Original article at International Resource Journal | July 12, 2012 | Full Story

Noordin Mengal, photo source: International Resource Journal

Noordin Mengal is an activist in pursuit of independence for Balochistan, a mineral rich province in southwestern Pakistan bordering Iran and Afghanistan.

The acrimonious relationship between leadership in Balochistan and Pakistan's ruling establishment in Punjab province and government centre, Islamabad, goes back for generations. Mengal claims that members of his family, many who occupied various senior roles in the Balochistan government since the province was absorbed into Pakistan in 1948, have faced harassment, imprisonment and duplicity.

Moreover, the human rights situation in Balochistan is becoming increasingly violent as abuses intensify. Academics, politicians and other civil society leaders have been found murdered with evidence of torture after being detained by Pakistan's military.

Amnesty International has urged the Pakistan government to investigate these crimes against Baloch civilians, particularly as the human rights violations take place against a backdrop of political unrest and Pakistan army operations in the province.

The situation has also prompted a US Republican-led House Committee earlier this year to affirm Balochistan's historic right to self-determination amid vehement opposition from Pakistan.

Why is everybody so interested in this underdeveloped region, one of the poorest in South Asia?

Mengal explains it is because of the region's natural resources and strategic geo-political location.

IRJ talks to Mengal to gain greater insight into the underlying mechanisms that feed distrust between a region, its government and neighbours, and how those mechanisms underpin opposition to natural resource development.

IRJ: Can you tell me a bit more about your role in bringing attention to the challenges facing Balochistan?

NOORDIN MENGAL: My role has been primarily to create awareness about the worsening human rights situation in Balochistan, not just the human rights violations being carried out by Pakistan's military but also the sinister role it is playing in causing terrorism by promoting and abetting radical elements in the region as the military's own strategic assets, to ultimately reap the rewards of the unrest. Pakistan is currently conducting its fifth military operation against the Baloch since 1948. We have highlighted these issues at the UN Human Rights Council, in Geneva, the European Parliament, British Parliament, at universities, whatever forum is available to us.

IRJ: The Pakistan government has said that the US House Committee's encouragement of an independent Balochistan is meddling into affairs that the US does not understand, how do you respond to that?

MENGAL: If anyone has meddled into anyone's affairs or violated any country's sovereignty, it is Pakistan itself. We were an independent state that was forcibly occupied on March 27, 1948. Before then, the proposal that Balochistan join Pakistan on the basis of Islam was rejected in both upper and lower houses and nine months after we gained our independent status, we were forcibly occupied by the Punjabis and incorporated into what is today known as Pakistan. Now we are in a state of conflict and fight for our survival and independence. Pakistan, and Punjab in particular, have no right to deal with anybody with regards to our natural resources or decide our fate. Human rights are not an internal matter. Ironically, when the Shah of Iran, who also oppressed the Baloch in Iranian-occupied Balochistan, provided financial and military assistance including direct air support to Pakistan in the military operation against the Balochs in 1970s, no Pakistani saw it as foreign interference, but when someone speaks out for the rights of the downtrodden Baloch, Pakistan calls it interference in its internal affairs.

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IRJ: The most recent Constitutional amendments in Pakistan have given the authority over natural resource development to the provincial governments, does this not give Balochistan enough control over which companies it does business with?

MENGAL: The Baloch remain disempowered and dispossessed. If we look at the human rights situation, there is an oppressive military operation ongoing and the powerless chief minister of Balochistan says he does not have the mandate to change this and says that the Frontier Corps has established a parallel government. Recently when a senior provincial minister, Sadiq Umrani, held the FC responsible for disappearances and extrajudicial killings, his younger brother was abducted to silence him. If the provincial government cannot safeguard itself, what do they have authority over?

All state institutions, including the parliament, judiciary and presidency, are subservient to the military. The incumbent so-called democratically elected civilian government is an epitome of politically impotent administrations that is at the mercy of the Pakistani army. The military holds the levers of power and are the declared rulers of Pakistan since the country's unfortunate creation.

