Sardar Akhtar Mengal believes his six point formula submitted before the Supreme Court (SC) will bring about resolution of major issues in the province. However equating his charter with Sheikh Mujeebur Rahman’s six-points is deliberately stated for shock effect, it is very misleading. Mujeeb’s six points all but demanded independence from Pakistan, and eventually did result in its violent dismemberment. Even though Mengal’s six-points contain nothing against the Constitution of Pakistan, yet they do hint at separation by force. Democratic dispensation in Pakistan notwithstanding, has democracy ever been permitted in Balochistan? The Sardars and Chiefs rule over the population with an iron hand, the people being exploited and discriminated by them. The Sardari system responsible for the people’s backwardness has been perpetuated in collaboration with successive military and civilian governments through deliberate policies of neglect and discrimination, conveniently facilitating the exploitation of the people by leaving them at the mercy of Sardars.
This somewhat symbiotic relationship developed with the common man on the receiving end, the lack of socio-economic uplift of the people working to the benefit of the Sardars, keeping the people in a perpetual state of ignorance and backwardness. Trapped in poverty and underdevelopment Balochistan is the least developed and most backward province in Pakistan, the peoples’ woes multiplied with the additional economic, social and human costs of military operations bringing more destruction and intensifying feelings of alienation. Nawab Akbar Bugti was revered but also greatly feared by his people. A complex and contradictory personality, Bugti was a typical feudal lord with an authoritarian and self-confessed criminal bent of mind. As Governor of Balochistan, he instigated Bhutto to launch the military action in 1973 primarily against his arch rivals, the Marris and Mengals, this is an inconvenient truth. No one can have any satisfaction that Akbar Bugti died in a cave but he had gone beyond the pale by openly taking up arms against the state. Why do we conveniently forget the TV images of Sardar Sahib leaving Dera Bugti on a camel brandishing an automatic weapon?
After Akbar Bugti’s death in 2006 a propaganda was started against the Army that he was deliberately killed. People forget five Army officers died in the cave with Bugti. Gen. Kayani recently confirmed that when the officers went inside to negotiate on Bugti’s request he triggered an explosive device killing himself and the army officers. If indeed the army really wanted him dead, a single missile into the cave would have sufficed. How he could have died along with other Bugtis in a Marri area (Tantri) without any Marri protection whereas tribal custom warranted a Marri escort in their area? Did the Marris still embittered by Akbar Bugti’s instigating the 1973 military operation against them, expose his hiding place to the Army? Musharraf is culpable for acting on very bad advice from within the Army to subordinate the Frontier Corps para-military functions to the Army specifically to corner Bugti, has anyone in the higher command been held accountable for this blunder? The real problem are the waderas and feudals whose main agenda is to keep the Baloch population illiterate and dumb so they remain ignorant of their rights and thus unable to protest. Whenever schools are built, why are they encroached or destroyed? Why are roads connecting the rural population with the urban not allowed to be built?
How much of the money from the sale of resources like natural gas given to the feudals is ever shared with the poor Baloch? These hereditary lords thrive on resources taken from the Federation, is there any single primary or secondary school, vocational training centre, college, basic health centre, or hospital built in Balochistan by them? Their subjects remained un-educated, to prevent them from coming into contact with modernity they are not even allowed outside their tribal belts. Why do feudals need their own private jails if not to punish their own people? Mengal conveniently avoids talking about all this as well as the endemic poverty because the Sardars, him included, enriched themselves at the expense of the Baloch people. The convenient amnesia extends to Mekran, Kharan and Nushk, totally controlled by the Sardars, being least developed because of their total clout there. Without the stakeholders becoming involved, Balochistan cannot become self-sustaining and truly independent despite its natural resources. Have we ever analyzed why Sardars frustrate the “Local Bodies” election in the Province to avoid empowering the people?
Nothing much of substance is in Mengal’s six-points. No military operations is going on presently, how does one stop it? Operating under orders of the provincial government, the paramilitary force Frontier Corps (FC) does the odd action against militants and terrorists. Mengal’s charter demands abolition of death squads who, he claims, operate under supervision of intelligence agencies. It is blatant and sheer hypocrisy for him to remain deaf, dumb and blind to choose not to speak about the very real death squads that are killing ‘settlers’ (non-Balochi) in the province i.e. Punjabis, Sindhis, Pushtoons, Hazarajats and Urdu-speaking people. Thousands have died in “ethnic cleansing” targeting long-time settlers, especially from the Punjab, large number fleeing the province to avoid being hunted down and killed by Baloch militant groups. Shame on those leaders who smilingly stood next to Mengal and did not have the courage to mention them either!
Very able political leaders jumped the bandwagon to express solidarity with Akhtar Mengal while endorsing his six points. Sympathy for the Baloch cause, or are only scoring political points for the next elections? Sheikh Mujeeb kept insisting his “six-point formula” was not aimed at dismemberment of the country – look what happened. Gen Musharraf recently stated that our Bengali brethren representing 52% of the population had a cause, the 4% Baloch (Pushto-speaking included) far less so. In his recent article “Sardar’s Preserve”, AB Shahid writes, “Sardar Akhtar Mengal is re-writing history by saying that right from 1947, Balochis (to him, only Mengals, Marris and Bugtis) didn’t want to join Pakistan, consent to accede was obtained from “artificially” created Sardars (by Muslim League under Jinnah), but Khan of Qalat finds no mention in his disclosures”. Incidentally more than 40% of the population of Balochistan are Pushto-speaking, anyone remember them?
The issues and grievances bedeviling the populace need to be resolved as the province is now on boiling point. Lack of political will has been complicated by ham-handedness by the security establishment, adding to the inferno and hindering conflict resolution. An adverse perception is only playing into the hands of nationalists and militant groups spreading death, destruction and fear in the hearts of the populace. If the situation remains volatile the extremists will continue to prosper. The Baloch would make the mistake of the century if they follow the lead of the Sardars in any possible conflict with the Federation. What the masses of Balochistan (all ethnic races included) need is stability to concentrate on productive efforts to lift them well above the poverty line. Balochistan’s natural resource sector has the potential to create massive employment opportunities. The only way to really help the people is by empowering them locally first, that cannot be done without emasculating if not ridding the Province of the Sardari system.
