My article on Kohlu, published by Daily News

By TARIQUE KHAN JAVED

The drive to Sakhi Sarvar through the rising plains early in the morning was enchanting. From that point the Sulemain Mountain begins in earnest. Winding road gets more interesting as height is gained. With greenery increase and temperature dropping the view down below is worth the effort of the drive till this point. Soon one reaches KHAR almost at the top of the mountain. This is a small town with terraced farming around it. Beyond This a short drive to the east takes one to the famed Fort Munro hill station at the summit of the mountain, some 8,000 feet high. This resort and watch post has a Dc office, hospital two lakes and number of hotels including TDCP resort hotel located in front of a Lake and a beautiful Park. There is water fall to the East.
I must say that of all the places I have visited in Pakistan this spot is the most remarkable. It provides bird eye view of a large track of Punjab and Balochistan. With powerful binoculars one can see hundreds of kilometers. Britishers kept watch of actives of hoarding parties from Baluchistan from this point. A major concern of Britishers after taking over Punjab in 1861, was alleged raids by Marri and Bugti tribes into settled areas of Punjab. They used these raids as an excuse to takeover Baluchistan by 1879. I recommend few days stay at this hill station to every Pakistani particularly for people leaving in the vicinity of Multan. This is a affordable escape from scorching heat of summer in the plains
RAJNI at height of 5,000 feet: A short drive down the road takes on to the RAGNI the first town of Baluchistan. This point is around 5,ooo feet high. By the side of river this is burstling market. Tourist facilities in this place is very basic yet it an important cross road. This town at a border of Marri and Pakhtun territories had a mixed population of both communities. From here the main road leads north to KUNRI and LORALAI, while a small road towards South east takes one to BARKHAN and KHOLU. Having traveled to LORALIA before I decided to travel to Kholu.
BARKHAN by the river: This entailed taking double cabin to BARKHAN passing through elevated valley with patches of farms in depressions supporting small number of families. BARKHAN itself is a small town with a DC office located in a wider valley. After praying Juma prayer in a mosque and resting I walked through the town to reach its other end where the Double cabin for KHOLU was waiting. BARKHAN town appeared to have mixed population of Marri, Pakhtun and Punjabis while it's rural area is Marri land. The drive through the valley is blocked by a substantial mountain range. Thus a tough drive begins on curling road. The view of the valley below by the side of river is breath taking. At the summit is located a well manned FC check post,where Ids are checked to ensure that no unwanted person crosses this point.
KHOLU the MARRI stronghold: A short drive down brings one to KHOLU town. It has a DC office, Hospital a major FC and Police complex at a hill top in the middle the broad valley. A a bustling market lay just beyond this point. It houses number of Mosque and some very basic hotel accommodation. I walked through the market to its end where a very large base of MARWIND RIFILS, the local Levies force is located. Beyond this point lies the eastern side gate of the town. The gate has a plaque declaring that the construction of Road from RAGNI to SIBI began in 2001. However to my dismay I was told that although on paper this extending road to south east is ready actually it is broken beyond a small village of MARWIND just few kilo meters away. All travel beyond MARWIND is disallowed by FC so there is no public transport system going West beyond MARWIND. Finding my path to West blocked I inquired if I could go south to DERA BUKTI on my way to KASHMOR. I was told that this road is mined and thus FC does not travel on this road as well.

