India must stand by Balochistan in its struggle for freedom - BY KANCHAN GUPTA
Most of us Indians do not know much about Balochistan, except that it is
a province of Pakistan, like Punjab ans Sindh. The time has come for
all of us to know more about this unfortunate region, which enjoyed the
status of an independent nation barely for seven months!
Activists
fighting for a cause, especially one that has a lot of popular emotion
attached to it, are usually loud and shrill when holding forth in
public.
They tend to be belligerent and turn excessively aggressive if their views are contradicted.
In
a sense, loud speech, belligerence, and aggression are necessary for
effective activism. After all, if an activist is an easy pushover, then
his or her cause cannot be worth fighting for.
Pakistani soldiers in Balochistan: The Baloch were, and remain, a fiercely independent people
At
the same time, needlessly pushy activism can put people off and make
them indifferent to causes that could be perfectly legitimate and
deserving of support.
Hence
listening to Prof Naela Quadri Baloch at a recent discussion on
Balochistan organised by the Observer Research Foundation came as a
pleasant surprise.
She
was soft-spoken yet firm, persuasive yet polite. She presented her
case, or rather the case for a free Balochistan, without recourse to
either maudlin sentiments or theatrical hyperbole.
Much
of the story of Balochistan is uncluttered and uncontested, provided we
do not pay undue attention and attach unwarranted credibility to
Pakistan’s claims.
In
1947, when British colonial rule came to an end in the Indian
subcontinent, 535 princely states were given the option of either
acceding to India or Pakistan through merger of territory, or remaining
free and independent.
The
Khan of Kalat, which comprised nearly all of Balochistan barring three
minor principalities, was not too eager to accede to Pakistan.
A member of the Pakistan Navy at the Gwadar port in Balochistan Province
The
Baloch were, and remain, a fiercely independent people, with their own
cultural and social identity, along with a land endowed with natural
resources.
That early impulse for freedom became the root cause of Balochistan’s subsequent misery.
Since
its violent Caesarian birth, assisted by a scalpel-wielding Britain, on
August 14, 1947, Pakistan has been as deceitful as its Quaid-e-Azam
Mohammed Ali Jinnah was during his brief and bitter life as the ruler of
a moth-eaten country, one half of which fell off the map in 1971.
Jinnah the barrister helped the Khan of Kalat to prepare his brief for independence and a Standstill Agreement in the interim.
Jinnah the smash-and-grab politician paved the path for Kalat’s annexation by Pakistan on March 27, 1948.
Thus was Balochistan forcibly converted into a province of Pakistan, against the wishes of the Baloch and their Khan.
Balochistan’s
struggle against Pakistani rule and Islamabad’s ‘One Unit’ policy has
been relentless since the annexation of Kalat.
Brutal
repression by the Pakistani Army has failed to break the spirit of
resistance. Beginning with 1948-49, it has been a horrific campaign to
put down dissent and silence the voice of freedom.
There
are several similarities between the Pakistani Army committing hideous
crimes in Bangladesh (what was then East Pakistan) and Balochistan.
Mass
killings, the rape of women, laying human habitations to waste,
targeted assassinations - Bangladesh saw it all during its Liberation
War of 1971. And Balochistan continues to witness these horrors.
General
Tikka Khan, nicknamed the ‘Butcher of Bangladesh’, had the dubious
distinction of also being called the ‘Butcher of Balochistan’ for the
bloody campaign he led from 1973 to 1977.
But
for all the sorrow, grief and misery heaped on the people of
Balochistan, they have risen again. The freedom movement, relaunched in
2004, continues unabated.
Divided
by the Goldsmith Line of 1871, Balochistan is split between Pakistani
and Iranian occupation, with some bits spilling into Afghanistan on
account of the flawed Durand Line.
Britain understood the strategic importance of Balochistan and played its game accordingly to keep the Russians out.
Today, both Pakistan and Iran are leveraging that strategic importance to further their own economic and security interests.
India’s
position on Balochistan has been, at best, ambivalent. Notwithstanding
the arrest of an Indian national (Pakistan claims he is a “R&AW
agent” and was arrested on its side of the Goldsmith Line; there are
credible claims he was arrested by the Iranians and handed over to the
ISI) it would be silly to imagine a grand Indian conspiracy in action.
New Delhi has long been incapable of doing what Mrs Indira Gandhi did in
1970-71.
Yet
there is a case for an Indian policy on Balochistan. India did play a
major role in propping up the Northern Alliance so as not to concede all
ground to the Taliban and its mentor, Pakistan, in Afghanistan.
A
hands-off approach, therefore, is lacking in precedence, even if we
were to discount India’s proactive role in the liberation of Bangladesh
from the tyranny of Pakistan. The issue is what should be that policy.
Investing
in Chabahar port that lies on the Iranian side of Balochistan cannot be
a policy in entirety. At best it will partially countervail China’s
captive port at Gwadar on the Pakistani side of Balochistan. That’s one
pawn moved.
What
next? One possible option is for India to declare moral and diplomatic
support for the freedom movement in Balochistan, while calling for a
peaceful resolution of the conflict.
That
would require gumption. Indeed, it would need the political courage of
Mrs Gandhi coupled with popular support for a righteous cause that India
believes in.
Great
nations and rising powers have to be risk-takers. The inevitable
backlash of supporting Balochistan’s liberation war will no doubt be
huge. But if Mrs Gandhi, prime minister of an impoverished nation, could
turn up her nose at what the world thought, surely Narendra Modi, prime
minister of the fastest growing economy, can do likewise.
A
successful Balochistan policy premised on India’s historical
association with just causes would also lead to the forging of a
successful Pakistan policy. Is the government game?
The writer is a political commentator
******************
The Khanate of Kalat was NOT a 'Princely State', like 500+ others within British India. It had direct treaty relations with Whitehall, like Nepal, Burma, Ceylon, etc. It was not under the control of the Viceroy of India. . 2) Kalat and the rest of Baluchistan through Kalat's Upper and Lower Houses in the Assembly, had secured independence before either India or Pakistan, i.e. on 11th AUGUST 1947. Pakistan became independent on 14th August and India on 15th August 1947. . Thus Baluchistan existed as an independent country from 11th August 1947 till 27th March 1948. . Jinnah, who had secured Baluchistan's independence earlier, attacked the country on 27th March, got the Khan of Kalat and his family killed and annexed this free country into Pakistan on 28th March 1948. . The world must be aware of these true facts.
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