In Search of Solutions—Part 3

In Search of Solutions is the autobiography of leading Baloch nationalist leader Mir Ghose Baksh Bizenjo which was compiled by his political comrade B M Kutty. The Baloch Hal brings you the book chapter wise.

While Yusuf Magsi and his comrades were laying the foundations of the nationalist movement in Kalat state, a similar initiative was taking shape in British Baluchistan. Abdus Samad Khan Achakzai was the moving spirit behind it. Daring, devoted and determined, he was already emerging as the central leader of the struggle for the rights of the people of British Baluchistan. Achakzai and his friends were also getting actively involved in the freedom struggle of the subcontinent.

Between the two Baluch conferences mentioned earlier, Abdus Samad Khan Achakzai succeeded in persuading Yusuf Magsi to coordinate his group’s activities in Kalat with the nationalist group’s activities in British Baluchistan in order to evolve a common platform of the nationalists of the whole of Baluchistan. As hinted earlier, a clear sign of this emerging all-Baluchistan nationalist ethos was the naming of the second Baluch conference held in Hyderabad as ‘The All India Baluch and Baluchistan Conference’.

Such public manifestation of political awakening among the Baluch not only un-nerved the government circles in Kalat but also caused serious concern to the British Administration. Pressure began to be exerted from all sides on the young pioneers of the movement in a bid to nip it in the bud. The sardars, who wielded absolute power over their tribes and fiefdoms, also felt uneasy at the emerging new political trend and did their best to thwart it.

As days passed, the relentless pressure and all-round hostility from all sides seemed to have driven Mir Yusuf Magsi into a temporary moode of despair mood of frustration, as he abruptly left for London some time in late 1934. However, the determined and devoted Baluch nationalist as he was, he could not stay away from his people for long and returned within a few months. He was on the verge of plunging headlong into the mission he had left behind, when on the night of 30-31 May 1935, a devastating earthquake struck the city of Quetta and reduced it to dust, besides claiming thousands of precious lives. Among the dead was that indefatigable nationalist fighter Mir Yusuf Ali Magsi. His untimely death only reinforced the resolution of his surviving comrades to carry on the mission at all costs.

*****

The years preceding 1935 can be aptly called the period of struggle and sacrifice spearheaded by a handful of bold and dedicated sons of Baluchistan. When Yusuf Magsi was in London and had temporarily lost his link with the nationlist movement at home, the mantle of the leadership fell on Abdus Samad Achakzai and Mir Abdul Aziz Kurd. Under their joint leadership, the movement assumed an all-Baluchistan dimension. Defying all the adversities and caring little for personal safety, a small band of young nationalists led by these two stalwarts challenged both Kalat’s dominant tribal oligarchy and British colonial authority in Baluchistan. They used all the means at their disposal – pamphlets, articles and statements in the print media and so on – in British Baluchistan, Lahore, Karachi and other places outside Kalat State to spread their message as far and wide as possible.

Abdussamad Khan and Mir Abdul Aziz were frequently in and out of prison but that did not stop the forward march of history in Baluchistan. Muhammad Hussain Unqa, Muhammad Naseem Talvi, Aslam Khan Achakzai and other patriots worked tirelessly to keep the movement alive. Undaunted by the hardships they faced and the persecution of the State Government and British administration, the Baluch and Pakhtun youth rallied to the nationalist cause.

The British colonial administration had clamped a total ban on all kinds of political activities in British Baluchistan. As long as the British remained in the subcontinent, they saw to it that no known Indian political leader ever set foot on the soil of British Baluchistan. Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan was expelled from Baluchistan on several occasions. Once, while addressing a public meeting, he was physically assaulted by hired hooligans. Although Khan Saheb escaped miraculously, Mir Muhammad Amin Khoso, a close associate of Yusuf Magsi, who was a member of the Sindh Assembly from Jacobabad, was so seriously wounded that he spent the rest of his life in deep agony and pain. Dr. Choitram, President of the Indian National Congress (Sindh Province), who was also present in the meeting, was attacked with an axe and was severely injured. Anyone with even a button made of khaddar pinned on his shirt was liable to be arrested. The iron curtain the British built around Baluchistan was so impenetrable that no ordinary person, leave alone political leaders, ever felt safe visting Baluchistan. And, if anyone dared, he met with the same treatment as Ghaffar Khan, Khoso and Choitram.

If and when anyone from Baluchistan made the mistake of issuing a press statement or involved himself in any kind of political activity outside Baluchistan, he faced the harshest punishment when he came back home and even his family members were not spared. Boys hailing from Baluchistan studying in Punjab, Sindh or NWFP suffered the same fate if they indulged in political activities.

