In a largely tribal society like Baluchistan the head of each tribe, regarded as a father figure by his tribesmen, is called the Sardar. The Sardar looks after the interests of his tribe and protects it from the transgressions of other tribes and from assaults by outside powers. As the population of a tribe increases the inevitable result is the formation of numerous sub-tribes that move into new lands but maintain links with the parent tribe—the elders of these sub-tribes and the parent Sardar together form a judicial-cum-administrative body. All adult male members of a tribe come together in a tribal Jirga or Diwan to settle disputes and end conflicts—the final decision resting with select elders and the Sardar.
Political states with defined boundaries were formed in Baluchistan from the 17th Century onwards through wars, alliances, and intermarriages between the tribes. The capitals of these states evolved into towns where the leading men of the tribe built their houses and where merchants and administrators from India arrived to take up service under the Khans and Sardars. This slow and gradual process was rudely disturbed by the formation of the British Empire in India and the rapid advance of the new rulers to the doorstep of Baluchistan in the late 19th Century. While the British wisely refrained from interfering in the internal affairs of the Baloch, their military control over the latter was unquestioned. They built railway and telegraph lines and encouraged the Baloch rulers to introduce modern education and modern laws in their states.
Thus a small class of intellectuals emerged, which along with the numerous Sardars, provided the early political leadership of the province[1]. The forcible annexation of Baluchistan by the Pakistan Army and the emergence of the Soviet Union as a superpower provided the impetus for many left-leaning Baloch students to join politics. Then came the famous 1973-77 Baloch insurgency—the government of Chief Minister Ataullah Mengal was dismissed, as was the Governor Ghaus Baksh Bizenjo, and prominent Sardars were arrested. Political parties were banned and as a result the Baloch Students Organization (BSO) became the political nursery for the future leaders of Baluchistan.
The BSO however failed to form the base for a truly national political party covering the ethno-linguistic spectrum of Baluchistan. Through the decades of the 80s and the 90s there was a proliferation of political parties organized mostly on the tribal basis with a Sardar at their head. National political parties based in Punjab and Sindh also acquired a presence in the province but in recent years the advance of religious and sectarian parties has been quite remarkable.
a) Religious Parties: The majority of the people in Baluchistan are Sunni Muslims—there are small communities of Hindus in Makran and in the Bolan and Lasbela districts. Shias are concentrated in Quetta and Zikris are found along the Makran coast. The Baloch are true to their faith but they are not fanatical—unlike their Pashtun neighbours the Baloch never experienced direct rule by Arab, Turk, or Mughal invaders. While their Pashtun neighbours favour sharia or Islamic Law to govern their lives the Baloch have a clear preference for rawaj or tribal custom[2]. During the creation of Pakistan in 1947 Muslims of Punjab and NWFP attacked and killed their Hindu and Sikh neighbours but the Hindus living in the Baloch lands were safe from such pogroms.
Mosques, old and new, are found throughout Baluchistan and Qazis are an integral part of Baloch society. Along with the tribal Diwan and Jirga the Mosque serves as a convenient place for the settlement of civic disputes. Madrassas or religious schools however were not so common in the past—all this changed with the clash of the superpowers in Afghanistan in the 1980s.
Pakistan encouraged the growth of madrassas to recruit foot-soldiers for the jihad in Afghanistan and extremist organizations based in Punjab and Sindh now proliferated throughout Baluchistan’s towns and cities—their recruits brought in the culture of sectarian violence between Shias and Sunnis and hatred toward non-Muslims[3]. Violence against Hindus also erupted as per a report in The Friday Times (March 23-29, 2001): “Hundreds of Hindus have been forced to flee their homes and cross over into Sindh. Three Hindus were reported to have been killed in the town of Chaman after clashes between Hindus attempting to protect their homes and Muslim mobs in October. Temples and homes were set ablaze and property, including Hindu shops, destroyed as the growing social intolerance assumed alarming new proportions in Baluchistan. In almost all cases, the increased activism by militant religious groups imposed new strains on relations between the majority Muslim and the Hindu communities, who had lived peacefully alongside each other for many decades.”
