By Sikander Hayat
These days it is becoming fashionable to invoke East Pakistan every time someone talks about Balochistan. Now I am all for learning from history but there are some comparisons which cannot be made basically because of facts related to such situations.
Here are some of the major differences between East Pakistan & Balochistan:
1. When East Pakistan became Bangladesh it had greater population than West Pakistan whereas Balochistan is 5% of Pakistan’s total population.
2. Population mix is an indicator as well because East Pakistan was nearly 100% Bengali while the population mix in Balochistan is 50% Baloch and the remaining 50% is made up of Pashtuns, Brahwis, Sindhis and some Punjabis.
3. Capital of Balochistan Quetta is a Baloch minority city as it dominated by the Pashtuns in addition to a sizable Sindhi and Punjabi population.
4. Dhaka which was the Capital of East Pakistan was never a Bengali minority city and it does not bode well for any secessionist movement if the proposed capital of your state has the minority of your ethnic kin in the name of whom you claim to fight for.
5. According to an article in Institute of defence studies and analyses "The trouble is that while many of the tribal Sardars, in their hearts might be supportive of the Baloch cause, or are being forced by public sentiment as well as the circumstances on the ground to pay lip-service to the aspirations of the Baloch people (for example, Akhtar Mengal insisting on a dialogue with the Pakistani authorities under the aegis of the UN!), they are not willing to put aside their personal egos in the service of Baloch nationalism. Their personal ambitions, feuds, rivalries, a desire to be one-up on their fellow sardars makes it impossible for all of them to come together for the larger cause of their people".
These days it is becoming fashionable to invoke East Pakistan every time someone talks about Balochistan. Now I am all for learning from history but there are some comparisons which cannot be made basically because of facts related to such situations.
Here are some of the major differences between East Pakistan & Balochistan:
1. When East Pakistan became Bangladesh it had greater population than West Pakistan whereas Balochistan is 5% of Pakistan’s total population.
2. Population mix is an indicator as well because East Pakistan was nearly 100% Bengali while the population mix in Balochistan is 50% Baloch and the remaining 50% is made up of Pashtuns, Brahwis, Sindhis and some Punjabis.
3. Capital of Balochistan Quetta is a Baloch minority city as it dominated by the Pashtuns in addition to a sizable Sindhi and Punjabi population.
4. Dhaka which was the Capital of East Pakistan was never a Bengali minority city and it does not bode well for any secessionist movement if the proposed capital of your state has the minority of your ethnic kin in the name of whom you claim to fight for.
5. According to an article in Institute of defence studies and analyses "The trouble is that while many of the tribal Sardars, in their hearts might be supportive of the Baloch cause, or are being forced by public sentiment as well as the circumstances on the ground to pay lip-service to the aspirations of the Baloch people (for example, Akhtar Mengal insisting on a dialogue with the Pakistani authorities under the aegis of the UN!), they are not willing to put aside their personal egos in the service of Baloch nationalism. Their personal ambitions, feuds, rivalries, a desire to be one-up on their fellow sardars makes it impossible for all of them to come together for the larger cause of their people".
beta keep dreaming
ReplyDeletekeep sleeping and lost from REALITY
If BALOCHISTAN is not EAST PAKISTAN it can be something else too, whats the point in your point?
The whole deal is about PUNJAB crusshing the RIGHT BALOCHI demands and the men behind the curtain are the men in wardi sitting like a feudal GANG in capital.
MUNIB
Dear Munib,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment. My intention was merely to state the facts and if you think that any of the four points that I have mentioned are factually incorrect than please provide the correct numbers.
Many Thanks
Sikander Hayat
Your post has a default-impression of biased tilt. As if you saying BALOCHISTAN is not EP so 71 cant repeat.
ReplyDeleteIt can. Its important to give a full picture, yours was half. Your 4 points are no doubt quite correct but it would be also good if you had stated why there is still a chance of something else happening.
Hi Munib,
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting again. If I were to do a real dispassionate analysis than I would compare Baluchistan with the Kurdistan region in Iraq, Iran, Turkey & Syria. Like Kurds, Balochistan is part of several different countries such as Iran, Pakistan & Afghanistan. Like Kurds the best balochis can hope for is some sort of internal autonomy. Even that is a very far fetched outcome. If Kurds could not break away from a very weak Iraq, there is no chance for Balochis who make up roughly 50% of the population of Balochistan anyway.
we have bore from pakistan ,and pakistani system and u make a balochistan at EP. its ur own think but think deep current maters of balochistan and write a artical,a baloch current issu,some question i write 4r u,1:pakistani ISI kidnep baloch students on education area,why?2:after kidnep killid the baloch students why?3:the baloch studets r a terriost ISI killed them?
