Movement of "Azadi" in Pakistan

Azadi, a demand for Balochistan, Sindh, Gilgit-Baltistan

Azadi, meaning ‘freedom or liberty’; the word stirs patriotism and motivates one to break off every shackle. But, it is an irony that ‘Azadi’, a positive word, which has inspired the voices of freedom, motivated poets, and moved musicians over ages; now evokes fearful images of those either demanding or denying it.

The myth of freedom in Pakistan!

If we look around in Pakistan, lack of azadi is visible from the deserts of Balochistan to the so-called Azad Kashmir (Pakistan occupied Kashmir), from the mountains and hills of Sindh to the famous Khyber Pass of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, from the streets of Gilgit-Baltistan to the minorities of Pakistan. Azadi is under fire everywhere.

“Man is born free, but he is everywhere in chains”
- Jean Jacques Rousseau

Major areas demanding Freedom from Pakistan:

Balochistan

Historically, before India and Pakistan got Independence in 1947, Balochistan was a free nation. However, the sovereign Baloch Nation lasted for only 227 days. In 1948, Pakistan despatched its army and annexed Balochistan against its wishes. Pakistan, since its creation in 1947, has been deceitful with its own citizens as well as with the Balochis and Pakhtuns.

Living as minorities in their own land!
Balochistan is the biggest province of Pakistan, which is nearly half the land mass of Pakistan but has only 3.6% of its total population. This makes the Balochis a minority in Pakistan. A province that boasts of rich natural resources including oil, gas, copper and gold in abundance, lives in abject poverty with the population surviving in deplorable conditions without access to electricity or clean drinking water.

While the merciless state of Pakistan has consistently exploited the natural resources of the Baloch region, no investment has been made in the socio-economic development of Balochistan.

Negligence of the Balochis

To say that the Balochis have been ill-treated by all governments and military establishments since their land was illegally and forcefully taken over, would be an understatement.

The educational sector of Balochistan lies in shambles. Islamabad has deliberately withheld education from the Balochis so that they remain illiterate and never become cognisant of their lights.

While the centrepiece of China-Pakistan’s friendship - the (China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)) Gwadar, should have been a ray of hope for Balochistan; it is actually leaving them behind. In Gwadar port, the construction works are handled by Chinese engineers and workers from outside, thus rendering the Baloch jobless in their own homeland.

Human Rights Violations

Pakistan loots Balochis of their rich resources and mineral wealth and  in return gives them nothing except Human Rights abuses.

Ever since Pakistan’s military occupation of Balochistan in 1948; there have been 6 waves of Baloch nationalist uprising against the occupation including the ongoing one. To crush the resistance, the Pakistani Military used ruthless tactics laced with brutal Human Rights violations.
Along the road to freedom, the Balochis have faced arbitrary arrests and detentions, torture, extra judicial and summary executions, enforced disappearances and the use of excessive and indiscriminate violence by the Pakistani police, military, security agencies and intelligence forces. Every day dead bodies turn up, many of them innocent victims of the mayhem in the province.

“Baloch political workers, politicians, activists, students are kidnapped daily and tortured in Pakistani cells. They are subject to untold atrocities and their bodies are then thrown away at deserted places after being mutilated,”
- Abdul Nawaz Bugti, BRP

There is a righteous cause behind the Baloch struggle for freedom. They kept the flame burning for 71 years demanding a Free Balochistan!

Sindh

After Balochistan, the demand of ‘Azadi’ rang on the streets of Sindh province in Pakistan. Slogans are raised in Sindh, demanding a separate ‘Sindhudesh’.  

A history of Sindh

Historically, just like Balochistan, Sindh was a sovereign entity. Sindh was made part of Pakistan against the will of Sindhi people. Sindh gave no consent for becoming part of Pakistan but was invaded as an independent country. As many as three wars (during 1843-1857, 1890-1899 and 1940-1944) were waged for the Freedom of Sindh.

While there has been a sustained undercurrent of sentiment for a free Sindh; the movement began in the 1960's as a literary movement against the imposition of Urdu language and the settlement of Muhajirs, the Indian Muslims who migrated to Pakistan following the partition in 1947.

Why does Sindh want Freedom?

The first demand of ‘Sindh Nationalism’ took shape in 1972 after Sindhi intellectual GM Syed's political outfit  'Jeeay Sindh' formally raised the the demand for secession of Sindh from Pakistan.

Just like Balochistan, Sindh contributes a major chunk of Pakistan’s economy. Pakistan will have great difficulties to continue without resources from Sindh and Balochistan. Despite that, Sindhi people are paid a pittance for all that they part with. Sindh contributes over 30% to Pakistan’s GDP and gets nothing much in return.

Sindh is one of South Asia’s natural resource richest belt with Australia, USA, UK and EU countries extracting large amount of Uranium and copper, oil and gas, coal and gold from Sindh.

After the discovery of rich mineral deposits (copper, iron, chromite, lead, zinc, coal, barite, bentonite, industrial clays ochre and silica sand) in large quantities in Sindh; a large scale migration of Punjabis has been noted, converting the ethnic Sindhi people into a minority in their own homeland.

In the last seventy-one years of Pakistan, basic rights of Sindhis have been violated and they have been victims of general discrimination and have not been given their proportionate share in the Pakistan Army, security agencies and civil bureaucracy.

Sindhis are an ethnic group who deeply feel the negation of their 'Sindhi' identity in Pakistan, which is five thousand years old. They just cannot sacrifice their thousands of years of nationhood to the seventy years of Pakistan.

However, ethnic cleansing of Sindhis has been carried out ruthlessly in the last three decades by the Pakistani armed forces. The military have been accused of enforced disappearances, torture and killing of Sindhi Freedom activists.

“The JSMM (Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz) says Pakistan has gone on an oppression spree, silencing anyone and everyone raising their voice in the form of democratic protest, and thus ensuring that the country's most ambitious infrastructure project will go on, even if it is at the expense of thousands of lives.”

The historical facts, exploitation, domination, suppression, Human Rights violations, colonization, discrimination, ethnic-cleansing and suppression of the people’s are the evil winds that will stoke the fires of freedom movement in Balochistan and Sindh.

Alongside Balochistan and Sindh, the part of formerly princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan have also been illegally occupied by Pakistan since 1947. The indigenous people of Gilgit-Baltistan have a 71 year long experience of relentless Pakistani domination. Even in this 21st century, they are deprived of basic human and constitutional rights while the military and its sponsored terror networks have murdered thousands of people in the name of religion and burned villages to alter the local demography through force.
After a long experience of negligence and ignorance, people of Gilgit-Baltistan also demand its freedom from Pakistani violence.