“Nana Jan Numa Jan Akhtar Jan, Akhtar Jan”
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Posted on
2012-10-04
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2468
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Sohaib Mengal
The title of article might suggest that it is going to praise Akhtar Jan. I wish I could have done that because the first Baloch leader I knew was Akhtar Jan. In 1997 when I was a student of 5th grade I was scolded for the first time for my political views. My father had found a picture of a political leader in my Bag. It was the famous picture of young Akhtar Jan with a lion in background. I wish I were still a fan of Akhtar Jan as I was in 1997 but since then the things have changed intensely. The tribal favouritism has been replaced with practical performance and there is no more room available for personal infatuation and obsession.
My article is not based on personal attacks. I wouldn’t stick to ad hominem and I will refrain from bashing people for their personal life. I am least interested in whether someone offers his prayers and I have no reservations if someone drinks alcohol or not because I can make my point without following cheap tactics. But as a Baloch I do have rights to question anyone that does politics using the name of Baloch nation.
Coming to the real issue the time is coming once again in Pakistan when the opportunist politicians play all their wealth to multiply it in case they win. The walls of educational institutions are again going to be pasted with pictures and posters of contestants. The muddy walls of the towns again have to bear once again the false slogans of "bedagh maazi k malik" "taleem yafta" and "apke apne namzad umeedwar". The naughty children will again have the opportunity to remove a dot from the word "namzad" and make it "namard". The people of the constituencies will be able to see the sacred faces they were longing for years. Those rude leaders will be all down to earth once again. But the question remains will there be slogans like "Nana Jan Numa Jan Akhtar Jan Akhtar Jan" or "Tafar e vote ithbo"?
No doubt the elections that are going to be conducted in next year will be the continuity of Pakistani framework in Balochistan. Such elections, conducted in any occupied land, do not have any legitimacy. There is no legitimacy to elections held in Iraq, President of Afghanistan is also termed a puppet and similarly there are no any legitimate grounds for any election in Balochistan conducted by an occupier.
Unfortunately, it is a fact that Baloch leaders participated in Pakistani elections in past. It is also more unfortunate that one cannot change the history but one should have the courage to call those acts utter mistakes. Similarly the BNP also participated in Pakistani elections. The Baloch nation has pardoned all those who did this mistake in Past but now the Baloch are sane enough to stand in front of anyone that tries to sell the blood of their sons for another time.
The status of Balochistan has changed in front of the International community. From an Integral Part to an annexed land now the Baloch land has become a disputed land. This has become possible only because of countless sacrifices of Baloch Sons. The Baloch struggle has advanced many folds and our struggle is on its way to soon become an international issue. Though we still have a very large room for improvements, we still lack at many fronts and if we do not accept our mistakes we would be hypocrites. But at all odds if someone tries to reverse our struggle and undermines the Baloch sacrifices than they should be treated as enemies of the Baloch struggle.
Let’s analyse BNP, its leader Akhter, and their contributions in Baloch struggle for national liberation and restoration of Baloch national state. Although their members have been killed brutally but unfortunately their contributions for the national cause remains zero to the date. And the whole responsibility rests on the leadership of BNP because if you fail to engrain the national consciousness in the minds of your supporter and fail to teach them how to remain firm on your stances then any sacrifice will go in vain. Because, mathematically, if you multiply 0 with 53 the result will always come 0.
In last few years of Akhtar's exile there has been no any positive contribution for the struggle other than debating on petty issues and airing differences between the Baloch leadership. Though his party claims that they are "Mir-e-Karavan" of the struggle but it seems the Mir only owns barren lands, which have not yielded any harvests in years.
But nonetheless BNP and Akhtar have outspokenly demanded international intervention and the right to self-determination. Though the "outspoken" seems a bit exaggerated as their claims have only been limited to Baloch gatherings or have changed with immense speed. Quoting the concept of a journalist based in America I would be not wrong in saying that It is very hard to be Akhtar and his fellows. They are really putting efforts in the politics they are doing. Their stance changes with each new interview, interviewer, place and time. If the interviewer and audience are Baloch they will lose no time in playing the role of sincere Baloch leaders who have immense pain for the motherland and they would not agree on anything less than the freedom of Balochistan. But if the surrounding circumstances are otherwise they will be all happy in giving recipes to occupiers of saving Pakistan.
Akhtar’s recent visit to Pakistan was a clear example of such double standards. The Baloch nationalist leader seemed very much sincere to the occupier and was heartily suggesting them in how to level the ground for upcoming elections. He also showed his willingness to participate in the elections.
