By: Mehr Jan Gidaan TV
The path that Baba Marri chose towards freedom to deal with a brutal, ruthless and savage enemy undoubtedly requires political foresight, unwavering resolve and fearless courage. This path belongs to those ascetics who renounce worldly ambitions and desires, and instead devote themselves to a greater cause. This indeed is a treacherous route of armed struggle, where timidity, apprehension, and self-serving agendas are rendered irrelevant. Following this path, life breaks free from its deepest existential sorrow and becomes intertwined with a noble and sublime purpose. This resistance is the path to national freedom and national dignity. Here, resistance becomes the embodiment of life itself. Historically, Baba Marri’s political inclination towards armed resistance was clear and unwavering. He believed that armed struggle was the most troublesome and effective response to the oppressive enemies of the Baloch nation. Resorting to counteroffensive is preferable to being a passive advocate of non-violence, thereby fortifying oneself mentally and emotionally against the enemy. Non-violence, in essence, is merely a form of self-inflicted psychological trauma. Moral justification holds no significance for a cowardly enemy.
Therefore, non-violence often culminates in psychological distress, mental suffering, and self-inflicted pain. The dynamics of power can be comprehensively grasped through armed resistance. In this scenario, multiple facets of power can significantly impact society, dismantling the exploitative power structures of dark forces and cultivating innovative paradigms of empowerment. Baba Marri’s thoughts and actions regarding armed struggle clearly reflect the influence of revolutionary thinkers like Mao, Fanon, and Regis Debray, with their theories evolving into a more developed form. Especially in the context of armed struggle, Baba Marri’s thinking and practice echo Mao’s principle of synchronizing political and military campaigns, conceptualizing armed resistance as a multifaceted political process that lays the ideological and practical groundwork for achieving national independence. Similarly, Fanon’s ideas also significantly impacted Baba Marri’s thought process, especially his perspectives on violence and its psychological dimensions, where he thoroughly analyzed the phenomenon of colonial ‘violence and counter-violence’. Additionally, Regis Debray’s ‘Foco Theory’ provided another dimension to Baba Marri’s struggle, emphasizing that the effective exercise of power is only possible when the structures and nature of that power are thoroughly understood.
Understanding state power, diverse centers of power in society, and devising effective strategies against them is the hallmark of visionary leadership. Theories of these thinkers not only intellectually empowered Baba Marri but also provided the Baloch national movement with a robust and comprehensive theoretical framework, wherein the fundamentals of national resistance were anchored in profound intellectual underpinnings, directing the struggle for national liberation.
Mao has the special distinction of integrating political and armed struggle; laying the groundwork for a comprehensive revolutionary approach. In fact, in many circles, war was considered a separate entity from politics and the war effort was limited solely to war. But for Mao, the difference between political and military fronts was only between the pen and the gun. On one hand, the ‘pen’ spreads light through thought and ideology, while on the other hand, the ‘gun’ makes acquiring power inevitable. According to Mao, ‘action will continue to grope in the dark until revolutionary theory illuminates its path’. These seemingly opposing forces are actually interconnected and mutually complementary, embodying dialectical principles to form a unified whole that accomplishes political fulfillment. For Mao, war is a continuation of politics. He was in favor of weaponizing minds in the public sphere. Similarly, he strove to equip guns with political awareness in the military arena. The two fronts were so deeply intertwined that neither could proceed without the support of the other. This philosophy is also reflected in Baba Marri’s style of politics. The politics of Nawab Marri too bears a striking reflection of this philosophical perspective. He viewed the military front as a political academy where political education is imparted, and in the political arena, he empowered minds through the study circles of Haq Tawar. He believed in achieving Balochistan’s freedom through both the power of the pen and the bullet, utilizing both the intellectual and military fronts.
According to him, ‘every means that leads to Balochistan’s freedom will be employed, whether it be the power of the pen or the bullet’. He was fundamentally a champion of war in the political sphere and emphasized disseminating consciousness through the muzzle of the gun in the battlefield. As he believed that political awareness was crucial to back up armed struggle. He expressed his thoughts on a young man’s involvement in the war, saying, ‘While he is gaining experience from the battlefield and will learn much with time, his insufficient political upbringing makes him more of a fighter than a political figure for me at the moment.
