The Debate on Balochistan by The Black Hole is a Diversion Program against the Baloch Liberation Movement
An analytical report
The Black Hole program (TBH) was initiated in 2021 amid efforts to create a so-called “intellectual debate” with various perspectives on Pakistan’s future, governance, and political stability. It has been participated in by different parliamentarian political figures of Pakistan, most notably former ministers and parliament members who now present themselves as the opposition group. This has produced numerous debates on Pakistan’s political situation with regard to future so-called development. However, the same program has now particularly focused on Balochistan and its political scenario. They have tried to engage many parliamentarians, including Sana Baloch, a senior member of the Balochistan National Party-Mengal. He has participated in some of its arranged debates.
In this Black Hole, they have been trying to paint a very distinctive image of Balochistan as a region of Pakistan which is somehow not privileged by the federal government. They are engaging people from Balochistan in this debate to discuss Balochistan as a province of the Pakistani Federation. Calling Sana Baloch to their debate programs is an attempt to show that they are serious about Balochistan, not as an independent state, but as a unit of the federation with only some challenges and crises.
But as a conscious being, anyone can check the level of their seriousness, as they have called on Mr. Fawad Choudhary, an ex-minister of Pakistan, as a speaker on the Baloch issue and Balochistan. Everyone knows very well about Fawad’s knowledge of Balochistan and the political situation of Balochistan. He has as much as zero knowledge and credibility on the Baloch issue and Balochistan.
Just come to discuss his point on Balochistan and the Baloch national liberation struggle in view of the recent developments. He says: “Balochistan is not a state, and we cannot give a state to a region with two to two and a half million population without a sense of knowledge and experience of state machinery.” Here we have to understand two things: one is the reality, and the other is his intention behind this statement. The fact is, Balochistan has never been part of the newborn state of Pakistan with some irregular population that may count in millions, and has been forcefully occupied. There are numerous references in this regard which have been made public time and again. The other is the intention of someone who is just making a mockery of our national sovereignty and land. The first thing is, who is begging from the outsiders to give a state to the Baloch? And the other is, who is Fawad Choudhary to decide and declare Baloch’s fate based on a made-up population? It is very clear that he is not a man of credible character but rather a flop actor who knows nothing but acts like an intellectual. People have seen his dumbness in his cowardly behaviour.
The Baloch nation has been witnessing a series of barbarous attacks from the Pakistani army since 1947. Not going too far, just remembering the recent attack on innocent civilians at Surab, Balochistan, killing at least 20 people and leaving others seriously injured. This was one of the most shocking incidents which has shaken the hearts of the Baloch nation. In this program, a student raised a question about the barbarous act at Surab. Fawad replied in a very negative tone and hostility: will you condemn the actions against the freedom fighters? Which is not linked to that war crime committed against innocent civilians. This tactic is the same repeated illogical counter argument to justify the Baloch genocide. In such a debate, applauding the Pakistani army’s aggression against the Baloch population rather than condemning its aggression is not seriousness but validating the atrocities and supporting the ongoing Genocide of Baloch nation by Colonial Pakistani state. How can such a debate, namely Pakistan at 79 on Black Hole regarding Balochistan, rebuild things and revive the trust between Baloch and Pakistan when this isn’t our concern. Furthermore, the same thing was endorsed by Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, ex-prime minister of Pakistan, who said: “When a woman M.Phil scholar having two children and a well-married life, spending life as an elite, decides to self-sacrifice herself, there is undoubtedly an issue.” It means that some of them endorse this basic contradiction, which is not an internal issue but purely a national freedom and state restoration.
As asserted by Sana Baloch on democracy, governance, and political gaps between the so-called province and the federation, this is an attempt to divert the Baloch national liberation struggle into a mere political crisis, nothing more. However, the ongoing struggle against forced occupation is purely a national freedom struggle and state restoration, nothing more and nothing less. The Baloch nation has made it clear that with Pakistan, we may continue relations as a neighbour but not as a federal state for us. We know how to live, how to grow, how to progress, how to survive, how to protect our land, resources, and nation. We do not need Fawad’s debate on us in a very unserious manner as “we cannot give a land to two and a half million population.” Who they are to give us our own land? This is nothing less than a joke for us. We are struggling for survival, for national freedom, and for out national state restoration. We will defend our land and its people and will resist all the threats and atrocities against us.
All such programs, including this Black Hole, are designed to destroy the reality of the Baloch land and its historical existence and to divert the ongoing national liberation struggle. It aims to create a sense of internal conflict combined with underdevelopment, political instability, and social unrest, which is a deviation from the reality.