In the provincial elections of 2002 the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), an alliance of religious parties, was able to secure 15 seats (out of Baluchistan’s 51) and became part of a coalition government[4]. The MMA votes came mainly from the urban areas and comprised mostly Pashtun voters who were angry at the American military campaign in Afghanistan.
Violence against Shias was rife in the rest of Pakistan and the power of the Islamic State was always on the side of the orthodox Sunnis—in 1987-88 the Shias of Gilgit rose up in revolt and were crushed by the combined action of the Wahabi fanatics of Osama Bin Laden and a SSG unit under Brigadier Musharraf[5]. The Shias took revenge by sabotaging a PAF plane carrying General Zia, the military dictator who ruled Pakistan for over a decade. Zia’s death brought a period of democracy for all of Pakistan and elections were also held in the province of Baluchistan where Benazir Bhutto’s PPP formed the government in alliance with the Islamic Democratic Alliance—both parties were based in Pakistan.
The coalition lost power after an illegal dissolution of the provincial assembly by the Bhutto regime—the Baluch Nationalist Alliance (BNA) took power in 1989 and after the 1990 elections formed the government in alliance with Akbar Bugti’s Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP). In this period the large influx of Pashtun and Hazara refugees from Afghanistan and the shifting of an agricultural university from Kalat to Pashtun-dominated Pishin had an adverse impact on Baloch-Pashtun relations. The 1993 elections saw a proliferation of political parties that splintered the Baluchistan vote leading to the election of an independent candidate, Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Magsi, to the post of Chief Minister![6]
In the 1997 elections Sardar Ataullah Mengal’s Baluchistan National Party formed the government but the Sardar resigned the next year following Pakistan’s nuclear tests at Chagai[7]. Until 1998 the province remained on the edge over the issue of the census, non-payment of royalties on gas and mining projects, and the inter-tribal clashes. As described above the 2002 elections saw a low turnout among the Baloch and consequently the Pashtun backed MMA and minor pro-Islamabad Sardars formed a coalition government.
The current polity of Baluchistan is thus fragmented by tribal, ethnic, and religious groups. What is encouraging is the emergence of middle-class leaders who are intelligent, articulate, and loyal to the cause of their province. In the 21st Century Baluchistan has become crucial to the economy and strategic security of Pakistan—this has led to an influx of outsiders who will work in development projects coupled with a growing presence of the Pakistan Army that will protect these assets and tame the independence of the tribes.
A case in point is the Gwadar deep seaport. Contracts for developing the port have been awarded to Chinese and Middle-Eastern countries while much of the labour has come in from Sind and Punjab[8]. Land around the port is being grabbed by real estate mafia elements from Karachi and other Pakistani cities while the Army as usual takes prime property to develop its cantonments and also distributes land to its serving and retired officers[9]. “We have reports that they are planning to settle 300,000 people here from other provinces,” alleges Abid Baloch a nationalist leader. Even the locally elected Nazim, Abdul Hameed, regrets that federal promises of employing only local people have not been kept[10].
In response to these provocations there is an across-the-board unity among the tribes, ethnic groups, and all segments of Baluchistan society to preserve the rights of their province. Prominent Baloch tribal chiefs (Khair Baksh Marri, Ataullah Mengal, and Akbar Bugti) and the vibrant middle-class leaders (Abdul Hayee Baloch, and Hasil Bizenjo) have formed the Baloch Ittehad[11], a united Baloch front, to present their common demands to the federal government. Since 1998 the Baloch have also reached out to other ethnic groups in Pakistan and have formed the Pakistan Oppressed Nations Movement (PONM) against the common threat of Punjab and the federal government, which that province dominates.
[1] See Appendix II
[2] See http://members.fortunecity.com/balochistan/baloch/id11.html
[3] Details of growing anti-Shia violence in Quetta can be seen at http://www.hazara.net/index.html The Shia immigrants from Afghanistan formed the Hazara Democratic Party to give a voice to their grievances.
