Course correction

AS the mayhem of Aug 26 in Balochistan unfolded through news channels, one forgot the woes of electricity bills, hide and seek of the government with courts, the rhetoric of political parties and the shenanigans of our begging bowl.
There was a sinking feeling as if one was watching the implosion of the country. Having been conditioned to believe the state media, one wanted to believe the strong response being claimed by the government and the stern statements of the powers that be, including those of the chief minister and interior minister.
While one heard promises of ‘sending miscreants to hell’, there was very little talk of reconciliation and introspection. The same was the tone and tenor of retired officers appearing as experts on the media.
There is an instinct to kill and obliterate those who take up arms, rather than to probe the reasons behind their extreme steps and find solutions. The state has been fighting insurgencies in Balochistan for decades with an ‘iron hand’ and disappearances, but at the end of this lifetime we continue to have violent outbursts by the dissidents.
How will more of the same help for the future? If you look into the story of any Baloch dissident, whether he is following a peaceful or violent path of protest, you will come across a common strain. Some near or dear one has allegedly been killed or disappeared by the state. The more you kill, the more terrorists you make.
If the strategy of total annihilation and subjugation of dissidents through brute force were to work, Sheikh Hasina would still be Bangladesh premier.
We talk of separatists funded by RAW. But are we convinced that the ordinary Baloch wants to separate? Isn’t he protesting because he wants attention?
Why would he want to become a colony of India? Haven’t they just seen what the Indians have done to Bangladesh? As for a superpower wanting to take over their land, I am sure the Baloch know about such geostrategic games.
People who have served in Balochistan (my experience is as secretary interior for a prolonged period) will tell you that the Baloch are an honourable and simple people, proud of their traditions, interested in making a living, like any other ethnic group.
My current experience, however, is revealing. I set up a boarding school near Faisalabad with the help of friends, for boys from deprived homes so that talented ones can get the same quality of education that the children of the elite get, by paying only a token fee per month. We initially planned the school for Punjab but there was such an immense interest among boys from Balochistan that we opened our doors to all provinces.
Currently 66 boys, which is 22 per cent of our school strength, are from Balochistan. All belong to families earning Rs30,000 per month or thereabouts. Surprisingly, these boys from Loralai, Dera Murad Jamali, Zhob, Naseerabad, Barkhan, Quetta, Qila Saifullah, Dera Bugti and Musakhel are the healthiest and amongst the best students in the school, both in academics and sports, and very disciplined.
For our last entry we received 1,100 applications online from all over Pakistan, out of which 700 were from Balochistan. Does this appear to you to be a people who want to secede? On the contrary, I see a hunger in them, more than boys from Punjab, to get educated and progress.
Try putting yourself in their shoes. If you were a Baloch, would you like someone to come and take over your port, where you don’t even have the right to enter? To add insult to injury, you even make off limits areas where local fishermen used to fish or ban them totally, without giving them anything in return.
The mode of business of some foreign investors does not help either because they want to do everything from cooking to high-tech jobs, from civil works to fabrication themselves, so locals get no jobs or business. The pull of foreign investment is for the wise men of Islamabad to count and boast about. It means nothing to the local Baloch, who is understandably seething with anger.
We in our usual mindset continue to brand emerging leaders like Mahrang Baloch as ‘agents’ rather than trying to understand what they are saying.
Balochistan is a vast and difficult terrain to defend against internal strife. The only option is to talk to them, kindly and genuinely. Give them a piece of the cake, even if the state has to step back and talk to the investor.
Respect the results of the elections so that genuine representatives, who are owned by the masses, come up and make the task of the state easier.
The writer is a former civil servant.
Published in Dawn, September 4th, 2024