I cried for Jalib – by Malik Siraj Akbar
Published in The Baloch Hal
Finally, I have no option but to delete 03003823908 from my cell phone. This was the phone number I often used to dial or get calls from. “late” Habib Jalib, secretary general of the Balochistan National Party who was killed here on Wednesday by unidentified assailants, used this number and humbly received phone calls after the second ring.
In the last couple of years, I have deleted several phone numbers from my cell phone after the contacts were target killed from time to time. I deleted the phone number of Ghulam Mohammad Baloch, the chairman of Baloch National Movement (BNM), even though he had promised to meet me “soon” in Quetta.
Every time 03003823908 rang, I would hear from the other side:
Han Siraj Kooo jaaa hey tho [Hey Siraj, where are you?]
I loved Jalib’s accent.
“Waja [sir],” I’d say jokingly, “You even speak Balochi in a Russian accent.”
He laughed. Straightened his long hair. Resumed talking.
Tho Harjoka hey, maan wathi gari hey sara kaheen. Tho bas sadak e sara bosth.
[Wherever you are. Stand on the road. I will come in my car (to pick you up).
Jalib had a wonderful sense of humor.
“You know what,” he told me one day as we drove from Zarghoon Road to Prince Road, “Pakistanis do not value us. We have so much gas that if Dera Bugti was located in a Gulf country, all these Bugtis would have to add “Shiek” with their names,” he said.
I agreed.
I was feeling inconvenient in my conversation due to the loud noise his kids, who were also in the car, made.
” waja thi gwando baaz kokar kanaan,” I brazenly complained. [Sir, your kids make a lot of noise].
He laughed again, indicating that he would still not silence them.
” Let’s give them some democratic space. Let them say what please them,” he replied.
Jalib was man who staunchly believed in freedom of expression and democratic space.
Now that Jalib is no more, A Pakistani journalist based in Germany, who had met Jalib in Quetta while preparing a report on Balochistan, Facebooked me:
“OMG! He mentioned his small kid so many times when I went to see him last sept(ember).”
It took me several months to convince Jalib to write his memoirs. Finally, he agreed but insisted that I should write it for him as he did not find sufficient time to do the job. I reminded him that he was an extraordinary figure in the Baloch nationalist movement.
” Becha waja, Raziq Hancho shoth….hech he na liktha. Tho chosh makan. Thi yaad dashth baz alimi inth pa Baloch raja.”
[Sir, see Raziq (Bugti) died even without penning his memories. You should not do so. Your memoir is very important for the Baloch nation].
Jalib never got time to write his biography and I remained guilty of not visiting him more frequently.
Nargis Baloch, editor Daily Intekhab, is right: ” Balochs barely get time to do anything else except burying their dead bodies, mourning the disappearance of their beloved ones or nursing their wounds from a military operation.” Amid such circumstances, how would one get the peace of mind to sit and jot down one’s autobiography. Jalib’s autobiography would have been a wonderful addition to literature on Baloch nationalism. Perhaps both of us underestimated the enemy and overestimated the perpetuity of life.
Jalib never liked it when journalists added the word “Mengal” with BNP. He said calling his party BNP-Mengal was unfair because it was the real BNP. The rival faction, in his words, had the right to call itself “awami” or whatever but the BNP was simply BNP (not Mengal).
The best time for me to see Jalib very closely was a trip to Islamabad in which we spent several days together. I found him a very very humble, punctual and principled man. Jalib was an avid reader and one of the very few people who truly knew what Baloch nationalism was all about. As long as he was on the stage as a speaker, I remained convinced with my eyes closed that Balochitan’s case was being cogently pleaded. I envied his command over Baloch history, theory of nationalism, statistics on economic affairs and the maneuvering and penetration of the military in coastal areas of Balochistan. He was a marathon orator. He could speak for several hours without being repetitive at all.
Jalib was not a sardar, nor a Nawab’s son. He was a powerful man. A self-made man: Self-made from head to toe. Empowered by education. Like every middle class shining star, he was unacceptable to Balochistan’s tribal elite and the country’s military establishment. Tall trees cannot survive long in Balochistan. People with a tall stature get their heads chopped off. Educated people are a rare species in Balochistan. They come once in centuries. Jalib was one of them. They killed him because he was too brave to be ousted from Balochistan. He did not surrender in spite of being put into jail by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Zia-ul-Haq and Pervez Musharraf.
