BALOCH NATIONALISM, FAVORABLE CIRCUMSTANCES AND THE NEED FOR A MORE DYNAMIC NATIONAL PARTY LEADERSHIP

By Malek Towghi, Ph.D.

Our struggle for the restoration of Baloch human, civic and national rights has entered a crucial stage. The regional and international players are less obstructive, and the Punjabi-Urdu-Persian-speaking tyrants of Islamabad and Tehran are more demoralized than ever before. If our representative political leadership plays all the cards well, we may be able to catch the train this time ... the train which we missed in the late 1940s and again in the early 1970s.

The international situation is less problematic for us now than it was during the Cold War period. The United Sates of America and other Western Powers have less excuses for continuing their immoral flirtations with the tyrants of Islamabad and Tehran, and also have less excuses for disregarding our basic human, civic and national rights as well as the UN and their own principles and declarations which oblige them to help and defend us against tyranny.

The tragedy of 9/11 and the discovery of Qadeer Khans have made them realize that during the Cold War they had put their eggs in the wrong baskets in the Islamic World. The world is now well aware of the links between the Qadeer Khans and Bin Ladins on one side and Islamabad rulers and the most dangerous circles of the Islamic world on the other side. The West, India and the whole civilized world will sooner or later be convinced that a Pakistan ruled by the Punjabi-Urdu-speaking mulla-military-bureaucratic complex is incorrigible, and that the only solution is first to denuclearize the "Islamic Republic" and then to allow the Baloch, Sindhis, Saraikis and the Pashtoons to have their own Free Republics which may voluntarily form a new South-Central Asian Confederation (S.C.A.C.) or a South-Central Asian Economic Union (SCAEU), friendly to the West as well as India. This will leave the present Punjab province of Pakistan minus the Saraiki lands, i.e., less than 15% area of the entity called Pakistan to be the last and permanent (!) Pakistan. Such a landlocked "Islamic Republic of the Land of the Pure" will be contained and unable to play its blackmailing dangerous games against the civilized world, consequently forced to behave or perish in the dustbin of history.

Western as well as Indian think tanks have realized that in order to protect their genuine interests in South-Central & West Asia, particularly against the al-Qaida madness, Persian-Sheite as well as Turkish & Arab chauvinism, adventurism and blackmail .... and against the dangerous Chinese intrusions above all, a redrawing of some existing international boundaries imposed on many oppressed nations within the Muslim world will be necessary. We know that redrawing of some international boundaries after the great wars of our time has generally served the cause of freedom, peace and prosperity.

More and more observers of developments in South-Central-West Asia are realizing that the emergence of a united free and sovereign Balochistan flanked by the three free Republics of Sindh, Saraikia and united Pashtunistan, comprising together 85% of the land along with resources and 100% of the coast of the entity now called Pakistan will be a plus for the civilized world including the US, India and Japan. These observers are realizing that almost all of the Baloch, Sindhi, Saraiki and nationalist Pashtun political and opinion leaders are eager to maintain friendly relations with the West, India and their allies. They also know that compared to the existing Pakistan, the Four Free Republics of United Balochistan, Sindh, Saraikia and United Pashtunistan (or their voluntary Confederation) will be more dependable and financially less burdensome.

It is so because the post 9/11 observations indicate that within Islamic societies, the Baloch, Sindhi, Saraiki and nationalist Pashtun psyche (like that of the Kurds, Berbers, Azaris, Gilanis, Lors, Qashqais and others) is more open to modern rational and secular tendencies and much less infected by (perhaps the last) major dangerous mental sickness of our time, i.e., Islamic obscurantism and fundamentalism which inevitably lead to backwardness, religious cum national/ethnic chauvinism and eventually violence and terrorism.


We are talking about circumstances favorable to our national struggle. Internally within the rogue, failed and illegitimate entity called Pakistan .... and in Iran and Afghanistan as well .... , the situation is more fluid and chaotic in our favor.

Let us thank God that the idea of a multi-nation single federal secular state based on a voluntarily and mutually agreed-upon social contract is as alien to the ruling Punjabi-Urdu speaking mulla-military-bureaucratic complex as it always has been after the death of Mr. Jinah. HAM BHIY KUCH KHUSH NAHIYN WAFAA KAR KE; TUM NE ACHCHAA KIYAA NIBAAH NA KIY, as Fayz has said. That the Punjabi-Urdu speaking tyrants will ever apologize for their crimes committed against the Bengalis, Sindhis, the Baloch, Saraikis and the Pashtuns, for their repeated and ongoing violations of the Social Contract based on the Pakistan/Lahore Resolution of 1940 and several other historic statements and documents uttered and signed by the founding fathers of Pakistan, and for their outright occupation of Balochistan and Pashtunistan (NWFP+) by force and fraud .... that the Punjabis and Urdu speakers particularly Musharraf, Altaf and his MQM will ever apologize for these crimes will be a miracle! That the Punjabi-Urdu-Persian-Turkish-Arabic speaking Muslim rulers and a majority of their intellectuals and opinion leaders will ever accept and digest ideas such as those of social contract, federalism, secularism etc. will be a bigger miracle. Such miracles do not happen in the Islamic world of its four core ruling groups: the Punjabi-Urdu speakers of South Asia, the Persians, the Turks of Turkey, and most of the Arabs. So, we the Baloch, the Sindhis, the Saraikis, the Pashtun, the Kurds, the Azaris, the Ahwazis, and others have no other choice but to have our free sovereign nation states, first.

