First, the descendants of about half the personalities mentioned have defected to the Pakistani state, now enjoying all privileges from Islamabad.

Second, Pakistan gradually pushed in so many Punjabis, Sindhis and Pashtuns into the area claimed by Baloch fighters that now a mere 5 per cent of the population of the region is ethnically Baloch. The few among them who believe in an armed struggle are fighting a losing battle while hiding in the hills. Even when most Baloch rebels were located in Pakistani territory, they fought five unsuccessful battles against the establishment: the rebellion led by Princes Agha Abdul Karim Baloch and Muhammad Rahim in 1948-50, Nawab Nauroz Khan’s revolt in 1958-59, the Sher Muhammad Bijrani Marri-led insurgency in 1963-69, Khair Bakhsh Marri’s guerrilla war in 1973-77 and the longest-running armed revolt since 2004 when the Gwadar port was attacked, which intensified after Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti was killed in 2006 and Ghulam Mohammed Baloch, Lala Munir and Sher Muhammad were abducted by the ISI and killed in 2009. As of now, even a willing India cannot figure out how to supply these rebels with money, let alone with arms and ammunition – if at all the option is contemplated. Maulana Azad’s statement that “Balochistan bahut door hai” did have a military implication.

Third, Baloch society is now full of what the freedom fighters call traitors; they are actively spying against their own people. There are mainstream “traitors” too: Abdul Malik Baloch, the former Chief Minister of Balochistan, is one of them. His successor Sanaullah Zehri is another. Further, Abdul Malik isn’t a tribal, Zehri is; this is yet another strategy Pakistan uses to keep the Baloch fighting among themselves.

Fourth and the latest in the series is the Naela-Brahamdagh rift playing out on social media platforms. While Brahamdagh Bugti was seeking asylum in India, Naela asked for a Baloch government in exile in India right after her arrival at the Delhi airport. Brahamdagh protested on Twitter, saying that Naela’s demand did not enjoy a Baloch consensus. But then, what is objectionable in it? Should Bugti be given more importance just because he presented himself well on some Indian television channels? At a time when Naela was running from pillar to post in this country, seeking Indian help to free Balochistan, Bugti was still hobnobbing with the powers-that-be in Pakistan, chiefly Abdul Malik Baloch, the former Chief Minister. Many among the Baloch say Bugti had no problem with Balochistan staying a part of Pakistan, provided the latter transferred the control over the province to him. This happened as late as last year, 2015.

Fifth, the vocal lot among the rebels is wholly exiled. How do you win a war with your commanders scattered all over the globe?

Sixth, at the moment, Iran and Afghanistan consider the Baloch people unimportant. As and when their movement gathers momentum, these two countries will be wary of the Baloch demand on territories under the Iranian and Afghan writ. Iran, in particular, will be reminded of the rebellion led by Dost Mohammad Khan Baloch in the country under the Pahlavi Shah regime.

Seventh, it’s a society of tribal values where every chieftain or warlord wants to be credited for the entire rebellion. They are constantly cutting one another short.

The last point above, however, leads us to a welcome departure from what urban societies understand of tribal people. The Baloch lords listen to their womenfolk! On several occasions of acrimony between camps, it was the Baloch women who intervened and settled the disputes. President of the World Baloch Women’s Forum, Naela Quadri is important also because she pioneered in the act of breaking the taboo over women’s participation in political affairs. She writes in Canada-based writer and activist Tarek Fatah’s website:

“I broke this taboo for the first time and started sitting in fateha with tribal men, attended funeral of Babu Abdur Rahman Kurd and Malik Abdul Ali Kakar in graveyards years ago with my extremely supportive father, but I was the only woman there, nobody criticised me out of great respect, but Comrade Khair Bakhsh was the greatest admirer of my taboo-breaking courage, like driving a four-wheel vehicle in hard mountainous ranges for hundreds of kilometres to reach the Baloch living far away, leading public mass rallies as the only woman with thousands of Baloch men. But bringing Baloch women into large scale in revolutionary activities seemed very far away.”

