Balochistan: Fight for pride heritage

Balochistan, in terms of expansion or area, is the largest province of Pakistan. It covers 44 per cent of Pakistani land, and has a population of about 125 million. Coast touching the sea, some of its parts are connected to Iran, some to Afghanistan. This region, which looks somewhat deserted today, was once very prosperous. The oldest evidence of farming in the world has been found in this region.

The history of Balochistan is a few thousand years old. Earlier, this entire region was Hindu. Sanskrit shlokas, mantras of Vedas, verses of Upanishads used to echo in the passes here. In the Makran region of this province, near the Hingol river, on a very inaccessible hill, is one of the 51 Shaktipeethas of Goddess Bhagwati, ‘Hinglaj Mata Mandir’. This temple is just 20 kilometers away from the Arabian Sea. Since this region falls in the desert region, it is also called ‘Marutirth Hinglaj’. Alexander came to attack Bharat through this route. It is believed that Bhagwan Shri Ram, Jamdagni Rishi, Guru Gorakhnath and Guru Nanak Dev Ji had also come to this place. Hinglaj Mata is considered to be the Kuldevi (family deity) of the Chaarans. These Chaarans were later called Baloch. During the Mahabharata period, this place was a part of the Gandhar Mahajanapada. In the Mahabharata war, this entire Mahajanapada took part in the war on the Kauravas’ side.

In the same Balochistan, excavations were conducted in the Mehargarh region near Balakot, in which remains of a civilisation older than Harappa were found. It has been proved that a few thousand years ago, there was a developed civilisation on the banks of the Bolan river in this region.

In 711, when Muhammad-bin-Qasim started attacks on this region, this entire Hindu-Buddhist area gradually became Muslim. During the reign of Akbar, Balochistan was under the Mughal Empire. But in 1638, the Mughals handed it over to Persia (i.e. Iran). But later Mir Nasir Khan of Kalat accepted the suzerainty of Afghan rule in 1758. After the First Afghan War (post 1842), the British took control of this region. They divided it into four princely states – Kalat, Makran, Las Bela and Kharat. But from the beginning of the 20th century, the Balochs started fighting against the British. In 1941 (when the Second World War was at its peak), ‘Anjuman-e-Ittehad-e-Balochistan’ was formed for the independence of Balochistan. In 1944, British gave clear indications towards the independence of Balochistan.

Interestingly, while imagining Pakistan, Rahmat Ali had added the suffix ‘stan’ to the name of this Islamic nation, which was taken from Balochistan. But the day

Pakistan became independent, Balochistan was not there in its map! East Bengal, which was not even imagined, or mentioned in the proposed nation, was shown in Pakistan, but Balochistan wasn’t. It became independent three days before Pakistan got its independence on August 14, 1947. Kalat, one of the major cities of Balochistan situated only ninety miles from Quetta, is a densely populated city. Located within strong walls, the history of this city is about twenty five hundred years old. Kalat city had to be crossed in order to go to cities like Kujdar, Gandawa, Nushki, Quetta. That is why this city also had a special strategic importance. There was a big mansion in the centre of this city, located within big walls. The Khan of this mansion (Gadhi) had a ‘Raj Bhavan’ which was the main centre of politics in Balochistan. A meeting of Muslim League, Resident of British Government and Mir Ahmed Yar Khan of Kalat was held in this Raj Bhavan. They signed a treaty through which Kalat started functioning as an independent country from August 11, 1947.

Kalat of Balochistan already had a special place in the British state system. The British had placed all the 560 princely states and kingdoms in the ‘A’ category, while Sikkim, Bhutan, and Kalat were given the status of ‘B’ category princely states. Finally, on August 11, at 1 pm, the trio signed the treaty. Through this treaty, it was declared that Kalat was no longer a state of Bharat, but became an independent nation. Mir Ahmed Yar Khan became the first head of state of this country. Along with Kalat, Mir Ahmed Yar Khan Sahib had complete domination over Las Bela, Makran and Kharan regions situated in the neighbourhood of this area. Therefore, even before the independence of Bharat and formation of Pakistan, by combining all these parts, the nation of Balochistan was formed under the leadership of Mir Ahmed Yar Khan.

