Bugti’s Grandson Appeals For Global Support for Baluchistan
In 1947 Baluchistan has decided to exist as an independent country. During the time of the Indian Independence Movement all of the three pro-Congress parties active in Balochistan’s politics, which included Anjuman -I- Watan, favoured a united India and had opposed partition.
Then in 1948 this independent country was forcibly occupied by the Pakistan Army. As it is the Baluchistan region is administratively divided among three countries Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran.. The largest portion in area and population is now under Pakistani occupation, It has become the largest province (in land area) in Pakistan. There are an estimated 6.9 million of Baloch living under the Pakistani administration.
In Iran there are about another two million ethnic Baloch and a majority of the population of the eastern Sistan Province is of Baloch ethnicity. The Afghan portion of Balochistan includes the Chahar Burjak District of Nimruz Province. and the Registan Desert in southern Hemland and Kandhar provinces. The governors of Nimruz province in Afghanistan belong to the Baloch ethnic group.
Baloch nationalists in Balochistan province have fought the Pakistani Army in 1948, 1958–59, 1962–63 and 1973–1977 – with a new ongoing and reportedly stronger, broader insurgency beginning in 2003. The main reason is to gain independence and other reasons being complete marginalization by Punjabi interests, economic oppression and loot and Human Rights abuses.
In Iran, separatist fighting has reportedly not gained as much ground as the conflict in Pakistan, but has grown and become more sectarian since 2012, with the majority-Sunni Baloch showing a greater degree of Salafist and anti-Shia ideology in their fight against the Shia-Islamist Iranian government.
Nowadays the region has been torn by systematic economical loot and state-sponsored crimes and Human Rights violations by the Pakistani Security Forces including the Army.
Pakistan’s military is guilty of enforced disappearances, mass murder, arbitrary arrests and extra-judicial killings in Baluchistan, making the province a text book example of human rights abuse.
Fourteen years after the assassination of Akbar Bugti, the movement is on a larger scale now. “If you compare the independence movement with what was there 14 years ago, you will see that it was not this widely known on an international level. People are talking about it now, including the United Nations and various Human Rights activists, and a lot of other international platforms are highlighting the human rights violation in Baluchistan,” Brahmdagh Bugti said.
Brahmdagh Bugti, grandson of Akbar Bugti, has claimed that he is ready to have a dialogue with the Pakistan government on some conditions, but the government has not acknowledged the same
China’s entry into the region, through CPEC, has made matters worse. Those living in Baluchistan do not want to be a part of Pakistan, but speaking up for independence results in disappearance or death.
On August 26, 2006, former Governor of Baluchistan, and the tallest leader of the region, Akbar Bugti was assassinated by Pakistan’s military. After 14 years of that incident, not much has changed. Pakistan’s military continues to violate the Baloch, and their independence is not in sight.
When asked about why isn’t any action taken even after the awareness on an international level, he replied, “Each nation has its own interest. The people from the UN, in my experience, only come to speak and listen about what is going on, and promote their own interests and issues. They do help the countries that have human rights violations, but it is very less.”
Bugti had also, in the past, sought help from India. However, the Indian government has not provided any help so far. “So far, we have not received any help from India except from the India media. However, I think there is nothing wrong in India helping if Pakistan requests it. People are dying (in Baluchistan) and extreme physical force is being used on locals. Resources are being grabbed from one set of the community to benefit another. So, why cannot India help. In 1970s, India helped Bangladesh, so I don’t see why India cannot help Baluchistan. India can put pressure on Pakistan to stop it, and stop the bloodshed, torture and the violence,” he said.
Brahmdagh Bugti has claimed that he is ready to have a dialogue with the Pakistan government on some conditions, but the government has not acknowledged the same. “Dialogue is a political thing. In no political situation can anyone reject a dialogue. I am ready for it, but the Pakistan government has not reached out to me recently. There have been few messages but nothing major.”
The entry of China in Pakistan through the CPEC project, Bugti believes, is a destructive policy for the people of Baloch. “What we want for our future is on us to decide. Whether we want schools, universities, roads, port, or not is for us to decide. We should get to decide what happens on our land, and not someone else sitting in Islamabad or Beijing,” he expressed. He also added that people who disagree with these decisions are labelled as terrorists, traitors, and criminals.
Bugti also claimed that the locals have no idea about what is being built there, and the locals are moved from one place to another on gunpoint for the project.
Talking about attacks on the Chinese workers in Baluchistan, Bugti stressed that the incidents were not attacks but defence. “They are defensive actions. Attacking is going to someone’s land and attacking, but they are only doing this in Baluchistan,” he said.
“These are not justified because we are against violence, but these are normal reactions,” he added.
WION did extensive group reports from Baluchistan focusing on the military role in forced disappearances from 2017. Bugti claims the situation has worsened since then.
While the Uighur Muslim group in China and the Tibet group are getting global support, Baluchistan has not yet got as much support. “We are trying our best, and we have hope. A lot of people claim but in reality, there is nothing. If India supports us now, things will be different.”
Talking about the Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, Bugti alleged Khan of changing his words every day. “People are making jokes and laughing. If you see social media and even the local media, things are in a mess. Everybody is laughing at the situation,” Bugti laughed.
“It is not Imran Khan, but the people behind him. It points towards their stupidity that they chose (Imran Khan) for such a position,” he added.
