The two realities of Pashtuns and Baloch

By:Amir Mateen

People in Balochistan hate it when the self-styled armchair experts sitting in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi generalize about them. Baloch intellectual Dr Janazeb Jamaldini is incensed every time “my Punjabi friends” call him Balochi. “Well, I like to tell them that I am a Baloch and my language is Balochi.” Pashtuns are equally upset when others mix Baloch with Balochistani. “It pains me to explain that I am not a Baloch but a Pashtun who lives in Balochistan,” said former National Assembly Speaker Nawab Wazir Jogezai. Dr Jamaldini asked a group of media persons recently to “please go and tell your tv anchors to stop generalizing us as if we are a monolithic monster.” Balochistan is so huge-44 per cent of Pakistan and the size of Britain-that every area has its own set of unique issues. The issues of Mekran which does not have a strong sardari system and lively political culture are different from, let’s say, Dera Bugti where Nawab Akbar Bugti has left a huge vacuum. Or the issues of Zhob vary from the problems in Sibi or Mastung. But there is one generalization that can be safely attempted: the story of Pashtuns in Balochistan is different from the reality of Baloch. Both live in their own ethnocentric worlds. The Pashtun belt is relatively stable. Their lands are more fertile, endowed with finer flora and fauna. They also have better availability of water which translates into better orchards and agriculture, which remains the biggest employer in the absence of any industry. Pashtuns would like to claim that they are more industrious and hardworking. Their superior work ethics is reflected by their dominance in business, trade and transportation in Balochistan. Pashtuns are definitely better educated-girls more than boys. Loralai girls win most top educational positions in Balochistan. This places Pashtuns at advantage in job market, services and educational quotas wherever merit is concerned. These are, of course, also the bounties of living in a belt that is relatively safer. Pashtuns have their share of problems like the ever growing crime, the spillover of Afghanistan in the shape of talibanisation, drugs and arms smuggling. But the nature of their issues is different from the ones that Baloch face. Insurgency hardly exists in Pashtun areas. Never has. Here it is more kidnappings for ransom than target killings. This goes without saying that they are equally weary of army’s over reach in Balochistan and want more power and resources for the province. But their bigger grouse is now directed against the estranged bedfellows-the Baloch. Pashtuns feel they are being held back and squeezed by Baloch. “We don’t have any insurgency in our areas,” says Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami’s former Senator Raza Mohammad, “why should we suffer; Pashtuns are the biggest ethnic group and they should be adjusted in jobs and quotas accordingly.” Pashtuns, like Hazaras, fume that their students get admission in medical college by securing more than double marks of Baloch. Pashtuns claim they are equal in population if not more. However, they lag behind Baloch in area who are in majority in 20 out of 30 districts. Understandably, Pashtuns would like the distribution of resources on the basis of population and merit. Interestingly, Pashtun nationalists have always opposed Punjab for favouring the population formula but in a twist of irony they now want this to be exercised in Balochistan. It makes sense that Baloch should support the continuation of the affirmative action of sorts through district quotas. This is the only way Baloch can try to match Pashtun dominance such being the nature of their reality. The total collapse of law and order, the rampant targeted killings and bomb explosions in Baloch areas has exacted a huge tall on ordinary people. The abundant natural resources of the Baloch areas cannot be used because of lawlessness. The long coast line, including Gwadar Port, fails to take off under the circumstances. Business is down. Unemployment particularly among the youth is increasing. Movement is restricted because of insurgency. The clock of life stops ticking after sunset. Markets and offices remain frequently closed because of violence and strikes. People in most Baloch towns live without basic amenities like clean drinking water, sewage system or electricity supply. Life in thousands of remote villages that pockmark the rugged plains and barren mountains is even more miserable. The biggest loss is in education. The educational structure in the Baloch belt has crumbled in the face of lawlessness. Schools are either closed or partially functional in the absence of teachers and resources. Examination cheating is rampant. The ones who manage to get degrees are handicapped in skills because of bad schooling. They drop out even when they get admission in higher or professional colleges. Information Technology University in Quetta enrolls 90 per cent students from Balochistan on open merit. Only three students from Gwadar have managed to pass out in seven years out of an annual badge of 1500 students. The rest simply drop out. A whole generation of Baloch is growing up with little or no education. “Our future generations will also pay for the educational lapse,” said BNP’s Munir Baloch, pointing out that the leadership in earlier insurgencies was conscious about this. “The present lot of leaders who have no ideological training do not understand. Or they do not care.” Baloch dominate the executive political power-only one Pashtun became Chief Minister in 42 years. But their ratio in government machinery will continue to shrink because of the relative educational backwardness. Much to the Baloch chagrin, the gap left by the settler teachers is being filled by the better qualified Pashtuns. Almost all replacement of roughly 80 Punjabi teachers in the Balochistan University who left because of tension are Pashtuns. Baloch lag behind Pashtuns in competitive examination, promotions and postings because of their better schooling. As other ethnic groups are scared to work in Balochistan the gap is filled by Pashtuns from other provinces who easily gel with their local tribesmen. This will lead to more Pashtun dominance —hence more Baloch anxiety. The reality of Baloch and Pashtuns, it seems, is going to grow further apart.