How The 1973 Dislodging Of Elected Govt In Balochistan Sowed The Seeds Of Discontent

Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur

It’s Pakistan’s security apparatus alone that has been deciding what happens in Balochistan since 1948, much to the detriment of the Baloch men – and now women too – who keep getting abducted and killed at a whiff of suspicion.

The only time that nationalist Baloch leadership was accorded a chance to govern Balochistan was after the 1971 debacle – and that too grudgingly– as Ataullah Mengal took the reins of the provincial government on May 1, 1972, only to remain in power for nine months.

His government was cut short due to a number of challenges created by the Zulfikar Ali Bhutto-led central government in Islamabad.

Khan Abdul Wali Khan’s National Awami Party (NAP) and Mufti Mahmood’s Jamiat e Ulema e Islam (JUI) had swept the elections in 1970 in Balochistan and Northwest Frontier Province (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), respectively.

UN Was Asked To Take Notice Of Human Rights Violations And Crimes Against Humanity In Balochistan

On the occasion of the ongoing 52nd Session of the UN Human Rights Council, human rights activists called upon the UN to investigate human rights violations perpetrated by Pakistani security forces in Balochistan. In a side-event titled “Human Rights in Pakistan: Balochistan in Focus” hosted by Thierry Valle, President of Coordination des Association et des Particuliers pour la Liberté de Conscience, in room number XXII, speakers highlighted various aspects of atrocities faced by the Baloch people in Pakistan.

BHRC general secretary Mr. Qambar Malik provided a brief background of the human rights situation in Balochistan, emphasizing that the Baloch struggle for self-determination directly resulted from Pakistan’s invasion of Balochistan and its forceful annexation into Pakistan in 1948 against the will of the Baloch people.