Hyrbyair Marri: A true representative of Baloch national struggle

By Shahdad Baloch

The quality and wisdom of a leader both political and literary is an important factor to determine his leadership capabilities. During the First World War President Wilson of USA gained support of American people by justifying his stance that he entered the war to safeguard democracy. Likewise, during Second World War Roosevelt won the support of his people by highlighting Japanese attack on “Pearl harbor. Similarly, Nikita Khursheve emerged as a leader who averted the Third World War during Suez crisis. Palmer and Perkins two renowned authors and observers of international relations say, “Without leader people can’t even constitute a state, without it there can be no well-developed or integrated technology and without it morale is totally useless, if indeed it can exist at all.”

There are two approaches, which are ‘subjective and objective view’ to debate on the leadership criterion and for determining the existing position of Hyrbyair Marri Baloch and Brahumdagh Bugti. The historians take the objective view whereas statesmen take the subjective view. Taking into account both of the views the leadership can carve the future of their nation. The controversial interview to BBC Urdu where he favored negotiations with Pakistan exclusive of any agenda and without observing and analyzing the public will, has ruled out Brahumdagh Bugti for being an architect of Baloch liberation struggle.

Brahumdagh’s statement can be taken as his an individual stance but it is cannot be regarded as the view of Baloch nation or a view that represents the will of Baloch nation because his willingness to negotiate with Pakistan is against Baloch interests and the Baloch ‘will of freedom’. While on the other hand Hyrbyair Marri Baloch as a visionary leader understands the will and aspirations of the Baloch nation that is why his thoughtful and farsighted approach to Baloch national question is praiseworthy. He has a straightforward stance on freedom of Balochistan and his uncompromising nature and principles made him stand out in the crowd.  Brahmdagh Bugti’s in his recent interview with BBC showed that he is a politician not a leader because he perceives only the present situation not past and future that makes it clear that he lacks the vision of being a national leader.

Brahumdagh Bugti’s stand has been quasi rather a ‘loose will power’ regarding the independence of Balochistan. He is not steadfast because he keeps on changing his stance about freedom from self-determination to referendum and to negotiations without an agenda and back and forth.  The shifting approach of Brahmdag Bugti shows that he is not immature enough to lead the nation to their ultimate goal, which is the outright Independence and it is the Baloch nation that sets the agenda for negotiations not Pakistan.

On contrary Hyrbyair Marri Baloch’s stance regarding Baloch struggle for independence is honest because he calls ‘spade a spade’. He says it loud and clear that British colonial forces changed Balochistan’s geography when Sir Henry Mortimer Durand and Major General Goldmid drew two arbitrary lines that divided united Balochistan into three parts. “Pakistan forcibly occupied Balochistan in 1948 that’s why Pakistan must give a time frame to unconditionally pull out from Balochistan,” Hyrbyair Marri has said this on many occasions in his interviews with various international media sources. It must also be remembered that late Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri and two other leaders from Balochistan had refused to sign the constitution of Pakistan. So the Pakistani constitution doesn’t even apply in Balochistan.

Hyrbyair Marri Baloch’s uncompromising stance is his steadfastness and dedication toward the Baloch nation and Baloch freedom movement. He is a true representative of the Baloch nation’s aspirations because for Baloch nation and independence of Balochistan comes first. He has given priority to nothing but the Baloch freedom movement and whoever has tried to dilute the movement Hyrbyair was the first to expose them. He didn’t mind whether his brothers or any other blood relations created those misconceptions, he informed the Baloch nation about their mismanagement of the struggle.

He is the first leader in contemporary Baloch history who despite belonging from a Nawab’s family has called the Nawabi system (Tribal Chieftain system) as major barrier against the progress of Baloch nation and considers it obsolete, because he knows that there is no such system in Balochistan and it is mockery of British colonial system which was introduced and imposed by a British named Robert Groves Sandeman in Balochistan. The history of Baloch from Mir Chakar Khan and Gohram Khan will prove that what Hyrbyair Marri Baloch thinks about the Nawabi system and title is absolutely true because there was no such title before the names of both of these Baloch of sixteenth century legends. But Brahumdagh Bugti Mehran despite claiming to be pro-freedom Baloch leaders have retained the title of ‘Nawab’ and they are still clinging to this obsolete system at a time when Baloch nation has progressed toward democracy and new generations of Balochistan regards Nawabi/Sardari system as dictatorship. If Baloch nation respects any leader that is not because they are Sardar or Nawab but they respect them because of their involvement in Baloch national liberation movement.

