Dictate of History

The 26 August, the death anniversary of the slain Baloch leader Sardar Akbar Bugti, witnessed mayhem showcasing the intensity of the insurgency in Balochistan. The Balochistan issue has been misunderstood or deliberately underestimated both by civil and military bureaucrats and the political leadership basking under the sunshine of the establishment. The National Defence University Course participants of 2002-2003 were taken on a trip to Balochistan. In Quetta, we asked the Commander of the Frontier Constabulary, after his presentation, how he was planning to handle Sardar Akbar Bugti. “I am just waiting for my orders from Islamabad either to capture or kill him.” We were shocked by the Commander’s audaciously arrogant and disdaining answer.

The press conference of the Minister for Interior along with the Chief Minister of Balochistan in Quetta after the bloodletting of 26 August painfully reminded me of the above episode when he stated with the same streak of disdain that one SHO of police was sufficient to deal with the insurgents. There has been no change in the mindset in the last two decades. The powerful quarters, even today, believe in the military solution to the issue. The Bugti issue could have been politically resolved as suggested by the Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain Committee report. The then President Pervaiz Musharraf appointed the committee.

Our rulers should reckon that four ethno-cultural nations came together to create Pakistan. It is not the vice versa. Pakistan is a federal and not a unitary state. We are a heterogeneous nation rather than a homogenous one constituted by four ethnolinguistic and cultural sub-nations. These national constituents could be kept together by a constitutional and democratic dispensation in which they feel genuine and equal stakeholders. Reckoning these facts would help us understand and respect the sensitivities and sensibilities of the people of any federating sub-nation, let alone Balochistan - a land of proud, brave, and freedom-loving tribes.

The Khanate of Kalat was established in 1666 over a vast land mass from Kerman in the west to erstwhile Khangarh (now Jacobabad) in the east, from Helmand River in the north to the Arabian Sea in the south with Karachi exchanging hands between the Khans of Kalat and the Kalhora rulers of Sindh. The Khanate’s territorial boundaries also extended to parts of Dera Ghazi Khan.

The Kingdoms of Iran and the Emirates of Afghanistan clawed away parts of Balochistan during military conflicts spread over centuries. The mid-19th century saw British India getting alarmed by the rapid thrust of Tsarist Russia into Central Asia, prompting the Great Game and compelling the former to adopt a strategic ‘Forward Policy’ to stop the Russians beyond the River Oxus. This policy increased the Empire’s strategic interest in Balochistan and Afghanistan.

Before the Anglo-Afghan war of 1839-1842, the Empire increased military pressure on Balochistan. The Khanate could not face the Empire’s military might and was forced to lease a corridor from Khangarh to Quetta to British India under the treaties of 1838-1840, with the latter undertaking the defence of Balochistan from the west and north. Some Pashtun-speaking districts were carved out of the British NWFP and annexed to Balochistan to balance the Baloch population. However, the Khanate enjoyed full sovereign autonomy.

This was the historical set-up when the British Empire, weakened by the two world wars, decided to leave the Indian sub-continent. After the failure of the Cabinet Mission Plan in March 1946, the British Governor General, in consultation with the stakeholders, devised a scheme of partition. As the sovereign representative of Balochistan, the Khan of Kalat participated in all the deliberations, including the Cabinet Mission Plan, to discuss the future status of his country in the scheme of independence.

As the deadline for independence approached closer, the directly ruled British Balochistan took a different route, with the British nominated council of tribal elders (Shahi Jirga) and Quetta Municipal Council voting to join Pakistan. According to historian Riccardo Redaelli, this occurred because of the failure of the British representatives to decide the return of British-ruled regions in time and the loss of power by the British Government.

However, a new roundtable conference was held on 4 August 1947 to consider the return of the British-controlled regions to the Khanate. Sir Sultan Ahmed, Prime Minister of Kalat State, attended the conference, along with his Chief Secretary and legal expert, I.I. Chundrigar, Lord Mountbatten, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, and Liaquat Ali Khan. The moot point agreed upon was that the Kalat State would be an independent state by 5 August 1947, enjoying the same status as it initially held in 1838.