Balochistan is hub to global attention for its geopolitical significance. I would even term the mark and growth of contemporary international politics and the global games as part of the broader stratagem considering the Baloch Sea (Arabian Sea, termed as Baloch Sea in the Baloch areas), situating parts of Balochistan under Pakistan and Iran – with the very important Strait of Hormuz present in the area where a large portion of oil and fuel is supplied from the Middle East to Europe and interior Asia, which also connects Balochistan with the whole world – African continent, Asia (Middle East), Europe and Austria.
With all the drama and chaos considering the Baloch geography or its geopolitical significance, people in Balochistan suffer in miseries, which the American author and researcher, Selig Harrison, in his book “In Afghanistan’s Shadow”, terms catastrophic. “Had it not been the Baloch Sea, Balochistan had not been slave for too long,” he notes, taking into account the historical games to occupy the Baloch land.
Now that all the situations exist, Baloch have been suffering significantly for years. With the external forces intervening, they bring with them diverse strategies (and narratives) to keep Balochistan enslaved which include the degradation of the women, directly or indirectly by the colonizers – as was the case in women-repute societies where women were largely respected and honored – take, for example, Algeria. It was, and is, deliberately done to bring disorder and unsettlement between the two genders – or to be further frank, to divide the people on the basis of gender – and get them ruled easily and through other connected means, like forming Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) specifically for women, introducing quota system for women and so forth.
Balochistan’s political situations – tracing historical events:
Balochistan is currently going through a phase where women are leading from the front as giants of change to bring societal revolution. Take, for instance, the leadership of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) or the Baloch Women Forum (BWF), both being led and taken along with powerful women advocates struggling for the national welfare. Or let’s bring into consideration the families of the forcibly disappeared Baloch, led by women, who are raising fluently for justice against the state-inflicted brutalities. Though we have had a lesser women representation in the past, but the case was different unalike how it is portrayed now by the state machinery that “they were suppressed”. Instead, it was how the societal balance and organization were maintained with almost as much freedom to men as women, take, for instance, a varying role structure for the two genders.
Baloch women – eyed equally on political, military and social lenses:
In the Baloch code and customs, women have already been given equal or, in fact, vaster honor and respect in the society. For example, Hani Baloch’s incident in the 16th century giving water to Mir Chakar Khan Rind and his companions, who were strangers though, shows that women were not bound within the homes but could practice any act as men in the society, like welcoming guests irrespective of identity. Later on, her marriage with Chakar and role as one of the best military and political advisors of Chakar during their war against the Turks further justifies that women were always standing shoulder to shoulder with their counterparts in the Baloch context. (Reference is taken from Dr. Jalal’s book “Baloch Samaj Aur Aurat”)
A similar nature still persists in several B-areas of Balochistan where women are responsible for all the household chores and headship – be it the allocation of family income or taking important family decisions. In other cases, women are themselves the income-generators and are respected equally irrespective of their gender. They still welcome strangers without a second-thought of being a woman and even sit in such gatherings. What I am actually calling on is that by customs and traditions, there is nothing as “gender inequality” when we historically analyze the Baloch, however, we can debate on the role-allocation which has been more a personal (family) decision than a collective national norm – it was the family who decided the roles of their members, and the best-for-best formula was usually implemented, and not something as gender concern.
Let’s refer to the English researcher and spy, Henry Pottinger: he writes in his travelogue, Travels in Beloochistan and Sinde (1816), that during their journey in Balochistan, they went to some Baloch huts where they were welcomed warmly with the local desserts as milk and other necessities of stay. “They [Baloch] were spending a simple life. I was shocked to see how the men and women were experts in all the chores of routine life. When we were their guests, everyone, from the head of the family to their children, was engaged in one or the other activity.”
He also notes that what was even more surprising for him was that after they had the meals, all the people sat and spoke irrespective of their age and gender with utmost respect and honor. “They were insisting of doing each other’s work without asking – this was unique which we had not seen in the entire [sub-continent].” And perhaps, most parts of the world.
