Armin Baluch January 11 at 3:30am Reply • Report


Judiciary, Parliament Silent on Baloch Issues: Senator (R) Sanaullah Baloch. Every Baloch stakeholder to come closer for the higher cause of Baloch.

Former Senator Sanaullah Baloch is among several top Balcoh nationalist leaders who have fled Balochistan because of increasing targeted killings of Baloch leaders and political activists. A former secretary information of Balochistan National Party (BNP), Mr. Baloch is widely respected as an argumentative champion of Baloch national rights through newspaper articles, interviews and presentations at national and international conferences.

In an exclusive interview with Sanaullah Baloch, Viewpoint spoke about the Balochistan imbroglio and possibilities of rapprochement with Islamabad. Excerpts:

How would you evaluate year 2010 for Balochistan?

The situation in Balochistan has been disconcerting since 2001. But the last three years have been very painful for Balochistan’s politics, economy and society. Violation of human rights has reached its nadir in the province. The year 2010 was the darkest and the worst year of the outgoing decade for Balochistan because more political workers went missing and were subsequently killed. Federal security forces converted Balochistan into a semi-cantonment and curtailed all basic human liberties and rights.

Who is responsible for this situation, Islamabad or Quetta?

Actually, the onus lies on the federal government. I would specially hold the Establishment, which comprises of the military, bureaucracy and policymakers, responsible for maintaining a pugnacious approach towards Balochistan. Their policy is not much different from colonial policies. They want to control Balochistan politically, economically and socially.

In order to control the society and politics of Balochistan, Islamabad has unleashed a policy of divide and rule under which it is pampering some pro-Establishment sardars, nawabs and criminal groups. The prevailing state of poverty, lawlessness, anarchy and disappointment is in fact the fallout of federal government’s deliberate policy of negligence and suppression.

No doubt, successive provincial governments are equally responsible for these wrongdoings but you have to understand that their role has not been more than that of pawns in the control of the Establishment.

What do you think were the reasons for the failure of the Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan Package which the government initially claimed was intended to improve the conditions in Balochistan?

When the Balochistan Package was prepared, it was one-sided. The process of conflict resolution or management does not succeed until all players of a conflict are taken into confidence. The package was only meant to fool the international community and the regional powers which want the stability of the region by telling them that Islamabad was seriously working for the Balochistan conflict’s resolution.

Political conflicts mainly originate from social and economic deprivation. The main cause of unrest in Balochistan since 1947 is the political oppression and people’s deprivation. The province is economically controlled and a special security apparatus rules the province. The official narrative is that they want to develop Balochistan but the Baloch do not accept their model of development. Therefore, they justify the use of brute force against the Balochs.

In fact, the Balochistan Package was flawed and replete with defects. Significantly, Baloch nationalists, who are the real actors of the conflict, were not a part of the package. Nowhere in the world does conflict resolution take place in the absence of facilitators and guarantors.

One of the apparent reasons for the exclusion of the nationalists in the decision-making process was your absence from the existing parliamentary structure. Do you now realize that boycotting the general elections was a blunder the nationalists committed? Would the negotiation process succeed if the nationalists had contested the polls?

We are democratic people and want to utilize all forms of political struggle. Unfortunately, circumstances in 2008 were so adverse in Balochistan that it was not possible for the nationalists to participate in the general elections. While some Baloch leaders had been killed, the others, such as our party president Sardar Akhtar Mengal, were imprisoned. We were all forced to live in exile. Thousands of cases were registered against our political activists while the senior ones were on the government’s hit-list. How could we contest elections when harsh circumstances did not permit us field candidates, run election campaigns and mobilize public support?

The same situation still exists in Balochistan. The federal government has deliberately continued this undemocratic policy so that the genuine Baloch representatives are kept away from the electoral process and assemblies where key decisions are made. If the current situation of insecurity and oppression continues, perhaps we will not participate in future elections either.

Some people believe moderate nationalist parties like your BNP and the National Party are finding it hard to continue parliamentary politics because of the internal polarization within the Baloch society where the armed groups, headed by the disillusioned youth, are hostile toward parliamentary politics. Is it really a reason for BNP’s escape from elections and parliamentary process?

Well, there is difference of opinion (among the nationalists) on some matters. The Balochistan National Party purely believes in democratic struggle. We have never approved of resolving problems on gunpoint. We have criticized Islamabad for the same reason because it has endeavored to usurp Balochistan’s resources and rule it on gunpoint. We morally backed people who defended themselves. However, we discouraged the new trend of excessively applying violence to resolve political issues.

It is better for politics to control guns not for guns to control politics. This is one issue on which we have a difference of opinion with the armed groups operating in Balochistan. However, I believe we are all political forces and must respect each other’s right to have a different opinion and approach on various issues.

Therefore, the Baloch political parties and armed groups must respect each other’s approaches. I do not think if the armed groups have created any problems for us so far. We predominantly hold Islamabad responsible for distancing us from the political process.

Currently, all top Baloch nationalist leaders such as Sardar Akhtar Mengal, Khan of Kalat Mir Suleman Dawood, Nawabzada Hairbayar Marri, Nawabzada Bramdagh Bugti and yourself are all out of Balochistan. Are you people in touch with each other from outside the country to plan to return to Balochistan to fix the issue?

Balochistan is our motherland. Our all political struggle, similar to our senior leaders, is dedicated to Balochistan’s well being and prosperity. Life in exile is a painful one. Nobody wants to live away from one’s own people at the time of happiness or sadness. We all Baloch leaders collectively share this anguish of being forced to stay away from our own people and the politics of Balochistan.

As far as contacts between different nationalist leaders are concerned, we are all living in different places in hard conditions. It is not always easy to remain in touch with each other. Nonetheless, it does not mean that there are differences among us. We largely agree upon most issues faced by Balochistan. The BNP has always taken the initiative to unite the Balochs and we will continue our efforts to bring the Baloch leaders closer to each other on issues that we agree upon.

Last year, your party’s secretary general Habib Jalib Baloch was killed while at the end of the year the provincial president of the Jamori Watan Party (JWP) Shahzain Bugti has been arrested. How do the murders and arrests of Baloch leaders derail the peace process, if there is any, in Balochistan?

Islamabad treats our people like cattle even if they are an ordinary shepherd or a tribal chief. We are against such maltreatment of the Baloch people.

When the operation against Nawab Bugti was launched, the federal government leveled similar baseless allegations against the Baloch leaders.

There are nearly three hundred and fifty arms manufacturing factories in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). The government endorses, encourages and legalizes those factories by recognizing them as the source of income for the tribal people. In Balochistan, the tribes and their chiefs are disrespected by the forces, an attitude which is intolerable and unacceptable to us. Regardless of our differences with certain political figures, we believe they must not be disrespected and mistreated.

The killings of our political leaders like Habib Jalib Baloch, Maula Baksh Dashti (a central committee member of the National Party and a former district Nazim of Turbat district) and Nooruddin Mengal ( a central committee member of the BNP) were in fact great losses for us as we badly needed them among us at this critical juncture. Today, no Baloch activist, leader or intellectual is safe.


Read more
http://www.thebalochhal.com/2011/01/judiciary-parliament-silent-on-baloch-issues/