Asad Rahman went to Balochistan in 1971 at the age of twenty to develop a programme for social development in collaboration with the National Awami Party (NAP). During the 1973-77 Baloch insurgency, Rahman led guerrilla forces in the Marri tribal area in their struggle against the Pakistan Army. After the ceasefire, he moved to Afghanistan where he helped organise a refugee camp for around 5,000 displaced Baloch families. His vast experience and knowledge, especially as an educated Punjabi, of the history and demands of the Balochi people is crucial to understanding the present scenario.

By Babar Mirza

The News on Sunday: How would you contextualise the present unrest in Balochistan?

Asad Rahman: It's a little known fact that the Pakistani government had acknowledged the independence of Balochistan on August 4, 1947, and the Khan of Kalat had declared the same on August 15, 1947. However, Pakistani government coerced the Khan into signing the merger document on March 30, 1948, resulting in the first armed struggle of Balochs, led by Khan's brother Abdul Karim Khan, against the Pakistan army. However, physical control over the territory was not acquired until Oct 6, 1958, which resulted in the second Baloch insurgency led by Nauroz Khan.

Moreover, Balochis have been exploited for the past sixty years and have been given nothing in return. They have been pushed to the wall. The present confrontation, the fifth so far, started in 2002 when the late Nawab Akbar Bugti demanded the land rent, taxes and royalties that the federal government owed Balochistan -- a total of 88 billion rupees accruing since 1954 [Rs 128 billion according Balochistan Finance Minister Mir Asim Kurd]. The military operation launched to suppress this demand led to Bugti's assassination in 2006.

TNS: But the Musharraf regime did launch some development projects in Balochistan, especially the Gwadar Port project.

AR: There has been a demographic change in the district of Gwadar. No Baloch is employed in the Gwadar port. Instead, the jobs have been given to MQM supporters coming in from Karachi. This is being done to make Balochis a minority in this district and to ensure that the elected representatives from the district are not Baloch.

Musharraf has adopted a policy of genocide in Balochistan for the past five years. People are being forced to move out of their areas. 10,000 Baloch families have been displaced and 1,100 Balochis are missing. Balochistan is getting exactly the same treatment which was given to Bangladesh until it seceded.

TNS: The PPP-led central government recently apologised for the military action in Balochistan. How would it affect the ground situation?

AR: An apology cannot make up for the sixty years of bloodshed and injustice. Central government has been treating Balochis as third class citizens, and Balochistan as a colony. Just an apology cannot make things nice and happy. First and foremost, the central government would have to withdraw all military forces from Balochistan and release the 1,100 missing Balochis. Then it must sit down and negotiate with the Baloch nationalists to give them complete provincial autonomy. Excepting defence, communications, international affairs, international trade and currency, all other subjects have to lie with the provinces. And, of course, the Balochis must be given control over their natural resources. If the central government is not willing to do that, I do not see Pakistan lasting another five years.

TNS: Is their any hope for improvement under the fairly elected democratic government of Feb 18? Is the present political and military leadership really willing to sit down with Balochis and accept truth and reconciliation as was done in South Africa?

AR: I don't think so. None of them has that character. They are neither statesmen nor diplomats. Not even patriots. Most of them are self-serving individuals, and I do not see a politician on the scene today who is willing to do all this.

The politicians and military of today do not realise the gravity of the situation. When the country is faced with a secession movement and crises of food, energy and water resources, they are preoccupied with constitutional packages to get themselves entrenched in the present government. They don't have the guts to stand up against Musharraf, especially Zardari.

What I am trying to say is that the politicians in Islamabad are blind. They are only self-serving, and have no concern for the integrity and sovereignty of Pakistan.

TNS: So, what is the only option the Balochis have today?

AR: Secession. Under the circumstances, that's the only option they have.

TNS: Do the people of Balochistan support this cause?

AR: If you visit Balochistan, meet the students, tribesmen, politicians, even the settlers over there, you will realise that 95 per cent of the population of Balochistan wants independence and self-determination, which was promised to them by Quaid-e-Azam. This is a very important point. The stand-still agreement between Quaid-e-Azam and the Khan of Kalat recognised the independence of Balochistan.

TNS: It is widely believed that the sardars do not represent the will of the Balochi people. To what extent is this perception true?

AR: There are a lot of misconceptions about the tribal system in Balochistan. The sardars are very much representative of their tribes. They are not like the maliks and chaudhris of Punjab. This is because sardars and nawabs are not among the ruling elite. They are not rich politicians like the Bhuttos and the Sharifs. If you go see their homes, the way they treat their tribes, the way their tribes treat them, you'd realise that the notion that it's the war of sardars and ordinary Balochis have nothing to do with it is a complete misconception and sheer central government propaganda. How can you say that when people have supported their sardars in all the five civil wars that have been fought so far? It was people who were fighting, not the sardars!

TNS: In your opinion, what's the normative argument in favour of provincial autonomy?

AR: The first thing you must recognise is that Pakistan is a multinational state and not a homogenous nation-state. Then you should look at the stages of social, political and economic development of various regions of Pakistan. Rural Sindh is 100 per cent feudal, Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur are post-feudal but pre-capitalist. Balochistan and NWFP have tribal systems. Parts of Punjab are tribal, parts feudal and parts pre-capitalist. How can you have a singular social or economic policy when you have such diverse cultures and development stages? This is the argument for provincial autonomy: each province should be able to set its own priorities and develop itself according to its own conditions, and not according to what is discussed in Islamabad.

Islamabad is divorced from the realities of the people. They make policies for towns and villages that they have not even heard the names of. The point that I am trying to drive home is that they sit in their cocoons in Islamabad and think they know it all, when actually they know nothing.

TNS: Are Baloch nationalists likely to receive any help from outside?

AR: In the present geo-political situation of the region, there are many players who are going to help them, for example, the US, UAE and Iran, the last in its own defence. The US is very active in this region and is, in fact, financing an anti-Iran militant group called Jindallah.

Moreover, the current US strategy is to achieve the balkanisation of Pakistan, leaving Punjab as a landlocked Pakistan whose nuclear capability could thus be neutralised. This is evidenced by the new map of the Middle East prepared by a US think tank which shows Sindh as part of Rajasthan, NWFP as part of Afghanistan and Balochistan as an independent 'Greater Balochistan' including Baloch areas in Iran and Afghanistan. In this weak economic military state of Balochistan, the US hopes to control its natural resources and seal its border with Iran. The US also plans to use the cantonments being built in Balochistan in their operations against Iran.

The US has dropped Musharraf by the way. He is no longer the US administration' s boy, but only Bush's boy. But Bush will be out in November. If you have been following their statements and discussions, you can see that they have dropped Musharraf.

TNS: How would Balochi members of parliament respond to this situation?

AR: In the National Assembly session of 2nd June, Taj Jamali, former chief minister of Balochistan and current member of the House, said that Musharraf must be tried for all the deaths in Balochistan and if anyone had to shoot him, he would be the first person to do so. These remarks, expunged by the Speaker, were by a Baloch leader who is considered to be the most moderate, and show that Balochis are at the end. Their backs are against the wall, and they have no option but to fight