On one hand, Baloch women are leading from the front in the ongoing indigenous movements in Balochistan, particularly, against the enforced disappearances, on the very other hand, they are facing several crises in their lives, including societally-developed concerns and state-imposed challenges. Despite the fact that Baloch have been very secular where women had a significant role in the societal formation in the past, they have been suppressed – like their counterparts (men) – inside the period of colonization. But despite all odds, they have been resilient in countering every such narrative and act, and are standing firm against barbarism – no matter what faces they (challenges) are in.
Background:
We cannot oversee the geopolitical significance of the Baloch territory. For centuries, the foreign invaders have eyed the Baloch land [and sea] to occupy and build their empires and rule the world, as this region influences key global projects and directly affect the international politics. On one hand, Balochistan is full of natural resources worth billions of dollars, and on the very other hand, its location [particularly the sea] provides a gateway to the whole world and directly influences global schemes. For the very purpose, it has always been under the discussion of every global power – in every era. Be it the era of the Islamic expansion, or the expansionist policies of Iran and Afghanistan; be it the era of the Turk arrival and exploitation through sea or the Britishers indirect occupation; or even let’s take the contemporary Balochistan, it has all been a global agenda to control and rule the region; and for the very intent, the world could get no better place than Balochistan. Take, for example, China’s Belt and Road Initiatives (BRI) or One Belt One Road (OBOR) which will only succeed if China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) becomes useful. And the hub of CPEC is the Baloch Sea – Gowadar port.
Now that Balochistan is under evil’s eyes for ages, the world needs a tool to exist. After the use of force and power, indigenous movements and resistance have been challenges for invaders. What they needed was both, direct and indirect control; direct through their physical existence and indirect through their colonial discourses and narratives. Among several of their discourses, they struggled to include the suppression of women and making gender a ‘local issue’ so as to engage the indigenous people in intra-nation conflicts and chaos so that the third party, the colonizers, fulfill their economic and political interests without disruption.
Key Suppression Tools:
For the colonizers, it was important to shake the stability of the Baloch society in order to avoid any sort of disturbance to their colonial ambitions. For the very purpose, they sent spies in the guise of travelers to visit Baloch areas, read their psyche and make policies to counter them. Finding the Baloch societal structure very strong, they had few necessary areas to distort which included religion and gender. For the very purpose, they went for institutionalization of their plans and formed various groups, specifically after the 1971’s incident – separation of Bangladesh.
What they did earlier included the formation of groups which restrained the participation of women in everyday life – particularly in the name of Islam. They used the name of Islam and said the country was formed on the basis of Islamic Ideology and the common practices would be based on Islam. We will not dig deep into the state’s formation and the reality behind the name of Islam, but to impose their colonial agendas, they used the name of Islam and, in fact, formed a “New Islam” and used it as a tool to their basic human rights violations of the minorities and women – the newly-formed Islam is totally opposite to what actual Islam is.
Their idea gained momentum during the Zia ul Haq regime. They installed a mentality on the call of their masters – the US – to counter the Soviet Union march towards the Baloch Sea and counter them directly. They succeeded and stopped the USSR, and then used them to replace the secular Baloch psyche as such which they succeeded to a great portion.
What they did next was to use gender. They formed groups and organizations which put all the blames on men and held them responsible for reducing the participation of women in the daily life routines, while largely ignored the state’s policies. They were forced to believe that Baloch women were bound by the Sardari system to remain inside the four walls and have zero participation elsewhere. The state formed groups, consciously and unconsciously, engaged in chaos against the Baloch men putting all the labels on them to restrain them to household chores only. In the middle, the colonial ambitions were being fulfilled, while women groups and mentality was helping them create mistrust and misunderstanding of the actual concerns – the national concerns.
Countering Colonial Narratives:
Witnessing the unrest in the society, Baloch students and mass political parties came forward to decode the state-imposed mentality. They challenged all the state and imperial narratives by creating a political atmosphere. Baloch women participation in the four-year long insurgency back in 1973-77, followed by Nawab Marri’s Haq Tawar circles in 1990s, and then the direct inclusion of women in key roles in the Baloch politics post 2000s, state narratives were largely countered while the contemporary movement is yet defining its essence by removing all the clouds of confusion and creating a clear atmosphere for shaping a brighter Baloch society.
After 2000, things continue to re-evolve: the Baloch women were leading from the front and challenging the state narratives for gender-based division. Banuk Karima Baloch took the lead by joining the Baloch Students Organization in 2005, who was tasked to lead a women panel within BSO. In 2006, the women panel was removed and she was elected as a Central Committee member of the organization.
In the same year, Baloch Khawateen Panel (BKP) was established under the leadership of Shakar Bibi Advocate which aimed at resisting the state barbarism on Baloch masses, and never chanted slogans against the Baloch men. The Baloch Gohaar Movement (BGM) was then established in 2013, which was largely functional in other parts of Balochistan, except Makuran, focusing similar nature of state atrocities and, even, working underground.
