Sardar Akhtar Mengal does not think his six points for the resolution of the Balochistan issue are any different from Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s six points. He chose his words consciously and, contrary to media suggestions, not in an unguarded moment.
Going by the texts of the six points presented by both leaders and the events that followed, there are many differences. Mujib’s six points covered constitutional, political, economic and strategic aspects. It was a maximalist position to secure a fair deal for East Pakistan. Mengal’s six points do not go beyond demanding ordinary rights enjoyed by citizens elsewhere in the country. His is a minimalist position. Mujib presented his six points at a conference of opposition parties in Lahore in 1966, to consider a line of action that could be taken against the military government. All Punjab-based parties opposed him vociferously, which prepared the ground for the military to arrest him for treason. Our Baba-i-Jamhuriat, Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan, also belonged to Mujib’s Awami League. There was a split as the Nawabzada became the loudest opponent of his six points. Political parties from smaller provinces were sympathetic to Mujib. The famous Agartala conspiracy case followed. It is another matter that people ransacked the special court and the Punjabi judge trying the case had to run for his life.
Mengal, on the other hand, has submitted his case before an independent judiciary. All major parties from Punjab, including the Jamaat-e-Islami, which had set up armed groups to support military action in East Pakistan, have come out in his support. An ally of the government, the MQM, also expressed its solidarity. A most important difference is the availability of information. In West Pakistan, people had very little idea of what exactly was happening in East Pakistan, even on the day Dhaka fell. These days, the people in Punjab and other provinces are much better informed. Mengal’s case has been heard with understanding by the people at large. Mujib, in contrast, was unquestionably a traitor in the public eye.
All these dissimilarities are for the good. The Eighteenth Amendment and the seventh NFC Award have made their own contribution. Where, then, is the similarity that Mengal hinted at and which should be worrying us? The Balochistan issue is no more a matter of fair resource distribution or provincial autonomy. Rather, the issue is that just as the rejection of the maximalist six points of Mujib eventually led to an independent Bangladesh, the dismissive positions taken by the government and the various arms of the establishment before the Supreme Court might lead to a similar outcome. Due to geographical contiguity of Balochistan, brute force can delay, but not prevent, the worst outcome.
This dismissive attitude results from what the 1970 manifesto of the PPP described as the “internal colonial structure”. East Pakistan “was the major producer of exportable wealth at the time of Partition. The central government’s expenditure, however, was mainly in the Western part. Political power lay also in the West on that account and because of the presence there of an opulent feudal class. The development schemes were so made or implemented by the central government that the private sector under these schemes fell into the hands of a small number of businessmen, who either had their original homes in West Pakistan or had chosen to settle there … The result was that East Pakistan was subjected to ruthless exploitation ... It is no remedy to brand the victims of exploitation as traitors because they are driven to protest against the treatment they receive. Nor does it help to improve matters by insulting them as bad Muslims.”
Likewise in Balochistan, the issue is of the colonial treatment that is being meted out. Where does the PPP stand today?
Published in The Express Tribune, October 5th, 2012.
COMMENTS (11)
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Sir Excellent op Ed. Few comments Please write next op Ed with what were 6 points of Mujib and how many Bhutto accepted that has been repeated several times by Dr. Mubashir. Please don't mix up with govt.( who ever is in saddle) with establishment. Government is employed by establishment, otherwise, Balochistan problem should have made some progress after AZ apologized in his first week of his presidency, would have ISI under civil controll and had a treaty with India of no first strike.to be honest with you PPP has tried to be humble employee to recover losses of last 33 years. Sir in this day and age basic things that 18th. Amendment like education and health were supposed to go to provinces have been denied. Natural resources, right has been accepted in principle that where it is produced. Gas produce by Punjab is 5% but uses 55% is taken by force at cheapest price . Wheat produced by Punjab is sold to other provinces at higher price than they can import from international market. Sir it is all money game that has been wrapped in Islam ,Pakistan and anti India. God forbid, if Pakistan breaks best friend of India will Muslim punjab. This money game is so strong.
@Lala Gee: Sir I hope that you read and compare UK, with her colinal supreme period and now . UK has more GDP and more civil servants than it has at its peak. UK is more prosperous than what it was in when it ruled half of the world. Your myopic mindset blurry your vision to analyse things critically Your argument is false and flat Is here any doubt that Punjab is more populous and prosperous than Balochistan? Then why Punjab is not letting it go exploitation of it and have fair relationship?what evr is being produced in Balochistan it should be used by them and Punjab being rich should be net contributor Balochistan? It so. Let us suppose Punjab GDP is 200 billion dollars and Balochistan is 100 and you take 90 to Lahore is that exploitation ?it is good for you that u loot 90 billions free even though u are rich. Number quoted for army personnel is 500,000; 90% are our punjabi brothers that is fine. But who ever is there they should be paid by their respective states/or provinces.why person from Dera Bugatti or nazim Abad should pay for the salary of sialkoti? Similarly in federal pool 85% jobs are occupied by Punjabies. Every one should be paid by Punjab province money. I wish Bengal had been with us so other provinces had come out of exploitation of Punjab. But establishment had let it go in order to maintain controll of other land here. Don't mumble that it was Bhutto who was not punjabi, he was your representative and got 62 seats of NA out of 81 he had.