I cried. (Honestly, I had not cried for Nawab Bugti or Balach Marri).
I cried once.
I cried twice.
I cried again and again.
Jalib was among us: The middle class. The poors. The pedestrians. The dreamers.
This friend of mine whined that The Baloch Hal went overboard in covering Jalib’s assassination.
“Jalib wasn’t such a big guy to fill the whole of Baloch Hal with his news,” he grumbled.
I agreed with him. Jalib was not a big guy. He was not a landlord. He was not a feudal. He was not an intelligence tout. How could he then be a big guy?
The Pakistani media did not cover him the way he deserved to be reported. Except Samma TV and Duniay TV, rest of the TV channels put the news on number six to seven of their headlines’ list.
Was it that Jalib was not a big guy because Nawab Raisani or Nawab Magsi could not spare time to attend his funeral? No. Jalib was the big guy of the voiceless, educated middle class Baloch. Jalib was the hero of our times. He inspired our generation. He left a generation to adore his struggle. He captured the full page of the Baloch Hal and the front pages of several newspapers simply because he was Habib Jalib not the grandson of a great tribal chief who inherited large agricultural lands for collaborating with colonial masters to enslave the people of this land.
Those of us who knew comrade Jalib would surely testify Jalib’s love for Atta Shad’s couplet that I cite here to pay panagryic to him at the end of this rambling write-up. He never forgot to cite these lines in any speech he made.
Tao Pa Sarani Goddaga Zende Hayalaan Koshe
Pa Sendaga Daasht Kane Pulla`n Che Bo Taalanya
[Can you, by serving the heads
From the bodies,
Kill the living thoughts
And ideas?
Can you, by wrenching
The flowers from branches,
Stop their fragrance
From spreading]
One of the best written article I’ve ever seen. I salute Habib Jalib Shaheed for his braveness and struggle for Baloch ppl.
Thanks Laiba for posting this.
I agree with Farhad – this is really a remarkable article.
AHRC-STM-150-2010
July 16, 2010
A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission
PAKISTAN: The killing of Baloch leaders exposes the hate attitude of law enforcement agencies towards Balochistan
The two prominent Baloch political leaders have been assassinated within three days by unknown assailants riding on motorbikes. It is alleged by the political and nationalist groups of the province that they were killed by law enforcement agencies to take revenge from the people of Balochistan for demanding greater autonomy.
Balochistan province is still in the strong grip of military and Para-Military forces. It is believed that they are responsible for the continuous disappearances of nationalists after their arrest by plain clothed men and the assassinations and extra judicial killings of political and nationalist leaders. Since 2001, during the regime of General Musharraf, there was a military operation for the control of the natural resources of the province including, natural gas deposits, oil fields, mines of copper, cobalt’s, deep sea port and others.
On July 11, a prominent Baloch leader and former Nazim (Mayor) of Turbat, Mr. Maula Baksh Dashti was assassinated while he was travelling in the car when two unknown persons riding on a motor bike attacked him with AK47 gun. Just three days after his assassination another prominent Baloch leader and former Senator Habib Jalib of Balochistan National Party was assassinated in the same manner in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan. Then Mr. Habib Jalib was murdered in the early morning he went to the shop of his brother to read the newspapers. After the killings of the Baloch leaders the people of the province started protesting and the law enforcement agencies are dealing with them harshly using of tear gas and baton charges. They have arrested hundreds of protestors.
It is alleged by Baloch nationalists that the state intelligence agencies particularly, the ISI is involved in the killings of Baloch nationalists in the recent months. The investigations into the killings of three Balochi political leaders on April 9, 2009 have still not been completed. The three Balochi political leaders namely: Mr. Ghulam Muhhamd, Mr. Sher Muhammad Baloch and Lala Munir Baloch, were abducted from the office of their lawyer and on April 9, 2009 their mutiliated bodies were found. It is also alleged that police chief of the Quetta city and chief of Frontier Corp of the province are the main hindrance in the investigation of their killings.