This shift was a result of Baloch societal need of hour when they realized the only means to counter such narratives was coming forth and leading as giants: in the following series, Banuk was chaired as the first woman chairperson of BSO in 2015, and Gohar Baloch as the chairperson of Baloch Republican Students Organization (BRSO). And then the series added plenty others in key organizations as Baloch Human Rights Organization (BHRO), Baloch Women Forum (BWF), Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) and Baloch Students Action Committee (BSAC) which had women as their top leadership.
Apart from this, social movements, particularly against the enforced disappearances, began to mount in number with full women participation. We saw women leading them from beginning to their end: in fact, the women were at the forefront in all the negotiations with the district or security administrations. They are brave and the only confidence is their people who are illegally imprisoned. We have seen them being bold in their decisions and it is all due to the visible role Baloch women have played in the ongoing movement.
The overflow of Baloch women participation in political and other social movements has not only challenged the bogus state narratives, but also produced exceptional leadership to the Baloch struggle. As always, the issue in Balochistan was/is never concerning gender rights, but national crises. People here have always struggle for the common Baloch interests and will always continue to do so.
Creating Hurdles For Women – The Post-2000 Lenses:
Now that the state narratives, using religion and gender, failed, they needed something to hold their nerve and let the things go as they wanted them to. For the very purpose, they started creating hurdles for the Baloch women who were advocating for Baloch rights. They wanted a full-stop to the continuous human rights of the Baloch, including their political and social rights, and demanded equal and fair treatment. But they received state brute just as the Baloch men have been suffering for ages.
What they initially did was to harass and threaten the families of those women who were active – specifically the political workers. The harassment was made on different modes: for instance, if a woman political worker’s family member was a government servant, their salaries were frozen. When they inquired and completed all the necessary requirements to withdraw their salaries, they were called in the head’s office and briefed that the issue was not technical, but due to the political activism of their family member. When asked what to do next, they were told that either stop your active family member or be ready to face harsher consequences. This generated a fear in them and then they began to pressurize their active family member to stop from resistance. Though the formula was not applicable for every political worker, but such acts had created lasting impacts on the political careers of so many women political workers.
When they failed to stop such a political activist, they went to the next mode of harassment: they forcibly disappeared her (political worker or social movement leader) family member(s). After few days, they would send a message to her family: “Stop your girl/woman from the Baloch rights campaign and take your family member back.” This became a big challenge for such a woman who was to face both, the state and its notorious institutions on one hand, and her family on the other. Very few – countable in fingers – can bear such pressures from both ends and continue their activism, while over 95% quit from such a situation. To control the very remaining few, the state institutions have resorted to ‘colonial laws’ such as the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) and the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA). They are called a “threat to the national security” and are either imprisoned or put in a fourth schedule list of the ATA.
Social media trolls are another way to not only harass the women political workers but also discourage them from the indigenous movement. In the trolling scenario, the state usually focuses on two types of social media accounts; one, using their hired Baloch social media users. Two, making social media teams and using Baloch identities to harass them and troll them on social media. Under this program, the women political workers are abused and called ‘characterless’. They also try to use the messaging tools to not only abuse them but sometimes show them their sympathizers and then harass them accordingly.
When the Baloch women face such acts bravely, they create social stereotypes in the name of gender and further harass them on social media and, in fact, on ground. Stereotypes as “Women are emotional and cannot be leaders” and “Women should be at home and do household chores” are their utmost targets. Though some did not concentrate on such stereotypes, but such acts largely contributed in creating confusion, chaos and unrest among the Baloch circles, particularly, among women and their families. Though they were indirectly organized by the system, consciously or unconsciously, Baloch were parts of such campaigns to a great deal. More than the women activists themselves, such stereotypes affected their families who stopped their women so that their “respect and honor” remained unhurt.
Now those who take their families aside and prioritize the cause and movement, the state thinks of other victimizing tools: law enforcement agencies have been another such mode of victimization. For instance, as part of the political or human rights campaign, they organize protests, rallies, sit-ins and other acts as such: the state sends its police and other law enforcement agencies to harass them using the law. They usually impose sections on such occasions and disallow such activities saying that there are “security concerns”. When the protesters or marchers continue their campaign, they use force, as shelling tear-gas, baton charge, straight firing and even arrests.
Because they have a broader cause, they do not turn back from such acts. Then the state uses its judiciary to curb their movements and make “bogus security concerns” above their other human rights violations. Through the court system, their movement is shrunk and they are kept in prison cells without justified legal provisions. Pakistan’s court system have already delaying concerns, the political cases face even longer delays, resulting in longing the detention and the criminal charges.
Conclusion:
Balochistan is home to grave human rights abuses, usually involving law enforcement agencies as primary actors. To resist them, Baloch women have been the most courageous and boldest entities, whether political workers or civilians (definitely with Baloch men at their side). For the elimination of the very same indigenous resistance, they use the suppressing tools, including harassment, threats, colonial laws and social taboos, to curb women or political activism. Because the indigenous movement has been very gross-rooted, such suppressions may, to some extent, influence contemporarily, but will boost up louder in times to come.
