The inexorable push by great powers for world domination impacts on ordinary humans’ lives in the most tragic ways. Ukraine is there for all to see, but life even in Baluchistan has acquired abnormal dimensions. Why would a well-educated young mother to two young children blow herself up so that she could kill some others living just as ‘normal’ lives? It could be, as is the reality in many such cases, that she was suffering from a psychological need to end her life. But, it could also be a similar spirit to that being displayed by thousands in Ukraine – freedom or death!
Baluchistan didn’t have much of a choice when it became part of Pakistan – none of the Muslim majority provinces actually did, as the movement for a separate nation emerged from the Hindu majority areas of undivided India. However, the emerging dominating and predatory character of the Pakistani Establishment, which focused on the dreams of an Urdu speaking elite that had absolutely no idea of the local culture and aspirations of the constituent units, was first experienced in Baluchistan. As Punjab became more dominant, the Pashtuns, Balochis and Sindhis, as well as PoK, were sidelined almost entirely. Things became worse for the Balochis when their mineral wealth began to be coveted without regard to a just division of the proceeds. Now, China has added to the pressure on these unique people because it desires access to the Arabian Sea.
And just as Putin does not understand the human suffering he has caused, the overlords in Pakistan are blinded by the greed for wealth and power. Whatever logic and idealism there may have been in the Pakistan project has long been dumped in the dustbin of history. The ideology that brought about the existence of the artificial state has been unable to become its centre of gravity, as it fails to factor in the cultural diversities, mostly rooted in ancient times. The rich tradition of music, for instance, falls foul of the fundamentalist direction in which Pakistan is being sought to be taken by the self-serving generals and foreign funded maulvis. In this larger schizophrenia, how can it be that some ordinary person is so alienated that she not only kills herself but brings upon her family the inevitable wrath of a tyrannical state? And lost in all of this is the spirit of civilised behaviour in which matters could be negotiated peacefully, be it Pakistan or Ukraine. An ongoing tragedy of horrific proportions all must learn a lesson from!
