By: Mehr Jan Gidaan TV
While the colonial state of Pakistan is getting the oxygen of Pakistaniness from the imperialist powers externally; Punjab is not only providing the most fuel to this state machinery to maintain Pakistaniness internally, but its roots are also rooted in Punjab, which in Sartre’s language has “got the charade of false freedom”. Nawab Marri, like a visionary political thinker, knew that “the Punjabi would never want to pull their hands from Afghanistan, Kashmir and Balochistan” for which they were ready to go to any extent. The soldiers of Punjab, from (professional killers) to intellectuals (professional writers), consider the integrity of Pakistan, including Balochistan, as part of their faith. For this, the intellectual works more than the soldier’s salary.
I repeat here again that Pervez Hoodbhoy, who is considered to be the imam of liberal intellectuals, recently wrote a column about Balochistan for a leading English newspaper on his return from Gwadar, leading Pakistaniness and advocating literally and hollowly, giving the occupying military officer the title of “intelligent graduate” of Kakul while the real sons of the soil were given the title of “terrorist” in a very sarcastic manner. Similarly, Asma Jahangir, who was considered a well-known voice for human rights, was in favor of military operations by an occupying state against the sons of the soil. According to her, “As far as the hardliners of the BLA are concerned, we never said that the army should not carry out operations against them.” And in a conference in London, when she was asked about missing persons, she called it an internal problem of Pakistan. In addition, left-wing writers who did not understand the path of Marxism in Palestine often sigh for an imperialist like China by including the sons of the soil in the list of terrorists.
Therefore, the wages of all of them are more than their labor. In fact, such intellectuals work all day long to erase the “fundamental contradiction” by wrapping the colonial system and state oppression in the carpet of the constitution, law and court of the colonial state. In this whole context, from this land, sometimes seasonal mushrooms also grow in the form of professional writers who have no special connection or familiarity with ideas, but according to Sartre, “their mouths are filled with loud phrases or brilliant chirping words that stick to the teeth.” Under the guise of ideology, they actively participate in such labor by showing their dedication to the state while exceeding the expected level of loyalty. So that the national consciousness can move away from the “fundamental contradiction” and become entangled in small contradictions. In fact, the war against colonialism is waged against the colonizers while keeping in mind the “fundamental contradiction”.
Baba Marri, not by loud phrases or Pakistani style of politics, but in the light of his extensive observations and experiences of national movements, instead of small wars (class/ethnic), took the Baloch nation towards preparing for a major war against external colonization, wherein the solution to class and ethnic discrimination (internal colonization) lies in the victory of the war. He kept insisting that sitting in the lap of the powers that be and opposing the Sardars was actually a tactic to save the Chaudharis. In a country where the Nawab of the same nation is buried under the shadow of a state gun without a shroud and those who chant the slogan of the middle class are made to sit on the throne on the strength of the uniform for their loyalty, then the fundamental contradiction is always national. As far as the fundamental contradiction is concerned with the thinking and role of professional killers and professional writers, if it is understood in simple terms, we have to keep in mind, for example, the state torture cells that are spread in every corner of Balochistan.
In which the Baloch are also kept prisoners of war in the name of Balochism, in these torture centers, some agents of the state are causing them physical and mental torture, while some of these state functionaries go to them and offer them a couple of cigarettes by insisting that accept the words of institutions, these are very dangerous people, compromise with them in one way or the other, resistance is of no use in the 21st century, history does not come back, the state is a wall where the head will be broken by hitting against it. In this era, education, consciousness and development is everything that the Sardars have restricted. If not for your own sake, think of your parents, siblings or children, we are all one, we belong to the same religion, at the hands of these terrorist Sarmachars, you are not only destroying yourself but also your future generations.