*****

The promulgation of Government of India Act of 1935 opened a window for limited and controlled political activity in the territories of British India. With it also came the release of several political prisoners from jail. They included Abdus Samad Khan Achakzai and Abdul Aziz Kurd. They wasted no time in seizing the opportunity, howsoever limited, provided by the 1935 Act to engage in political activities. They embarked on the task of giving a definite structural shape to their loose and disorganized political intitiatives.

For the first time in Baluchistan’s history, the foundations were laid of two political parties. Abdus Samad Khan Achakzai founded the Anjuman-e-Watan (Fatherland Party) in ‘British’ Baluchistan. In a convention held in Sibi on 5th February 1937, Mir Abdul Aziz Kurd and his comrades formed the Kalat State National Party (KSNP), with Mir Abdul Aziz Kurd as President and Malik Faiz Muhammad as General Secretary. It is obvious that in the conditions then prevailing in Baluchistan, the aims and objectives of the two parties would be more or less identical. Struggle against colonialism and imperialism on the one hand and against the oppressive hegemony of the sardars on the other, was a common theme in the programmes of both the parties. The Manifesto of KSNP published on 1st April 1937 contained the following salient points:

• All the Baluch should be united by eliminating the differences among them;

• We the Baluch have a glorious past with excellent traditions but are deprived of our national rights;

• The Central Government of Baluchistan should be a responsible government consisting of the elected representatives of the people, with the Khan of Kalat as a ‘Constitutional Head’;

• The Central Government should be the custodian of the Baluch traditional heritage;

• The Central Government should adopt a nationalist approach;

• The State should be strengthened enough to play its significant role in the family of nations;

• Baluchistan is not the slave of the British Government; rather the British have acquired facilities through friendly agreements; hence, our national integrity should not be destroyed;

• Baluchistan is as much a separate land as is Iran and Afghanistan.

Though the sardars held Baluchistan in their iron grip, they remained subservient to and dependent on the British Administration. While the first and foremost among the early demands raised by KSNP was the expulsion of the British, they were equally emphatic on the replacement of the sardari sysrtem with a democratic alternative in which the people should be able to exercise their will through their chosen representatives. There were also other demands such as: jobs in Baluchistan only to those who lived in Baluchistan and not to outsiders, the wealth and resources of Baluchistan for the benefit of the people of Baluchistan and elevation of the status of ‘British’ Baluchistan to that of a province.

In an incredibly short time, the two parties succeeded in drawing public support for their programmes throughout Kalat-Baluchistan. It was a remarkable achievement indeed in the given conditions. Understandably, the sardars did everything in their power to prevent these parties from making inroads into their tribal ‘dependencies’. They did not allow the formation of party units in their areas of control. But new winds of hope and promise had begun to blow all over and people everywhere could feel it. On the other hand, the British had become more pragmatic. They were quick to grasp the changing mood of the people. They pondered over the implications of the fast-growing nationalist movement and decided to adopt a new strategy.

The British Political Agent in Kalat with his headquarters in Mastung had been handling most of the affairs concerning the sardars. The Khan of Kalat had lost whatever little say he might have once had in their affairs. The British, in their colonial wisdom, now deemed it advisable to restore the old relationship between the Khan and the sardars. The new strategy envisaged conferring on the Khan the status of Chief of all sardars. In this way, the Khan and the sardars would be persuaded to stop working at cross-purposes and act in unison against the emerging political trends and forces. Correctly assessing the emerging situation, the British had their Political Agent hand over the ‘charge’ of the sardars back to the Khan.

The Khan of Kalat versus Kalat State National Party.

One would find it hard to believe that the late Mir Ahmed Yar Khan, who became the Khan of Kalat in 1931 after the death of his father, Mir Mohammad Azam Khan, had all along shown a favourable inclination towards the nationalist movement. After the formation of KSNP, he treated its leaders and workers with sympathy and understanding. He even extended his cooperation to them on some occasions. I still have a feeling that in pursuing such a policy, Mir Ahmed Yar Khan might have been motivated by reasons other than a genuine commitment to the nationalist cause. The Khan after all would not have liked a situation in which the sardars, backed by the Biritish, wielded over-riding power at the expense of his paramountcy as the ruler of Kalat. Thanks to the nationalist spirit aroused by KSNP, the people in general had begun to show their dislike for the sardars and the British. The Khan might have seen in it his best chance to undercut both these rival centers of power and recover some of his already eroded authority. By allowing the KSNP to strengthen and consolidate its position, he would on the one hand achieve that objective and on the other also win some popularity among his people.

The KSNP-Khan Kalat honeymoon was, however, not to last long. In an emergency meeting held at Sibi on 15th March 1939, the Working Committee of KSNP drew up a charter of demands. It included the demand for employing locals as department heads, ministers, deputy ministers, and on all other important posts including the prime minister’s post. It called for the abolition of Bijjar tax.

