The Baloch Culture Day is celebrated with traditional zeal and zest on the 2nd of March every year. The day is celebrated to create awareness about the rich Baloch culture since the year 2010. It is not only celebrated within the Balochistan province but also all across the country, which is indicative of the exquisiteness that the Baloch culture embodies. The day is filled with activities related to the culture and traditions that are thousands of years old. Festivals, cuisines, theatrical performances, traditional dances, and folk music usually form part of such festivities.
Balochistan is the largest province of Pakistan, covering an area of 347,190 square kilometers, which accounts for 44 percent of Pakistan’s territory. It is also the least populated province of Pakistan, with a total population of 12.34 million, representing 5 percent of the national population. It lies in the southwest of the country and borders with Iranian and Afghani Baloch areas, historically linked with each other. Scrolling back the pages of antiquity, the first mention of Balochis is found in the Arabic chronicles from the 10th century. However, Mehrgarh, an area near Bolan Pass west of River Indus and near the cities of Quetta, Kalat, and Sibi, dates back to 7000 BCE. It became part of the Indus Valley Civilization while trickling down the cultural precepts that govern the Baloch way of life even today.
Baloch culture is nomadic and tribal, affluent with constructive and traditional values of hospitality, unity, magnanimity, and common social order. Religion is the cementing factor that bolsters the foundation of the Baloch national characteristics. The Baloch culture is ornamented with the customs of Med-o-Maraka, Mayar Jally, and substantially higher moral values. Med-o-Maraka is a custom in which an offender personally seeks forgiveness from the aggrieved. It can be in a gathering like a Jirga or without it also. Mayar Jally is the protective custody extended to guests having mutual enmity by the host. Another old Baloch tradition evident from the folklore is the graciousness displayed by any Baloch when he comes across another having a feud but is not adequately equipped. He is asked to better come prepared if he wishes to have a duel. Availing the opportunity to settle the score when the opponent is weaker doesn’t commensurate with the Baloch traditions.
The province of Balochistan is blessed with mines, minerals, and sea. The Government of Pakistan, in tandem with international organizations, has been striving to make up for the deficiencies so far crept into the land of opulence, yet a long way is still to go. Focused attention is being accorded to the training and provision of requisite toolkits, including laptops, for both male and female Baloch young adults, to bring them at par with their peers from other parts of Pakistan. For this purpose, vocational and entrepreneurship preparation, hospitality management courses for youth, training faculty members from different academic institutions of Balochistan, are arranged in Karachi, on a regular basis. Training youngsters in operating heavy machinery, accessing financial support from banks under the Government of Pakistan’s Kamyab Jawan Program, and E-Commerce are also being undertaken. Likewise, the profession of fishing is being protected and protracted through various measures. A chief measure in this regard is to address the grievance of the coastal community about illegal trawling. Government agencies are addressing the issue on a priority basis, believing that the coastal trove is the property of people of the area, and no one has the right to snatch it from them. As the province of Balochistan is rich in scenic beauty, with mountainous and semi-mountainous landscapes, and beautiful beaches all along its southern boundary, efforts are being made to promote its tourism potential. The finalized deal on the Reko-Diq project with foreign investors is also expected to bring significant economic and infrastructure boosts to the province, along with job opportunities for locals.
Despite all of these efforts, there is a disturbed security situation in some parts of Balochistan, and allegations of human rights violations are frequently leveled against the state. Let’s first talk about the reported human rights violations. Missing persons or enforced disappearances are global phenomena and are not only limited to Pakistan, but erroneous figures in this regard are being quoted by some activists. There are at least three commissions/committees formed by the government to probe the matter, besides independent oversight bodies and civil society organizations freely monitoring, reporting, and investigating allegations of human rights violations. Not sufficient evidence has been cited all the time in this regard.
The issue of terrorism is also one that is much spoken about in the province. Baloch sub-nationalists, on the behest of hostile intelligence agencies, carry out terrorist activities in the name of seeking independence for the province. They are trained on neighbouring soil, with an overwhelmingly and declared support of our arch enemy India. Three things are important in this regard: any activity supported by India cannot be in the interest of Pakistan, especially when it is declared publicly by their leadership. The population en masse does not support such activities and, in fact, is aggressively against them. Also, a Baloch hailing from a culture of unity, magnanimity, hospitality, and common social order does not contain violence in his veins. They are, therefore, truly instigated, sometimes pressured by the enemy, to carry out such activities.
The government of Pakistan is devoted to bringing prosperity to the province of Balochistan, which it deserves, and for that, human resource development is being focused upon. However, there is a need to highlight these measures and bring forth the facts about this land of opulence. The rich culture and traditions of Baloch heritage, as well as the potential for growth and development that this province bears, merit being showcased via domestic and international media. A correct picture of the situation in the province, substantiated with ground realities, should be the hallmark of such reporting.