August 11: Commemorating Balochistan's struggle for sovereignty

August holds substantial historical significance for South Asia. While the Independence days of India and Pakistan on August 15 and August 14, respectively, are well known, the importance of August 11 for the Baloch people and Balochistan is less recognised.

On this date in 1947, the departing British colonial administration announced that leaders of the Pakistani Movement had signed a Standstill Agreement with the rulers of the Kalat Khanate, the precursor to modern-day Balochistan, effectively acknowledging its sovereignty just four days before Pakistan's creation through the partition of India.

This date is significant as it marks the Baloch reclaiming their homeland after a century of British colonial rule.

However, this Independence was short-lived as Pakistan's founder, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, orchestrated a takeover of Balochistan by the Pakistan Army through force in March 1948. Since then, Balochistan has been ruled under a stringent, imperialistic agenda.

For the Baloch nation, August represents Jinnah's betrayal, Pakistan's ongoing oppression, and yet a glimmer of hope for freedom, evidenced by the robust resistance led by Baloch women.

As Baloch nationalist groups such as the Baloch National Movement (BNM) and the Baloch Students Organization (BSO) prepare to commemorate Independence Day, they are organising global events like seminars, sit-ins, and protests to remind the international community of the ongoing repression of the Baloch people under Pakistan's imperial military rule.

It is crucial to revisit, highlight, and debunk the disinformation propagated by Pakistan regarding key historical events.

The Pakistani government's narrative, which emphasises the so-called accession of Kalat to Pakistan, often serves to obscure the treachery of its founding leaders, like Jinnah, towards the Baloch nation and the military force used to coerce Baloch leaders into signing the accord.

Pakistani rulers have excelled in crafting disinformation narratives to obscure Jinnah's promise to respect the region's sovereignty, its subsequent forceful annexation, and the ongoing cycle of repression in Balochistan.

This context is essential for understanding the current state of the Baloch resistance movement and Pakistan’s colonial treatment of Balochistan.

Balochistan's current plight is as much a result of Pakistani state treachery as it is of the British colonial government's actions.

As the British colonial empire withdrew from the subcontinent and the partition of India became inevitable, the future of the princely states emerged as a critical issue.

Unlike the approximately 560 princely states considered internal matters of the British Indian government, which were permitted to join either India or Pakistan, the Kalat Khanate, under the leadership of Mir Ahmad Yar Khan, posed a distinct case.

It was classified with Nepal, Sikkim, and Bhutan, considered external affairs of the colonial administration and thus recognised as sovereign entities.

Interestingly, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, serving as the legal advisor to Ahmad Yar Khan since 1946, championed the Kalat Khanate's sovereign status with the British, aiding in its recognition. Kalat's position was strengthened by Mehrab Khan's 1838 agreement with the British, which acknowledged its independence.

Additionally, a treaty in 1878 granted Kalat internal autonomy, unlike other Indian princely states.

Consequently, a trilateral Standstill Agreement was signed by Mir Ahmad Yar Khan, Jinnah, and Liaquat Ali Khan, alongside British representatives, at a roundtable attended by Lord Mountbatten on 4 August 1947.

This agreement, formally announced on 11 August 1947, recognised Kalat's political autonomy and stated: "Pakistan recognises Kalat as an independent sovereign state in treaty relations with the British Government, with a status different from that of Indian princely states."

While India and Pakistan emerged as separate states at midnight on 14-15 August 1947, Kalat had already declared its independence on 12 August.

However, this autonomy was short-lived as the Jinnah-led Pakistani leadership soon betrayed the Baloch nation by coercing Mir Ahmad Yar Khan into acceding to their newly formed state.

Pakistan's behaviour was consistent with the expansionist tendencies of its leadership, evidenced by their violation of the Standstill Agreement with the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir in October 1947, when they invaded the princely state and have occupied part of it ever since.

