Unsilencing Balochistan

Sabeen Mahmud, murdered on April 24 as she drove to her home. As harsh as it may sound, it is becoming increasing clearer that to be liberal and outspoken in the Pakistan is equivalent to painting a target in the middle of your forehead.

The bloodshed in Balochistan increasingly refuses to be swept under the carpet. When the inquiry about mass graves in Khuzdar gets buried in files, the judiciary is not too interested in Baloch missing persons or their mutilated dead bodies; the massacre of Pashtuns in Mastung, target killing of Shia Hazaras in terrorist attacks, attacks of Baloch militants on innocent non-local working class and on police go unaccounted for - there is no use denying that something is terribly wrong in Balochistan contrary to the silence that prevails around the issue.

There is a lot of talk about the ‘foreign hand,’ in destabilising Balochistan. That may be very much true. But our foes only stand a chance because of our own reckless policies. The political disturbance in Balochistan is very much made in Pakistan. The government simply can’t shrug off its own responsibility by blaming other countries. Any hostile country will jump at the opportunity created by our own blunders.

Empower the people of Balochistan with their own identity and their elected provincial government with full control on their resources and no foriegn agency will find space for its miscreant activities.

What we need here is a political solution for a political problem. Why is the government of Pakistan, that seems at the forefront in facilitating a dialogue between Afghan Taliban and the Afghan government, is so hesitant in following the same process within our own country ?

Bushra
2005 hours
Friday 1 May 2015