Pakistan has occupied our land and has been systematically carrying out the social, political, cultural, physical and economic genocide of the Baloch nation.

Companies need to know that any deal they make on Balochistan's natural resources with this government is not meant to last. Every successive government reverses the decisions of its predecessor, it's a failed state and many factors indicate that it clearly has no future. The basic problem is that the future of the Baloch people is not secure within Pakistan. No matter how good a deal might sound, we simply won't buy it anymore. We have constantly been deceived by the Pakistanis since the past 64 years. We just want them to leave us alone.

Companies that cut a deal with the central government over Balochistan's resources need to realise that there are no guarantees to them for as long as there is no peace and stability. Any attempt to indulge will be seen with strong negativity by the population. They will also be seen as exploiters adding to our miseries. Such companies may get the deal on the condition that they remain silent on the oppressive policies of the state against the Baloch, as have the Chinese.

Why do you think Pakistan is more pleased with China's political establishment? Why is it happier to let MCC [China Metallurgical Group Corporation] work on the projects? If you look at Reko Diq, Pakistan wouldn't be in favour of the western-based Tethyan Copper [Antofagasta and Barrick Gold joint venture], they would be more comfortable with the Chinese because they are content with Pakistan carrying out atrocities against the Baloch as they themselves are the immoral masters of plundering and have no problem with others adopting the same illegal methods. There is an old relationship there, Pakistan has been the concubine of China, that is how I would put it.

IRJ: Companies that develop natural resources often bring much-needed development such as schools, hospitals and infrastructure, would Balochistan not benefit from such development?

MENGAL: We have heard the word "development" most of our lives. There is a difference between development and exploitation. When Pakistan says it wants to bring development, what they really mean is they want to exploit. A prime example is Sui gas field, the biggest in Pakistan operated by a state-run company. Gas was discovered in 1952 and today there are only a couple of districts in Balochistan that have access to gas. The capital [of Balochistan], Quetta, received gas in 1986, 34 years after it was discovered, and that too only after a military garrison was stationed there, whereas Punjab has been the main beneficiary with all its major cities receiving household and commercial gasiby 1964.

It is the Punjabi military that has been given the most priority, Balochistan consumes 12 per cent of its own production though it is the largest province accounting for 47 percent of Pakistan's total land mass What did the Baloch people gain from the gas? What have the people of the district that pumps gas to the whole of Pakistan gained? They still burn wood. All the dividends from the sale of Baloch gas are usurped by Punjab. There is no shining precedent of the Baloch benefitting from their own resources.

The military has already been working directly on the Chamalang coals mines, said to be one of the largest coal fields in Asia and have been trying to get a hold of Reko-Diq by backing D. Samar Mubarakmand. In 2009, when the provincial secretary for mines and minerals opposed granting an exploration lease for the Chamalang mines to military, he was critically injured in an assassination attempt soon after being threatened by a military officer.

Instead of schools, hospitals and basic infrastructure, the state's version of development is constructing massive military garrisons, paramilitary bases, naval bases, air bases, several hundred checkposts, illegal detention and interrogation facilities and nuclear testing sites in Balochistan with US and European taxpayers' money and revenue generated from our land.

Their other sham developments have been to construct roads for billions to inaccessible areas and penetrate into our system to facilitate the mobilisation and stationing of troops in order to forcibly tap oil and gas and establish garrisons to further subjugate the Baloch and promote fundamentalists and the construction of madrassahs, to counter the secular Baloch movement and build a breeding ground and safe haven for radical mullahs.

Another crime they committed in the name of development was the nuclear tests conducted on our land on 28 May 1998, which has caused countless diseases among the inhabitants of Chaghai due to the radiation. When my uncle's government, which wasn't even consulted, protested against the tests on Baloch soil, his government was systematically toppled on June 15 1998.

The time for reconciliation is over, now our demands are for nothing short of independence. We have absolutely no future in Pakistan.

