Flood-ruined Balochs

Had it to be a provincial minister to remind the Balochistan MPAs and his cabinet colleagues that the rain flooding has ruined their Baloch compatriots in eastern Balochistan and that they have to do their part for their relief? In a passionate appeal, Minister Jan Ali Changezi asked them to chip in with a part of their funds. And quite a hefty sum it is, running into billions of rupees that these excellencies have divvied up between themselves on the pretext of development of their constituencies. And what was their response? Promptly they instead adopted a resolution calling upon the federal government to provide Rs. 15 billion for the succour and rehabilitation of the flood-devastated people. What a hypocrisy! And what an insensitivity! But why has the Baloch commoner become such a disposable nonentity in Balochistan? The flooding has left in utter ruins the districts of Naseerabad, Jaffarabad, Dera Bugti, Jhal Magsi and Musakhel. And the worst hit are the rural folks, who have suffered casualties in scores. Their villages in dozens and homes in thousands have been wiped out. Their cattle in hundreds have been swept away. Hundreds of thousands of them are still stranded in flood waters. And the flooding has washed off neatly standing crops over a sprawling land of 700,000 acres. By every reckoning, this is a colossal catastrophic devastation. Yet it has touched no hearts among the province’s elites and has become no part of any six-points of the eminences impersonating as the Baloch leaders. Why indeed has the Baloch commoner become such an orphan that even his most painful woe goes wholly ignored and unmourned by those who pose themselves to be the voice of the Baloch people? The present provincial assembly is stocked up with a bevy of sardars, self-styled nationalists and holy clerical fathers, who all, barring a few, also make up the incumbent provincial ministry. Yet no cries of compassion or sympathy for these woe-begone flood-battered have oozed out of the assembly chambers or the government corridors. Only the military is seen engaged in rescue and relief works. The provincial administration seems to have taken upon itself the job of only blurting out the statistics of flood damages. It has left the flood-battered largely to fend for themselves. And if those in the provincial ministry and assembly are so neglectful of these distressed flood-devastated, those sitting outside posing to be the real champions of the Baloch people have just turned a blind eye to this great human tragedy. They are acting as if not a disastrous flooding is devastating the eastern Balochistan but just a water pipeline has burst out in some city part. They are wholly mum, mouthing not even a word of concern, leave alone compassion or sympathy, over the doleful plight of the flood-battered. They are deafeningly vocal over the missing persons phenomenon, but keeping their tongues tied over the unenviable predicament of the flood-ruined, which is no lesser, if not more, painful. Maybe, they see no profit in dwelling upon the catastrophe of the flood-battered. In any case, they could be excused. Their humanitarianism, after all, is, quite evidently, very selective and very motivated. They only cry over the missing Balochs. But cry not for the Balochs murdered by the insurgent groups in terrorist or vindictive strikes. They spare no tear at all even for the Baloch children and women killed or maimed in the insurgents’ landmine and IED blasts. Obviously, they think killing of the Baloch people by the insurgent groups is kosher and heroic. Or, maybe these groups have some soft niches among the elitist class passing itself as the real leadership of the Baloch people and their true voice. Be that as it may, why the people, say, in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa are so inert in coming to the aid of their fellow Baloch compatriots in distress? Why no relief truck convoys of theirs are making a beeline to the flood-battered eastern Balochistan? Why no relief goods collection centres for the flood-ruined Balochs have come up in every nook and cranny of their two provinces? If the Baloch sardars, touting themselves up as the leaders of Baloch people, and if the self-styled Baloch nationalists, posing themselves to be the true voice of the Baloch people, are so apathetic to this huge humanitarian catastrophe, do they also have to be? And if the political elites, the civil society and the relief agencies of their provinces are wholly unconcerned about this Baloch catastrophe, do they also have to be? Their flood-hit Baloch compatriots are in a very pathetic condition. And they must move wholeheartedly to come to their rescue.