Similarly, following the invasion of Kashmir, the Pakistani government threatened to invade the Kalat Khanate if its rulers resisted these expansionist demands. One can only imagine the sense of monumental betrayal Ahmad Yar Khan must have felt, given that the very person who had advocated for Kalat's independence with the British was now seeking to annex Balochistan at gunpoint.

It is important to note that Pakistani narratives often emphasise the so-called Shahi Jirga of 29 June 1947, where representatives from Kharan, Las Bela, and Makran—areas under British control in Balochistan—are claimed to have voted in favour of joining Pakistan.

However, this narrative is misleading. The jirga lacked proper mandate, as representatives of the Kalat Khanate, which comprised the major geographical expanse of historic Balochistan, were excluded from voting. Moreover, a week before this vote, on 22 June 1947, the same jirga members, along with Baloch sardars, acknowledged Kalat's suzerainty through a letter to Ahmad Yar Khan, granting him the authority to determine Balochistan's fate with the British, Indian, and Pakistani leadership. Even the then-president of the Balochistan Muslim League, Qazi Muhammad Isa, stated that this jirga "in no way represents the popular wishes of the masses."

As Jinnah and the Pakistani leadership intensified their pressure, Ahmad Yar Khan ensured a democratic resolution by convening a special session of the Dar-ul-Umara (House of Lords) and Dar-ul-Awam (House of Commons).

These democratic bodies, established after the end of British paramountcy on 15 August, unequivocally voted in favour of Kalat's independence multiple times between 14 December 1947 and 25 February 1948. Offended by the Baloch people's referendum and insistence on an independent sovereign path, the Pakistani leadership dispatched its army to Balochistan.

This military intervention aimed to coerce the Kalat Khan into surrendering, which was eventually achieved on 27 March 1948, thereby ending Balochistan's short-lived independence of 227 days. However, this widely opposed annexation sparked the first Baloch revolt against the state of Pakistan, led by Mir Naroze Khan, Ahmad Yar Khan's brother, which was violently suppressed by the Pakistan Army.

Since then, Balochistan has remained under the oppressive control of Pakistan, which consistently uses violence to silence the Baloch people, even suppressing calls for basic rights and resources.

The region has become akin to a colonial administration, focused solely on exploiting its natural resources at any cost. Pakistan has even invited China, its so-called iron brother, to exploit the region's valuable mineral resources.

It appears that Pakistani rulers have devised a two-pronged strategy. On one hand, Chinese companies have been delegated to loot and plunder Balochistan's resources, while on the other, the Pakistan Army is tasked with suppressing any form of Baloch resistance to this imperial plunder.

Consequently, Pakistan’s military has employed every oppressive tactic imaginable and engaged in widespread human rights abuses, including enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, sexual violence, and organ harvesting, among other atrocities, on an industrial scale.

Despite this, the Baloch people have persistently resisted the occupation both politically and through an armed insurgency necessitated by the oppressive tactics of the Pakistan Army. The fifth and by far the largest phase of armed resistance, initiated in 2005 following the killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti, is currently ongoing.

However, the resistance landscape in Balochistan is undergoing a fundamental and revolutionary shift, with the mantle now being taken up by young Baloch individuals, particularly women.

This shift is exemplified by the ongoing mass protest movement led by the Baloch Yekjehti Committee (BYC), featuring prominent figures such as Dr. Mahrang Baloch and Sammi Deen Baloch—both victims of Pakistan Army violence. This movement seeks to end the genocidal tactics of the Pakistan Army and achieve political rights.

Nevertheless, as the resistance movement endures, for the Baloch people, August 11 remains deeply ingrained in their collective memory as a day symbolising the broken commitment and unfulfilled promise of independence from Pakistan.

As the Baloch observe this day and reaffirm their determination to continue their path of resistance, it calls for self-reflection. They must recognise that the battle for their right to self-determination and a free homeland is theirs alone to fight.

Simultaneously, the international community cannot and should not ignore the crimes of the Pakistan Army in Balochistan.

Instead, the current need is to support the Baloch people as they struggle for their right to live a free and dignified life. This is the least the global community can do.