Hasil Bizenjo

Progressive politician Senator Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo, the son of the late Mir Ghaus Bux Bizenjo, passed away at a private hospital in Karachi on Thursday. He was 62. Throughout his relatively short political career, Hasil Bizenjo had carried forward the legacy of his father who had been a prime spokesman for Balochistan, the rights of his people and for justice to the territory. Mir Hasil was serving as chief of the National Party when he died as a result of cancer. He has been laid to rest in his native village of Nal in Khuzdar district.

From an early age Mir Hasil Bizenjo had become involved in student politics from the platform of the Baloch Students Organization. Following the dismissal of the Baloch government, of which his father was a prominent member in 1970s, Hasil brought together a group of progressive parties at educational institutions in Karachi to combat the dominant IJT. He was also active in the MRD, a movement directed against the brutal dictatorship of General Ziaul Haq. Mir Hasil was elected to the National Assembly in 1990, soon after the death of his father and then again in 1997. He also served as federal minister and was later elected to the Senate, a House within which he was nominated to serve as leader until in a surprise move the incumbent Chairman Sadiq Sanjarani was re-elected.

Generally a quiet man, he was known for being uncompromising on the rights of Balochistan and its people. That no doubt affected his popularity with all the 'right' circles, given the apathy to Balochistan's struggles. With his death the province has lost an important voice. We will now hear even less from the province from where a strange silence prevails – notably in the mainstream media. With the death of Bizenjo an important part of Balochistan’s legacy of political struggle in a peaceful fashion has also vanished. This gives more space to those who are willing to use violence to use the methods they choose to demonstrate their opposition to the state. Hasil Khan was always a willing negotiator for Balochistan and a man who also brought the province's MPs into mainstream politics. His death could mean a further isolation of Balochistan’s more radical politics from the country and as a consequence the further isolation of a province that sometimes seems to be missing from conversation in Pakistan.