Saving Pakistan with the Constitution

On the way to Quetta, the train my Punjabi friend was on was stopped in Sibi after news of Bugti’s murder had been broadcast. Initially, the passengers weren’t allowed to disembark because of security fears. Due to these fears, the train remained at the station for three days. When it finally left and arrived in Quetta, armed military escorts took the passengers to Quetta Cantonment while a curfew was in effect.

No one denies that the common Baluch have immense hatred for Punjabis. We are not here talking about the tribal leaders – but of the average Baluch who realizes what has happened to his people, and his province. The martyrdom of Nawab Akbar Bugti only reinforces the polarized feelings and takes them all the way to the edge where reconciliation becomes impossible.

Government apologists often proclaim that Bugti was a bad man who never let the benefits of his province get to his people, kept them for himself, and who brutally dealt with opposition to his tribal leadership. Bugti was a despicable man who was responsible for killing many innocent people. Therefore, there is little need to hoot n’ holler about his killing by the government.

All these accusations against Bugti are true. However the conclusion the apologists chant is reflective of the fundamental flaw among Pakistanis – that of perpetually divorcing unrepresentative government drawing-room policies from consequences on the ground.

While all feudal-tribal leaders oppress their people and the latter would prefer being rid of the former, in times when the perception and reality is that the ’foreign’ forces are reaping benefits of your land, the people will (and always have) put aside their internal struggles and break ranks with those symbolizing defiance and resistance.

This historical reality has been at play for thousands of years. The ‘foreign’ forces in Baluchistan are all those elements representing central and particularly military rule. The Baluch masses, like the oppressed masses throughout history, will forget their immediate disenchantment with the tribal leaders and instead look to them for guidance and leadership for preserving their rights over their land. The Baluch may resent the tribal leaders but they absolutely abhor non-Baluchis trying to determine the destiny of their state!

However, the Musharafian regime and its supporters would like everyone to believe it is different this time and would like us to believe with them that the Musharafian construct will defy history and pull a rabbit out of this shithole they have driven us into!

That the Baluchis will solidify their hatred for the regime, and thus naturally Pakistan, is an acceptable short-term consequence in the regime’s myopic and short-sighted political view.

However, the people of Pakistan must not entertain this perverted rationale out to its doomed logical end. When a part of your people despise your nation, there must be a legitimate reason. The basic questions must be asked and appropriate actions taken.

When the regime breaks the citizen’s contract with its people – that of the Constitution – do the citizens have every right to break away from the state?

The contract which the citizens of Pakistan agreed to, the Constitution of 1973, has been pissed upon off an on yet the state survived because the spirit for unity remained. However, if that contract was taken away in 1999, the spirit for unity and hope lies in tatters today.

The Pakistan Army has compromised the Pakistani state once again – a feat unmatched by any Army – in completely alienating an entire section of the federation to fuel its own short-sighted, self-serving and profiteering aspirations.

However, the Pakistan Army, though worthy of all disparage and beyond forgiving, is not the only entity that stands guilty. Punjabis by their silence cannot be let off the hook. Today Punjabis will be treated better in America, Saudi Arabia, India, Iran – any nation for that matter, than their treatment in Baluchistan where they have become targeted for their ethnicity.

I often wondered what everyone in West Pakistan was doing in the years leading up to 1971. Were they fucking stupid? Was it a case of ’see no evil, hear no evil’? Can the West Pakistani people proclaim innocence of the Askari decisions culminating in the dissolution of the country where the majority of the citizenry was erased from national statistics?

Or does the tragedy of 1971 and the years preceding it demand a simpler question: Were the main power-wielders in 1971 and the people of West Pakistan merely arrogant about the possibility that their brethren will succeed in tearing apart a nation?

Today, there does exist an acceptable contract to allow the state to function and provide an outlet for grievances of the various units to be heard. But if a nation’s own people refuse to rise up to defend their fellow brethren in the fight for rights guaranteed by the Constitution, what does that reflect on their desire for unity?

The East Pakistanis deserved to break up Pakistan for the injustice they were suffering. It is now up to Pakistanis to learn the lesson from the past – particularly the Punjabis – to show they want to remain united. It is a mute point to consider the differences in geography and contexts – the fact is the Baluch unanimously despise the Punjabis and by extension, being part of Pakistan itself!

The steps to take are obvious.

The foremost step is for the people of Pakistan to completely disassociate themselves with the current Musharafian regime in all its ugly forms and show the Baluchis that the people of Pakistan wish to remain united and want to preserve the federation by honoring the contract of the Constitution we all agreed to.

Let us never again find comfort with national arrogance, pride or proclaim ignorance over the possible tragedies that may unfold. The restoration of the 1973 Constitution which provides provincial autonomy is the only way out for a united Pakistan!