[4] Although it must be said that voter turnout in Baluchistan was as low as 28% in the 2002 elections
[5] See http://www.balochvoice.com/General_Pervez_Musharraf.html
[6] This interesting chronology can be seen at http://www.cidcm.umd.edu/inscr/mar/data/pakbaluchro.htm
[7] See http://www.saag.org/BB/view.asp?msgid=12128
[8] See http://www.saag.org/papers3/paper259.html
[9] See http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Baluchistan
[10] See http://www.balochunity.org/index.php?facts+&did=624
[11] See http://www.balochvoice.com/Articles_Editorials_local_papers/Back_to_the_hills.html agenda of the Ittehad, formed on September 14 2003 at Dera Bugti, covers opposition to military garrisons and mega-projects in the province
from http://groups.msn.com/Balochvoice/balochnationalistleaders.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=471 seated left to right: Nawab Khair Baksh Marri, Sardar Ataullah Mengal, and Nawab Akbar Bugti.
Appendix II
Political Parties
Pakistan National Party- One of the older political parties it was formed by Mir Ghaus Baksh Bizenjo, former Governor of Baluchistan. The PNP sought regional autonomy instead of self-determination for Baluchistan and it had offices all over Pakistan. In 1997 it merged with the Baluchistan National Movement to form the Baluchistan National Party and consequently lost its base in other parts of Pakistan.
Baluchistan National Movement- Originally known as the Baluchistan National Youth Movement the BNM grew out of the cadre of the Baloch Students Organization (BSO) and was headed by Sardar Attaullah Mengal. Subsequently the BNM split into the BNM-Mengal led by Attaullah’s son Akhtar Mengal and the BNM led by Abdul Hayee Baloch—the latter faction has a strong presence in the Makran coastal belt.
Baluchistan National Party- The BNP was formed by the union of the BNM-Mengal with the PNP and was headed by Sardar Attaullah Mengal. The BNP formed the provincial government in 1997 in alliance with the JWP and the JUI and resigned in 1998 to protest the nuclear tests in Chagai. It also split into the BNP-Mengal and the BNP-Awami led by Moheen Khan, the latter renaming itself, National Party to indicate its all-Pakistan interests. Eventually Sardar Attaullah Mengal formed the Pakistan Oppressed Nations Movement (PONM) to mobilize the ethnic minorities against Punjabi colonization.
Jamhoori Watan Party- Formed in 1990 by Nawab Akbar Bugti the JWP formed an alliance with the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) of Nawaz Sharif to form the provincial government. Later the JWP entered into political alliances with the BNP and eventually formed the Baloch Ittehad in league with other Baloch leaders to protest the military government’s designs in Baluchistan. The JWP has a strong presence in the Dera Bugti and Naseerabad districts and is also part of the PONM.
Jamiat-Ulema-e-Islam- The JUI has always had a strong presence among the Pashtun areas of Baluchistan and has always taken part in provincial governance through alliances with Baloch parties. However in the 2002 elections it became part of the MMA and formed the government in alliance with the army-backed PML-Q. The JUI is today led nationally by Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman although another faction is headed by Maulana Sami-ul-haq—the latter though has no presence in Baluchistan.
Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party – The PKMAP was formed in 1987 and attempts to garner Pashtun votes by raising the slogan of Pashtunistan—a separate homeland for Pashtuns but within Pakistan. PKMAP also supports the claims of the Baloch against the federal government and is part of the PONM formation. The chairman of the party is Sardar Mehmood Khan Achakzai.
Baloch Haq Tawar- Representing interests of the Marri tribe. Balach Marri, son of the resistance leader Khair Bux Marri, was elected on a BHT ticket to the provincial assembly.
Baloch Rabita-Ittefaq Tehrik- The BRIT is headed by Prince Mohyuddin Baloch of the former ruling family of Kalat and has a presence in that mountainous region.
Balochistan National Democratic Party- Led by Hasil Bizenjo the BNDP merged with the BNP-Awami of Abdul Hayee Baloch to form the National Party. They support the army-backed PML-Q in the federal government.
Balochistan National Congress- Headed by Dr. Abdul Hakeem Lahri the BNC could not win a single seat in the 2002 elections. Dr. Lahri was chosen by the federal government to negotiate with the Baloch nationalists after the attacks on Sui and Gwadar in January, 2005.
