Balochistan is a province that is in constant struggle for the past 170 years or more and its national leaders remained in prisons for decades and not for years in defending the people’s inalienable rights, including the right of self rule for Balochistan and also for rest of India. They fought British colonial rulers till the Britons were forced to leave the entire region. The people had a long tradition in fighting colonial and unjust rule and the present struggle is no exception. Thus it is not easy to understand Balochistan and its politics by people who heard about Balochistan or those who served this province as public servants for a couple of years and become experts on Balochistan. Balochistan is a more complex issue where people take careful decisions and that remains valid for decades. Thus Mr. Imran Khan is a new comer in politics and he should have patience to understand the province and more importantly its people spread over to an area almost half of Pakistan. Balochistan is not confined to Quetta and its surroundings. This scribe accompanied late Mir Ghous Bakhsh Bizenjo, a former Governor of Balochistan, as his Press Secretary in his tour to Mekran, only one major region of Balochistan, for two long months visiting each and every village and interacted with the local people constantly and for months. There are seven or eight such major regions like Mekran.
As long as corruption is concerned, it is common view of the people and Imran Khan shares the same opinion. However, in case of political and constitutional issues, Mr. Imran Khan had to first understand what the people want and what the Government can give or deliver within the framework of Pakistan as he is interested to make his Tehrik-i-Insaf as majority party in the Parliament and become the Prime Minister. By holding a public meeting in Quetta, he merely wanted to score a political point and not to find a solution to the Balochistan problem. He is an ambitious man and we wish him good luck in his attempt to become Prime Minister of Pakistan. There is a conflict between the Pakistani Establishment and the Baloch people and Mr. Imran Khan is totally blank on this conflict raising irrelevant issues for the public consumption. To say it more precisely that the Government, both Federal and Provincial, is not in the picture in the Baloch conflict. It is operating on the sidelines having no courage to take any stand. Leaders, particularly younger elements in politics, should have an eye on future and take bold stand on the real issue of the conflict and take a side supporting the Pakistani establishment or the Baloch people in the fight. He can’t travel on two boats simultaneously. In such a situation, he will be a loser like the other ones.
However, he is a welcome addition to Pakistani politics and the people of Balochistan wish him well in his politics facing two well entrenched parties—the Pakistan People’s Party and Pakistan Muslim League-N. Practically, there is a two-party system operating in Pakistan for the past two decades. There are regional parties forming alliance with one coalition or the other. He is trying to become the third force in Pakistani politics or third alternate in power politics. In the past, all senior leaders who made such attempts had failed to become the third force. They had to retreat and confine to it’s their political cocoons. Even his own party made an attempt to become the third force during the 2002 general elections and he won a single seats and could not dislodge the major parties from the political scene or from any region. All the known elements in politics who joined his party in the past had to resign and go back to their ‘mother’ parties to protect their political interests. Tehrik-i-Insaf had not made any inroads in Baloch politics. No important personality or “seat winner” had joined him. Most of the people attended the public meeting were onlookers or personal well wishers of Imran Khan who had a charm as a hero of this country.
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