Martyrdom of Banuk Karima, A new era of Baloch National Struggle

Ameer Jan

“You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep spring from coming” . (Pablo Neruda). I often get goosebumps when all of a sudden I remember that melancholic night encompassing the massacre of dreams.

It was an unfortunate cold December night, and I slept a bit earlier than usual. Therefore I woke up in the middle of slumber only to find out that was the worst night of my life. Shattering my whole world beneath my feet. With broken pieces of my heart, I wish that I may never get such shattering news ever in my Life. I was holding my mobile and couldn’t believe my eyes. I was out of the senses, my eyes wet, my hands trembling, and in between mobile fell from my hands, what I saw in the news is still mournful for me to elaborate that prominent Baloch leader, Banuk Karima Baloch is no more with us. This hit me like a thunderstorm, I become motionless as if the whole world was blanketed into darkness. And I prayed and wished and hoped that it be fake news or some deadly nightmare that I have come across in the middle of my sleep. But it wasn’t so. I was followed by hopelessness. The news spread like wildfire across the globe. #KarimaBaloch was trending on Twitter worldwide.

Every house, every Baloch, every area mourned Karima. Her loss was a terrible National loss that Baloch will never fulfill. Baloch has buried the pain of her loss in their chests with pride as she has embraced martyrdom for her motherland. Though they will never overcome her loss. She will remain irreplaceable for centuries to come. Her idealogy is immortal among every Baloch man and woman.

As, some people die with purpose while some die purposeless and those who die with a strong impact, are the real conquerors and in true terms, they are the real “RASHONS”. Not a single day passes when we are not followed by a tragic incident. People are dying due to shortage of water, scarcity of food, poverty, and more. Nevertheless, people are also committing suicide as they see the absurdity in life.

In contrast, the heroes like Karima Baloch with her revolutionary struggle made her life purposeful for the entire Baloch National Struggle. And as it’s known that ” History bows to those who owns history. And Karima Baloch not only created history but owned it as well.

A theory that roams in knowledge about the economy is, “When a nation’s economy is in recession, the overall prices are turning in hyperinflation, the employment rate is at once edging downwards and the overall cycle of buying and selling production and consumption becomes paralyzed, then it needs huge investment to work properly. According to it, small investments are never going to work for the long term and at the macro level, and not to mention that they do any good for a solemnly infinite resistant dirt. To reach the climax, a chunk of huge investments should be applied. These investments reduce the pressure of this nosedive and steadily escalate towards the ultimate position. Taking the same concept, a Baoch society had ought to awaken the decaying process of doing minimal as nothing regarding it. It needed a huge outbreak to quench the thirst for national liberation. It needed a big push towards euphoria. Thus, it came to a huge shadowing blanket to cover it all up with the ceasing leader Karima. Karima’s death awakened all the dead elements in Baloch society. Indeed, it served as a push to a struggle of decades. Nationalism reminded the days of France & Baloch were the other revolutionaries. From men to women, older and young all followed the slogan with extreme pride that “we all are Karima”. Karima now became one of the mightiest signs of prosperity and a threat to the oppressors even after her demise. Since its occupation, the brown Englishmen didn’t miss applying any form of cruelty in Baluchistan. Plundering royalties, looting houses, bombing series of villages, butchering thousands, burying masses alive, drilling breathing bodies, hitting magazines of bullets to a single body, throwing dead bodies from helicopters, sexually abusing the women, disappearing tons, (including men, women, children), target killing many angels in fake encounters and many more agonizing episodes. The ruthlessness came to a point in the sights of everyone with the specific mysterious assassination of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti in 2006 when the hybrid doctrine of the Pakistani state alleged an inhuman operation throughout Baluchistan.

After the butchering of Balochs like sheep and widowing many women, that doctrine never changed. The State brutalities, mass graves, enforced disappearances, and the continuous tortures daily created havoc in every corner of Baluchistan. Fear and destruction were spread among the masses. People were so paralyzed that they even couldn’t bother to question the tragic incidents. But till when the dark regime was going to take control? The dawn was awaiting to awaken the people. People were frustrated, and they needed a space to burst out. And sooner, with the demise of their leader Karima Baloch demise, the people have blown their frustration into flames.
People at a very huge level roared in the streets against the tyrant State. The fear of state diminished from every heart. People paid tribute to their Leader Karima Baloch who has left her marks in history.

In addition, several women stood firmly after her loss, children held placards and chanted “We are Karima Baloch” which was the emblem of a new dawn- better tomorrow.