Of all six points the demand of levelling ground for upcoming elections seemed very interesting and yet very dangerous. The “Free and Fair” elections demanded by Akhtar from Pakistan are like, as Ustad Talpur says, expecting Strawberry from aecia tree. The Pakistani elections, since the existence of this artificial state, have never been free and fair. Any such demand shows utter lack of information on the part of the demander.
But this all is not as simple as one may feel. There can be a very dangerous side of the story, which I hope is wrong. A similar demand for “Free and Fair” election was also made by the ISI henchman, Hasil Bizenjo, in a TV talk show. He said that there are forces, which are against holding elections in Balochistan and it is the responsibility of Pakistani Army to level the ground for elections and exterminate such forces. Disturbingly, Is Akhtar the other side of the same coin?
The Baloch political forces and armed organizations have openly rejected any idea of Pakistani Parliamentary politics in Balochistan. They have unequivocally negated Pakistani framework and have requested Baloch people to boycott Pakistani elections. The armed organizations have even threatened that they will not refrain from using force to stop these elections. Can a demand made by Akhtar Mengal to hold free and fair elections indirectly mean to quash the forces that have opposed the elections?
On the other hand Akhter’s demands are way too different than those presented by Sheikh Mujeeb Ur Rehman. Five out of six points revolve around the human rights violations in Balochistan by Pakistan. These include cessation of military operation, disbandment of death squads, production of Baloch missing persons before the courts, bringing to justice the culprits behind the “Kill and Dump” and the rehabilitation of displaced Baloch families (IDPs).
Such a demand at such point of time makes no sense. If we reverse the time machine to 1999 none of the above five problems exist in Balochistan. No Baloch activist is missing neither there are any military operations happening in Balochistan. The brutalities started in 2000s when the Baloch struggle for restoration of Baloch national state was reinitiated by Baloch youth. The brutalities gained momentum with each year and currently the cruelties are at its peak.
If there were no such struggle there would have been no such issues in Balochistan. All these grave issues erupted when the Baloch national struggle gained momentum. Demands that are only linked with stopping the human rights violations suggest that those who started the struggle were very wrong. This also amounts to undermining the sacrifices of thousands of Baloch activists.
But one can in no way suggest that such demands are not appropriate to make. Pakistan is involved in war crimes and the Baloch activists should inform the International community about this fact in whatever way possible. At first instance there is no need to plead from the occupier or any of their institutions. The International platforms are much more effective and appropriate for this purpose But even if you do so, as an exception, then the demands should also be supplemented with political demands. A party that is outspoken advocate of self-determination (which they claim is equal to independence) should never retreat from their stance. There seems no rationality in excluding the demand of right of self-determination for Baloch people at a point when the whole International community is closely observing the situation in Balochistan. Are we justified to assume that to save Pakistan BNP has backed off from their stance of self-determination for Baloch nation?
Now let’s come to the sixth point, which is about the permission to Baloch political parties to resume their activities. This point in all ways fully suggests that BNP has decided to participate in Parliamentary elections of Pakistan, which in itself is second to betrayal. If we assume that BNP is very sincere with their demand of right to self-determination then are they planning to attain this target through Parliamentary elections? In the most favourable or theoretical context, they will not be able to win more than five seats of Balochistan assembly. Is it possible to prove the majority just with five seats? Let’s assume for a point of time that they have won all the seats of Baloch populated areas of Balochistan. Interestingly they are still not able to form a government in Balochistan province let aside making a demand in National assembly. The hypothesis that I just made even seems funny to me. BNP should know that Pakistan is not a real democracy and Pakistan Army will waste no time in breaking any assembly that, it feels, is a threat to Pakistan’s existence.
The statements of BNP claim that the visit was part of a plan and the results will be favourable to Baloch nation. BNP always criticizes other political parties of not consulting them before taking any move. A simple question arises did they take any stakeholder of Baloch politics in confidence before deciding to make a trip to Pakistan?
On the other hand is it really possible for a person like Akhtar Mengal to visit Pakistan without getting any security guarantee? And we all know from where such guarantees come from. Aren’t we justified to assume that BNP has backstabbed the movement and are all ready to be accommodated within the framework of Pakistan?
The writer is a Central Committee member of BSO-Azad. He can be reached at mirsohaib7@gmail.com. He tweets at http://twitter.com/mirsohaib
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