The Party appealed to the people to participate in meetings and demonstrations to press these demands home. It opened the campaign by organizing a rally in Dhadhar in the Kachhi District. The size of the rally surprised even its organisers; so massive was the public participation. The State administration was stunned. It promptly sprang into action. The office bearers of KSNP along with a number of leading members were arrested.

These arrests notwithstanding, the fact was that KSNP had already made its mark on the political arena of Kalat-Baluchistan. Shrewd as he was, the Khan made a masterly move in a bid to stem the oncoming tide. He took over the prime ministership and kept it with him for a short while before appointing Mirza Sher Muhammad Khan, a trusted old loyalist of the Khanate, as the new Prime Minister. In a follow-up action, he not only ordered the release of the KSNP leaders but Mir Abdul Aziz Kurd and some other prominent activists of the Party were given important positions in the Administration of the State! The Khan had reason to feel pleased at the new turn of events. He now had his man as Prime Minister, through whom he could have a tighter grip on the governance of the state.

However, it was soon proved that the Khan’s born-again affection and sympathy for KSNP was only skin-deep and was dictated by expediency. The sardars and the British Political Agent were rattled by the pace and sweep of these new developments. The mass demonstration in Dhadhar had forewarned them of what to expect in the coming months, if brakes were not applied in time on the nationalist surge. The KSNP should not be allowed to grow to unmanageable proportions. The Khan of Kalat, having achieved his immediate objective of re-asserting himself, was also in no mood to let the KSNP have a field day. He knew that sooner or later, it would pose a potential challenge and cut him to size. So, the troika of three stakeholders – Khan of Kalat, the Sardars and the British Political Agent – came to a tacit understanding. Plots began to be hatched to curb the KSNP.

The opportunity which the above-mentioned troika was looking for arrived in July 1939. The occasion was the annual conference of KSNP. The venue this time was the town of Mastung, where the British Political Agent had his headquarters. The Conference was scheduled to be held on 5-7 July 1939. It was at this point that I was to enter the world of politics. My personal life was to merge with the political life of my compatriots in Baluchistan, and my future with theirs.

*****

After doing my matriculation in 1939, I came to Karachi (from Aligarh, where I was studying) on a short visit, with no inkling of what was in store for me. My arrival coincided with an important meeting of the Baluch League, a political platform of the Baluchs living in Karachi. I was also invited to attend it. The agenda of the meeting was the Baluch League’s participation in KSNP’s upcoming annual conference in Mastung and formation of a delegation for the purpose. I attended that Baluch League meeting and was unanimously chosen to represent the League at the Mastung Conference. As I was leaving Karachi for Mastung, it dawned on me that I was in fact saying goodbye to my education-cum-football-driven life of an all-India dimension and stepping into the turbulent sea of Kalat-Baluchistan’s politics. From then on, there was no turning back for me for the next fifty years!

KSNP under attack and the Party’s new strategies

The replacement of non-State personnel in government posts by locals as a direct outcome of the pressure campaign led by the KSNP helped the Party’s public image to soar high. The people, the State government employees in particular, regarded KSNP as the protector of their interests. With their open cooperation and support, the Annual Conference got off to a flying start. People in large numbers came from all parts of Baluchistan to attend the conference. The troika understandably became panicky.

As the Conference was in top gear, it came under attack by armed hirelings of the sardars. Obviously, it had the covert blessings of the Kalat administration and the British Political Agent. As a large number of participants were armed too, they retaliated and an armed clash ensued.

The British Political Agent and the Kalat State administration were closely monitoring the situation. They realized that if they let the intruders press ahead with the attack, a great deal of bloodshed would occur. It could even lead to inter-tribal and intra-tribal clashes with unpredictable consequences. After all, that was not their intention. Disruption of the conference without direct administrative intervention was all that was intended. As events took an ominous turn, the State authorities intervened and pulled the intruders off the scene. Simultaneously, an official ban was imposed on the Conference.

After taking stock of the situation arising from the forced interruption of the Mastung Conference fallout of unexpected new developments, the KSNP leadership decided to send one of their representatives to meet the Khan of Kalat and apprise him of what happened in Mastung. I was selected for this mission. The consideration was: I was a non-controversial person at that point in time as I was not a member of KSNP and was attending the Conference as a nominee of Karachi-based Baluch League; therefore, the Khan might be more responsive.

Three days after the Mastung episode, I arrived in Kalat and sought a meeting with the Khan. The Khan received me courteously and listened to what I had to say. I got the impression that he already knew exactly what had happened in Mastung. When I tried to tell him of the possible consequences of a repetition of such incidents, he curtly cut me off. He did not want to hear anything more. I realized that my mission had ended in failure.

