Quetta, Pakistan: Dr. Mahrang Baloch has appeared again in foreign media and this time with Baloch National Gathering, popularly known as Baloch Raaji Muchi. The last time she was in foreign news for her sit in Islamabad at the beginning of the year 2024 then she went for a retreat in Europe to spend her vacations from her assignment because she was overexposed when she mistakenly accepted that Baloch terrorists who were killed inside Iran were those she was claiming them as “missing persons”. During the sit-in, Dr. Mahrang Baloch admitted that the families of terrorists of the Baloch Liberation Army who were killed in Iran were present at the Baloch Solidarity Council protest camp in Islamabad.
It is feared that foreign handlers and investors of Dr. Mahrang Baloch can kill her to blame the Pakistan government in case her march is a failure
Baloch Raaji Muchi (Baloch National Gathering) can be considered as part two of the Islamabad sit-in but this time government has better planning to mitigate the situation because the activities are being held in Balochistan where a seasoned politician Sarfaraz Bugti is the Chief Minister who knows thick and thin of foreign linkages of Dr. Mahrang Baloch. Moreover, authentic sources claim that after the government’s commitment to a stability campaign was announced, Balochistan’s smuggler’s mafia gave Dr. Mahrang Baloch an amount of over one billion rupees but it looks like she has failed to produce results for the mafia. The most critical possibility for the Balochistan administration is that it fears that foreign handlers and local investors of Dr. Mahrang Baloch can kill her to blame the Pakistan government in case her march is a failure. Sources say that the smuggler’s mafia, which has given so much money to her is very worried because as per the deal, she was supposed to pressurize the people through public agitation to end FC deployment from Gabad Crossing and adjoining areas but things are not operating as desired by the mafia and foreign handlers. In this situation, the chances of arranging bloodshed by the foreign powers have increased and the security forces should be more careful. A cameraman has already exposed how participants of March had been firing on law enforcement agencies and on other participants. As many as 14 members of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) were injured in firing by vandalists of BYC. Kalat Deputy Commissioner Shayak Baloch confirmed in a press note that the BYC convoy attacked a Levies checkpoint near Matsung and Balochistan government spokesperson, Shahid Rind also said that the BYC’s claims of firing from law enforcement agencies were false news.
“No such orders have been given by Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti or the provincial government. Our doors are still open for negotiations, as the Chief Minister said in the policy statement in the Assembly, peaceful protest is the right of the people, the right of the administration to choose the place under the law. BYC only wants to recognize its right and is not ready to recognize the right of the administration”, said Rind.
There is no doubt that foreign and local investment in creating a law and order situation in Balochistan is deep and has played a colossal role in indoctrinating Balochi youth against the state of Pakistan. Security experts believe that Baloch Raaji Muchi is linked with the announcement of the Azm-e-Istehkam initiative because this move of Pakistan’s government is hampering billions of dollars in smuggling business that needs unstable and turbulent law and order situation in KP as well as Balochistan to continue their illegal businesses. Pakistan since Afghan Jihad is the route of almost every illegal business through the Pak-Afghan border and the size of this business is over 10 to 12 billion rupees per day. Ten billion if multiplied by 30 days, the monthly size of smuggling is 300 billion and the annual size is over 3,600 billion. It may be noted that figures are tentative/estimated at the lower side of the calculation because nobody knows the real volume of this economy linked with smuggling.
Moreover, the volume and economic impact of Narcotics, household items, and weapon smuggling are not included in the figures mentioned above. To give an example of the huge cost Pakistan is paying due to smuggling, an official of the customs department shared some horrific figures that may help readers to know that the figure of 10 billion per day smuggling volume is not hearsay. He said that Pakistan uses 1.4 million tires per year and only 15 percent of them are officially imported while only 10 percent are locally manufactured while rest of the 75 percent come through illegal means (smuggling). This huge smuggling is discouraging investors/industrialists from enhancing local manufacturing. Smugglers make Rs. 13,000 or Rs. 15,000 on every piece of tire, indicating that smugglers are making over Rs 19, 200 million every year just from tires. Non-custom paid (NCP) vehicles are over 800,000 (1,500cc power) plying in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan and every vehicle with an engine power of less than 1,500cc is Rs. 2.5 million cheaper than custom-paid vehicles of the same engine power. Just calculate what would be the figure when 800,000 is multiplied with Rs. 2.5 million? Petrol smuggling from Iran is an estimated business worth Rs.1.4 billion per day. These figures are just the tip of the iceberg.
One can imagine that mafias who are running a business of over Rs. 10 billion per day would never wish for a stable and peaceful Pak-Afghan border and will keep engaging security forces in combat with terrorists and separatists to divert their energies from manning the borders for controlling smuggling. Responding to state actions, the mafia is injecting an unprecedented huge amount among politicians, media men, writers, anchors, and journalists who are rejecting any action that could hamper smuggling to and from Afghanistan and Iran. The stakes are so high there is no harm in spending a billion rupee per day out of illegally earned 10 billion per day to buy the support of bureaucrats, politicians, and journalists. In such circumstances, people like Mahrang Baloch play their role and have foreign links and international media support because the state of Pakistan cannot easily handle such characters. It is a proven fact that foreign powers that want to destabilize Pakistan use multilayered mechanisms including NGO financing, syndicated reporting against Pakistan, and various other interventions in the internal affairs of Pakistan but media is the most visible and sensitive, especially when it comes from big and famous media outlets. Since the Balochistan issue has become complex, multilayered, and multifaceted, it must be addressed delicately without being influenced by the fact that foreign media would stand with people like Dr. Mahrang Baloch.
