In the
aftermath of Sabeen Mahmud’s murder, actually right after the cancellation of
the LUMS talk, a large number of people voiced anger against those trying to
highlight state abuses in Balochistan. Mama Qadeer especially came under fire,
but many people vocal about the issue were also accused of being traitorous, or
at least of lacking patriotism, or colluding with separatists or, well, you get
the idea.
The group
under fire have expressed shock over the reaction they have faced. All they are
trying to do is highlight basic, basic, human rights violations; human life
itself. Human life, in theory, should be the foremost concern of every decent
person, even in an indecent society.
In Pakistan however,
that is perhaps too much to ask for.
As mentioned
in part 2, an overlooked aspect of the Balochistan issue is that tactics
employed by Baloch insurgents are similar to those that are used by TTP in FATA
and KP. Another overlooked aspect is that the state’s security apparatus has
also employed similarly abusive tactics in KP/FATA to deal with them.
The
displacement of a population, like that of parts of the Bugti tribe, has been
witnessed in South Waziristan. Also witnessed is distrust of the populace and
delayed rehabilitation. The raising/backing of pro-government militias to fight
the insurgents, as alleged to take place in Balochistan, is another common
occurrence in the long fight against the Taliban.
There’s
more. Amnesty International’s report in 2012, “The Hands Of Cruelty”, details some of the other abuses
committed by the Pakistani forces in the tribal areas. These include
abductions, torture, deaths in custody and dumping of bodies. They also include
“enforced disappearances”, again, like the ones that have brought Balochistan
into the limelight. If anything, the intensity seems to be greater, with the
report noting 2000 court cases filed by 2012, compared to only 135 by 2015 for
Balochistan.
In addition,
the people in FATA and parts of KP face intensive artillery & aerial
bombing campaigns in populated areas, villages and towns etc. These forced
millions to move and caused unprecedented damage to property and, one would
imagine, to life. “Imagine” because even though there are recorded instances of
gunship helicopters firing indiscriminately, and mowing down everyone, in
crowded main bazars, no figures of civilian deaths have been compiled by any
organization whatsoever.
This is
because their lives, or deaths, are not relevant to politics of any
organization. Or any group. In fact, highlighting the above mentioned tragedies
is considered, by most of us, as detrimental to the greater good.
Consider
that, according to Wikileaks, Asma Jehangir & HRCP, when investigating HR
violations in the wake of the Swat operation, actually covered up the military’s
abuses. The rights body, that has been vocal on Balochistan, did so in order to
“avoid arming the militants'
propaganda machine”.
Is it a
secret that the establishment doesn’t want its abuses in Balochistan to be
highlighted for the same reason HRCP covered them up in Swat? What happens when
someone is intent on highlighting abuses another group would rather have swept
under the carpet?
Let’s take
the example of drone strikes. Not only a violation of international law, but
also the purest, most arbitrary form of extrajudicial killings we have seen in
the last decade.
Unlike in
the case of missing persons, there are no arrests, no interrogations, no one is
released. Drone attacks have killed roughly
the same number of children as the number of enforced disappearances the
HRCP could confirm in Balochistan.
Yet many
that are appalled by the atrocities elsewhere have cheered them on. They have
mocked protests against drone strikes with religious fervour and admonished the
protesters as informers or
supporters of TTP.
Is that at
all different from what happened last month? The efforts to hide the truth
about military brutality. The vitriol against those who protest. Only the roles
have changed.
The same
people who are willing to overlook abuses & attack dissenters in one
conflict, for the greater good, can be at the other end of vitriol for
highlighting abuses in another theatre. For the greater good.
This is the sad reality of discourse in our country. Around the
world, peoples’ politics decide the HR causes they get behind. In Pakistan, our
politics decide the HR abuses we get behind.