Another Good News: Both in Pakistan and Iran ... and to some extent in Afghanistan ... Baloch nationalist struggle is no longer isolated and limited to certain pockets of the Baloch regions and communities. In Pakistan, Sindhi, Saraiki and Pashtun nationalist movements have matured and emerged more clearly and more boldly. The four nations have more or less their own armed resistance direct action forces. There are signs of increasing mutual understanding, solidarity, cooperation and coordination among the political, intellectual, student and direct action cadres of the four sister Baloch, Sindhi, Saraiki and Pashtun nations against the common Punjabi-Urdu speaking tyranny.

Within the entity called Iran, all non-Persian nations (=60+% of the Iranian population and area), i.e., the Azaris, Kurds, Baloch, al-Ahwazis, Gilanis, Dari speaking Khurasanis, Lors, Qashqais, Torkamans, Sahilis and others have become more conscious of their deprivations, of the Persian exploitations, cruelties and particularly of the Persian cultural chauvinism. Meanwhile, these non-Persian nations are now more proudly conscious of their own rich and unique historical, cultural, linguistic and national heritage and identities. All these non-Persian nations have now clearly realized that no mutually agreed-upon social contract exists that obliges them to remain under the yoke of the Persian political, military and cultural tyranny.

There are no signs indicating that the Persian Mulla-Shahi will be more open to the idea of multi-nation federalism based on a new mutually agreed-upon social contract than the Persian Pahlavi Shahi was. The mullas have continued the Pahlavi policy of annexing parts of the historical Baloch land to other provinces/ustans, of settling more and more Persians within the Baloch lands aimed at transforming the Baloch into a helpless minority, of not allowing the Baloch to take actions aimed at preserving their cultural, linguistic and literary heritage, of Persianizing the names of places and persons in the Baloch land and ... and ... . Other non-Persian nations of Iran also continue to suffer from Persian chauvinism in similar ways as they were during the tyrannical Pahlavi regime. The non-Persian response is common crystallizing in this demand: DISINTEGRATION OF IRAN IF NOT SECULAR FEDERALISM BASED ON A NEW MUTUALLY AGREED-UPON SOCIAL CONTRACT. This slogan is becoming louder and louder among all circles of the oppressed non-Persian nations of the entity called Iran.

The existing ruling clique of Tehran is isolated and besieged internationally. It has also alienated its own tradional (Persian-Shiite) constituencies within Iran and abroad. Its outposts in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon are falling apart. The Iranian as well as the international Left that flirted naively for a long time with the anti-American 'revolutionary Shiite mullas' is distancing itself from them.

The most important good news is this: Our masses and intellectuals have realized that for various reasons a United Free Balochistan is not only economically viable but has the capacity to become one of the richest and most prosperous countries of Asia and Africa in which there will be more than enough for all classes of the Baloch nation.


Taking full advantage of these favorable national, regional and international circumstances is the responsibility of our representative political leadership, i.e., the leadership of the Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP) led by Waajah Akbar Khan Bugti, the national Party (NP) headed by Waajah Dr. Abdul Hayy, the Balochistan National Party (BNP) led by Waajah Ataullah Mengal and of what i call the Khyrbakhs Forces led by waajah Khayrbakhs Mari. We are happy that these four groups have formed a 4-party Alliance to lead the national struggle jointly. Along with the Baloch masses and an overwhelming majority of Baloch intellectuals and opinion leaders, we wish that this 4-party alliance will soon evolve into a single Baloch Nationalist party with a single organizational-leadership cadre on all levels. (I call these four parties "representative" for obvious reasons: Together and under different names in the past, they have gained the majority votes in Baloch constituencies whenever there were free or semi-free elections since 1946.)

The success of these Baloch-based nationalist parties to maintain their popularity among the Baloch masses, intellectuals, students and Direct Action / Resistance forces depends on several things which I may detail in one or more future postings. One thing is very obvious: all of us want the 4-Party Alliance to evolve into a single party as I mentioned above. Until then however, each of these four parties may take steps which enable them to meet the challenge of taking full advantage of the national, regional and international circumstances in an effective and impressive way. At this time, i have a particular suggestion for the National Party.

The National Party is fortunate to have inherited the Middle & Lower class-based organizational structure and cadres of what was BNM. It however needs a more dynamic and charismatic top leadership particularly in this crucial stage of our national struggle. As the Secretary General of the party, Waajah Hasil Khan Bizanjo is the most appropriate personality. he should continue to hold this post. Hasil has time and capacity to grow and be a worthy heir to his great father, Mir Ghaws Bakhsh Bizanjo.

In my humble opinion, the National Party needs a change of guards at the top. Waajah Dr. Abdul Hayyy, the President of the party , has reached the point of diminishing returns far as intellectual growth, political maturity, nationalistic zeal and popular charisma are concerned. There are other points which I do not want to discuss here. In any case, Dr. Hayy should be thanked for his services and requested politely to retire from the presidentship of the National Party. It will be good for the Party, for the Alliance and for the nation.

The National Party is fortunate to have more than one able and appropriate leading member to replace Dr. Abdul Hayy as president of the party. Any one of the following will be a fine President of the party at this time : Waajah Dr. Abdul Malik. Waajah Kachkol Ali. Waajah Akram Baloch. Waajah Aslam Bulaidai. Waajah Sanaullah Zahri. Waajah Dr. Ishaque Baloch. Waajah Mawlaabakhsh Dashti. I am sure there are others whom I do not remember or know. Considering many factors and needs and knowing that the NP can have only one president, I would have voted for Dr. Abdul Malik, had I been a member of the NP !

Shah Latif Bhitai Says:

WAAKAA KARA'N MOO'N WASS
BUDDHA'N KAMM BAROCH-a JO.

A Humble baloch,

Malek Towghi