Akhtar & his BNP By Anwar Syed

THERE is nothing unusual about an opposition politician in being sent to prison regardless of whether the charges against him are genuine or bogus. In some instances the charges may not be made known to the public, a court of law, or even the detainee himself, which is the case when one is held under a preventive detention law.

That being the established custom, the arrest and trial of , a former chief minister of , should not have made the waves it has. (PPP), Altaf Hussain (MQM), and most of the opposition leaders, in addition to the Baloch “nationalists”, have been denouncing Mr Mengal’s detention for his alleged involvement in the kidnapping of two military intelligence operatives.

In the old British practice the king’s enemies, even when condemned to death, were given respect and amenities while they were in prison, awaiting execution. In British India the more prominent of the political prisoners were placed in comfortable quarters; comfortable enough for some of them to have written books during their detention, as Jawaharlal Nehru and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad did. In Pakistan’s early years, Faiz Ahmad Faiz wrote poetry when he was in prison in connection with the Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case.

Much of the world criticised Saddam Hussein’s execution not because he was put to death but because he was humiliated in the process: the guards who took him to the gallows taunted and insulted him. They should not have been mean and nasty to a man who was about to meet his death. Their conduct has justly been called barbaric.

Akhtar Mengal has recently been allowed “Class B” in jail but that was not the case during the first several weeks of his detention. His arrest and trial outraged the folks in Balochistan and the generality of opposition politicians, because of the humiliation the present government chose to impose upon him. He is being tried not in open court but in a prison. Mr Iqbal Haider, secretary-general of the Human Rights Commission in Pakistan, witnessed the first hearing in his trial and this is what he saw: Mr Mengal was brought into the courtroom and shoved into an iron cage, with bars all around, that stood in a corner away from his counsel. Why this atrocity, and why couldn’t he be placed at the defence table alongside his lawyer?

The answer may be that the government wished to treat him not as a leader of men, not even as a man himself, but as an animal. This was not only meanness of spirit but rank foolishness in that it further lowered the government in popular esteem in Balochistan and elsewhere.

I am reminded that the late Maulvi Mushtaq Hussain, chief justice of the Lahore High Court, who presided over Prime Minister ’s trial for alleged complicity in a murder, had a stall especially constructed and placed in his courtroom in which the accused would stand (instead of sitting at a table with his attorney) during the hearings of his case. This contraption was intended to belittle Mr Bhutto and to show that he was not to be treated better than any ordinary criminal. It angered his supporters and intensified the apprehension that his trial would not be fair, which indeed it wasn’t.

Akhtar Mengal’s father, Ataullah, has expressed the fear that the government might kill his son. That can happen, but we hope it won’t. We hear that Akhtar Mengal is a very sick man: he is said to be suffering from hepatitis, ulcers, kidney trouble, a clot in his brain, and high cholesterol. Yet, he was denied food from home, medical care, and visits from family and friends. One may wonder what the government would have lost if it had allowed him these amenities. Surely a modicum of comfort in prison would not affect the course and outcome of his trial. Why not then be seen as civil and decent, especially when it costs nothing.

Akhtar Mengal is president of the Balochistan National Party (BNP), which resulted from the merger of a faction of the Balochistan National Movement (BNM) and a faction of the Pakistan National Party (PNP). was its head for a time, but he turned it over to his son, Akhtar, probably because he was getting along in years. It is a secular, moderate, and “nationalist” party that stands for extensive provincial autonomy (which at times advances to a demand for “national self-determination”), local control of the province’s natural resources and that of any development projects that may be launched for its advancement (including upgrading of the port). It opposes the establishment of military cantonments in Balochistan, because it feels they will work as the central government’s agents for further consolidating its control of the province’s politics and resources and for suppressing its “nationalist” and progressive elements.

BNP spokesmen maintain that Islamabad has always wanted to exclude the better-known and progressive politicians in Balochistan from power. They observe that such politicians, taken together, have not been allowed to govern for more than 36 months during the last 60 years (Ataullah Mengal nine months, 18 months, Akhtar Mengal nine months).

