Alluding to a recent meeting of his with the recently released Sardar Akhtar Mengal of the Balochistan National Party, Nawab Marri said he had asked Mengal to identify the 'mother issue' before the Baloch people due to which the Baloch were regularly going to jail.
According to Nawab Marri, Mengal said if step 'A' was taken then the men fighting in the mountains would give up arms. "I don't think they (Sardar Akhtar Mengal and his father, Sardar Attaullah Mengal) have magical powers to disarm the men in the hills. The BNP does not have a majority on the mountains. God knows it is not the BNP giving arms, shoes, support and money to those fighting in the mountains. I asked Akhtar Jan to stop beating drums. We should know what we are fighting for."
Nawab Marri, whose well-known hobby of cockfighting has somewhat been replaced by Internet browsing these days, explained the reasons for Baloch distrust with the federation of Pakistan.
"Here, we are ruled by a class which does not recognise logic, history, ground realities, democracy. The only language it knows is that of violence and brute force," he maintained, "The Baloch claim ownership on their land and the state does not accept our logic. Our ancestors have been living on this land for ages. They faced hardships and poverty but did not quit their land. Now, the rulers come to us and say they want to develop us. They want to populate our cities. Our argument is: Can't we develop ourselves? When the State can't respond logically to our commonsensical stance, it resorts to use of force. Even the supporters of democracy should see that the just demand of the Bengalis was not conceded by this state despite all logical arguments supporting them. On the top of it, they say the Baloch are rebels, getting money from the outside world."
According to the Marri tribal chief, a number of internal as well as external factors have heavily contributed to the failure of the Baloch movement(s) to successfully achieve all targeted goals: Internally, the Baloch living in Iran and Afghanistan were not politically as mature as their Pakistani counterparts.
"Some Baloch are oblivious of their freedom. They have sold their loyalties in return of minor amounts, ministries and other facilities. Now there is an effort being made by the State to present the fake representatives as the real preventatives of the people... These people (referring to Balochistan governor Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Magsi and chief minister Nawab Mohammad Aslam Raisani) were born in Baloch households but they have become the salaried men of Pakistan. They do not act like Baloch."
Image: Nationalist leader of the Balochistan province, Akhtar Mengal, with supporters after his release from jail in Karachi on May 9, 2008. A Pakistani anti-terrorism court ordered Mengal's acquittal after the State withdrew a case against him. Photograph: Rizwan Tabassum/AFP/Getty Images
Also read: 'Who is the ideological mastermind behind the new Taliban?'
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