The Baluchistan Conundrum by Tilak Devasher

The Baluchistan Conundrum by Tilak Devasher

Tilak Devasher the author; retired from the cabinet secretariat, Government of India, as Special Secretary in 2014. During his professional career with the cabinet secretariat, he specialized in security issues pertaining to India’s neighborhood. Post retirement, he has continued to take a keen interest in India’s neighborhood with special focus on Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. He has written articles for The Economic Times, The Indian Express and many others.

This is the third book By Tilak Devasher and is almost like a series but this can be read independently since the previous two books are not directly related to this one.

This is a non fiction analysis which can be seen as an extension of a news report! The review is thus a summary of the chief points in the book to get a gist of the whole book. No spoilers and no reveals since the references are open and freely available. Those who do not read the book will get the summary while those who do read the book will get a preview!

The author starts with the introduction and the the placement of Baluchistan like how it sits astride the straits of Hormuz, one of the choke points of Indian Ocean! and finally the the division of Baluchistan

He then explains the huge assets in Balochistan and its economic importance

He mentions about the levies and police which were A areas and B areas

Statistical analysis reveals that Balochistan is 44 percent of the landmass of Pakistan! but it has the population of only 3.5 percent!

The authors tells about the hunting of Houbara Bustard which is a rare bird and is close to extinction is slated to be a foreign policy!

“A Baloch may be born without socks on his feet but when he grows up every step he takes is on gold!” is a saying in Balochistan! Which is of course a reference to the extremely rich mineral deposits in and around Balochistan!

The disparity is obvious in this single line. “Balochistan produces 45 percent of Pakistan’s natural gas but consumes only 17 percent of it”

History and origin of Baloch itself is controversial and the author tries to give information on this with an open conclusion.

Tribal system and Sardari system has been described which makes for an interesting read.

The collective character of the Baloch is manifested in what is called, ‘Balochmayar or the Baloch code of Honour’; A Baloch would be willing to sacrifice all including his life to protect it. How this code of a Baloch chief saved Humayun and how if not for that, the whole history of Mughal India would have altered!

Baloch-Pashtun divide; it is believed that the word Pashtun or Pathan is derived from the sanskrit word ‘Prathisthan’ or people who are established and command respect in society!

He talks about the Zikr (remember in Arabic) sect and how they are different from the orthodox Muslims

Hazaras are Shia Muslims migrated from Afghanistan after being persecuted. A sad saying is that a Hazara is born in Afghanistan, grows up in Pakistan and buried in Iran.

They were amused that the author knew that uru meant village, arisi meant rice and tanni meant water even to me from distant southern India.? Interestingly, Eelam (which means’independence’ in Tamil) was the name of a Brahvi-Urdu weekly that started publication in 1960 and had exhorted the government to promote both Brahvi and Ba-lochi.

Baloch-Brahvi differences? both cite a book called Koord Gal Namik written by Akhund Saleh Mohammed where it asserts that Baloch are Kurds while Brahvis are one of the tribes of Kurds.

The earliest signs of Baloch consolidation is to the confederacy of forty four tribes under Mir Jalal Khan in the twelfth century who is regarded as the founding father of Baloch Nation. Mir Chakar Rind was another ‘Great Baloch’ describing his rule as the golden age of Baloch. Mir Ahmad Khan as the khan of Kalat for establishing the first Kalat confederacy.

Kalat state of Baluchistan counted as a Princely state but wanted to deal with the Bristish directly like Nepal. In fact as late as June 1947 Jinnah assured Kalat of the continuance and safeguard of its independent status.
Treaty or communique dated 11 august 1947 in fact states that the government of Pakistan recognizes Kalat as an independent sovereign state.
Mountbatten though did not sign the treaty which made a feel of the declaration inoperative since it does not signal the recognition of the British.

A big issue was the erroneous reporting in AIR about a comment by V P Menon while no such comment was made! The premier Khan of Kalat then being extremely upset at this dismissive manner of treatment started the negotiations with Pakistan! India was anyway busy with Kashmir and Hyderabad that they were unable to evaluate the strategic significance of a sovereign Baluchistan. A big opportunity lost!

In the brief time when Kalat was independent, they even had an embassy in Pakistan with their own flag! Then the Pakistan army conquered Kalat and the Khan was forced to sign the instrument of ascension.

The chief role of British government was in question; initially they wanted an independent Balochistan. Later, Pakistan’s position during the rise of Russia, became very important (just like how US supports Pakistan now). So they later started proceeding in such a way that Balochistan will become a part of Pakistan! A strategic move because of vested interest.

Pakistan had signed a Standstill Agreement with Kalat on 11 August 1947. It had signed a similar Standstill Agreement with the Maharaja of Kashmir in August
1947. Pakistan broke both these agreements. Its subsequent history would show similar disdain for international commitments.

Insurgencies and revolts galore in the history of Baloch. Promises made even on holy Koran were broken by the pakistan army with impunity and several such incidents are enumerated by the author.

After the creation of Bangladesh; every move by the Baloch leadership was seen with suspect so much so that all major posts and leaders were either banned or arrested and a massive anti insurgence program was instituted.
Till Gen Zia Ul Haq came and ended the military insurgency. He returned properties, terminated cases and stopped military action! The effect was two and a half decade of peace! Most leaders of the insurgency either went underground or emigrated to neighboring Afghanistan. Of course the peace was deceptive since though the insurgency was ended, the Baloch conflict remained. The four year old long insurgency had politicized populace, aroused nationalist feelings and more bitterness and above all instilled in Baloch feelings of unprecedented resentment and widespread hinger for a chance to vindicate their national honor. The claim for regional autonomy gave rise to the claim for independence.