It may be useful to recall one such case. Following the East Pakistan secession, the National Awami Party (NAP) and Jamiat-al-Ulema-i-Islam (JUI) came together in a coalition that commanded a clear legislative majority in Balochistan. Having reached an understanding with President Bhutto, they formed the government on May 1, 1972. (NAP) became governor and Ataullah Mengal (also NAP) the chief minister.

None of the NAP-JUI leaders had ever held high public office and they embarked upon their new careers with a great deal of enthusiasm. They vowed to treat all persons, regardless of their affiliations, equally well and maintain the rule of law. They invited investments in the province and assured potential investors that their persons and property would be safe and secure. Ataullah Mengal declared that he and his colleagues were “working day and night” to make Balochistan a shining example of good governance.

But Mr Bhutto had other ideas. His ministers, notably Abdul Qayyum Khan (an old foe of NAP and now the interior minister) denounced the NAP leaders as traitors, foreign agents, and stooges of capitalist exploiters. They also sought to disrupt public order in Balochistan: Meraj Mohammad Khan, along with the more militant PPP workers, went out to urge peasants and tenants to seize the lands of larger owners and spill their blood.

In December 1972, the government of Balochistan arrested a few Jamote notables, whereupon the Jamotes mounted a revolt. Given the insufficiency of the regular police, the Mengal government raised a private force (“lashkar”), supplied it from the government armory, and sent it out to suppress the Jamotes. The latter spread out into the adjoining hills and the fighting went on.

Bhutto condemned this operation on various grounds and sent out army units to disarm the “lashkar.” Both Governor Bizenjo and Chief Minister Mengal objected to the army’s deployment in their province. Bhutto also levelled against the Bizenjo-Mengal government accusations that his successors, including General Musharraf, have levelled, namely that they were opposed to the central government’s development projects in Balochistan (schools, clinics, roads, industry), because they wanted to maintain their traditional control over their tribes, and to this end they wanted their people to remain untouched by modernisation. On February 6, 1973, Mr Bhutto dismissed the NAP-JUI government. This action on his part led to a civil war in Balochistan that did not end until after his own ouster from power.

Ataullah Mengal, and several other NAP leaders were sent to jail in Hyderabad where they languished for more than four years. Upon his release Mengal went abroad in voluntary exile, returned to Pakistan in 1996, and revived the BNP. Now a bitter old man, he believes that Balochistan cannot be liberated from the central government’s tyranny without armed struggle, a course of action to which oppressed nationalities have a right.

The current and preceding military campaigns against the politicians in Balochistan, both sardars and educated progressives, are hard to understand.

There is nothing weird about the Baloch “nationalists” wanting to manage their affairs and exclude outsiders from controlling their resources, especially when these outsiders have given Balochistan little other than neglect for the last 60 years.

The Musharraf regime’s drive against Akhtar Mengal and others is hard to understand also because the so-called “nationalists” are not numerous or strong enough to pose a credible threat to the good order of either the province or the country. It is usually quite difficult to assemble a coalition that can form the government in Balochistan. Akhtar Mengal’s party (BNP) did win a fair number of seats in the 1997 election, enabling him to form a government and serve as chief minister. But the ruling PML and the intelligence agencies are said to have split his coalition within a few months and made his government fall.

None of the “nationalist” parties in the province did well in the 2002 elections, partly because of the central government’s interference with the electoral process. The seats they won were as follows: BNP: two; BNDP (Balochistan National Democratic Party): one; BNM (Balochistan National Movement): three; JWP (Jamhoori Watan Party): three; Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party: four. Thus, all of the “nationalist” parties put together won 13 seats in a House of 51.

It seems to me that, given their modest capability, it is dysfunctional to hound the Baloch “nationalist” politicians. It is possible that they will do better in the next election if it is free and fair, but that remains to be seen. They can bring out people on the streets and organise demonstrations, which may disrupt public order. But if they are able to do so, that is because the central government’s provocative moves give them causes and slogans capable of agitating the ordinary citizens.

The writer is a visiting professor at the Lahore School of Economics for the winter semester. Email: [email protected]