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Baloch leaders back Manmohan on Sharm el-Sheikh Declaration

NEW DELHI: Ever since India and Pakistan signed a joint statement at Sharm el-Sheikh last week, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has come under sustained attack for consenting to the inclusion of a reference to Balochistan.

Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, the Joint Declaration records, “mentioned that Pakistan has some information on threats in Balochistan and other areas.”

Even the passing mention of the conflict, Dr. Singh’s critics contend, endorses Pakistan’s allegations that India is supporting the long-running insurgency in its largest province.

But Baloch nationalist leaders see things differently. Many have welcomed the Declaration, and called on India to use the opportunity to raise the issue in talks with Pakistan.

Suleiman Khan, the United Kingdom-based heir to the throne of the Khanate of Kalat, is among those who hope that the Declaration will lead to international intervention in the conflict in his province.

“We earnestly hope,” he told The Hindu, “that India will now act on its moral responsibility to raise the Balochistan issue with Pakistan and the world.”

“In this century,” Mr. Khan said, “India has acquired great influence and power. With power come obligations. We are surprised that India, despite claiming that it is a democracy and a supporter of human rights, has so far chosen not to take a proactive role in Balochistan.”

Wahid Baloch, president of the Baloch Society of North America, agreed. “It is imperative,” he says, “for India to now speak up against the terrorism perpetrated by the Pakistan Army in Balochistan.”

“For a variety of reasons,” he argued, “India has been very hesitant to support the Baloch cause, even though among all nations it is the only one to have voiced some concern for our plight. But if Pakistan can provide support for groups in Jammu and Kashmir, and raise the issue on every available international forum, why is India hesitant to do the same for our people?”

Both leaders were insistent that India had no role in supporting Baloch insurgents — but both said New Delhi ought to offer Baloch insurgents military support.

“As far as I know,” Mr. Khan said, “there is no Indian support for Baloch freedom fighters. If there were, I would welcome it.”

Mr. Baloch went further. “India rightly supported the just war of the people of Bangladesh against tyranny, and helped them win freedom. It is morally obliged, as a democracy, to provide Baloch groups with training and material support to stop the slaughter of our people.”

Like Jammu and Kashmir, the origins of the conflict in Balochistan date back to the independence of India.

The Khan of Kalat, the monarch who ruled Balochistan under the umbrella of the British Empire, sought independence for his state in 1947. Pakistani troops moved into the region in March 1948, but Mir Ahmad Yar Khan — Mr. Khan’s grandfather—refused to sign the legally necessary Document of Accession. Pakistan settled the issue by despatching combat jets to strafe the Khan’s palace.

In mid-1950s, the Prince of Kalat launched the People’s Party, representing a new Baloch nationalism that cut across tribal and linguistic lines. In 1972, a People’s Party-led alliance won the elections. It demanded greater representation of the ethnic-Baloch in government and control over regional development.

Pakistan’s establishment rejected these calls. Matters came to a head in March 1973, after Pakistan interdicted weapons alleged to have been despatched by Iraq’s covert service to the head of the Balochistan provincial government, Sardar Ataullah Mengal. Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto promptly dismissed Mr. Mengal’s government, and a bitter insurgency broke out.

Led by the Marxist Balochi People’s Liberation Front and the Balochi Students Organisation, some 10,000 guerrillas took on six divisions of the Pakistan Army, backed by close air support. In all 5,300 insurgents, 3,300 Pakistani troops and perhaps tens of thousands of civilians were killed in the fighting.

Since 2005, there has been renewed fighting in the region, fuelled by what Baloch leaders say is discrimination by the ethnic Punjabi-dominated federal government and Army. Insurgents have targeted troops and gas pipelines. Pakistan’s armed forces have, in turn, carried out massive bombardment and air strikes to quell the insurgency in which thousands have been killed.

Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, the principal voice of the Baloch nationalist movement, was eliminated by Pakistan’s armed forces in August 2006.

United Nations estimates, published in December 2006, stated 84,000 people including 33,000 children had been displaced by the fighting in Balochistan. More than 2,000 people are alleged to have disappeared after they were held by Pakistan’s police and armed forces.

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