When BBC asked Brahumdagh about the agenda of negotiations he replied, “We are week and we have no agenda. It depends on Pakistan what agenda they will give to us.” while Hyrbyair Marri Baloch in a recent interview said that Baloch nation is a peaceful nation but that does not mean that they will accept Pakistan’s slavery and occupation. The leadership of a nation should have the quality to read, judge, observe and respect the will of his nation and do not impose his individual will upon the nation, (a quality which Hyrbyair Marri Baloch possesses but Brahumdagh seems to lack it).  Baloch nation expects both Brahumdagh Bugti and Hyrbyair Marri Baloch to expose the Pakistani state atrocities against Baloch people at different forums in world and let the world know about true aspirations of Baloch nation and Baloch freedom movement.

Unfortunately, Brahumdagh Bugti with his immature either intentional or unintentional interviews without any perception is hurting the morale of those Baloch who are sacrificing their lives for freedom of Balochistan whereas Hyrbyair Marri Baloch has played a significant role to sustained and keep the Baloch nations morale high by sticking to his demand of independent Balochistan. It is his determination, sincerity and understanding of Baloch nation’s will to be free from the yoke of Punjabi slavery that he widely listened and respected in Balochistan. Hyrbyair Marri does favor negotiations and a peaceful solution to Balochistan issue but he emphasizes that the independence of Balochistan must be part of any negotiations and such talks should take place under supervision of international guarantors including UN, EU and other democratic nations. He always makes it absolutely clear that Pakistan army must withdraw from Balochistan unconditionally and after withdrawal of occupying forces and independence of Balochistan, the Baloch nation will unanimously decide what sort of relations they want to maintain with Pakistan.

Brahumdagh Bugti’s somewhat confusing interview provoked public anger and also created two public opinions about him. Some Baloch are of the opinion that he is going to make a deal with Pakistan despite the fact that his veteran grandfather Nawab Akbar Khan was murdered by Pakistani army hence he is not capable of leading the nation if he has no retrospect memory for his grandfather and thousands of other Baloch martyred under the notorious “kill and dump policy” by Pakistan while others say if his statement is not meant a deal with Pakistan and it is a ‘read between the line statement’ then it lacks clarity. A common Baloch cannot understand the concept of his interview and that is why most Baloch feel disappointed and angry with the sudden U-turn of Mr. Bugti.

A leader must also have an eye on the happenings of the world and be responsive to worldview in order to try and persuade the world in the favor of his nation’s interests. When the world made a nuclear deal with Iran and lifted the sections against Iran, Hyrbyair Marri Baloch termed it ‘a deal with the devil’ and said, “Today the world has officially given the keys of the gates of hell to Iran. This day would be remembered as a dark day.”  This shows his quality of statesmanship that he regularly comments on decisions of world leaders and links the happening of world with the issue of Balochistan. In short he has a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) of the Balochistan national liberation movement. Hyrbyair Marri Baloch has also constantly been reminding the world that Pakistan is the breeding ground for religious extremists and Jihadist organizations. Now the entire world including India, Afghanistan, USA and Europe has started to realize that Pakistan ISI and Army have provided safe heavens to Taliban, Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups.

He invited all free nations of world to open their embassies in Balochistan and let Baloch vice versa so that Balochistan can have direct communication with world leaders independent of Pakistan because Pakistan has been misleading the world about Balochistan and Baloch struggle for freedom. Hyrbyair Marri Baloch has never adopted the policy of ‘Isolating Balochistan’ from international arena because he knows Balochistan can play a significant role for world peace and in world trade because of its strategic location and natural resources. Balochistan is currently sandwiched between Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan. The later are two fundamentalist monsters who radicalize their people and send them around the world to create havoc. Hence Hyrbyair Marri Baloch wants the world to understand and see the Baloch liberation struggle through its historic context and realize that Baloch people have the right be an independent dweller of this global village that we live in.

