Re: Baloch tribal elders urge action against Nawab Bugti; Support Musharraf Governmen
There is a difference. The movements that you’ve mentioned [other than the current one in Pak] all have their roots in the grassroot grievances of the common people, not just the grievances of the few from the tribal elite. I do know for certain these feudals are WORSHIPPED in Baluchistan – they are the ultimate menace, the ultimate authority, their word is taken for the word of god. They exercise their power by depriving the people of the most basic knowlege of their rights and the easiest way to go about doing that is to prevent them from being absorbed into the mainstream, by blocking any sort of development and access to education.
Baluchistan remains a tribal domain that is why it is the most backward province in the country. Punjab’s feudal culture is GENERALLY not as authoratrian , and the feudals in that part, and to an extent in Sindh and the Frontier have not been as averse to devlopment as Baluchistan has been. Some years ago these Baluchi feudals and their “enslaved” tribal subjects were bombing the newly contructed schools in Loralai, they also have been known enforce some age-old tribal customs which have no basis in religion, e.g preventing female literacy. Now they’re bombing Karachi, Gwadar not to mention those poor Chinese engineers which they have been kidnapping for ages. I have to mention Saindak here, which has the world’s largest [or atleast among the largest] copper reserve and it doesn’t take a genius to figure why that area is not being developed.
What the need of the moment is that this whole feudal structure needs to be dismantled, and people have to be tought to live like normal civilized citizens of the rest of the world. A heavy price is being paid for not having done so.