Baloch Wont’t Look Beyond Pakistan, says  Mohammad Reza Taheri

Bureau Report

HYDERABAD, Aug 13: It would be sheer ignorance of history and psychology of Baloch people to think that they would benefit from or look forward to any kind of assistance from beyond the borders of Pakistan, said research scholar, Mohammad Reza Taheri on Monday.

Mr. Taheri said while making a presentation on his PhD thesis that Baloch had undeniably played no less part in the establishment of a democratic Pakistan and they had no less rights than others in all matters, nor were they any less patriotic than their neighbors.

The scholar said that due to sparse population the distances were long, which were mostly covered by Katcha roads, as only 10 percent of the roads in the province were metalled. Similarly, only 5 percent of the area in the province was considered to be a settled area.

The scholar continued that Balochistan was declared a full-fledged province in 1970 after the dissolution of One Unit, but tribal dominated society hardly gave a fair trial to democracy.

Successive general elections, too, had little or no affect on the pattern of political system as the assembly seats were virtually inherited from one tribal chief or Wadera to the other successor or his nominee. Similar was the domination of ideological and ethnic parties in certain areas of Balochistan, he said.

He said that a wind of change was said to be blowing in Balochistan, although it was too feeble and painfully slow. The process was gradual in Pukhtun areas and very slow in Balochi areas, he said, and added that tribal people shackled by poverty and ignorance, could not bring dramatic change by themselves.

Taheri said that about 16 million Baloch inhabited a vast and contiguous tract of land in Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan, a region extremely rich in minerals and with great potential for agriculture. 

Apart from the province of Balochistan in Pakistan, which was mainly populated by Baloch, about one-fourth of Sindh, and one-fifth of the Punjab was also populated by Baloch, where they had settled centuries ago as soldiers of fortune, landlords and herdsmen, he said.

The vice-chancellor of the University of Sindh appreciated the scholar’s work and advised him to incorporate in it the changes as well as suggestions highlighted by various scholars. 

Dawn Newspaper, Tuesday, August 14, 2007, p. 23.