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Author: Juma Baloch

There is no doubt that the world has shrunk and has become a global village and many members of this global community are facing similar problems. Some counties have willingly or unwillingly chosen a path as a solution to their troubles, while others have ignorantly adhered to their policy of denial and are facing turmoil.

Indonesia and Pakistan have many things in common; both the countries have a Muslim majority, both gained their so-called freedom after the Second World War, both have a history of occupying other nation's territory, both the countries have been ruled for most of the time by military dictators and both the countries' natural resources have been utilised for the benefit of the dominant ruling nation.

Because of these similarities some Baloch intellectuals are trying to give an impression that the Baloch nation is willing to solve their dissatisfaction with Islamabad on the line of peace agreement between the government of Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM)/ Aceh Sumatra National Liberation Front (ASNLF), mediated by the former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari. Under the agreement, Aceh would receive special autonomy and government troops would be withdrawn from the province in exchange for ASNLF's disarmament.

When we, the Baloch look at the history of Indonesia, we need to ask ourselves; with whom does our heart beat? With whom do our aspirations flow? With whom our history has similarities? Before we jump to any conclusion or suggest any solution to the Baloch question, we should acknowledge the public opinion of our nation. We should know the dreams of our elders, aspirations of our youth and hopes of our children. We should know the objective condition that surrounds us and the strategic importance of our land in the global war for energy.

Baloch nation has gone through a lot since March 23, 1948, when the Pakistan army moved in and occupied Kalat, the capital of the free Balochistan. After experiencing only 227 days of freedom in which we elected our representative assembly and wrote a constitution as a free nation of this global village. Pakistan's army trampled every thing under their boots - Baloch nation's pride, freedom, representative assembly, constitution and mostly our mother land and declared it a part of Pakistan. Similarly in 1975 East Timor lost its freedom after being free for nine days from Portugal. The puppet regime installed by Indonesia in East Timor, after its invasion, endorsed the integration of East Timor into Indonesia. Thus, on July 17, 1976, East Timor officially became the 27th province of the Republic of Indonesia.

Similarity between East Timor and Balochistan does not stop there, during the time of their decolonization; cold war became a hurdle for both to become a free nation. Washington expressed its concern over East Timor, because Indonesia was an ally in its war in Vietnam and it did not want to see the vast archipelago destabilized by a left-wing regime in its midst. Gough Whitlam, Australia's Labor Prime Minister told Suharto that an independent Portuguese Timor would be an unviable state, and a potential threat to the stability of the region, and he considered integration with Indonesia to be in Portuguese Timor's best interests. In Balochistan's case a memorandum dated 12 September, 1947 was sent by the British Minster of the state for the commonwealth relations to the United Kingdom High Commissioner in Karachi in which he was asked to do what he could to guide the Pakistan government away from making any agreement with Kalat which would involve recognition of the state as a separate international entity.

The solution to Baloch national question can not be found confined to the administrative boundaries defined by Pakistan. Baloch nation historically never accepted the Goldsmith Line (1871) nor has it ever recognized the Durand Line (1893), commissioned by the British Raj to stop the Russian influence in the region. These artificial boundaries may have divided the Baloch into separate states but could not stop them from considering themselves a single nation. Today nobody can deny the strategic location of the Baloch land for peace and economic stability in the region. Robert G. Wirsing, in his article "Baloch Nationalism and the Geopolitics of Energy Resources", wrote, "A sizable hint of energy's gathering importance to the conflict in Balochstan was, of course, already apparent decades ago in the pages of Harrison's book." If it were not for the strategic location of Baluchistan and the rich potential of oil, uranium, and other resources," Harrison observed, "it would be difficult to imagine anyone fighting over this bleak, desolate, and forbidding land." Shrinking of the energy resources is the main factor in the instability of the world economy today, and because of it, wars were waged to secure them. The vast amounts of untapped fossil fuel reserves in Central Asia need to be channeled into the world market to stabilize its demand. All the projects to channel Central Asian fuel to the Arabian Sea or the IPI (Iran-Pakistan-India) gas pipeline to India and China run through Balochistan. Unless there is peace in Balochistan these projects will remain on paper. Even Pakistani writers like Shaukat Qadir in his article, "Strategic significance of Balochistan", accept the importance of Balochistan's strategic location. He wrote, "Analysts have frequently adverted to Pakistan's ‘strategic location'; linking the Middle East via Iran, Central Asia, China, and South Asia. While Balochistan provides the only direct link to Iran and onwards to the Middle East, the truth is that without Balochistan, the remaining linkages that Pakistan provides to other regions are reduced to less than half their strategic value, since the only other port at Karachi could never handle the magnitude of the potential commerce".

