I am from Balochistan

I am from Balochistan
Rafeel Wasif March 9, 2012
Proviance Baochistan
This province has so much to give, if only left in peace. PHOTO: INP
Quiad-e-Azam residency in Ziarat, Balochistan. PHOTO: TMN A view of the mountains covered with snow in Ziarat. PHOTO: ONLINE This province has so much to give, if only left in peace. PHOTO: INP

Let me tell you a secret, I am from Balochistan –  but very frankly, I am not the stereotypical Baloch that everybody has become associated with. I don’t speak Balochi, nor am I a  member of the Balochistan Liberation Army, nor do I hate the Federation.

I was born in Balochistan and have lived almost half of my life there, while my father lived most of his in the same place. Technically, that makes me a Baloch, or maybe it doesn’t – depends on the definition one will like to put out. However, the basic point of this blog is not to define a Baloch, but to give a perspective on what is actually happening in Balochistan.

Every day one gets to hear stories of Baloch youths missing, of Punjabis being slaughtered based on their identity cards, of bombings, chaos and what not. The question that emerges at this time is : Are we going towards another Bangladesh? Or more acutely, why are things the way they are? Or perhaps they were always the same?

Going back to the old times, I can easily say that they were not.

There was a time when one could travel