It is a general impression that the role of the government of Prime Minister Yousaf Gillani is passive in dealing with the unconstitutional and illegal acts of the state agencies and the provincial police. Since the formation of the civilian government in April 2008, the government has not been able to deal with the military and its intelligence agencies that are allegedly responsible for the disappearances and extra judicial killings in the province after the announcement of withdrawal of military operation in 2009 by the Gillani government. Within the two and half years of Gillani’s government more than one hundred persons have been disappeared after their arrests and many persons were killed in extra judicial killings.
There are open threats from the high police officials to kill as many people if the attacks from subversive groups on the law enforcement are continued. A deputy inspector general of police, Naseerabad region of the Balochistan province, Mr. Ghulam Shabbir Shiekh, threatened in a press conference on August 21, 2009 to begin killing people indiscriminately in the province in retaliation. Mr. Ghulam Shabbir Shiekh, announced in his press conference that the police will kill 40 local persons in revenge for the militants alleged abduction and murder of 20 policemen in July and August. Mr. Shiekh also threatened that if any bullet was fired at the police, the police would fire 100 bullets indiscriminately back at the locality from where the bullet was fired. If any rocket was fired at police stations, the police would reply with 10 rockets.
The same police officer, Shabbir Sheikh, after being promoted as the Capital Chief Police officer (CCPO) of Quetta, again on May 5, 2010, threatened that the only effective way to deal with target killings is by targeting the perpetrators. Speaking to the media, according to the Daily Dawn of May 6, Sheikh said those people who were sending the dead bodies of innocent people, should be taught a lesson by receiving dead bodies of people from their own group.
The apathy of the government is that it has promoted that police officer who has openly threatened to kill indiscriminately with authority, but the government cannot move the law against him because of its inability to deal with the situation.
The Asian Human Rights Commission urges the government to prosecute the CCPO of Quetta for the killings of the Baloch leaders, continuously threatening the people to kill if any police officer is killed by extremists and undermining the rule of law. It is also observed that after his threat to kill people, suddenly a wave of killing of Baloch activists started.
Since the beginning of 2009 there have been reports of killings targeting non-Balochi-speaking teachers. However, on August 22, two officers from the Intelligence Bureau (IB) were captured by the locals during an attempt to kill Mr. Haji Saleh Mohammad, a teacher from Mastung district near Quetta. Employment cards retrieved from the attackers indicated they were officers from Intelligence Bureau (IB). The Mastung police was reluctant to file reports against the officers, but they did carry out arrests following protests by the local people. The FC and the Pakistani Army tried to abduct the officers from the police station in order to rescue them. The civilian government has yet not investigated the case of abduction of IB officials.
The provincial and federal governments are mostly depending on the reports provided by the law enforcement agencies and implements the recommendations with out involving the political process or negotiations with the Baloch nationalists. In reality, however, no serious effort has yet been undertaken to resolve the rampant problem of illegal arrests and extra-judicial killings that plague Balochistan. Rather than adopting democratic institutions, Prime Minister Gilani has accused nationalist groups of being run by Indian agents. But still government has not come out with any proof about the involvement of any foreign hands in the Baloch insurgency.
The situation in the Balochistan province is deteriorating with the absence of rule of law and political process to deal with the aspirations of the people of the province. The latest killing of the Baloch leaders has widened the gap between the people and the government which can ultimately result in the complete anarchy, not only in Balochistan but to the other parts of the country. This is not the same era of 1971 when strong forces of the military and law enforcement agencies were deployed to crush the autonomy movement of the Bangali people and refusing the process of talk.
There is a strong need to withdraw all kinds of military and Para- Military forces and state intelligence agencies and allow the political process, stop the disappearances of the dissidents, prosecute the law enforcing officers who are involved in the extra judicial killings, abolish the special courts like anti terrorist courts and release all the persons who are disappeared or kept in incommunicado with the military torture cells.
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Great Article!!!!!
Great Person,
Jeay Sindh Balochistan
Thanks Malik Siraj Sahib for sharing so much about Jalib Sahib. I’m really feeling ashamed for knowing so little about him when he was alive.
Thank you so much friends for liking this piece. It was a little contribution I could make to a person I admired highly.