Balochs and other nationalists had been demanding national provinces on the basis of language, ethnicity and culture since the inception of Pakistan. They resented the administrative provinces saying that the national entities are senselessly divided only for the advantage of the British colonialists who misruled the region for over a century. Balochs fought 200 small and big battles against the Royal British Army over 100 years of colonial rule for their national rights and opposed the colonial set up in Balochistan. More than a million Balochs lost their lives in wars against the Britons. The present Baloch struggle is the continuity of that struggle and it’s not for jobs and packages, nor it is a problem of law and order as the Government leaders and public servants try to mislead the people in general.
When Britons occupied Balochistan, they divided Balochistan into five parts—first given to Iran, second to Afghanistan, third to Punjab, fourth to Sindh and fifth is present-day Balochistan in which annexed Afghan territories are also included in order to defend the imperial designs of Britons. Baloch nationalists demanded unified Balochistan within the framework of Pakistan by merging Dera Ghazi Khan, Dera Ismail Khan, Jacobabad and its surrounding Balochistan settlement and merger of annexed Afghan territories, all non-Baloch areas, with Waziristan or FATA.
Now the local Jamaat leader had come out with a novel idea instead of uniting divided Baloch territories, he wanted to deprive the Baloch of the provincial status of Balochistan as a bigger province. He demanded that there should five administrative units. He mischievously included Quetta into the unit along with the annexed territory of Afghanistan as if Quetta was also part of Afghanistan. Balochs had never claimed the annexed Afghan territory and considered it a part of the Pakhtun land thus it should be merged with Waziristan or FATA till a final decision they join a common Pakhtun Province within the framework of Pakistan. The Baloch capital of Quetta had never been a disputed territory and it is part of the Baloch mainland and there should be no confusion about it, at least for those claiming to be politicians and leading the major parties in this province.
He took the plea that law and order situation is not good and thus Balochistan should be divided and major chunk of the unit, including Baloch Capital of Quetta, should go to his brother Pakhtun administrative unit. By and large, almost all the Ulema and religious scholars are first Pakhtun defending their petty Pakhtuns interests first and later they are Muslims. At least Pakistani politics proved this as the Pakthun Ulema had never defended the legitimate rights of the Balochs or other national groups for political reasons. They found pretexts to oppose the Baloch interests, including a single and grand Baloch province within the framework of Pakistan.
Now we ask the Jamaat-i-Islami Amir that it is the policy of the party to deny provincial status to Balochistan and convert into simple five administrative units? We hope that it is not the policy of the party to deny Balochs the status of Province on any pretext and the Party still support the concept of federation with all Federating units enjoying equal rights. Pakistani State is a voluntary Federation of historic provinces consisting of Bengal, Punjab, Sindh, KPK and Balochistan. There are distinct nationalities and linguist groups are residing on their own territories for thousands of years. Pakistan was formed as a voluntary federation in which all the national groups are living together. The Jmaat-i-Islami had never supported the concept of One Unit, the involuntary sub-federation of West Pakistan, and joined the democratic forces in restoring the historic provinces of Pakistan. We hope that the Central Jamaat leader will clarify the party position before the country go to general elections where nationalists can make it a big issue considering it a deliberate move on the part of the establishment to oppose Balochistan as a single Baloch province.
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