@Lala Gee: The primary focus of this article is Balochistan and the future not Bangladesh and the past. The only purpose of refrerring to BAngladesh is to show that if people feel they are not treated fairly they can leave the union, so it would be advisable to learn from history and give Balochs a fair deal. Do you disagree with that conclusion? If not, it is unclear what you seek to prove. Even if in your opinion there was no injustice to Bengalis, you can not change the past. You can only change the future by learing from the past. IT is your choice whether you want to learn or bury your head in the sand and blame the Bangladeshis and Balochs alike.
“East Pakistan “was the major producer of exportable wealth at the time of Partition. The central government’s expenditure, however, was mainly in the Western part.”
As an addendum to my previous comment, I am sure the author is not talking about this "exportable wealth" as mentioned in the opening paragraph of an article published last month in ET and described in more detail in this fact book sheet on Bangladesh.
@Author:
"It is another matter that people ransacked the special court and the Punjabi judge trying the case had to run for his life."
I expect use of decent language from a person claiming to possess a PhD degree. Was Field Marshal Ayub a Punjabi whose government assigned the case to a Punjabi judge? Or, he had assumed the trial by own his own? Or, the author mean to suggest that the Punjabis are cowards?
"East Pakistan “was the major producer of exportable wealth at the time of Partition."
Where did you get these facts and figures. The GDPs of Bangladesh and Pakistan according to wikipedia.org during 2011 were as follow:
Bangladesh: GDP (PPP): $282.229 billion) / Per capita: $1,692
Pakistan: GDP (PPP): $488.580 billion / Per capita: $2,787
And ratios are: GDP (PPP): 1.73 / per capita: 1.65
Important point to note is that both GDP and Per Capita Income of Pakistan has increased over Bangladesh after 1971. Hope this will clear any misconception created by this article.
"-------It is no remedy to brand the victims of exploitation as traitors because they are driven to protest against the treatment they receive. Nor does it help to improve matters by insulting them as bad Muslims.”
Correct you are there ! Branding victims as traitors and bad Muslims is an immature way of trying to make a point.
Just one little doubt. Whether the death squads ,claimed to be operational by the baloch leader, are constitutional or not, according to Mr Kayani ?
@Khan Jr: @gp65: A balanced and pragmatic Op Ed which highlights the need to accept the six points of Mengal as the min to start the political solution. I agree with both of you 100%. Thanks and regards, Mirza
"Rather, the issue is that just as the rejection of the maximalist six points of Mujib eventually led to an independent Bangladesh, the dismissive positions taken by the government and the various arms of the establishment before the Supreme Court might lead to a similar outcome. Due to geographical contiguity of Balochistan, brute force can delay, but not prevent, the worst outcome."
This is the heart. I hope that the FC and PPP can pay attention to the legitimate demands. The COAS' statement was not reassuring since it looks like he implied though did not directly say is that since BLA may be using unconstitutional methods, he will continue with the current policy of forced disappearances.
Agree! It is time for compromise and Mengal's six point, as Dr. Sahib correctly pointed out, are nowhere close to Mujib's six points. I am not sure if Nawabzada sahib was ever a member of Pakistan Awami Party. The Awami Party was a breakaway from NAP, first becoming NAP (Bhashani) and then Mujib and others separating from it to form Awami Party. Nawabzada sahib emerged on the political screen during infamous Flashman Hotel round-tables of 1968 in Rawalpindi. He was an Ahrar during 1950s, got elected from Muzzafargarh in 1961 as MNA and then he formed Pakistan Watan Party along with a few other cohorts (Nur-ul-Amin, Moulvi Farid), had the tacit support of both GM Syed and Pir Pagharah, and one of the Talpurs (I think Rasul Bukhsh). I think, he also had some support from Mushtaq Gurmani who was under EBDO at the time. The Watan Party later on became Pakistan Democratic Party. Please correct me if I am wrong.
The PPP has obviously wimped out.
Zardari & Co are too busy safeguarding their stay in governance to risk it by helping prevent the horrors being inflicted in Balochistan. Making mendacious press statements comes very naturally to them.