When the riches and the strategic importance of this land were not known to the world. when it was only a "bleak, desolate, and forbidding land" the Baloch nation called it its home. As a free nation it resisted domination and occupation by the Afghans, Persians, British and Pakistan. The last one hundred year history of Balochistan shows that it lost its freedom and was occupied by foreign powers but these foreigners never ruled Balochistan peacefully. Baloch politics has always been dominated by rebellions. Intermittently there were times when the Baloch elders tried to negotiate peace with the occupiers but it always left a bitter taste and a deep scar in the collective memory of the Baloch nation. Khan Kalat Mir Mehrab Khan's peace treaty with the British resulted in the martyrdom of Mir Mehrab Khan and the occupation of Kalat. The outcome of Mir Dost Mohammed Baranzai's peace negotiation with Reza Shah Pehlavi was the hanging of the Baloch leader and the occupation of western Makuran by Iran. The outcome of Prince Karim's acceptance for talks with Pakistan was a brutal crushing of the movement and long prison sentences for the Baloch leadership. Peace, even in the name of the Holy Quran could not change the fate of Nawab Nouroze Khan and his sons. Negotiations with General Ayub Khan resulted in incarceration and hanging of the Baloch leaders in Hyderabad and Sukker jails. Signing the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan by Mir Ghous Bux Bezinjo and Sardar Attaullah Mengal did not stop the ban on NAP and the dissolution of Balochistan Government followed by the military operation and the long term sentences in Hyderabad Conspiracy Case.

The people of East Timor fought against the occupation by Indonesia for 24 years. There were times when many of the Timorese thought that it was a lost cause, but Xanana Gusmão's Revolutionary Front of Independent East Timor (FRETILIN) never surrendered its demand for freedom. FRETILIN resisted the invading Indonesian army, suffering heavy losses at times; they retreated to the mountains to keep the struggle alive. The East Timor Diaspora, scattered around the world initiated a solidarity movement for East Timor which initially faced lots of problems but ultimately they won the international opinion in favour of East Timor. During the historical struggle for freedom there were times when FRETILIN was very weak but it did not surrender its demand for East Timor's freedom. FRETILIN never participated in any elections held under the supervision of the occupier; it never accepted Indonesia's occupation over East Timor. Both, the struggle inside East Timor by FRETILIN and outside the country by Solidarity Movement for East Timor brought the Indonesian government to its knees. Indonesia had no other choice but to accept United Nation mediation. On 30th August 1999 referendum was held under the supervisor of UN for East Timor self-determination. Defying threats and intimidation by Indonesia's army and its East Timor puppet pro-Indonesia militias, the majority of East Timorese voted for freedom. On 20th May 2002 East Timor became an independent nation on the world map.

History shows that Baloch nation's struggle for self-rule swung in different extremes during the course of its history from provincial autonomy to independence. Lacking political unity, wisdom and a clear vision persistent with the genuine aspirations of our people, the leadership confused long term objectives with short term gains and the nation suffered as a consequence. This is the fifth time that the Baloch nation has picked up arms to stop the military aggression of Pakistan, started 60 years ago, which clearly indicates that all other means have failed to make the rulers of Pakistan understand the realities of the Baloch nation. The recent revolt that started in 2004 at Dera Bugti and Kohlu has now spread all over Balochistan as a widely popular movement in the Baloch masses. Geopolitical changes in the region, modern communication network and a stark awareness of the fact that the Baloch as a nation faces the risk of being annihilated from the face of the earth. No wonder this new phase of struggle in Balochistan is popularly called the ‘Last War'.

Since the coming in power of the new so-called democratic forces in Islamabad, hopes for peaceful resolution to the Baloch conflict are being echoed from different quarters of the Baloch leadership. It should be clear to the Baloch masses and its leadership that these new so-called democratic forces are hand picked corrupt political managers of the old establishment which started the aggression on Balochistan sixty year ago. Within six months the new government installed in Islamabad had shown its ethical bankruptcy. President Asif Ali Zardari, leader of this new regime backtracked on his written agreement with his coalition partners saying, "Written political agreements are not binding like the Koran". Those Baloch leaders who think these new unprincipled corrupt political managers in Islamabad are sincere in solving the Baloch question are either politically naive or as devious as the new mouth organs of the old establishment, in either case they are damaging the Baloch national movement.

This is the final call for the Baloch leaders who claim to be nationalists. It's about time that they should get their act together and chalk out a clear cut program as per the desire of the nation. We should learn from the history of East Timor never to surrender our demand for freedom and keep the struggle live at any cost. Until and unless the forces against our freedom are brought to their knees, they will not accept our demand. It's not just the question of the Pakistani army top brass and its handpicked politicians, even the Pakistani intelligentsia is not yet ready to treat us the way Indonesia is treating Ache people. Daily Times editorial dated, 6th August 2008, commenting on Sanaullah Baloch's article, A lesson to be learnt, wrote, "One can say that Pakistan is in disarray today but it has not reached the state of Indonesian collapse in 1999."And it continues, "It would be extremely perverse to tell Mr Baloch that he may have to wait till the state of Pakistan collapses as completely as Indonesia did in 1999 before Balochistan becomes another Aceh." Then it concludes, "Most Pakistanis are favourably inclined to grant a lot more autonomy to the provinces than is now granted in the Constitution." It is clear that they are now willing to give us some sort of autonomy within the framework of the interests of the dominant nation and save the army from complete embarrassment, but not the status of Aceh, let alone complete freedom. It is now up to our leadership what they want? Accept their perverse autonomy or fight for a special autonomy like Aceh. In both the conditions, after all these sacrifices, we will leave our nation at the mercy of Pakistan's corrupt and brutal rulers who in the past never kept their promises or else go for complete independence and gift our nation the freedom to choose their own destiny.