Balochistan is a province wronged. Being the largest and potentially the richest, yet the most deprived, is why the people of Balochistan find it hard to have a reason to belong to this country
Outrage and outbursts are the normal reaction to incursions on the sovereignty of Pakistan. It has happened so many times and so often that outrage has become almost irrelevant and outbursts have become irresponsible. The sad thing is that the more the Pakistani government pretends to bounce back on its stance on the US intention to continue its policy of interference, the more the US mocks it and exposes the weakness of the government’s ability to command any respect internally and externally. The normal reaction of most of the public is to paint the US as a bully and villain and to carry out anti-American rallies by burning effigies of American presidents. These tactics are counterproductive. They feed the interests of our enemies. The biggest problem Pakistan has had in the last decade or more is to be branded as a country full of extremists and such actions and reactions just feed into the agenda of those trying to prove that Pakistan is a country that is full of dangerous fanatics, thus justifying their right to use drones and other invasion techniques.
The billion-dollar question is: who owns this country? Do the leaders of this country have a right to play with its resources the way they choose to? Do powerful institutions like the army or Supreme Court have a right to assert their control? Do the warlords and landlords ruling the rural Pakistan have the right to play their almighty game and get away with it? Do the people of Pakistan really own up to their responsibility of defining the future of their country? The problem with the country is that there are many owners of this country but really no ownership. The definition of ownership in the minds of all these interest groups is that I have full control over what I want to control and the rest is irrelevant. The real definition of ownership is that this is my country and whatever I do best for myself and my dear ones, I will do for the country as well. However, this definition is dismissed as being unrealistic and idealistic and too silly to be taken seriously. Facts, however, show that a country becomes open for foreign ownership when its own owners fail to take charge. That is precisely what has happened to our country. With leaders always ready to negotiate deals that are short-term and myopic, compromising sovereignty under the guise of having no other option is the age-old excuse for lack of foresight and integrity.
The resolution introduced by the US House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations chairperson Dana Rohrabacher in favour of the “right to self-determination for the Baloch people, for being victims of human rights violations and oppression despite being the largest province” is a clear violation of the sovereignty of Pakistan. Who has given them this right to make this statement? Two things primarily. Firstly, the US due to its status of being a superpower can use extraterritorial rights to influence and impose its own policies and laws on other nations. The classic example of this is the recent sanctions and bans the US has placed on Iran. While they are entitled to decide on their own foreign policies with other countries but they think that if they feel a certain sentiment or inclination towards a country, so should other countries. They do not think this approach as unreasonable or extraterritorial laws as arrogant. They justify this by saying that the purpose is to curb a nation whom they think is doing something to endanger the world. Their philosophy is that if a united stand is not taken, it will not be effective in curbing the targeted nation. Thus, in Iran’s case they have put sanctions on import of oil from Iran and have asked the European Union (EU) to do the same. Similarly, they have requested Pakistan, India and so many others to discourage trading terms with Iran. The response to these demands differs from country to country depending on how much the country is dependent on the US. While the EU has asked for a six months period to find alternative sources of oil imports, India has flatly refused. Pakistan of course has lately tried to take on the US but it seems that the Americans are not impressed by this bravado and consequently keep on pressing charges that seem ridiculous in the beginning but on closer examination one finds that they are only acting on an understanding of how our leaders find it so easy to compromise on their promises and resolutions.
As the walkouts of assembly take place and the American ambassador is called to task by the government, we also hear about the meeting between Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar with Hillary Clinton taking place in the UK, supposedly to enact a staged performance where, to impress the public, another cursory apology will take place. Unfortunately, these gestures are so perfunctory that all media outguess our leaders’ intention even before they act upon it. They may be achieving their intent of pacifying the public but it is not hard to imagine how they would be exposing their weaknesses to the Americans. Knowing their weak position both on economic grounds where they are indebted heavily to the American-dominated lending institutions like the IMF, etc, and politically where their own credibility is on a serious downturn, even an ordinary American Congressman just gets up and proposes a resolution on Balochistan, while saying little or nothing on Kashmir.
Balochistan is a province wronged. Being the largest and potentially the richest, yet the most deprived, is why the people of Balochistan find it hard to have a reason to belong to this country. Thus, instead of burning effigies of Americans, what needs to be done is to stop offering lip service apologies to the people of that province and saying how unfair the deal has been for them. It is this constant pretence of feeling bad and yet not doing anything about them that has created a huge deficit of trust between the Baloch and those governing the country. As long as the focus remains on blaming others, very little progress will be made. Sometimes it is the Americans, other times Indians — similarly, the present government blames the previous government and the provinces blame the Centre. It is these internal weaknesses that encourage external interference and aggression. The golden rule says, put your house in order and that is the best safeguard to any attack from outsiders.
The writer is an analyst, consultant and Information Secretary of PTI Punjab. She can be reached at andleeb.abbas1@gmail.com
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