Unmasking the Colonizer: The State’s Monopoly on Violence in Balochistan

Editorial

In colonial India, the British Raj introduced laws of sedition and the 3MPO to authorize the civil and military administration in controlling voices of dissent. As the predecessor of colonial legacies, the comprador class in Pakistan made these laws and acts a prominent part of its so-called constitution to tighten their grip on power. Balochistan, as a colony, has never enjoyed the rights associated with its citizens and resources prescribed in the constitution of 1973 in the brutal relationship with Pakistan over the last 77 years.

The State of Pakistan delicately created a firewall on the boundaries of colonial Balochistan, thus creating a black hole where the security forces and State apparatus had a free hand in committing crimes against humanity and subjugating the local population on the so-called premises of the war against the separation movement. The loot and plunder of the forces have continued unabated in the Pakistani Orient (Balochistan), until recently, when its crimes were uncovered through a mass movement against the Baloch Genocide.

The 21st century has its own gifts along with its curses. The cries of Baloch mothers and sisters in the cold nights of Islamabad helped deconstruct the criminal narrative around Balochistan propagated by the State. The collective resistance of the Baloch masses handicapped the colonial machinery and apparatus in Balochistan, which were based on fear and sheer force. This created a point of self-questioning among those with the whip, as the basis of colonial relations is violence. These violent masters now felt their violence endangered.

For years, the Pakistani mainstream media and intelligentsia have tried to distort the issue of self-determination of Balochistan with discourses wrapped around rights, employment, resources, etc. Although each of these points has its own importance, the basic issue of the Baloch people is their right as a nation to be the master of their fate—an independent Balochistan.

To once describe the movement in Balochistan as a struggle for freedom was considered a crime in the mainstream Pakistani media. Now, the mouthpieces of the Pakistani Military and establishment seem desperate to make the Punjabi population understand the issue of independence in despair to garner support from the Pakistani masses in this war against the Baloch.

As the room for violence by the Pakistani security forces seems to shrink, the Colonizer is now showing its skin in a desperate attempt to establish “the writ of the State” or the so-called monopoly on violence. The Prime Minister of Pakistan spoke to the media on Thursday, stating that the Federal Cabinet has approved amendments to the Counter-terrorism Act of 1997, authorizing the security forces to detain and abduct the Baloch people on the basis of doubt as a masterstroke to legalize the long-debated issue of enforced disappearances. Thus, surpassing its predecessor, the British Raj, in crushing dissent.

The Federal Government of Pakistan has crafted new legislation and desperate policies in an attempt to escalate the ongoing genocide of the Baloch nation and curb the voices of dissent. The ban on press conferences at Quetta Press Club, allocating security personnel in educational institutions, legalizing enforced disappearances, and escalation in fake encounters wrapped around a criminal narrative on the war against terror in Balochistan are the last desperate attempts of the colonizer.

As the movement for an independent Balochistan gains strength, the colonizer would thus remove its so-called masks of democracy and citizenry of the Baloch people, strengthening and intensifying the means of violence and force as desperate attempts to safeguard the occupation.

As time passes, our duties and responsibilities as a nation increase in the face of Pakistani occupation. The State has tried relentlessly over the last 77 years to corrupt our collective belonging and identity and turn us into individuals detached from Baloch society. But we need to realize that the only power able to put an end to the Baloch genocide is our collective resistance. As the State intensifies its means of occupation, we need to intensify our means of resistance, paving the way for an independent Balochistan. At this crucial threshold of history, we need to realize our duties and responsibilities to create a free future for our upcoming generations.