By Jabbar Ch.
Hamid Mir is known as an anchor of Pakistan. He gives his opinion on national issues, he gets a big TV screen of Pakistan and a column in a newspaper. By the way, pen misconduct has become a problem for most of our intellectuals and I think that something similar is always true when we talk about Hamid Mir.
Mir in his column “Future of Balochistan” on the heart-rending and brutal terrorism in Balochistan, made misdemeanors he was referring to a brutal incident of terrorism that happened in Balochistan where terrorists rounded up passengers of a bus, checked their national identification cards and killed those who belonged to Punjab. I consider this act of Hamid Mir as a criminal treason, but also an attempt to justify a terrible act like terrorism.
Mir has tried to make this terrorism controversial in two ways. First, he brought such a discussion in the middle which was not a discussion at any level. He wrote that those who died (martyrs) should be reported in media as ‘Punjabi’ instead of ‘Saraiki’ because Saraiki is protesting which is why they called the Saraiki people Punjabi. Tell me honestly, have you seen any such debate or protest anywhere? What does Hamid Mir want to achieve by putting such a subtle incident on such a critical occasion?
Secondly, he said that those who demanded the condemnation of this terrorism from Mahrang Baloch should first condemn the killing of Mahrang Baloch’s father. Here Mir is trying to establish that ‘someone’ killed Mahrang Baloch’s father so killing innocent people is justified because her father was also killed. It is beyond understanding what Hamid Mir is trying to prove by stating nationality, that if Pashtuns are also killed along with Punjabis, then the killing of innocents should be justified.
I have nothing to do with Mir’s thoughts and opinions, but the objection is that if someone has a place to write and speak, his responsibility increases greatly. Honesty requires that the pen and the tongue should be used in the interest of the motherland. Such terrorist incidents should not be put under suspicion. I contacted Hamid Mir through WhatsApp. When I wrote it, I praised his column and said that I agreed with the content of the poem of Mudasar Naroo in his article because the punishment for telling the bitter truth was sure, he expressed his surprise stating that Mudasar’s poem was only with him. I told him that I had already read this poem. When the protest was going on in Azad Kashmir, Hamid Mir wrote a column on it, in which he declared that our establishment did not think of Kashmir as a part of Pakistan. On this, I sent a message to Mir that you challenged the establishment as per your wish which you did not have any proof but you forgot to mention PTI spokesperson Rauf Hasan in this column who sitting in Mir’s talk show, categorically stated that Azad Kashmir is not a part of Pakistan. Mir got angry with my messages and blocked me on WhatsApp.
It was a reference to the alleged dishonesty of intellectuals such as Hamid Mir who raised a question on the Balochistan Apex Committee meeting in his show after the column and said that the Apex Committee is working as an alternative to the Parliament. But is there any objection to the decisions of the APEX Committee or do they have the same opinion on the APEX Committees of Sindh Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa? These APEX committees were formed under the implementation of the National Action Plan after the APS tragedy and the policy decisions regarding terrorism in all the provinces have been going on in the same committees for years.
What has happened and is happening in Balochistan has no justification or excuse. The problems in Balochistan are more than we think and the solution is not simple. It is now clear that the problem of Balochistan is no longer an issue of deprivation. Neither the development works nor the province lagging in the race for development due to various reasons or being deliberately held back by the tribal chiefs there. I think that the same situation is there now as the TTP once was in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In Balochistan, people engaged in terrorism are now on a mission to break Pakistan and are trying to gain independence for themselves. Our constitution mandates loyalty to the state. Problems and disagreements can happen among people and groups but their resolutions are the way forward. Therefore, neither the law nor the constitution allows armed struggle against the state. It is my wish and prayer that no one should be so vulnerable in this country that anyone anywhere should take you out of the car without any reason and kill. Those who justify their actions to those who do this show their inner evil.
To solve the problem of Balochistan, it is necessary to adopt the same formula that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has presented in the Apex Committee, that whoever believes in the constitution of Pakistan and its flag should be talked to, should be heard and legitimate demands should be accepted. There is nothing wrong with apologizing, but those who do not recognize the state should draw a line between them and give them a last chance, and then those who choose to stay on the other side of the line should be dealt with as the state should respond to a terrorist.
Note: The original article was published in the Urdu language in Naibaat newspaper
