Mahrang Baloch: The harbinger of feminist wave in Balochi nationalism

The Baloch uprising against the coercive Pakistani state has found a different face and a new voice in Mahrang Baloch, the leader of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC). Baloch nationalism has been revitalised into an expressive form. Her clarity of perception and grit of Balochi struggle for self-determination inspire a new wave of protest where women take the leading role and become the prominent voice.

This indicates the gravity of the political situation in Balochistan. The frustrating status quo maintained by the Pakistani state demanded a breakthrough, which manifested in the strong participation of women in the public space. The Balochi women tore apart the Islamic social conservatism and participated in a greater cause of Balochi autonomy and dignity. Running to Islamabad for justice for their disappeared kin, relatives, and family members and tedious paperwork were meaningless exercises and a waste of money, time, and resources.

The growing angst against the callous indifference of the Pakistani establishment to the plights of Baloch people snowballed into a major crisis. The feisty leadership of Mahrang Baloch mobilised women, men, and the common people of Balochistan to protest against the apathy of Pakistan. The genesis of the conflict goes back to 1948, when Mir Ahmad Yar Khan Ahmadzai, the ruler of Kalat, signed the instrument of accession. The contentious annexation of Balochistan to Pakistan and the neglect the former suffered despite being a resource-rich and strategically significant region constituted a compelling cause for growing unrest and uprisings for liberation.

The increasing cases of forced disappearances, extra-judicial killing, the polity of divide and rule, economic deprivation, restricted representation, discrimination, indifference, coercion, fake encounters, biased judiciary, and human rights violations forced a groundswell, which manifested in the guerrilla warfare of the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA).

The BLA’s violent retaliation was always negatively construed to give the Baloch insurgency a bad name. The Pakistani state-sponsored media and its propaganda machinery diluted the Baloch fight for self-determination into a mere militant reaction and downplayed its weight on the ground. The military solution to the Baloch conflict was a grave miscalculation.

Baloch ethnonationalism undergirds the history of consistent resistance and demand for autonomy. Against this determinism, suppressing its intensity and dismissing it as a non-event was an expression of condescension. The continuous wave for a bigger conflagration was always mischaracterised as the reactions of the fringe groups.

Mahrang Baloch’s movement has shown the Janus face of Pakistan. The mass support she has attracted disturbs the Pakistani deep state. No propaganda and fake narrative dissemination help Pakistan to avoid the crisis that is corroding it from within. Pakistan is imploding. The crisis has gone out of hand. The patchwork nation is dismantling from within. A synthetic nation stitched together without consensus develops strong disagreements. Pakistan’s preference for force to secure agreement among the constituent states was either a misreading or egotism.

This miscalculation manifested in the resistive forms. It also crystallised the perceptions of Balochi nationalism. Mahrang Baloch galvanises this political perception into an enduring and undying movement. Her preference for peace as a decisive methodology of political freedom strikes a chord with the general aspirations of the people. Therefore, her call for freedom has reached the grassroots.

The Baloch nation has reawakened itself to a new realisation of complete freedom. Her voice gets the force from her suffering and the suffering of the Baloch people. This combination develops a synergy of forces that demand results. Her father’s political activism led to his forced disappearance, and he was found dead in 2011. Her brother also disappeared in 2017. She resorted to untiring campaigning, sit-ins, and marches. Her brother returned home in 2018. This is not just her story. Its recurrence is uniform and a Pan-Baloch reality.

The forced disappearances of Baloch and their intimidation have become the status quo and seen no perceivable change. The deafness of Islamabad gave no heed to the Baloch suffering. Her courage to say no to Islamabad for its atrocities led to the birth of BYC in 2019. Now, she is unstoppable. Her vision and demands are clear. She is gutsy, sharp, and articulate enough to call a spade a spade. She has become the voice of the Baloch people. She speaks to the global audience and international agencies directly and unpacks the Pakistani cunning in peddling bias, misrepresentation, and deliberate falsification of the Baloch reality. She began from the grassroots, spoke to young women, and carried out a door-to-door campaign. She is an MBBS from Bolan Medical College, Quetta. Her ability to understand human suffering as a doctor is corroborated by her tone of sympathy.

This combination attracted women to support and participate in her effort to seek justice for the suffering Baloch. The Baloch youth found a sincere effort and a hope of difference in her voice. She sensitised the young women to the need for comprehensive participation in the Baloch political problem. Her movement gradually perceived the involvement of all sections of women, from teenagers to the ageing. Despite the roadblocks, hindrances, and arrests, the women of Balochistan fought against the persecution of the Baloch people.

Pakistan’s step-brotherly attitude towards Balochistan, inadequate representation, chronic inattention, economic demoralisation, and repression of dissent, despite being the largest province and resource-rich region, have reached a critical point where it has invited strong resentment.

Given this background, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has developed more apprehension. The Chinese debt trap diplomacy, its hegemonic nature, technological might, and resource-draining interests have intensified fear. The urgency to resist these forces that weaken Baloch nationalism, human rights, and territorial and resource integrity has found an impactful articulation in the voice of a young women leader, Mahrang Baloch. She has called Pakistan’s atrocities against the Baloch people a genocide. Her protest is against the state-sponsored oppression and suspension of democratic values and principles.

Military and intelligence agencies cannot replace democracy. The Pakistani state has foregrounded the former and muzzled the voices of the people of Balochistan. She protests to restore democracy, the rule of law, and a new Balochistan free from state oppression. She feels that the role of women is important in the domains of politics, geopolitics, and international affairs. This will break the shackles of socio-cultural restrictions imposed upon them. Her actions also alter the social perceptions of women and their forced confinement to domesticity. Women’s liberation has become her core philosophy.

The Baloch resistance liberates women. It develops in them the political consciousness to ensure a free Balochistan where democracy shines. This optimism gives her resistance movement a new dimension, force, and aspiration. It will achieve a new milestone of women’s liberation and freedom in Balochistan.

Given these developments in Balochistan, the Baloch amalgamation with Pakistan in 1948 was a failed project. Consensus cannot be achieved through coercion. Pakistan tried to stitch its relations with Balochistan by force. It failed miserably. Pakistan’s disintegration is nearing faster. Its neo-colonial mindset, elitism, intimidation, and territorial occupation have failed to adopt integrative approaches to statecraft. Territorial disintegration is now work-in-progress. If Balochistan secedes, other resentful states await exit from Pakistan. Pakistan’s cartography will shrink to a fragile and tottering miniature. However, there is no dearth of symptoms for such an eventuality, but the endgame is yet to be delivered.

Jajati K Pattnaik is an Associate Professor at the Centre for West Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Chandan K Panda is an Assistant Professor at Rajiv Gandhi University (A Central University), Itanagar. The views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.