I started my journey at 7am from MAHMOOD KOT and reached KHOLU at 4pm and thus was tiered and decided to stay over night at KHOLU. I found a hotel room with 5 beds for Rs 150 per night. It was much colder in KHOLU compared to MAHMOOD KOT so I wore all my warm cloth and had to use two blankets to sleep.
The town has small shops, bakeries, and tea shop. It has cable service with 20 channels. Besides the market located towards the left side of the valley there is large number of mostly mud houses on the right side of the valley. The farm base of the town extend much beyond is substantial thus supporting a substantial population .base by Baluchistan standard. The town itself has large number of Punjabi traders besides Pakhtuns. I was told that most Punjabi traders were servants (MUJABIRS) of SAINT SAKHI SARWAR thus tolerated.
Acute income and political power disparity: I was told that the entire market of the town was owned by one person who is also a current Senator. The common Marri appeared to be very humble, poor, weak, short in height and non aggressive. This was contrary to the image I had of them based on the alleged daring raids into low lying areas of Punjab and Kalat areas. Mal nutrition was obvious on the face of men and women of Marri tribe I met. I was told that local feudal war lords do not encourage education and people are bound by their tribal allegiance and are not free to express their views or vote freely. I found few walk chalking in favor of BNPAwami of Dr Malik but I was told that this was irrelevant. Talking to broad section of mpeople including transporters, a policeman, a cable operator I got the impression that the secessionist movement has died down in the Area at least. This may be due to the isolation of the area and denial of link with the rest of the Baloch speaking Area. If my observation Is true this quite an achievement as the current insurgency in Baluchistan started here when General Musharaf came to lay foundation stone of a Cantonment and rockets were fired at him The Extended resistance and confrontation with Rulers have taken tool on the common Marri. They have become very poor and tired. Was common Marri rebelling? Most probably not! May be it was the whim and fancy of their absolute local leaders who have by design kept them so poor that they did not the capacity to resist their orders and follow their rebellious strategy; as alleged funded by foreign powers. Such absolute Rulers can and have done what ever they fancy without any regard to the long term welfare of their almost slave like followers.
The GINI Co Efficient of this Area is probably the worst possible 1. Concentration of wealth like the above mentioned ownership of the entire town Market by one individual may also explain the extreme poverty of the common people of the Area. In my judgment their depth of poverty is even worse than poverty of some of the desert Regions like Tharparker or Cholistan.
I wish and pray that Democracy gets established in the Area and traditional leaders are replaced by Leaders from Common Marries and wealth is evenly distributed. Common wisdom will not allow follies of the past to be repeated. Media can and should play a strong role in this.
On to Duki - the COAL boom town: With road to west and South blocked I decided to travel north to Duki and Quetta. This is Pakhtuns territory beyond the large mountains.
The Hi Ace journey costing Rs 800 was not easy. We started at 9am and first back tracked about 5 km to take a left turn. After passing through some large farms in the depressions we came across formidable hurdle of large mountain. Negotiating a zigzag road with paramonic view of the Valleys below we reached the summit by the name of KARHI KACH. This was also a major check point. Winding down we were in a small valley with some farms and few house till we were blocked by another substantial barrier of another range of high mountain. Reaching the top of this mountain was quite a struggle for the vehicles. There was check point to wards the end of these mountains. Then suddenly we found ourselves in a very large valley where several roads from East met the main road. This valley unlike other valleys was barren. Some farms at the edge could be seen with small villages. The only significant point on this road was shrine of CHOTA ALI located in small village. Road beyond this point had disappeared the journey became tougher making many in the bus sick. Majority of passengers were females and they suffered most. Their male members, all Marri told me that most women were traveling to Quetta for treatment. Finally we reached a point were suddenly my Mobil link phone rang after absence of 20 hours as in BARKHAN and KHOLU area only U PHONE works. My ZONG connection also failed me. Substantial houses in large compound was in contrast to the houses in this poor Region. It turned out that we have reached the COAL producing town of DUKI. The hassle and bustle of DUKI was pleasing. Prosperity in this remote area was a welcome site. Ads of a number of Grammar school pointed to the fact that if Pakhtuns have money they prefer their children go to English schools.
Cross road of SANJAVI: After by passing the main town of DUKI we came to a modern road leading to a river with a long bridge. After crossing the bridge another mountain blocked our path. We negotiated that and ended up in small valley through the road passed as the modern road along the mountain is still in the making. Beyond the villages road become good leading to point where one road goes to LORALIA and another to SANJAVI. We took the SANJAVI route.
SANJAVI at the foot of largest mountain of Balochistan -"KHILAFAT is a major agriculture of the Region where fruits produced in the mountains and vegetables produced in SANJAVI are sold. From here one can go south to HARNAI and KHOST on way to QUETTA. However we took the higher altitude but better road path. Passing over 8,000 feet high mountains of ZIARAT we reached QUETTA at around 8 pm.
Conclusion: The purpose of describing my journey in detail was to establish the fact that the Stronghold of Marri tribe, who has been at odds with successive Pakistani regimes, is finally capped and sealed. They have been isolated from rest of Baloch speaking Pakistan. They are now fully dependent on all supplies from DERA Ghazi Khan. They travel to the city to seek treatment and get education. The economic, social integration with Punjab will intensify with time and KHOLU and its surrounding Area will become in effect part of DERA GHAZI KHAN. This is likely to change the political set up also and eventually the strong hold of feudal Lords will wither away. If this happens it will be good for the common Marri.