In topic of Bureaucratic under representation it has been stated that of the 830 civil posts in Baluchistan itself in 1979 only 181 were locals and that too in the junior posts. On top of this under the Domicile quota there were many non Baloch who were occupying the post by using forged documents.

Under representation of Baloch in Pakistan army is an under statement! There are a few hundred in the whole Pakistan army! While the famous Baloch regiment has no Baloch in it!
Baloch has 750 of the 1100 km coastline but there is not a single seaman in the Navy belonging to Baloch!

Education; Tilak talks about high illiteracy and low education and he tells about low female education and Ghost schools! Apparently there are schools only on paper! 15000 teachers and 900 schools get funds and salaries every month but they do not exist!

Huge mismatch between Balochistan Potential and the policies that have been followed by the successive governments.
Main issue is the Natural Gas! Till 1955-69 the share of Balochistan in the production of natural gas in Pakistan was over 91 percent but the share of consumption is over 2 percent though now it is close to 7 percent but still woefully inadequate!

Rich in resources such as Coal and copper but underutilised. Fisheries also suffering.

The issue of water also comes up since Baluchistan supplies over 81 percent of apples produced in Pakistan but now it is on the brink of a water crisis.

low poverty and Human development index have been enumerated with data and census along with low socio economic development.

Electricity- Balochistan contributes to 2280 MW of electricity to the national grid! Ironically the province gets less than what one power plant at Uch in Balochistan generates! So despite generating so much of surplus, Balochistan would not get more than 650MW unless the transmission capacity in the province is enhanced.

Balochistan has the poorest social indicators in the country. Less educated and less urbanized. MMR is the highest in Pakistan and only around 43 percent are immunized against a national average of 78! IMR is also high which is 158 out of 1000 children; a figure even worse than the 126 in Republic of Congo!

The author has given an extensive comparison with Punjab under expected lines for everyone to see! The rates follow the same pattern like one example; The annual growth rate in Punjab is around 9.1 while in Balochistan it is -3! A result of these indices, the author concludes that the consequent feeling among the Baloch being second class citizens is thus quite natural.

Gwadar; a topic discussed in length by the author about a potential tourist destination and a reference point for what could be the future. It became a part of Pakistan in 1958 after 174 years of Omani rule. There was plans to develop it as an alternative to Karachi! Then he talks about US interest, Russian interest and finally Chinese! Water crisis is a big issue here also. So much so that an advisor asked, ‘How can you build a major port or a city when there is no water?’ Then fishing crisis! Trawlers paying bribes and depleting fish stocks! and not to be far behind Land scam! Land has been sieged by state agencies, coast guards, the navy, the paramilitaries and apparently every general has a plot in Gwadar! Then seismic concern of safety and finally whether its is military of commercial project?
Then there is Chabahar which provides India access to Afghanistan via Arabian Sea by passing Pakistan! Taking the dependence of Afghanistan on Pakistan! So if Chabhar is developed then this land and sea connection would completely by pass Pakistan and open a flood gate of trade routes between India and Afghanistan!

The China Pakistan economic corridor is a big issue starting from the route to the execution to the economic outcomes. The routes have becomes politically controversial and has no lack of consensus.
Though Former chief minister Sardar Akhtar concluded that the CPEC will turn out to be another East India Company and all will make Pakistan look not like a country but China Town! It also poses security concerns as there are over 30000 Chinese working in Pakistan! There have been several attacks on the Chinese and some successful. How many groups have targeted Chinese nationals is being described in detail which can be read by the interested reader. It was too much Gore for me to digest!

Relentless prosecution; even the security agencies including army involved in highly under reported human rights violation. Some indulging in kill and dump operations.

Voice of Baloch missing person or VBMP formed by Abdul Qadeer Reki is an important organization getting these issues to the front. Qadeer’s son was abducted and his body turned up two days later after which Qadeer formed this initiative. He is also in the ECL or exit control list which is a list of people not allowed to leave the country. Most harrowing of Human rights violations are the enforced disappearances which has been described by the author including several other Human rights violations.

It is interesting to note that only ethnic Baloch were being targeted in incidents of enforced disappearance and none of the disappeared was a ‘settler’.
Information about Sabeen Mehmud, a prominent Palistani women’s right activist who had to pay with her life.

Media; the chapter starts with this harsh reality which sets the tone for the whole chapter. Not being dead is a victory in today’s Balochistan if you are a journalist. Worse there is little or no hope of prosecuting the killers let alone sentencing them! Most deaths of journalists go unpunished as a norm. This is the price our media has to pay for keeping the torch alive…

Lack of good governance or even a proper government with local leaders with the influence of Punjab is highlighted in many places in detail.

The Baloch issue is even now handled militarily rather than politically. Three factors are important here; one is that the people of Balochistan have not accepted Pakistan whole heartedly, then the Bangladesh hangover and finally army’s refusal to recognize the ground reality. The author then describes army tactic in self explanatory headings like use of excessive force, kill and dump and enforced disappearances, Downplaying insurgency, Islamization, counter nationalist and the foreign hand. They even target families. Then the role of frontier corps and their multiple check points which are a big bone of contention and bitterness.

A conclusion of the whole situation also compares Balochistan with Bangladesh but points out that Bangladesh had a good Bengali identity and middle class support and most importantly a backing by India! While Balochistan does not have a foreign Backer.

Final conclusion is that the key factor for the future development of Pakistan would be just a solution for the Balochistan conundrum, a solution that puts the Balochistan in the centre rather than the resources of the province. Failure to do so will slowly but inexorably exacerbate the crisis in Balochisthan till it explodes with dire consequences for Pakistan.

A very interesting and detailed analysis in the recent times of the conundrum which is Balochistan!

Those who love current affairs will be pleased!