Now these two characters in torture cells, one who is causing physical and mental torture, the other who is spreading motivation and wisdom. They have the same mentality with regard to the integrity and colonialism of Pakistan, the only difference is that of the method. One has a gun who is maintaining control like a professional killer and the other is like a professional writer who has a pen. By holding the minds hostage through manipulation in the name of education and awareness via the state narrative, they are convincing the oppressed nation that the main problem is not colonialism but your ignorance, extremism and terrorism. In fact, these two characters are two sides of the same coin when it comes to the integrity of the colonial state of Pakistan, which is brainwashing the oppressed nation with guns and pens. In Gramsci’s words, one of these characters is part of the political society of the colonial state and the other character continues to provide oxygen to the civil society of the state. It would not be out of place to call the colonial state of Pakistan a prison for subjugated nations.
The main contradiction in this state exists in the form of oppressing and the oppressed “nations”. In fact, the oppressed have always looked at the principal enemy in the colonial structure, which has held it hostage in every respect. The oppressed are not only subjected to direct violence by the ruler, but also to structural and academic violence which tramples upon their simplicity and innocence when it contradicts colonial machinations. This is what many philosophers call a psychological threat. The oppressed move forward with the same contradiction. Today, if the Baloch-Punjabi contradiction exists in the form of ground reality or in this entire context, the Baloch have declared Punjabi its principal enemy, the main reason for this is not that the Baloch differ from the Punjabi on the basis that the Baloch consider themselves to be ethnically superior to the Punjabi. Nor does the Baloch historically belong to a single race because of which they are suffering from this racial sense of superiority and narcissism. In fact, the Baloch-Punjabi conflict is a continuation of the historical character and betrayal of Punjab, which the Baloch are disgusted with.
Those friends who do not agree with this real contradiction, they will have to study the historical oppression of this colonial state, the historical character of Punjab, which is a continuation full of contradictions and betrayal, with a cool heart and mind, what could be the reasons for which a Baloch nationalist thinker with socialist leanings, Khair Bakhsh Marri, came to this conclusion. “I don’t have any idea of unity with Punjabis in my mind. Although Baba Marri, like a political visionary philosopher, laments this historical character of Punjab because he believes in equality of nations and human beings. He wants, like Fanon, to objectively account for himself in the light of historical facts that he should have taken the path of resistance rather than comfort against the masters.
But unfortunately, according to Baba Marri, “Punjabi, due to their resistanceless psychology and obedience and obedient slave nature, have not only made their history by serving and entertaining the invaders coming from north to south from Mahabharata to the battles of Panipat, and have revealed their social reality by ‘providing luxurious amenities’ to them, but also exposing their land to these invasions. It has also been allowed to be used as a passage for the attackers.” That is, the Punjabi preferred service and obedience and comfort in slavery. Today, the irony is that “history has connected us with a slave”, according to Baba Marri, a slave who does not believe in resistance and a slave who does not believe in resistance is not bound by any values and does not belong to any values. As per Baba Marri, they neither have a religion or faith because the mujahid of Russia of yesterday is a terrorist for them today. It needs to be remembered that in history, whenever a nation or a class is collectively declared principal enemy, there is a whole world of philosophy behind it.
When Plato speaks of the state, he makes three classes, on which Karl Popper criticized him. Hegel wrote on the dialectic of master and slave, based on articles from Freire to Fanon. Marx called the whole of history a history of the struggle of two classes. Fanon discussed the severity of the black face of the classes wearing white masks from the colonial perspective. Even the existentialist Sartre blamed Europe. Similarly, many thinkers, Marxists and intellectuals with Marxist tendencies, spoke of the ruling and subjugated nations in the colonial context, and wrote articles and books on them in their respective fields. In short, this series has been going on from Plato to the present day, which has been scrutinized and criticized. The student of philosophy is aware that whenever there is a talk of a class or a nation, it is taken as a person or a nation, that is, its totality is kept in focus. Totality is not just a combination of components, but more than that, and components cannot be separated from totality. Similarly, when Baba Marri brings out the contradiction of Punjab, it refers to the Punjab as a nation i.e. the totality (historical character) of Punjab, which is a continuation of succumbing to imperialism and betraying the Baloch nation, which has become the fuel of the machinery of the colonial state and the killings that are taking place at their behest, are they really unaware of them? In Sartre’s words, “You who are so liberal and soft-hearted, you who respect civilization to the extent of fantasy, you now easily forget that you have many colonies in which human beings are massacred in your name.” (continues)
