Sardars no longer hold sway over Baloch people

Bizenjo said people in NWFP had rejected the MMA and despite presence of Taliban voted for liberal and democratic forces of PPP and ANP in February 18 general elections. Similarly, the JUI-F won seats in Balochistan only because the APDM boycotted the February 18 elections.

He said he did not see any difference between Talibanisation, religious extremism and religious parties.

“I do not accept if some one said that JUI or Jamaat-e-Islami have different thinking than that of religious extremism. These religious parties shared the Taliban agenda at some level.”

He said that sectarian strife and the Talibanisation had damaged the nationalist movements.

“Taliban have shaken up the society as well as the nationalists’ forces but situation has drastically changed after February 18 general elections when people voted for liberal and democratic parties like ANP and PPP in NWFP. Fundamentalism, he said, exists only at limited level and the Taliban did not appear all of a sudden. There is a background for their emergence. It is the by-product of the so-called jihad in which Pakistan took part alongside US in Afghanistan. It came into being with the collaboration of religious Ulema, generals and American forces during the Afghan war when religious parties declared the Soviet Union a “Kaafir” and sided with America, he alleged.

Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who ided with America, had declared the war in Afghanistan was jihad. Now these very religo-political leaders are caught in the quagmire they had created. It is a fait accompli. Responding to a question on the failure of the nationalist movements, he said the movements had not been failed but their success or growth had been slow.

“It was unfortunate that nationalist movements are considered as anti-federation and secessionists, which was absolutely wrong. Nationalists were striving for the rights of their people. The four nationalities in Pakistan have a geographical area where they are living according to their customs and tradition. Thus Pathans, Punjabis, Balochi and Sindhis had decided to live together in one federation called Pakistan. However Sindh abandoned its rights when it voted for Pakistan Resolution in the provincial assembly for the sake of federation”, he claimed.