Hyrbyair Marri Baloch understand that slavery is a curse and all nations that have been enslaved one way or other must help each other to get rid of slavery. That is why in his several statements he urged the Pashtuns and Sindhis living under Pakistani occupation to respect the Baloch-Pashtun and Sindhi unity and start a joint struggle against Pakistan’s occupation of Balochistan, Pakhtunistan and Sindh. He expressed the wish in his statements that Baloch and Pashtun should reactivate their historic relations of the time Noori Naseer Khan and Nadir Shah Syed to live in peace and harmony in the region. Brahumdagh Bugti has so far not demonstrated such broad vision and statesmanship. He runs his party more like an election campaign than struggling for the independent of occupied Balochistan. The importance of institutions cannot be ruled out but if everybody wakes up in the morning and makes his/her own institution then that’s more like dividing the struggle and disappointing the nation in a point scoring game then to bring the national movement under one umbrella.

The formulation of ‘Balochistan Liberation Charter’ (BLC) by Hyrbyair Marri Baloch and his like-minded friends is a practical step to unite the Baloch nation. No leader in Balochistan’s history has ever formulated a clear road map to clarify the purpose of Baloch national movement.  On the day of publishing the first draft of Balochistan Liberation Charter Hyrbyair Marri Baloch said that the Charter has been formulated to inform the world that what kind of Balochistan the Baloch people are struggling for and how the future Balochistan will different from the fundamentalist and fanatic states of Iran and Pakistan. He presented the Charter to all stakeholders in Balochistan including late Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri, Brahumdagh Bugti’s BRP, Dr Allah Nazar, BNM (Khalil) and BNM (SGM) BSO-Azad, Khan of Kalat, Akhtar Mengal, Baloch Salvation Front and others.   He wanted every Baloch party and Baloch individual to be part of this Charter and put their efforts in it to make it a guiding document for Baloch freedom movement.  In the beginning except Brahumdagh Bugti the rest have appreciated and accepted the Balochistan Liberation Charter. Dr Allah Nazar even said in an interview that he has forwarded his comments as well. BSO-Azad and BNM also in their statement appreciated the charter terming it a positive step and to my knowledge BSO-Azad also send their suggestions and comments during the process of drafting the Charter.

People within the BRP have revolted against Brahumdagh for not discussing the Charter at Party forum but rejecting is on basis of his personal interests. The Nawab then expelled many of his party members for favoring the Balochistan Liberation Charter. Nawab Mehran and Nawab Brahumdagh along the Javed Mengal (who is yet to distance himself from pro-establishment brother Akhtar Mengal and his party the BNP-M) have at then started putting pressure on Dr Allah Nazar to reject the Charter and unfortunately Allah Nazar succumbed to their pressure and backed off from his previous statement saying that all parties have their own charters (he was referring to parties’ constitutions which are not national guide lines but guidelines for their party members only). Baloch nation was not expecting Allah Nazar to side with self-proclaimed and power hungry Nawabs and distance himself from one of the most important documents in Baloch history.

Even after all others went in silent mode and started renting about their own parties’ manifestos, Hyrbyair Marri Baloch went ahead and presented the Charter to Baloch nation for their feedbacks. Now every Baloch man, woman, young and old is part of the Balochistan Liberation Charter and they are not bothered by the rejection of these controversial ‘Nawab’. Self-proclaimed Nawabs like Mehran and Brahumdagh do not represent the will of Baloch nation and even people within their own respected tribes are revolting against them for imposing themselves on their tribes without consulting the tribal elders.  The ordinary Baloch and educated Baloch youth agree with Hyrbyair Marri Baloch that Nawab/Sadar should surrender their national decision making powers to Baloch Sarmachaars and Baloch nation. He said Nawab/Sadar should, if they wish, only be retain the power of resolving local issues and decision regarding Balochsitan’s national resources and other national key issues should be taken by the Baloch Sarmachaars and Baloch nation collectively.

About author: Shahdad Baloch is regular contributor of Balochwarna News