| The author of this article wrote extensively about Sardars and Govt but he forgot the injustices are mostly committed by Govt of Pakistan against Baloch people well the Sardars are part of that establishment’s creations since the British rule the Pakistani Govt simply followed that policies and under mind the Baloch national interests and has been robbing Baloch national resources unhindered it is time to answer Baloch people.
Baloch Unity.
By: AMJED JAAVED
Even when the British government had consented to creation of India and Pakistan as independent states, one thing badgered Churchill’s mind. It was concern about downtrodden masses who would groan under tyranny of Nawabs, Waderas and Chaudhris, after the Englishman’s exit from the Subcontinent. Churchill believed that the Englishman’s legacy in the Subcontinent was a modicum of justice and rule of law.
No one knew better the psyche of the feudal lords better than the Englishman.
Loyalty to the British crown was sine qua non of being a protégé of the Raj. After all, the Wadera icons were the Englishman’s own creation. Of all the lords, the conduct of Akbar Bugti baffles one’s wits. His father, Mehrab Khan, was given title of ’Sir’ by the English rulers and allotted land not only in the Punjab but also in the Sindh province. Akbar Bugti, former governor of Balochistan (1972), owns houses in Quetta, Sibi, Jacobabad, Kendkot, Sanghar, besides his native house in Dera Bugti along with about 12,000 acres of land.
The question to be asked is, will killing innocent passengers lead to forced payment of money by the gas companies, in addition to agreed royalty? By no stretch of logic, such a step could be justified. The matter needs a closer pry by the government into the psyche of our Baluch lords. Why Pak army can’t build cantonments on Pak soil?
In terms of area, Balochistan is the largest province of Pakistan. It covers 43.6 per cent of the country’s total area with only five per cent of the total population. Pakistan’s industrial infrastructure mainly depends on the gas and coal of this province. The gas from Dera Bugti meets 60 per cent of Pakistan’s, mainly Punjab’s, domestic and industrial needs. The province has 200 coal mines, which again meet the industrial requirements of Punjab.
In his interviews with foreign media, Nawab Akbar Bugti said that the gas of Balochistan was being stolen. He also said that Bugti tribes were doing what the people of Kashmir were doing. It appears to be cruel to compare Balochistan with Indian Held Kashmir, where half a million Indian troops have killed over seventy thousand men, women and children.
In the Sui-gas-fields area, Akbar Bugti initially owned no land. In collusion with revenue officials he got 7,000 acres transferred in his name. He has been receiving royalty from two gas companies at the rate of Rs14,000 per acre, to the tune of Rs10 crore annually. But this land was the property of the Kalpar tribe.
There are two issues here: the dispensation of Sui gas royalties, and warlordism. As far as the first is concerned, the government’s spokesman has assured that royalty is being given at the agreed rate of twelve-and-a-half per cent.
The ostensible reason for blowing up the pipelines was that the period of the agreement had expired. And, a new agreement was required to be drafted between the parties. The actual reason appeared to be that the interested parties wanted to dictate their terms into the new agreements.
The root cause of the problem is the medieval Sardari system. This system should be abolished. Not all the Nawabs are so malevolent, as our Baluch scions of Nawabs. Nawab of Kalabagh tried to abolish the Sardari system by setting up about 40 police stations in Balochistan. However, General Moosa was averse to the policy.
The Sardari system must be abolished. Meanwhile, a study should be undertaken to evaluate loyalty and political nuisance of the Nawabs, Sardars, Waderas, and so the like. For instance, we know that in the 1993 elections for the president, Akbar Bugti backed Sardar Farooq Leghari, and consequently, relations were cordial between him and Benazir Bhutto. By 1994, differences began to crop up between the PPP and the Jamhoori Watan Party. These differences transformed into an open clash during election of the Senate’s Chairman in March 1994. Then, the PML candidate, Wasim Sajjad, won with support of the JWP.
If the Sardars are not loyal to the national interests, what is the fun of propping them up with government patronage? Why not take corrective action to cut them to size?
http://www.nation.com.pk/daily/jan-2006/26/columns.php |