Baloch women Vs foreign women:
To watch it out comparatively, in the US, known as an ideal state in the world, women received their right to vote back in 1910, while Baloch women were enjoying all their personal, political, military, economic and other related rights prior to that. The world was chanting for their very fundamental rights, but Baloch women were setting examples globally and were under recognition for their set standards. I would even term Baloch women as epitomes for the world at a time when women in other parts were suffering on the basis of gender.
During the British invasion in Khan Mehrab Khan (martyred) tenure in 1839, several Baloch Sardars refrained from challenging the strong British Army. As a protest, the Baloch women asked them to “wear bangles and scarfs and sit at home” which is a historic taunt from Baloch women. While we cannot oversee the active Baloch women participation in the 1973-77 Baloch insurgency where a large number of Baloch women served the movement by taking on their shoulders key responsibilities during the war – which is now a part of the Baloch war-ballads.
We can say that at a time when Baloch women were vocals for their people, women in other parts of the world had not even known the outside world. In this context, we can proudly say that Baloch women were enjoying equal status as men – nevertheless, there was no concept as to the gender concerning rights. In the present, where Baloch women are merely treated as a right-less entity (to some portions which the ongoing movement is countering), it is all because of external forces, particularly, the colonization. Because they need division in anything of a colonized people to rule them with ease – the division could be based on caste, sect, religion, region and gender. Yet we see an emergence of women on the face of colonization and challenging all the state-birthed norms and narratives against them.
Women Leaders after 2000s – marking a written history to rise of Baloch women:
In the present rise (after 2000), women have received larger attention owing to their leading roles in the movement. In 2005, Banuk Karima Baloch was leading a women panel in BSO-A to ensure more women participation in the Baloch struggle, who herself was then promoted to the leading role in the organization in 2006 – a Central Committee member.
Another Baloch-women-led organization, Baloch Khawateen Panel (BKP) was established in 2006 under the leadership of Shakar Bibi Advocate, which marked a leading era for Baloch women and open-cum-frontline-role of Baloch women in politics. The organization mentioned in their aims and objectives that they would work to eliminate the colonization-adopted thoughts that “Baloch women faced discrimination on the basis of gender” – making it clear that the women were never against their counterparts (men) but the external forces, who had occupied them as a nation. BKP had largely influenced the indigenous people who participated in numbers to resist the colonization in rallies and protests. They, owing to several intra-state factors, were forced to cease their activities from 2011 onwards because they were working as a growing factor in challenging the state-imposed narratives of Baloch women suppression due to common Baloch mindset and societal codes.
The process did not end but dragged more and more women participation in the Baloch politics. The lead was then taken by the Baloch Gohaar Movement (BGM), established in 2013, which was largely functional in other parts of Balochistan, except Makuran. It was, as Dr. Jalal says, mostly underground owing to the situations which did not favor surface politics. It resorted to media statements but portrayed an equally fair atmosphere for women as far as the Baloch society was concerned and never mentioned it as a resistance against Baloch men, but colonization. However, owing to severe state pressures, they had to go underground and work until their very end.
In 2015, Banuk Karima emerged as the first woman chairperson of BSO, making history with her efforts in contributing to the Baloch struggle, while in 2016, Banuk Gohar, another woman voice, was chaired as the head of the Baloch Republican Students Organization (BRSO); Bibi Gul Baloch was then elected as the chairperson of Baloch Human Rights Organization (BHRO), while Zeen Gul Baloch in 2021 as Central Organizer of Baloch Women Forum (BWF), which is now being led by Dr. Shalee Baloch as their Central Organizer; Sabiha Baloch of Baloch Students Action Committee (BSAC) was designated as the organizational head in 2021 to 2023 (now serving as a central leader of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee), and Dr. Mahrang Baloch took the lead as the formal Central Organizer of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) in 2024. The higher political ranks were filled with Baloch women leadership and were mainstreamed in the lower level as well.
All the above mentioned organizations or panels have one thing in common: though being women-centered or led by the women, their common organizational agenda was not against the Baloch men, but the outsiders who had either distorted the Baloch history or have been inflicting severe nature of political and human rights infringements of the Baloch as a nation. Their struggle has always been (and is) for the common Baloch national interests, and not for a specific section or gender.
