Tanqeed sat down with Balochistan’s Hasil Khan Bizenjo, member of the Senate of Pakistan, and vice president of the National Party (NP).
As the debate rages on about Balochistan, mainstream commentators continue to point at its sardars or tribal leaders as a main cause of the province’s woes – and violence.
Bizenjo challenges such simplifications. Critiquing tribal leaders and the state alike, he explains why there is a need to historicize, and contextualize, the existence of his province’s sardari system. Sardarism does not exist everywhere, he explains. It is on the retreat. And its continued existence is thanks to state patronage. Hear, or read, his conversation with Tanqeed. The first in Tanqeed’s new interview series, Voices.
Audio:
