artillery, helicopter components and military communications equipment. The US has sold the Pakistani
military billions in arms, including F-16 attack aircraft, and Bell and Cobra attack helicopters, which have been used
against the people of Balochistan.
Head of the Marri clan, Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri, and Akhtar Mengal, leader of the Balochistan National Party, himself a
former Chief Minister of Balochistan, have both condemned the federal government's deal outright. Together with other
nationalists, they argue that Islamabad's proposals would not ensure genuine autonomy and self-rule, but continue
Pakistani colonisation of their homeland.
They point out that the 1973 constitution of Pakistan promised complete provinical autonomy for Balochistan within 10
years. It never happened. Democratically elected Baloch Chief Ministers who have tried to defend the interests of the
people of Balochistan have
been dismissed from power by Islamabad. The current Chief Minister, Aslam Raisani, has limited authority and can easily
be overruled by the federal government and by the military top brass if he steps out of line.
If the government in Islamabad has a genuine intention to negotiate a settlement, why has it taken over 18 months to put
forward these proposals and why are these proposals so inadquate and qualified?
The truth is that whatever President Asif Ali Zadari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani want, they are in office but
not in power. They are the front men, the fig leaves, of a Pakistani state that is controlled, behind the scenes, by
more powerful, sinister forces - the Pakistani military and intelligence services. As well as the army, the Intelligence
Bureau (IB), Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) and military Intelligence (MI) are all
implicated in disappearances, torture, detention without trial and extra-judicial killings in Balochistan.
The former dictator and general, Pervez Musharraf, may have been ousted from the presidency in 2008 but his cronies
still hold many of the key levers of power. They call the shots and pull the strings, regardless of what the democratic,
civilian government says and wants.
A recent analysis by Asian Human Rights Commission concluded:
"There had been hopes that following the ousting of Pervez Musharraf, the resulting democratic elections and the
re-instatement of the judiciary, the human rights situation in
the country would improve...(instead we have seen) political wrangling, and the continuing weakening of Pakistan's
civilian institutions and mechanisms of its rule of law. The military operations in Balochistan and North West Frontier
Province have been responsible for the extra-judicial killings of several hundred persons, including women and children.
Disappearances have become a popular way for state intelligence agencies to curb
voices of dissent. A vast civilian challenge is to find the courage to tackle the military owned intelligence agencies."
The failures of Gilani's government to control the Pakistani military is evident by recent outrages by soldiers and the
paramilitary Frontier Constabulary.
In September 2009, Pakistani forces opened indiscriminate fire on a public gathering at Tump High School in Balochistan,
killing 20 year old political activist, Mukhtar Baloch, and wounding 27 others including four women and one six year old
child.
Watch this mobile phone footage of the attack. The shooting begins just over four minutes into the film. In addition,
many Baloch nationalists, including five members of the Balochistan Student Organisation, were arrested and taken to
unknown locations.
A similar Pakistani military assault on a peaceful Baloch rally took place in January this year in Turbat.
A month later, at Dashte Goran, the army attacked a wedding party, killing 13 people including the bride, the groom, six
other members of the family and the wedding officiator. A total of 21 people were injured - the majority of them women
Rasool Bux Mengal, joint secretary of the Baloch National Movement (BNM), was abducted from Uthal in August.
His tortured dead body, slashed and covered in cigarette burns, was found hanging by a tree near Qalandari Hotel,
Lasbela. The intention was clear: to terrorise and intimidate the Baloch people.
Mengal was the second BMN leader murdered this year. In April, the body of Ghulam Mohammad, chair of the Baloch National
Movement, was found partly decomposed in a vat of poisonous chemicals.
Medical students were beaten up and arrested by Pakistani forces in a raid on the Bolan Medical College in October 2009.
The same month, eleven innocent civilans, including women and children, were killed in the Dera Bugti district by
Pakistan army bombardments.
Economic gain is a major driver of the war in Balochistan. According to the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), the
region has vast natural resources - including coal, gas, oil, copper, cobalt, silver and gold - which generate huge
wealth for the Pakistani federal government and the dominant provinces.
But severe poverty and deprivation afflicts most Baloch people. The AHRC's 2009 report states:
"88% of the population of Balochistan is under the poverty line. Balochistan has the lowest literacy rate, the lowest
school enrolment ratio, educational attainment index and health index compared to the other provinces. 78% of the
population has no access to electricity and 79% has no access to natural gas. The federal government's presence is made
apparent not through public welfare activities but through violence and aggression. A large number of military and
paramilitary troops (above 37,000) have been stationed in different parts of the province. State-perpetrated violence
has become a common feature of the political landscape of Balochistan."
The savage violence of the Pakistani miltary and its intransigent opposition to Baloch self-rule are at least partly due
to the fact the armed forces is a major land-owner in Balochistan and many of its most senior officers have extensive
investments and business interests there. They are deeply implicated in the theft of resources and the consequent
improverishment of the Baloch people.
Money and militarism is a fatal combination for Balochistan. Using the pretext of "fighting terrorism" and "maintaining
security," the generals get their way militarily, economically and politically. They are the real power in Pakistan, not
the elected government.
Undeterred, the Baloch people vow to continue their fight for freedom. Ever since Pakistan
invaded and occupied their country in 1948, they have never given up the hope of once again being a free and independent
nation.
They have survived five wars of attempted annihilation in the last six decades. If tiny East Timor can win its freedom
against the might of the Indonesian military, why can't Balochistan triumph over Pakistan?
The Samosa is a new current affairs online magazine, with a focus on South Asia, the Middle East and the Indian and
Pakistani diaspora. Independent and non-sectarian, it seeks to facilitate new journalism on the themes of human rights
and equality: http://www.thesamosa.co.uk/
ENDS