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Kashmir and demand for Scotland-type referendum
Revolt in Baluchistan
9/21/2014 11:21:52 PM
Neha

JAMMU, Sept 21 : The government of Great Britain organized referendum in Scotland on Thursday to find if the Scottish people wished to remain with England or wanted separation from it. 55 per cent of those who participated in the much talked referendum voted for unity with London. The decision of London to hold referendum in Scotland was taken by Kashmiri separatists and people of Baluchistan as an opportunity to ask the governments of India and Pakistan to undertake a similar exercise in their respective regions. In Kashmir, it was Mirwaiz Umar Farooq who took the first initiative and in Baluchistan it was general secretary of the banned Baloch Republican Party (BRP) Bashir Azim, who asked Islamabad to hold referendum in his province.  “Balochs have been struggling against Punjabi domination, exploitation and persecution since decades. They should also be given the right to decide their own fate,” he on Friday said. "The Baloch people did not gain anything from [participating in parliamentary democracy], and they will not gain anything," say some other Baloch leaders. “The mindset of the establishment in Pakistan is to crush the Baloch people, to dominate them and to subjugate them,” they also say. Not just this, they further say, “There are only two
things we can expect from the Pakistani state now: freedom or death.” They do not stop just there. They further say, “They (Punjabis) are more interested in the Baloch land and the Baloch, in whatever little way, is resisting that. You [can] call it an insurgency, call it a freedom fight, call it getting rid of slavery, which is everybody's right". Balochistan is Pakistan's largest but least populous province. It houses about 13 million of Pakistan's total population. It is also economically under-developed. It has the country's lowest growth record and lacks infrastructure. The province is known for highest rates of poverty, lowest social indicators for health and education and lowest levels of satisfaction with government service delivery. This is what a recent World Bank report says. Significantly, Baluchistan is rich in natural resources, including gas but poor in development. Its economy is based on mining - mainly coal, copper and gold - basic fruit and livestock farming, and the extraction of natural gas. Most of the people in this exploited province remain without basic educational and health facilities. They do not even have, according to reports, natural gas utility connections. The people of the province have fought two major widespread guerilla campaigns against the Pakistani state, seeking independence between 1973 and 77 and again in an ongoing fight starting in 2005. Baluch leaders say “they are seeking an independent Baloch state in the province's southeast - with the northern Pashtun-majority area free to decide its own fate”. Both the uprisings were crushed by the Pakistani army, with the government terming “them foreign-funded conspiracies against the nation's sovereignty and territorial integrity”. The policy of Islamabad towards Baluchistan is “to kill and dump” the Baloch rebels. The fact is that the Punjabi-dominated government of Pakistan has let loose a reign of senseless brutalities against Balochs. And it is this Pakistan the Kashmiri separatists consider their mentor. They want the government of India to hold referendum so that Kashmiri Muslims vote for Pakistan and they do so knowing it full well that Islamabad has not only been crushing the Balochs, but also the Muslims of POJK and Gilgit-Baltistan. One may put in any amount of effort to find if any Kashmiri separatist had ever spoken a word against Islamabad and its towards POJK and Gilgit-Baltistan and Baluchistan, he/she would come out of the exercise minus everything. The disturbing part of the whole situation is that there is hardly any Kashmiri of any standing who has ever questioned the Kashmiri separatist leader. And, this, notwithstanding the fact that the government of India has all along been very generous and kind towards the people of Kashmir and also despite the fact that it is the Kashmiri leadership which has been ruling the state and exploiting the people of Jammu and Ladakh since 1947. They must compare their position with that of the Balochs so that they realize that they are fortunate and privileged because they are part of liberal and democratic India. They must expose the mercenaries and sellers like Geelani and Mirwaiz. This will be in their interest.
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