Frank talk: Expert sees ethnic meltdown in Balochistan
Amidst a gathering at Karachi’s The Second Floor (T2F) on Friday, Ali Dayan Hassan, the Pakistan Director for Human Rights Watch, described Balochistan as a province which was on the verge of an ethnic meltdown.
Hassan dwelled upon issues which plagued Balochistan, reasons that have fueled human rights abuse in the province and its potential solutions. There was never a phase of stable relationship between the state and Balochistan, said Hassan, but the killing of Nawab Akber Bugti in 2006 sparked a new wave of violence. It was around that time that Hassan, under the wing of the Human Rights Watch, undertook the mission of documenting human rights violations in the region.
Narrating his personal experience in Sui, Dera Bugti, where he was working with locals, Hassan spoke about the humiliating attitude of government officials towards a Baloch man he was working with. “It was clear to me why the Baloch man hated the Pakistani state and military – as there was only so much ritual humiliation that a human being could put up with,” he said.
One of the biggest problems of working in the province, according to Hassan, was the constant interference of intelligence agencies, which escalated the risk for the sources. The inconsistent numbers for missing people further added to the problem. While Baloch nationalists claimed that approximately 6,000-10,000 people had gone missing, Interior Minister Rehman Malik stated that 1,100 people were missing in 2008. Strangely, the number quoted by Malik now has been reduced to 45.
Hassan admits that a handful of people have been returned due to the Supreme Court’s pressure, but there has always been the understanding that returned people are under constant threat. The whole idea that the judicial system is doing something meaningful to bring about a change in Balochistan is a sham, said Hassan. Unless military or intelligence officials are held accountable for the disappearances or targeted killing, these abuses cannot end, he added.
Explaining the provincial dynamics of Balochistan, Hassan stated that the conflict in Balochistan was not merely limited to one between the state and the Baloch people like it was three years ago. The Baloch people have now started targeting non-Baloch settlers, especially education personnel. Furthermore, the Taliban have begun targeting minorities like the Hazara in alliance with the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.
“Everyone lives in a perpetual state of fear, regardless of ethnicity. People in these situations become trigger happy, and when they hold a gun, they use it,” said Hassan.
Speaking about his testimony for a US Congressional hearing in February that demanded right to self-determination for Baloch people, he said that it was necessary to lobby international attention towards the province’s issue. Once the US got involved, everyone started talking about Balochistan suddenly, which was quite welcome.
Criticising the media, Hassan said the coverage of Balochistan had been “lazy, unethical and incompetent”. He cited the brutal murder of Akber Bugti’s granddaughter in Karachi earlier in the year, and the minimal media attention it received as an example of the media’s negligence towards certain issues
He said that the only way of solving the Balochistan crisis was to get sparring parties to agree to a ceasefire. He emphasised that the stakeholders of the province’s conflict did not include the government, but it was a battle between the military and Baloch nationalists. The need for collective pressure on the army and intelligence officials to stop killing, torturing and disappearing Baloch people as a confidence-building measure has never been more urgent, he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 14th, 2012.
COMMENTS (6)
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Denial at its peak among the Pakistani especially among the Punjabis who provide the bulk of Pakistan's army hence unable to see the the dire situation that has been created by colonial mindset of their brothers in Balochistan.
Why only Baluchistan, Human Right Watch never talk about Drone strikes, ethnic cleansing in Karachi, military operation in tribal area where so many innocent life's being lost ten times more than Baluchistan. I am sure you will never take this issue serious neither will raise it on international forum as you are a bunch of hypocrates funded by donors who have their self interest in Baluchistan and Ali Dayan you must be getting paid in millions along with all comfort for raising only those issues for which you are bring paid. Get the balls, come out of the luxury conference halls, visit the military and militancy affected area of FATA and do generous contribution instead of talking rubbish in front of so called civil society members (who all own NGOs or indirectly affiliated to international Donors for talking in their interest just for the sake of money).
@ R2D2: then why do you visit these forums and websites. You have no solutions yourself and are ready to criticise those that do. It is the apathetic lethargy of people like you that is the reason for the state of the nation. You follow the establishment blindly. It is they and sheep like you that have created this mess!
Otherwise irrelevant entities referencing each other thereby amplifying their voice...thats all thats going on there. Ali Dayan Hasan is not an expert on anything except the sedatives he seems to be permanently on, T2F is no forum for such things it is a place to read poetry and share cup cake recipes, and Express News is not a news outlet but an opinion outlet intended to promote "liberal values". Pieces like this are a dime a dozen as are the countless such irrelevant forums for an unproductive nation with nothing else but idle talk to pass time.
Mr Ali Dayan Hassan may be honest enough to speak the Truth and get away with it but the real issues highlighted are lost in a sea of misinformation and propaganda by the perpetrators who as always are covering their backs by launching a million conspiracy theories.
You raised a very potent point that the taking up of the cases on disappeared people by the Court is really a sham. Even though the Judiciary knows through all the information available with it that the Government has no role to play in disappearances and unable to control,the perpetrators it keeps haranguing the civilian Government functionaries and doing so unfairly targets them. This farce is unlikely to change in a hurry because The Military,Judiciary and Mullah are the self appointed thekedars for the ideological boundaries of the country. That civilians are being stifled and bumped off matters little to their conscience, except for periodic shedding of crocodile tears.
For years citizens have been fooled by the stories that RAW/Mossad/CIA/Khad are solely responsible for all the trouble and disappearances in Baluchistan. However in spite of their best efforts over decades and having thousands of Intelligence agents swarming the State like bees they have been unable to produce any proof. We could well be reaching a tipping point because there is little appetite in the country or globally for another 1971 style genocide no matter how the facts are presented, painted and varnished.
The ethnic cleansing of punjabi settlers in Balochistan has been widely ignored.The media has established a narrative against punjabis in general and punjabi settlers in particular.thousands of them have been massacred in balochistan,lakhs have been forced to flee from balochistan,selling their homes and businesses at throwaway prices.No one bothers to talk about their plight,no news anchor ever takes interviews of the families of those punjabis murdered in balochistan.