FOR Pakistan, the Balochistan problem is going to be a point of implosion -- internal explosion. The freedom movement the Baloch people are carrying on for years now has come to a boil -- with the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) striking symbols of Pakistani power every now and then. The latest in that series of Baloch strikes is the reported and claimed attack on Jaffar Express. The BLA has claimed that it has killed many Pakistani Army personnel and have taken over a 100 hostages from among passengers.

 

A news item also appeared in the media that Pakistani forces have abducted 3 persons from Balochistan from Barkhan district. Obviously, the hostilities between the Pakistani forces and Baloch freedom fighters have reached a new level. And for Pakistani authorities, to contain this increasing trouble may not be possible. There are reasons to expect a Pakistani implosion -- triggered by Baloch freedom struggle -- in the next some time. For Pakistani authorities, the moment of implosion would be the one that they would not know how to control and contain. And in every likelihood, other regions in Pakistan, too, may pick up threads of revolt from the Baloch people and may launch their own struggles for independence from Pakistan. For a terribly weakened Government in Pakistan, controlling this new wave of Baloch hostilities would mean employing resources that would far beyond their means -- political and financial. More importantly, Pakistan has no international support since the Baloch people have made it amply clear to the world that their struggle has every justification possible.

 

Before the partition of India in 1947, Balochistan was a free country with no commitment or allegiance to any other country. But as it did with parts of Kashmir, Pakistan took more or less the same steps to annex Balochistan. In Kashmir, they did not succeed -- but did slice off some parts of the region. In Balochistan, they annexed the whole country. Since that moment 75-plus years ago, the Baloch people never accepted their annexation by Pakistan. Their initial freedom struggle was rather slow and sedate. But in the past some years, the Baloch freedom fighters are adopting harder lines and are not in a mood to accept any cessation of armed fighting. The Pakistanis just do not know how to counter this Baloch threat and thrust -- politically or militarily.

 

Over time, the leaders of Baloch freedom struggle have been successful in weaving a whole range of philosophies, practices and protocols of fighting the Pakistanis. They are moving around the world in a systematic manner to bring to fore the highlights of their struggle. Overall, the world appears to support them. And that has become the very big problem for Pakistan whose leadership does not know how to counter the Baloch thrust. In the current episode of claimed hijack of the Jaffar Express by Baloch freedom fighters, what is of importance is that even the Pakistani media appears shell-shocked -- with many describing the development as a film-style action that shows the Baloch preparedness and willingness to go to what extent. More details are, of course, awaited and would bring a clearer picture to fore. No matter those details, it is obvious that the Pakistani authorities are up in arms against a tough challenge by the BLA in particular and Baloch freedom struggle in general. If this challenge takes Pakistan down into a dump, then Pakistan itself will be owner of the blame. Frankly, Pakistan has no moral or legal reason to hold Balochistan in its grip. Freedom is the right of the Baloch people and they must get to exercise it and marshal their own resources for their growth and development in freedom.