On February 21, 2023, a barbaric incident encircled the peoples of tribal Balochistan, when mother and her two children were discovered dead in a well with bullets in their chests and acid on their mother’s face. Sardar Abdul Rehman Khetran, a serving provincial minister in Balochistan’s current government (GoB), has been claimed as the murderer.
According to several media reports, Khan Mohammad Marri’s wife and children have been imprisoned since 2019 for failing to testify in a case involving Khetran and his son, Sardar Inam Khetran. A feud between father and son resulted in ruthless bloodshed of the poor class.
Giran Niaz was a worker in Sardar Rehman’s house with her children. Later, it was revealed that she had probed the search for her two missing children for several days. A husband to the deceased wife and father to two deceased children also filed a first investigation report (FIR) to search for his family, who were later discovered dead in the well.
However, Gian Niaz’s husband fled Balochistan years ago in order to avoid being killed by the people of Sardar Khetran. While his wife could be seen by holding the holy book (Quran) in her hand, in videos requesting for releasing her children from Khetran’s jail.
This appears not to be the first time that such atrocities have occurred in tribal Balochistan. Under the ruthless tribal leadership. The people of Balochistan faces enormous challenges, particularly social and political, while economic depravity and challenges have been the fate of Balochistan from day one.
Taking the incident into consideration, the powerful and ruthless Sardari system in Balochistan is not fiction, with such tribal leaders having private jails to detain innocents in order to seek revenge through various means. As such, when the family owner refuses to allow immoral activities with their girls, they usually detain the girls of the weak tribes’ men for their pleasure. It is becoming almost impossible to raise a girl child in Balochistan’s tribal societies; they almost always become victims of the powerful, including their children.
Such atrocities demonstrate that people in Balochistan have no future if tribal leaders build their own jails to punish women, children, and keep girls for their own amusement. Than what is the role of the judiciary and the bureaucracy in Pakistan? What does the future hold for Balochistan?
Unfortunately, law, order, and justice do not reign supreme in Pakistan. Such individuals should have been detained and hanged for the justice system in Pakistan in general, and Balochistan in particular, to prevail.
In the case of Gian’s murder, the Balochistan government (GoB) formed a joint investigation team (JIT) to look into the incident. Concerning arsis, there are enormous JITs that still exist in Pakistan for every horrific incident, and families of the innocents wait for justice to prevail, but it is unfortunate that the administration itself is completely corrupt, and the availability of justice is just a dream for the struggling class.
Broadly speaking, the people of Balochistan continues to face enormous sectarian violence, while separatist (militants) have also massacred innocents. However, the establishment maintains a large security footprint in Balochistan, despite the fact that life for its people has not improved. Why? Clearly, the ostensible benefits of progress have yet to reach the people, fueling a sense of alienation.
The people of Balochistan have had enough of brutality and neglect. The state must treat them as landowners, masters of their fate, and equal Pakistani citizens protected by the constitution. If the violence continues, national unity will suffer.
It is clear that the writ of the state is absent in many parts of Balochistan, and the word of feudal Sardars and ‘influentials’ is law. This is one of the main reasons why outrages in the province are so frequently reported.
While violations of fundamental rights are widespread, the situation in Balochistan is particularly dire. Dead bodies are discovered in unexplained circumstances in this neglected corner of the country, mass graves have been discovered, and various strands of violence affect the peoples.
Though the development authorities still see Balochistan as glamorous and prosperous, under such critical backwardness, the core obstacles problems would never enable development in Balochistan. If such economic and administrative policies are adopted for the betterment of people in Balochistan, this necessitates a transparent lens to observe the situations with potential solutions.
To conclude, valuing the social, economic and political liberty would not only result prosper Balochistan but also Pakistan. It is very unfortunate to see that only a few feudal political elites rule this country. A good statecraft is possible when political power is transferred to deserving rather than feudal political order. Such orthodox ideas would only result, backlash and failure, it is affecting a state’s appearance in a global world. However, Balochistan’s administrative authorities must take the old schools seriously. Poor provision must follow the flow of development rather than dusk.