With more words, cloud nine engulfs a nation, when women dare to stand shoulder to shoulder with male figures. As Fanon puts it; Movements are the product of constant struggle, they do not happen abruptly but they take time and occur in phases. When he argues about the Algerian women’s participation in the Algerian national struggle against French colonizers, he states that initially Algerian society was comprised of narrow vision, where women barely or very few took part in the struggle. With the time when action and reflection coincided, the feeling of national struggle steadily spread all over ria. At that moment the conservative approach was dying and women were actively becoming part of the struggle: initially working as paramedics and food providers to revolutionary heroes, but then officially holding guns in their hands in mountains and resisting for their national liberation. Misery oppression and a thousand spears had this step taken. Similarly, Karima Baloch’s incident was a wake-up call for all Baloch women who were seeking the cause of Baloch nationalism. After the cold-blooded murder of Karima, infinite numbers of women broke the stereotypes and profoundly chanted slogans against the colonial doctrine. Man-the mass stood for the very first time to enter an error of what they couldn’t accept any longer. The feeling of greater and prosperous Baluchistan aligned with “no to Country’s hegemonic rule” circulated in the very veins of Balochs.

This, the unbowed Baloch society needed a mass-level body that could reveal the oppressive tyrannies of the Pakistani State which they have been committing for decades. And after the ban on the Baloch National Movement, the Baloch masses didn’t have any other ideological movement, which they could rely on and which could rationally work on grounds in the interest of the Baloch nation. The so-called political (pro-status quo) parties were doing power politics for seats, just to maximize their economic lusts. I may not be wrong if I declare them as NGOs which have accepted the illegal dominancy of colonizers and still working as collaborators for them at the cost of the blood of Balochs. Overviewing, all the despairs Baloch society, was in dire need of a soft body which could be their voice at a mass level. Hence, Karima’s demise also filled this vacuum, and the Baloch solidarity committee, henceforth; Baloch Yakjheti Committee (BYC), a decentralized but officially led by contemporaries of Karima Baloch, emerged as the voice of voiceless. Today, the entire Baluchistan is relying on this committee. Where, when an unprecedented event happens, this body speaks and resists for the persecuted. BYC got the courage to stand upright in the face of state-sponsored atrocities and state committed rapes, murder, genocide, and all forms of violence resisting in front of the colonizer’s Armed-institutions without fear. Colonial forces had exerted so much fear in Baluchistan that now people have become fearless and are fighting courageously against every odd. Before this, tons of atrocities committed by the institutions of colonizers, were unaddressed by none on daily basis. But, since its emergence BYC is enthusiastic, delineating the repressions of colonizers This act of highlighting the violent behaviors of colonizers by BYC, is making various positive impacts on the Baloch national struggle. Off them: It speaks loud when something displeasing happens. Second, when BYC brings these atrocities in media, the masses get more mobilized and feel their chains of slavery. Similarly, the world is becoming aware of the painstaking events, when they come to know all these mournful acts of violence highlighted on media. And the more the world becomes aware, the more the movement sparks, and the ultimate destination comes closer.

The way that Karima revolved a society and provided a structure of resistance is something to be engraved in golden words. Initially, when Karima joined student politics, as a member of the biggest student organization of Balochistan, “Baloch students organization. Azad”, the tendency of female students towards politics was rare. She bravely started preaching to every single woman, organized them, and by all means, she succeeded to revolutionize ety. Her courage and determination were more firms than the mountains. Despite, the rugged operations of Punjabi colonizers, she actively led the March from the front. Her unfear passions and untiring resistance made her the first woman ever in the history of Baluchistan to get her name listed in BBC’s top 100 bold women of the world. This achievement was a credit to her organization’s idea and that concrete idea of BSO_A not only produced leaders like Karima but many more like her. In a speech, at the start of the first decade of the 21st century, the pioneer of Baloch Students Organization Azad, Dr. Allah Nizar Baloch, stated that if Dr. Laila Khalid can hold the banner of her country in her hands and can resist the prosperity of her nation, then why can’t mothers, sisters, and daughters of my nation? They must also stand shoulder to shoulder with their male counterparts in this struggle for glory. The above statement shows the plurality, commitment, and rationality of this ideology. And for a second if we could imagine, how committed this ideological group was then and now? The words have no power to measure their firm resolution. A moment of red salute to all of them, and their devotions.

The nation must strive to the path that Karima has paved for Baloch Nationalism. Glorious societies never forget their heroes rather they follow the footsteps of their leader. There may come more beautiful times but this time is ours. The path to glory may be harsh but with perseverance and inexorable commitment, we can reach the final destination.