The Baloch Protesters – mark of another era for rise of Baloch women:
Apart from the formal political set-up, Baloch women have also taken the lead in the social movements, including the very-much-debated movement against enforced disappearances in Balochistan, followed by other social issues. Due to a political vacuum in Balochistan owing to the ruthless state behavior, genuine political parties either went underground or remained silent on political issues as enforced disappearances. This ultimately boosted the families to rise themselves and protest the state’s law enforcement agencies by either blocking the important or key roads, or the local government institutions like the Deputy Commissioner (DC) office. In all such movements, the lead was taken by the women with more and more women participation from the locality.
We cannot oversee the role of Zakir Majeed’s mother Raj Bibi, Dr. Deen Mohammad’s daughters, Sammi Deen and Mehlab Deen, Shabbir Baloch’s wife Zareena and sister Seema, Rashid Hussain’s mother Bazatoon (Baz Khatoon) and niece Mahzeb Shafiq, and an unending list of Baloch women who led rightly from the very front as chanters against the state’s institutional barbarism. In fact, few among such women emerged in leading the masses in the next phases of their activism, take for example, Dr. Mahrang Baloch, who came out on roads once for her father and then, against her brother’s abduction in 2018, who is now the central organizer of the BYC. On a similar note, Sammi Deen’s struggle for her father became a hope for the whole Baloch families going through the trauma of enforced disappearances and now leading as a strong advocate under the banner of BYC, who was formerly the Secretary General of the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP). Same is the case with Zakir Majeed’s mother who is now a hope for all the other Baloch mothers facing similar traumas.
What held Baloch women far from historical pages?
Considering all the evidences on record and the Baloch life, we cannot say that Baloch women were ever treated unfair owing to their gender, but we cannot deny the fact that historical accounts are very limited when it comes to the Baloch women and their nation-building role prior to the ongoing movement. Prominent Baloch writer, Dr. Jalal Baloch, in his book “Aurat aur Samaj”, levies the blame on Baloch authors, historians and political leadership.
Baloch had historically the oral literature where stories were transferred from one generation to the other. With the arrival of the Britishers, they began to distort the oral literature and, as part of their occupying policies, sent travel spies and writers to rewrite Baloch history. On a similar note, we did hear of a lot of oral narrations, where the role of Baloch men and women was equally seen and treated on the rule of best-for-best – specifically when we study the love tales of the Baloch, where Baloch women see no traits as portraying a sense of deprivation on the basis of gender. But in the middle, several narrations were replaced and distorted through English literature, which the Baloch writers and intellectuals could not trace. The political leadership, on the other hand, failed to make efforts in the very given accord.
Dr. Jalal is of the view that Baloch women had a significant role in every era, take for instance, Banadi Baloch who was leading the Baloch army in sixteenth century, or Gul Bibi, Mahi Beebow or Bibi Zainab. The Baloch history is filled with women fighters and leaders who are yet to be traced to idealize and shape a future Baloch society considering their key role in the past. It is, now, on the Baloch intellectuals, authors and political leadership to do justice with the roles of women (of course, men also) for an influential Baloch societal development.
Conclusion:
A society where men are prioritized over women just on the basis of gender portrays the slavery of the society and their mental colonization. Balochistan is facing such dilemmas since the colonization period had begun where, along with direct rule, the outsiders are caging the indigenous people’s mentality by building in them narratives which favor their larger interests. For any invader, the use of narrative of gender is a primary agenda through which they create an atmosphere of mistrust and social unrest leading to indigenous movements against the indigenous people, while the third-party uses such acts as fuel to further their colonization.
The Baloch history clearly negates the division based on gender considering the historical role and status of women. However, the colonization-era-built narratives, using all state machinery including media, literature and religion, have principally influenced negatively the societal status quo, but are equally being resisted through the struggle Baloch are making as a nation.
The concern in Balochistan has never been a gender, or of religion, region, sect or race, but purely a national crisis where the foreigners have eyed the Baloch resources and its strategic location. The issue in Balochistan is purely political, and not gender – and neither has it ever been a gender-issue.