IRJ: Some would point to a lack of skilled labour among the Baloch population to work on these projects as part of the problem, for example, the deep sea port in Gwadar on the Arabian Sea, a highly strategic asset and one that could boost the economy of the region considerably. What do you say to companies that require skills and expertise to handle mega-projects like this?

MENGAL: I would say hold your horses, the Baloch require more than skills and technical expertise, they need empowerment and the freedom to decide their fate. Just like other projects, outsiders have come, the staff and labour is from other parts of Pakistan, locals are not allowed access to schools and hospitals, which are reserved just for employees, and no efforts have been made to set up training facilities, polytechnic institutes or vocational centres so that locals attain the required skills. Gwadar port was a project pushed for many years by the Baloch but the project was taken over by the Pakistan establishment and then they painted an absurd picture that Baloch nationalists oppose development. It is the Pakistani establishment that is not only a threat to the Baloch national identity but also an impediment to peace, stability, security and "genuine" development in the region.

If the French had better skills for deep sea drilling, would that give them an unquestionable right to explore North Sea oil or the Hibernia oil fields without the consent of its rightful owners?

The Baloch fear that the port will cause a big influx of oppurtunist Punjabis and Muhajirs encouraged by the government to migrate to Balochistan for employment and will be used to create a demographic imbalance and convert the Baloch into a minority in their own homeland, given the Baloch's small population - less than 10 million compared to Punjab's 91 million.

China's political establishment has collaborated with Pakistan's government in the construction of the port, they have financed it. They too have contributed to our plight and alienation. We would have welcomed the building of a port but China did not take the Baloch national interest into consideration, they did not take the Baloch in confidence before these projects were announced and dealt with Punjab and its civil-military establishment directly.

Before Gwadar port's construction, those people who had land [in the area] had their ancestral lands confiscated or were bought off cheaply by force. However, most of the land was allotted to military generals who subsequently sold them in the open market, to fellow Punjabis and Muhajirs and earned billions.

The project also required a big influx of people and we opposed it because we knew that those who would benefit would be outsiders and they would be given the right to vote and elect non-Balochs had we allowed Pakistan to operate freely in Gwadar.

IRJ: What message do you want to send companies that are thinking of setting up shop?

MENGAL: It is not the time. They need to understand our concern and insecurity. At this point, they will be fuelling human rights violations against the Baloch and would be similar to the case of blood diamonds. They would strengthen the hands of the oppressor and would also be indirectly funding radical elements patronized by the Pakistani ISI[Inter-services intelligence agency] who are a menace for regional and global peace and security. They should not try to benefit on the plight and miseries of the Baloch and must not collaborate with oppressive and corrupt regimes in carrying out crimes against humanity. Multinational companies should not see our predicament as an opportunity to make a buck. They can wait and we expect them to act more responsibly. We will be willing to talk to them when the situation is conducive for business.

As long as it is occupied territory and as long as we don't have our rights and are facing the situation that we are, we would oppose not just multinationals but also anyone else in Pakistan coming in to extract our natural resources. Pakistan is stealing revenue from our own soil that is then being used to fund actions against us. Baloch national assets, including Gwadar, Sui, Reko-diq and Chamalang coal, have all been to exploit and expropriate the Baloch of their wealth and advance Pakistan's sinister agendas against the Baloch nation. The Baloch are struggling for the protection of their national identity, for their survival. That is what is at stake for us. For as long as Balochistan remains occupied and Punjab's hegemony continues, the Baloch will be in the grip of the Stone Age.

The issue of natural resources is one the Baloch are deeply sensitive about. It must be noted that it was this bone of contention that triggered the ongoing bloody conflict. Any attempt to fish in troubled waters will only exacerbate the situation. No one wants that.

Now, there is the Iran-Pakistan pipeline being constructed without the Baloch nation's consent. The Baloch will not sit as silent spectators as they are trampled upon and there will undoubtedly be strong political resistance to allow it through our homeland.

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International Resource Journal timeline of events related to Balochistan, page 1

International Resource Journal timeline of events related to Balochistan, page 2