The resignation of Sardar Akhtar Mengal has created a stir in Islamabad. The number of vlogs, television programs and interviews by journalists who believe that he ‘knows Balochistan’ are a plenty. Frankly as I write this, I am smiling at the circus of this nonsense. Watching Islamabad talk about Balochistan is dispiriting. I say this because Balochistan is a province with 44% of the country and 4% of the population, which speaks Pashto, Balochi, Brahui, Saraiki, Sindhi, Darri, Farsi, Bhagri, Urdu and several more languages, across multiple tribal communities with as many social arrangements as one can imagine. How many of our national analysts have any understanding of the fabric and dynamics of this incredible society?
Balochistan is the most multicultural ethnic and linguistic environment in the federation of Pakistan. In spite of the diversity of its people and cultures, it is perceived as a monolith – ‘Balochistan,’ as if it can be understood without specific regional, ethnic, linguistic, class, economic, cultural and historic specifications. Balochistan itself is an amalgamation of many, almost a federation without a leader or glue.
The centre in Pakistan continues to refer to the challenges whether it be violence, terrorism, protests, smuggling, rigged elections, deportation or the absence of economic opportunities through the lens of ‘the federation has done little for the people of Balochistan’ – without unpacking the details. What is singularly true in all these challenges is the core of the problematic. The cause is singular and the effects have become multiple. The root of the cancer which spread throughout the body has morphed, no doubt, but no one wants to look at the origin of the disease.
I am no expert on Balochistan. But I love my paternal province and have made the effort to get to know its people and cultures within my capacities. Not from the outside looking in, but listening and being amongst the people. Every time I think I have a grasp of an area of Balochistan, I realise so much is overlooked and misunderstood. There is so much localisation of cultures and therefore dynamics, and therefore positions, that to speak about the province in singularity of cause and effect is intellectually lazy and a reflection of complete disconnect from the ground realities.
The reasons why people do something consistently or not, are not because of the sardar or local thug - whatever form that has now taken. When the state has reduced the populace into a state of complete abject poverty in mind, body and soul, with deprivation reaching inhuman levels, the challenges are not what the centre imagines them to be.
For example, the obsession of the centre regarding Balochistan seceding from the federation is a narrative that justifies the undemocratic role that the military establishment plays in the province without an iota of responsibility for the necessary governance. Voices from the province continue to loudly inform the rest of Pakistan of its priorities, but they fall on deaf ears. Once again, the dead horse of BLA and all the usual alphabets of violent groups are being ‘discussed at the centre.’ Think for a moment as to why this is.
Balochistan is the most multicultural ethnic and linguistic environment in the federation of Pakistan. In spite of the diversity of its people and cultures, it is perceived as a monolith
Another concrete example. The north of Balochistan is inhabited primarily by Pashtuns who border Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province and Afghanistan. This is considered the ‘hotbed of trouble’ – given our schizophrenic relationship with the Taliban and the culture of Talibanisation.
The security establishment, which de jure and de facto runs the province, has a paranoid policy in place regarding all the Pashtun residents of Balochistan. This mental framework seeps into all administrative governance actions: suspecting everyone is an Afghan, illegal resident or a migrant in Balochistan. As a result, the ID cards of Pakistani citizens are closely scrutinised in ‘fear’ that they may be ‘Afghans.’ Pakistani Pashtuns can’t renew or update their cards outside of their districts without an enormous hassle – or worse, get blocked. This policy has many flaws but that is a subject for another piece. My point is that this ‘fear’ and suspicious mentality has permeated across the province. All the way down, eight hours by car south or west, where there are no communities of Afghans or Pakistani Pashtuns, this lensing continues, and has a direct impact on the local communities who are Balochi, Brahui, Bhagri etc. The anti-Pashtun sentiment transfers across the south as if the conditions and reality are exactly the same as those in the north of the province.
The core problem remains that of federal policymakers who are unable or unwilling to understand the differences in Balochistan at any significant level. Straightjacketing Balochistan has become easy convenient and typical.
Coming back to the resignation of Sardar Akhtar Mengal from parliament and the reaction of Islamabad, it is but another example of the centre’s disconnect. He matters to Islamabad or Pindi but does he really matter to Balochistan, and if so, how? Did anyone check on this? Which parts of Balochistan is he relevant to? Or perhaps across Balochistan? Did anyone think about that?
Now let us look at why he actually did resign.
Does he alone speak for Balochistan? Given the size of the province, I have always believed we need more representation in the centre to speak and reflect the diversity of the province. After all, we almost make up half the country’s land mass. This province is rich in so many ways while its residents are the poorest – and that is because their voice is absent from any federal decision-making. Our population is used as a convenient excuse when it comes to investments, but our vast natural wealth is used to keep the tiny population the most deprived and vulnerable.
Who speaks for the many parts of Balochistan? Is it Dr Mahrang Baloch, Manzoor Pasteen, Dr Allah Nazar Baloch, Dr Malik Baloch, Mahmud Achakzai, Maulana Hidayat-ur-Rehman? There are so many more voices, names and perspectives which have enormous influence on the minds and opinions of 15 to 20 million citizens in Balochistan. What shapes those opinions? Do these opinions reflect in anyone’s talking points in Islamabad or Rawalpindi?
It is no longer a taboo to say that elections in Balochistan are selections. As a consequence, those in parliament in Balochistan or Islamabad are not representative voices of the 20 million in Balochistan. Therefore, if the resignation of one upsets Islamabad, to an extent that we have never seen in recent times, what does this signal?
Are we to believe Islamabad/Rawalpindi has woken up to the realisation that Balochistan matters?
Then why has this one resignation shaken Islamabad so? It could be that it is a social media flutter in a bubble of a couple of millions. There are always more theories floating in Islamabad. One such is that Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman has been courted by President Asif Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and their backers, to ween him away from a possible alliance with the PTI and opposition parties. We are told that this has annoyed the ‘Baloch segment’ – the ‘anointed voice’ speaking for the province in power politics. The resignation may have been an attempt to distract the power brokers to gaze this way as well.
The binary of Pashtun-vs-Baloch is another convenient either-or balancing act through which the centre simplifies Balochistan’s complexity.
Another motivating factor for the resignation, I believe, was not to completely alienate the sentiments ‘back home,’ since the traditional sardar leaders have increasingly become more irrelevant amongst the young in Balochistan.
To be fair, this reality has been pointed out many times by many talking heads. But what is completely missing in this repeated analysis and its link to this particular resignation, is the voice from inside Balochistan on this seemingly earth-shattering action. Do the Baloch care that Sardar Akhtar Mengal resigned? Which Baloch? Who wants to secede or?
We remain in a blackhole when it comes to the public’s opinions within Balochistan.