Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his 90 minute Independence Day address to the nation spoke about Baluchistan for 3 minutes towards the end of his speech. Yet the next day all print media, TV debates, and commentators had nothing else but this story as a topic for discussion and front page news. So what did the prime minister say that was so provocative? For this let us examine the story of Balochistan – its origin, its people, and its history. The history of Balochistan goes back to pre-Indus valley Civilization dated at 7000 BC; it was the western most limit of the Indus valley civilization. The Baloch people, the largest ethnic group in the region, are of Kurdish descent that has absorbed Dravidian genes. Therefore the Baloch people, like the Bangladeshis, are ethnically quite different from the Punjabis, the Sindis, and the Pathans that are the ruling elite of Pakistan.
Islam arrived in Balochistan in 654 AD when it came under Rashidun caliphate, which controlled the whole of what is now called Balochistan. In the 15th century it became part of the Mughal Empire. At that time the natural boundary of India extended from Balochistan in the West to the present Myanmar in the East, and from Gilgit - Baltistan in the North to the present Sri Lanka in the south. In 1876 it came under the control of British India. In 1887 they took over from the khan of Kalat, as Balochistan was then known.
Today it is one of the 4 provinces of Pakistan. It has borders with Afghanistan and Iran; the South has a shore line with the Indian Ocean. In 1947 it consisted of the British administered area, and 3 princely states. These princely states did not accede to Pakistan till Pakistan military occupied these on March 27, 1948; the Gwadar enclave was excluded as it was part of the Sultanate of Oman. In 1958 Pakistan purchased it from the Sultanate. The province was officially dissolved in 1970; Gwadar Enclave merged with West Pakistan; and in 1977 the present Balochistan took shape as a province.
IN 1947 the legal status of Kalat, as Balochistan was then called, was not clear as its Khanate (king or khan) had not accepted the position of Kalat being an Indian princely state as it was not one of the 560 odd category A princely States of British India dealt with by the political department, but was a category B state like Nepal, Bhutan, and Sikkim, dealt with by the external affairs department. The British left the legal status of Balochistan vague as the British could not effectively rebut the arguments of the khanate for it being an independent country. While in exile in 1952 the khanate wanted to accede to India. He met Pt, Jawaharlal Nehru with a proposal of merger, but due to the myopia of India's founding fathers Pt. Nehru rejected it.
Balochistan is important to Pakistan because of its rich mineral resources, and its borders with Iran and Afghanistan. It has suffered economically due to negligence of the Pakistan government. This has kept it backward and poor despite being a resource rich province. Since 1947 Balochistan has had 4 short insurgencies by Baloch nationalists, and a longer insurgency beginning 2003 which continues till today. The Baloch leaders seek greater control of the province's rich natural resources, and a moratorium on the construction of the military port. Pakistan pays little royalties to Balochistan either for use of the Gwadar pot or for its minerals.
From all this it will be clear that Balochistan is not a simple case of being an 'Internal problem of Pakistan, or of India interfering in the Internal Affairs of Pakistan'. The roots of the problem run much deeper. In 1947 it could easily have acceded to India because the Baloch people and the Khan of Kalat wanted it that way, but for the lopsided thinking and ego of Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, who was so obsessed with the idea of India playing a dominant role in world affairs that he positioned non-alignment and anti-colonialism as the hallmark of his foreign policy, and lost sight of India's neighbourhood. Instead of consolidating India's pre-eminence in the region, he established contacts with Nasser, and General Tito, outside India's sphere of influence and closed down its consulates in Lhasa and Kashgarh, and agreed to give full sovereignty to Bhutan and Nepal and, and just escaped doing the same to Sikkim. The gulf Sheikhdoms who had deep economic ties with India and even a common currency were abandoned to other powers
It is in this context that the Prime Minister's outreach to the people of Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan assumes importance. He has signalled not only India's direct involvement in their fight, but has made a bid to reclaim India's Natural Frontiers; India's reach must transcend it natural Borders. The last 10 years of UPA II government has been the worst in this regard. It not only agreed to discuss India's interference in Balochistan at Shramal Sheikh but also abandoned the people Balochistan, but of POK (Pakistan Occupied Kashmir), and Gilgit-Baltistan. The neglect of the these people is the classic example of the lack of long term planning of India's national Interests.
Baloch nationalists have always wished to be seen and treated as entirely separate from Pakistan. Our Prime Miniter's statement has granted them that recognition. Given Baluchistan's strategic location and increasing Chinese involvement there, the Baloch will have no option but to search for allies in the region to protect their land and resources. India and Afghanistan are two possible allies. But we are not sure if they would be willing to get involved in Baluchistan. But we do know that Baluchistan is ripe for Pakistan's rivals, who want to embarrass or bleed Pakistan. Having now raised the issue at an important function, Prime Minister must not abandon Baluchistan and stay the course; not only because it is the right course, but because this is the only way that the wrongs of the past can be rectified. India must use its strong standing in world affairs to first educate world leaders about the correct legal position and ground realities in Baluchistan, and how systematically Pakistan, over the years, has neglected it and annexed it to be part of Pakistan; the same that it has done for Gilgit–Baltistan. Our Prime Minister must continue to raise this issue at world forums and expose Pakistan's nefarious designs in the region. It must also provide it moral and material support in its fight for freedom and justice against human rights violations by Pakistan's military. Much damage has been done to India's interests in the region by the wrong and warped policies of all the congress governments in the past.
Prime Minister is not hamstrung in his actions by the constraints of having to defer to the wrong doing of the congress' past leaders. He has a clean slate to fashion the future of Baluchistan, Gilgit–Baltistan, and in fact of the whole region. He has the strength of Character, a strong will and determination to carry his policies through to their logical end. This is not only in India's National Interest, but essential to stop the spread of terrorism in the world; Pakistan has already become the epicentre of world terrorism. If this remains unchecked terrorism will engulf the whole region. It is for India to intervene and carry the major powers of the world with it in this. That is the way for a terror free world and world peace.
__._,_.___
Posted by: Colonel Srikant <colonelsrikant@gmail.com>
| Reply via web post | • | Reply to sender | • | Reply to group | • | Start a New Topic | • | Messages in this topic (1) |
Have you tried the highest rated email app?
With 4.5 stars in iTunes, the Yahoo Mail app is the highest rated email app on the market. What are you waiting for? Now you can access all your inboxes (Gmail, Outlook, AOL and more) in one place. Never delete an email again with 1000GB of free cloud storage.
.
__,_._,___
No comments:
Post a Comment