By Imam Baloch
BYC’s leadership and activists routinely appeal to the judiciary for justice, and to human rights organisations and civil societies for participation against the enforced disappearance of Baloch in Pakistan for the sake of “protecting Baloch.” In Balochistan, enforced disappearance has become a usual practice of suppressing [political] voices. The observable sense of backwardness consequently makes every voice political. Majorly, the backwardness can be seen in the exclusion of language, culture, political rights, deserving shares of resources, educational facilities, and archaeological sites preservation from the mainstream, central-oriented politics. So, in Balochistan, every raised voice is political. When a political movement has been launched, the affected public expects the movement to raise its voice against the backwardness.
Usually, the judiciary remains the ultimate option because it is an expected institution where appeals are supposed to be entertained. However, the Balochistan High Court converted the constitutional petition, seeking the release of BYC’s leader, into a representation and sent it to the Balochistan Home Secretary for processing in April 2025. In the context of this article, this would be called a Stroke Game — a competitive political shuffling in which one institute closes the doors to unwanted participants. Technically, the judiciary helps the executive understand how political participants are managed at two key stages of maintaining law and order: no one should come out of their homes, and if they do come out, they should support what the state wants. With some unusual notes and manifestations, the legislature has lost its nature of political deliberation due to political engineering. Subsequently, the executive serves to secure the orders of legislation, so its dignity is conditionally compromised where the “no one killed Jessica” policy prevails — no matter that the actual and observable phenomena are being ignored. It has a magic stick to convert realism into surrealism by asserting the power of the unconscious dream to make the state an ideal representation of the two-nation theory in the age of political deliberation and inclusivity. In this process, the media fulfils the role of being the 4th pillar of the state. It has two ears but one tongue, so it listens to everyone but has lost the ability to pronounce the “non-easiest” letters. Evolutionarily, disusing other abilities to pronounce “other” letters leads to being skilled at remaining silent because “Silence is a true friend who never betrays.”
BYC is not only a political organisation, but it has extended its scope by addressing the backwardness in Balochistan. In a broad sense, BYC represents every political Baloch. If we analyse and explore the layers or skins of a political onion of democracy, we would easily conclude BYC’s appeal and struggle to “protecting Baloch” are revealing that the federation has failed to run the structure in order to develop political deliberation and accept plurality ideologically. As the onion “helps decrease the risk of heart disease and certain cancers,” similarly, the political onion helps to decrease the risk of populism and certain militarism.
Unfortunately, BYC’s appeal has shrunk the stroke game of the judiciary, questioned the essential role of the so-called representatives of the public, unveiled the phenomenon of the executive, and revealed that the media is losing its vocal cord; evolutionarily, the media will lose this ability, as humans lost the ability to cut something by using the nail of a finger — today which is only used for scratching ears. Sooner or later, the media will remain a sole listener and “true friend.”
Politically, it needs to be understood that BYC’s struggle casts doubts on the deliberative nature of Pakistan’s political structure, and its appeal also represses the state machinery. In response, the state is trying to minimise its state of repression by maintaining the: 1) electoral process, 2) parliamentary bodies, 3) law, 4) bureaucracy, 5) ideology of development, and 6) political parties, devotedly.
In the sphere of political deliberation and democracy, the state is approaching populism, and BYC is adopting political deliberation by addressing language, culture, political rights, deserving shares of resources, educational facilities, and archaeological site preservation. Populism is not only a rejection of pluralism, but it is a threat to democracy. On the other hand, addressing a nation’s “reason of being” has been encouraged in the world after the era of colonialism to embrace inclusivity as a principle, which has been considered a principle of sustainable development.
Technically, the pillars of the state push the appeals of the public to the judiciary in the end. If the judiciary shrugged, then one more characteristic will be accommodated in the definition of populism along with the six characteristics mentioned above.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of The Balochistan Post or any of its editors.