Editorial: Baloch Tragedy… The Government of Pakistan Is Not Showing Honesty

The death toll in the violence that began in the Pakistani province of Balochistan on Sunday has crossed 230. The violence lasted for about 48 hours and is being described as the most coordinated attack by Baloch rebels against the Pakistani government. The Pakistan Army's joint public relations agency 'ISPR' claims that the security forces have 'wiped out' 177 Baloch rebels, while 17 security personnel and 36 civilians were killed by the rebels. The dead civilians include women and children.

Contrary to such claims, the main organization of the Baloch rebels, 'Baloch Liberation Army' (BLA), says that most of the 177 'terrorists' that the government is claiming to have killed are ordinary people. In the name of fighting terrorism, the government is killing innocent people and activists detained in jails and calling their bodies ‘terrorist bodies’. The BLA has also threatened to give a befitting reply to such violence soon. Pakistani organizations fighting for the protection of human rights have also challenged the claim of killing 177 terrorists in Balochistan alone.

They say that the involvement of two trained young women in the suicide attacks on military garrisons in Quetta Cantonment and other cities and towns on Sunday shows the extent to which the anger against the policies of the Pakistani government has spread among the Baloch people. These organizations are also of the opinion that it is a completely wrong strategy to oppress innocent people by calling the Baloch anger an ‘Indian conspiracy’ or mischief. The unfortunate consequences of this strategy adopted by the Pakistani army have been continuously coming to light since the past; the ranks of the insurgents are not decreasing, but are constantly increasing.

Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif on Tuesday openly admitted that the central government and the army are facing a “difficult situation” in two provinces – Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. The daily death toll due to violence in these two provinces does not paint a good picture of Pakistan internationally and is also having an impact on the country’s economic condition. But at the same time, he repeated the well-worn excuse of blaming “foreign powers”, especially India, for such a situation.

He admitted that presenting direct evidence of ‘Indian mischief’ to the media is not an easy task, but also claimed that almost all the member countries of the ‘United Nations Security Council’ believe that the scale of terrorist violence taking place in Pakistan “could not have been possible without the direct involvement of some neighbouring countries.” The Indian government has rejected such allegations from the outset and has demanded that Pakistan, instead of blaming others, should first look within its own ranks and honestly try to find the truth. International experts also agree with the fact that anti-government violence on such a large scale as it is happening in Pakistan is not possible in any country without internal discontent and unrest.

The Pakistani agency ‘ISPR’ has been calling the violence in Balochistan ‘Fitna al-Hindostan’ (a rebellion instigated by India) and the anti-government movement in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ‘Fitna-e-Khawarij’ (a rebellion instigated by foreigners). The Pakistani media has also been speaking the official language in this context. But at the same time, the media has been asking why measures to calm the Baloch or Pashtun anger are missing from the government’s approach? Balochistan is geographically the largest province of Pakistan. Its land is not fertile, it is rocky. There is also a shortage of water. Despite such shortcomings, this province has reserves of valuable minerals and magnetic soils. The innumerable treasures of crude oil and natural gas are also abundant in this province.

This kind of wealth should have made it the most prosperous province in Pakistan. But the reality is quite the opposite; it is the poorest province. Ever since Pakistan came into existence in 1947, the benefits of the mineral wealth and other natural resources of this province have been given to the provinces of Punjab and Sindh, not to the Baloch people. This is why it is the most backward province in the country. There is still no seriousness in removing this backwardness and the Baloch people are being deprived of the benefits of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) because they are not in a position to challenge the Punjabi hegemony within the army due to their small population, voter politics or lack of honesty in accepting such inconsistencies. The lack of honesty in accepting such inconsistencies is the reason for the daily bloodshed in Balochistan. The truth is that this bloodshed is not going to go away by blaming India, nor any other neighboring country.