ReplyDeleteIf there are some genuine concerns of some people of our country then we must look into what the people have to say.... There may be 10 CNG stations on one road in Pindi (say Khanna road) do you know how many are there in whole Quetta
ReplyDeleteBro the Brahvi's Also Baloch why You Show Brahvi's Diffrent Nation You have no Information on Balochistan, if you dont Know so why you are posting Please next time be carefulll,
ReplyDeletethanks and also take your this mistake if missed,
He forget most important point that East Pakistan was part of bargain chip when British decided to beak off India with majority areas of MUslim, while Balochistan was Independent State and never part of India, on green signal from their masters Pakistan army occupied it, and today pakistan army playing same game it played in East Pakistan, Kill and dump local people to extend its occupation, Baloch people has valid reason for independence all they some solid committed friends at international community and united nations.
ReplyDeleteDear Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteI hope that you will agree to my right to disagree with you. I sincerely believe that East Pakistan was a far off distant land surrounded by enemy territory. Balochistan is connected to rest of Pakistan on three sides.
Gwadar has been declared the winter capital of Balochistan and eventually it will become the full time capital of the Province. This will make it into another Karachi and will serve as the growth engine for the entire province.
Regards
Sikander Hayat
Well I might be ill informed, but then again I would like to add a few things. Baluchistan has been ruled by the sardars, who have mostly looked for their vested interests and not educate /delegate their powers to the masses. Even where the governments and the investors have offered to help in the cause of the people interms of developing the industry, many baluch people want to get the jobs and not work. This has happened in many industries in Lieda (Hub)
ReplyDeleteFoolish OR rather destructive theory....this concept explains the hidden will of an ordinary educated population in pakistan.A theory making more roads towards killings, fightings, terrorism and destruction of this region especially PAKISTAN.
ReplyDeleteBangladesh is entering a new phase of violence and uncertainty triggered by the opposition's objections to elections due to be held on 5 January. In recent days the country has been paralysed by violent strikes and transport blockades. The BBC's Bengali editor Sabir Mustafa in Dhaka says that there is now increasing speculation that a state of emergency may be declared to pull the country back from the brink.
ReplyDeleteThe main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) has called for all-out agitation to bring down the interim government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The 5 January date was set by the Election Commission, citing the constitutional necessity to hold the vote before the parliamentary term expires on 24 January.
During a similar crisis in 2007, the military stepped in and installed a caretaker government to carry out political reforms and address corruption.
They failed in that task, but managed to steer the country back to constitutional rule through largely free and fair elections. Ms Hasina's centre-left Awami League came to power in 2009 through a landslide victory.
Fragile economy
The BNP and its main coalition partner Jamaat-e-Islami want a neutral caretaker government to oversee the polls. They say a government headed by Ms Hasina would rig the elections.
Train derailment in Bangladesh (04 December 2013)
The opposition has been accused of sabotaging railway tracks causing trains to crash
The public mood still favours the BNP's position that the crisis was created by the prime minister, and her removal from office would pave the way for a compromise.
Increasingly though, there is concern about the tactics being used by BNP and the Jamaat-e-Islami in carrying out their agitation.
Since 25 October they have held general strikes and road-rail blockades, leading to widespread violence and hitting the economy hard.
Dozens of vehicles have been burned or damaged by blockade supporters on the only highway linking the port city of Chittagong with the capital Dhaka. The all-important garments industry, which accounts for nearly 80% of Bangladesh's exports, has been unable to make shipments for a week.
''If the current crisis continues for another month, then the whole economy will stumble to a halt and it will be very difficult to recover from it,'' said Rubana Huq, managing director of the Mohammadi Group, a major garments exporting firm.
'Creating terror'
Unlike previous political movements, there are no mass protests or rallies in the capital or other major cities. Instead, the tactics appear to rely heavily on guerrilla-style attacks on public transport, which are taking a heavy toll on ordinary passengers and drivers.
Yes true Balochistan is Not East Pakistan and equally true 2019 (although you wrote this one way back) is not 1971. So any comparison with East Pakistan does not hold good and dont forget 1 Bangladeshi Taka is 1.85 PKR (see where Bangladesh has gone and where Pakistan is). To prosper economically a country cannot have terrorism as a state policy, killing Balochs, Shias, Hindus, Christians and supporting religious fanaticism is taking Pakistan back to stone ages. The day is not far Pakistan will be only Punjab and every other province will break away and prosper.
ReplyDelete