Self-righteous states transcend all boundaries and think they are infallible and omniscient. Unfortunately, the state’s conviction of its moral righteousness is not restricted to itself; the next step is forcing people to acquiesce to whatever it thinks is correct and best for them. This self-righteousness stems from a disconnect from reality and the attempt to impose one’s views is an extension of that basic folly, because such delusions never stay confined to source. Naturally, states with absolute powers and religious orientation always trample on human rights because they think they have a ‘divine’ sanction for that and they do not even need to provide a fig leaf for their depredations against people. Such states and their leaders think making people submit to their thought and philosophy is their divine duty. They try to coerce people into accepting their views and this coercion is limitless in its scope and brutality. Fortunately, people have their own minds and interests, and therefore they refuse to submit and all coercion eventually fails.
Religious extremism has been a scourge wherever it raised its head; however, it becomes doubly deadly when the state adopts it for suppressing the people’s struggle for their rights. The problems that such states and institutions create are proportional to the strength of their beliefs and the power they wield. Unsurprisingly, they commit all sorts of human rights abuses and atrocities with an exceptional zeal and passion. Blaise Pascal (1623-1662), the French Catholic philosopher, put it succinctly: “People never do evil so completely and so cheerfully as when they do it in the name of their religion.”
The Pakistan state is slowly assuming the status of the Alamut Castle of Hassan Sabah wherein resided his delusional assassins who created terror at his bidding, killing all those who opposed him. Pakistan and its institutions’ consistent adherence to the ‘strategic depth’ policy and the nurturing of strategic assets have made it a clear and present danger for the region and to the lives and limbs of the people residing within its geographical confines. This policy has isolated it in the world community and is steadily eating away at its social, political and economic infrastructure and all that remains is a politically, economically and socially bankrupt shell, which is artificially sustained by the use of or the threat of the use of force. This situation cannot continue indefinitely because the social, economic and political laws like those of physics work independently of desires, wishes and dreams. This shell is bound to collapse sooner or later under the weight of its follies.
These self-appointed infallible and omniscient states and institutions become extremely brutal and merciless once they sense the defeat of their beliefs and policies and their imminent end. The state and its institutions have been ruthless in the extreme and have already upped the ante against the Baloch because they persist with their struggle. It is this mindset and an unfavourable global situation that the Baloch are up against. The Baloch therefore see no option except that of resisting with everything at their disposal. The will of the people has to prevail eventually.
The writer has an association with the Baloch rights movement going back to the early 1970s. He tweets at mmatalpur and can be contacted at mmatalpur@gmail.com