Indians, who sympathise with the Baloch freedom fighters and support them morally as well as in the form of activists, wish that the women of the tribe pitch in to sew together all the disparate Baloch lords fighting for one cause. Can the women ensure that the chief of the Baloch Liberation Front, Allah Nazar Baloch, for example, be on the same page as Bugti, or the latter would treat the revolutionary as a pariah—as India’s Gandhi treated Bhagat Singh and Subhas Chandra Bose? What equation will the Khan of Kalat, Agha Mir Suleman Dawood Jan Ahmedzai, have with these factions in a united Baloch front that all Baloch people dream of? He got the “Khan” title on a hereditary basis after the death of his father Mir Ahmad Yar Khan. Commoners among the Baloch people say he speaks only for himself.

Can India and the world see more of Hammal Haidar, the international representative and foreign spokesman of the Baloch National Movement (BNM)? This was once an umbrella organisation housing all rebels. It has long disintegrated. Comprising the poor largely, the BNM is also facing an acute shortage of resources. With the media hardly reaching out to him, Haidar has to make do with tweets from his handle @hammalhaidar. His following is small (less than 5,000 when checked on 12 October) but quite effective, with most tweets of his getting re-tweeted by more than 250 users of the medium each.

The tough challenge can be surmounted only if the Baloch calibrate, calculate and consolidate. Here’s the winning algorithm. Get in touch with Texas Congressman Louie Gohmert who proposed in 2012: “Let’s talk about creating a Balochistan in the southern part of Pakistan. They’ll stop the IEDs and all of the weaponry coming into Afghanistan, and we got a shot to win over there.” With the Af-Pak policy of the US still not relegated to the dustbin, chances are high that more Congressmen and other American policy makers can be roped in.

The Baloch may simultaneously pull out all stops to unite various rebel outfits. Next, temper the dream. Do not say, while in Iran or Afghanistan, that you want some parts of their territories as well. Even within a country like India, the Jharkhandi activists finally got just a chunk of Bihar and nothing from Bengal, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh that they had originally demanded. In our North East, no regional movement is likely to succeed because Nagas, Manipuris, Bodos, Mizos and Assamese separatists alike—all want territories spread across different provinces of India. To get a new independent country carved out of three existing countries is all the more difficult. Finally, there are Indians of Baloch origin in richer pockets like Gujarat. The freedom fighters must reach out to them to raise money for their movement.

The world, as much as India, must speak up in support of the Baloch cause. For secularism if for nothing else. This “secularism” is the pristine variety, not the adulterated Indian kind. Anybody who has had a considerably long association with the Baloch can tell that this is one big group of Muslims who never talk of Islam! When they speak Urdu, it’s so simple that you can’t tell they have been under Pakistani occupation for 70 years. Not one article, not one blog written by a Baloch freedom fighter has a hint of religion. Their entire existence and their fight for freedom are centred around their ethnicity. As Naela Baloch sees the Partition of India, “How could religion be the basis of this division? Bangladesh proved it does not work that way. If they wanted an Islamic state, why didn’t they—and why don’t all Islamic states—merge with Saudi Arabia?”

A Muslim country that keeps its faith confined to the homes of citizens, where religion is neither an electoral plank nor a diplomatic tool, and where religion does not evoke trans-border loyalties among a section of society, is a need of today’s world. We can hold aloft the Balochistan example, now that the example of Turkey looks shaky, to increase tolerance in the international community and address “Islamophobia”. We can also use the example to calm down elements within our borders that are swayed by the ISIS ideology. Let’s create an antithesis of Pakistan. Come, free Balochistan!

Brahamdagh Bugti

Freedom For Balochistan

It’s Not Only About Granting Asylum To Bugti; It’s Also About The Message That We Would Send

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