EVERY passing day brings complete Independence of Balochistan closer. For decades, the Baloch people are engaged in a fierce struggle for Independence from Pakistan. They rightly insist that Pakistan had illegally and immorally usurped Balochistan when the people and the monarchy of the land were actually in favour of an independent nation. If that were not possible, then they had shown a pro-India tilt -- expecting to integrate with India in 1947. For reasons difficult to reason out now, India declined then, and Pakistan employed every possible dirty trick to annex Balochistan. Since that time, except for a few periods of lull, the Baloch people have never ceased to insist that they want to cede from Pakistan come what may. In the past few years, their struggle has reached a crescendo that can never be ignored. One of the Baloch initiatives is to go round the world seeking global community’s support to their cause. They have urged all the countries of the world to recognise Balochistan as an independent country. Of course, India has been monitoring the Baloch situation carefully.

 

Within a few years of taking over as Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi also had said in his Red Fort speech that India’s heart goes out to the suffering people of Balochistan. Thus, the Prime Minister gave an indication of the empathy India has for the struggle for Baloch independence. Growing numbers of Indian people are now of the opinion that India should not allow much delay in recognising Balochistan as an independent nation. In international realpolitik, such a stand will have its moral justification. Once India takes that stand, many other countries, too, would think positively about Balochistan -- triggering a pro-Baloch opinion in global community. No matter what happens in the outside world, the Baloch people are engaged in an all-out struggle against Pakistani establishment -- fully believing that some day, their struggle would reach its logical fruition.

 

They have raised their own Armed Force. They run the administration in most parts of the country. They keep creating their songs and dramas supporting the struggle. They have thrown out as many symbols of Pakistan’s authority as possible. Their activists have spread all over the world supporting the struggle back at home. They insist that if they are Muslims for the past few hundred years (owing to different forces), they cannot forget their Baloch identity that the history of the last five thousand years has given them. In other words, the Baloch people are readying themselves for the moment when Independence becomes a reality for Balochistan. Of course, Pakistan knows how serious the Baloch Independence struggle has become. Balochistan forms 44% of landmass of Pakistan. This region also is rich in mineral wealth -- including rich reserves of even rare-earth materials, gold and diamond. In Pakistan’s overall scheme of things, Balochistan region occupies an important place.

 

Yet, the Pakistani authorities have given a dirty treatment to Balochistan all along. All that conduct -- including terrible atrocities on common people -- is now coming round to haunt Pakistan. Those who have followed these developments are conscious that a day will come sooner than later when Balochistan will be a free country -- possibly in the next few years. India should play its part correctly and quickly. In the past, it made many mistakes in regard to Balochistan. It allowed Pakistan to grab Balochistan. It declined to ‘buy’ the famed Gwadaar port from the Sultan of Oman (who offered India the strategically important spot). History tells us that Pakistan entered the very spaces that India refused to occupy. Those mistakes of history need to be corrected now. The current people in India’s Government have a better and greater sense of history and geopolitics and Indian culture beyond the country’s borders. In tune with that awareness, they must fashion their response to happenings in Balochistan in the most creative and positive manner. This is the call of time -- for India.