On 20th July 1939, KSNP was declared illegal and orders were issued to expel all the prominent leaders of the Party from the State. The first batch sent into exile included Party President Abdurrahim Khwajakhel, General Secretary Malik Muhammad Saeed, Maulana Arz Muhammad, Maulana Muhammad Umar and Mirza Faizullah, then Secretary Education in the State Government. A few days later, Mir Fazil Khan, Minister of Education, was also exiled. Malik Faiz Muhammad Yusufzai resigned from his Government job in protest and was immediately banished as well. Abdul Karim Shorish and a number of other activists of the Party were also driven into exile. Most of the KSNP members and sympathizers working in government departments either resigned in protest or were forced to quit. Entry of newspapers into Kalat was prohibited. Dar-ul-Uloom Mastung was ordered to be closed. It was clear that the Kalat State government and the British Political Agent were working in unison to crush the KSNP.

As the KSNP was being battered and its leadership forced into exile, I was kept in the Khan’s guesthouse in Kalat under virtual detention. Meanwhile, the Khan called a ‘Consultative Jirga’ (Assembly) of all the sardars and the lesser tribal chieftains from all over the state. They were brought from various parts of the State to Kalat city in lorrys, as the Khan wanted to ensure a large attendance.

Following this grandiose tribal pageant in Kalat city, I was released from the ‘guesthouse’, but bad news was waiting for me. My landed property, which had been under the care and protection of the Court of Ward from whom my family drew necessary funds for maintenance including my educational expenses, was being ‘released’. In fact, it turned out that some sardars including my own Bizenjo Sardar had advised the Khan to take this step. The purpose was clear. Once the property was released from the custody of the Court of Ward, I would be forced to focus all my attention on taking care of the property and providing for family maintenance, leaving no room for me to continue my education or engage in political activities.

There was another sinister angle to the plot. I had no younger or elder brother alive to lend me a helping hand. The task would be too much for my mother to handle. So, ultimately, it would fall to the lot of the Bizenjo Sardar to play guardian angel to me and my family and more importantly, to my property! In the conditions prevailing at that time, no one else would have come forward to take my lands on lease or contract and ensure me a fixed income so that I could continue my studies. It would have been foolish on my part to leave my property in the care of the same sardar, who had been coveting it ever since my father’s death. If I were to do that and go back to Aligarh, my mother and I would soon have been reduced to a state of absolute penury and I would have been forced to give up my studies for want of funds.

My detractors did succeed, but only partially. They left me no option but to give up further studies but if they thought that I would withdraw into the political emptiness of Shank-Jhao, they were sadly mistaken. The sequence of events since the Mastung Conference had convinced me that from then on KSNP’s mission was my mission as well. I had had the advantage of direct interaction with people and events in the Indian subcontinent. I had come to the conclusion that if the Baluch nation were to pull itself out of the quagmire of tribal backwardness, young men like me ought to commit ourselves to waging a long-drawn out struggle under the banner of KSNP against British colonial rule on the one hand and the retrogressive tribal social order on the other.

*****

After paying a short visit to my home village, I returned to Quetta. There I met the exiled leaders of KSNP and exchanged views with them. I told them that I would soon be visiting Makran to attend to the formalities of getting my properties released from the custody of the Court of Ward. KSNP President Malik Abdurrahim Khwajakhel suggested that I should do a bit of political work also during my Makran visit. I was asked to contact senior party members still working as government officials in Makran and persuade them to quit their posts in protest against the on-going persecution of KSNP leaders and activists. Prominent among those whom I was to contact were Mir Abdul Aziz Kurd, Naib Vazir (Deputy Minister) in Makran; Mir Hammal Khan, Custom Inspector at Pasni; Mir Gul Khan, Custom Officer at Jeewani, Mir Behram and a few others.

With the exception of Mir Gul Khan, I met all the others and conveyed Party President’s message. I also personally tried to impress upon them that if they chose to stay on in their posts, the Government would first try to scandalize them and then sack them in disgrace. That would mean a great blow to the prestige of the Party; therefore, they should not wait for that to happen. To my great disappointment, none of them was prepared to heed the advice. It looked as if I was the lone party activist at the scene. Perhaps the authorities had also sensed it, for as soon as I returned from Makran to my village, orders were issued for my banishment from the State.

In less than a year, our party comrades in Makran were to face the inevitable. Mir Abdul Aziz was implicated in a case of alleged embezzlement of state funds and dismissed from service. However, during the trial, it came to light that Mir Abdul Aziz had withdrawn the alleged funds from the treasury with the consent of the Khan of Kalat and therefore it was not a case of embezzlement. Nevertheless, his dismissal held good. Similar false charges were also levelled against Mir Hammal Khan and Mir Gul Khan. They were forced to resign and they too soon joined the ranks of the exiles in Quetta.