HYDERABAD, Aug 13: It would be sheer ignorance of history and psychology of Baloch people to think that they would benefit from or look forward to any kind of assistance from beyond the borders of Pakistan, said research scholar, Mohammad Raza Tahiri on Monday.
Mr Tahiri said while making a presentation on his PhD thesis on “Tribal Politics in Balochistan 1947-1990” that Balochs had undeniably played no less part in the establishment of a democratic Pakistan and they had no less rights than others in all matters, nor were they any less patriotic than their neighbours.
He said that due to sparse population the distances were long, which were mostly covered by katcha roads, as only 10 per cent of the roads in the province were metalled. Similarly, only five per cent of the area in the province was considered to be a settled area, he said.
The scholar said that Balochistan was declared a full-fledged province in 1970 after the dissolution of One Unit, but tribal dominated society hardly gave a fair trial to democracy.
Successive general elections, too, had little or no affect on the pattern of political system as the assembly seats were virtually inherited from one tribal chief or Wadera to the other successor or his nominee. Similar was the domination of ideological and ethnic parties in certain areas of Balochistan, he said.
He said that a wind of change was said to be blowing in Balochistan, although it was too feeble and painfully slow. The process was gradual in Pukhtun areas and very slow in Baloch areas, he said and added that tribal people, shackled by poverty and ignorance, could not bring dramatic change by themselves.
He said that about 16 million Balochs inhabited a vast and contiguous tract of land in Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan, a region extremely rich in minerals and with great potential for agriculture.
Apart from the province of Balochistan in Pakistan, which was mainly populated by Balochs, about one-fourth of Sindh, and one-fifth of the Punjab was also populated by Balochs, where they had settled centuries ago as soldiers of fortune, landlords and herdsmen, he said.
The vice-chancellor of the University of Sindh appreciated the scholar’s work and advised him to incorporate in it the changes as well as suggestions highlighted by various scholars.