The Baloch people of Balochistan had never thought of going to Pakistan before, nor do they have that mentality even today. Balochistan wanted to become an independent country, and it did become one. But Pakistan did not like this independence of Balochistan at all. Ultimately, after seven months and sixteen days of Balochistan’s independence, on 27 March 1948, Major General Akbar Khan of the Pakistani army forcibly occupied this small country. In the last seven and a half months, this small country could not even properly mobilise its army. Therefore, there was not much resistance and this strategically important and natural resource-rich region came under the control of Pakistan.

Pakistan did occupy Balochistan, but it was difficult to govern. Makran, Kharan and Las Bela were completely merged into Pakistan. But the Kalat princely state continued its existence even after joining. Finally in 1955, the Kalat princely state also completely merged into Pakistan. As soon as Pakistan occupied Balochistan in March 1948, the voices of protest started rising. Ahmed Yar Khan of Kalat did not oppose Pakistan’s occupation much. But his brother Prince Abdul Karim rebelled against this forced occupation of Pakistan in July 1948. He went to Afghanistan with his followers. The then Afghan government wanted to separate Balochistan from Pakistan and bring it under its control, as they did not have a sea port and Balochistan had the sea.

But Prince Abdul Karim did not get the desired support from the Afghan government. Ultimately, after about a year, Prince Karim surrendered to the Pakistani government. A powerful name emerged in the freedom movement of Balochistan – Nawab Nauroz Khan. In 1955, when the Kalat state was abolished and completely merged with Pakistan under the ‘One Unit’ policy, Nawab Nauroz Khan strongly opposed Pakistan. In 1958, he launched a guerrilla war against the Pakistani government. He did not want Pakistan to control Balochistan like other states.

But after only a few months, i.e. on May 15, 1959, Nawab Nauroz Khan was forced to surrender before the Pakistan government. The Pakistani government had assured him and all his companions of amnesty. But as per its nature, the Pakistan government broke its own promise. The Nawab’s relatives and 150 loyal soldiers were arrested by the Pakistan government on charges of treason. On July 15, five leaders of this rebellion were hanged to death. Nawab Nauroz Khan was old, so he was spared. Five years later, in 1964, Nawab Sahib died in Kohlu jail.

The Pakistan government thought that the spark of this rebellion would end with his demise. But this did not happen. Seeing the situation in Balochistan, the Pakistani army started setting up military bases in sensitive areas there. This infuriated the supporters of independent Balochistan. Their leader, Sher Mohammad Bijrani, set up bases of his guerrilla boys in an area of 72 thousand kilometers. There are many gas reserves in Balochistan. These rebel leaders wanted the Pakistan government to share some of the income from these gas reserves with these tribal leaders. This fight lasted for six years. But in the end, the rebel soldiers who wanted independence for Balochistan got tired and agreed to a ceasefire with President Yahya Khan. A few months after the ceasefire, the first general elections were held in Pakistan in December 1970. These elections changed the fate, history and geography of Pakistan. In the elections of 1970, while Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s Awami League won with a huge majority in East Pakistan, Zulfikar Bhutto’s PPP won in almost all the provinces – except Balochistan and North West Frontier Province (NWFP) in West Pakistan. In Balochistan, the National Awami Party, a party of independence-loving Balochs, won. Out of 300 seats in the National Assembly, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s Awami League won 167 seats, while Bhutto’s party got only 81. 1971 was a year of great upheaval in the history of Pakistan. Before the year was over, Pakistan was split into two parts and a new nation emerged in the form of ‘Bangla Desh’, which was earlier ‘East Pakistan’. Now in the remaining Pakistan, General Yahya Khan was very upset with the victory of the ‘National Awami Party’ in Balochistan. He felt that, ‘these Baloch people, along with Iran, are going to start a big conflict’. Therefore, after recovering a little from the 1971 war, Pakistan dismissed the Balochistan regional government in early 1973 and sent 80 thousand Pakistani troops there.

Pakistan, which did not learn a lesson from the mistake of Bangladesh, and repeated it in Balochistan. Horrible atrocities were perpetrated! All the roads leading to Balochistan were closed. Air strikes were carried out in some areas of Balochistan, where the Pakistani army suspected the bases of Baloch rebels. There was a fierce fight between Baloch rebels and the Pakistani army at many places. Thousands of people from both sides were killed. Many rebel Baloch leaders succeeded in reaching Afghanistan. After this terrible atrocity, suppression and struggle, there was a short pause in the Baloch freedom movement. This pause led to the creation of an organised armed movement – The Baloch Liberation Army.