Home of the brave

Pardon me if I hurt your feelings by mentioning your messiah in a not-so-good light, but here’s the deal. Your messiah, despite his popularity, is unequivocally a good cricketer but a horrendous politician. With his cabinet full of former PDM members, there is nothing he has to offer except for his religious rhetoric.

In Imran Khan’s latest address, he kept mentioning how the entire plan was to “arrest him, and take him to Balochistan”. Not once, Khan said this various times until the conclusion of his address.

Sounds quite harmless and regular. But it’s not. This statement is a further example of everything that has been plaguing Balochistan since the start. Through such reckless statements, Balochistan is portrayed as a lawless land where anarchy prevails and where law enforcement can do whatever they want, with no state intervention.

Khan’s hostility against Balochistan is quite understandable. PTI’s 2018 manifesto boasted grand promises towards improving the economic standing of Balochistan. They promised inter alia that locals would enjoy the economic benefits of CPEC and that they would ‘empower’ the locals.

It doesn’t take a genius to deduce that PTI clearly failed at that. None of the promises were fulfilled and no substance was delivered. Resultantly, PTI’s standing in Balochistan remains minimal, to date. PTI also failed to reconcile the Balochistan Awami Party’s views with itself. During their tenure, even PTI members knew that long-term stability in Balochistan would only be possible once external influence from Afghanistan and Iran ended. Despite having such explicit knowledge, nothing was done to rectify the situation. And now that they are fighting to come back in power, Khan has the audacity to come on national television and in regular course, paint Balochistan as a land which represents turmoil, instability and anarchy.

Maybe if Balochistan was not seen by everyone as chaotic and disorderly and if everyone was not using Balochistan for their own personal benefits, maybe today we would have a province which actually wanted to be a part of the country.

A wave of fresh air in this entire fiasco was the Reko Diq project which ensured economic benefits to the locals; however, lengthy litigation dimmed many hopes of progress too.

It’s unfortunate how we always understand, acknowledge and revel in what lies underneath the fertile lands of Balochistan, but when it comes to understanding the sentiments of those who live on the ground, we fail miserably. And we fail on purpose. No one cares about the Baloch plight or what they go through. These people, they require the least number of luxuries, the least amount of food and the least amount of wifi speed. They only demand fairness and equity from us, which we’ve failed to deliver for the past 75 years. Balochistan and its people have always been at the giving end, they have always been giving to the country. The province has provided Pakistanis with natural gas, copper, gold, fruits and what have you.

Despite giving so much, all that Balochistan has received in return is hatred, disdain, years of instability and nearly zero development. Rights of the indigenous people of Balochistan have been trampled upon and violated since forever.

In their battle against hunger, the Baloch continue to sing praises of God, with hope in their hearts and fires within them that someday, things will improve.

To all those who have been causing unrest in this beautiful land of the brave and mighty, come taste the waters of the Hingol river. Come, say a prayer on the Takht-e-Suleiman and bow your head down on the mud and sand which have seen years of turbulent pasts.

Hike upon Ras Koh and gaze into the starry nights that the rich skies have to offer. This land does not spew hatred, rather, it lives for its hospitality, its love and its generosity.

The pockets of the people here might be empty but their hearts are rich.

This land and its deserts are magic. Please, don’t take this magic away.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, April 1^st, 2023.

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