Chief of Army Staff | General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.

[Xeric]

Balochistan Diary: Army schools: too little, a bit too late

By Saeed Minhas

QUETTA: Do I have a future? Because I cannot afford another Rs 9,000 to appear for a Higher Education Commission exam that would make me eligible to pursue a graduation course at one of the national universities. We are seven brothers and sisters, my father is the only breadwinner of the house who makes only Rs 6,000 a month doing labour jobs in Kohlu. I have finished intermediate and am now staying in Quetta with a relative for a few days.

In case I fail to manage funds within a few weeks, I would have no choice but to go back to my family, find some manual job that will fetch me up to Rs 3,000 a month to help keep my family afloat for the rest of my life. Or I might grab an offer from a gang that pays much more than a labour job does and end up joining many of my friends who are already working for them and making good money. Since my future is not in my hands, it seems I would have to leave it in the hands of circumstances and see when and where we will meet the next time – in university corridors or with the militias.

This was expressed by Ashfaq, an 18-year-old, who was briefing foreign reporters in fluent English at one of the army facilities in Quetta Cantonment, where the Pakistan Army is running the Chamalang-Balochistan Education Programme (CBEP) to provide boarding, lodging to about 140 students and free education to 600 male students from various districts of Balochistan. Another 500 boys and 30 girls have been selected by the army from 19 out of 30 districts in Balochistan, mainly from Kohlu and Loralai, and have been sent to various army-run schools across the country.

To run this programme, the army is collecting funds from the Chamalang Coal Mines Project where every metric tonne extracted is bringing not only shares to the local tribes of Lunis and Marris, but also sizeable taxes to the provincial and federal governments, besides Rs 470 per metric tonne to the CBEP. The programme’s current cost is about Rs 73.38 million per year. More details on the Chamalang project will feature in the next column.

Ashfaq’s 13-year-old brother, clad in an Army Public School crisp uniform with a striped tie, studying at the facility, was also brought to the media. The young boy was a student of grade 5. “The reason for him still being in grade 5 is that my father could not afford to send him to school and he was wasting his life by roaming around in the Kohlu terrains or helping my father, but I had to vigorously convince my family to send him to this army facility for education,” Ashfaq explained when his frozen and dazed younger brother failed to speak up. All that the young boy could muster up was “no matter what, everything here is great, but I still miss my home, parents and family”.

A gathering of elders, guardians and parents of the children studying at this facility was arranged by the army for the visiting foreign media. Many of them were ready to talk to the reporters, while others refrained, saying “if spotted by the separatists, we might not only endanger ourselves, but our entire families, because we belong to the areas where the government’s writ is totally absent”.

A teacher, whose five students have been chosen for this army facility from Khuzdar – the second largest city with over 500,000 inhabitants – said, “Only nine kids have been taken from an area where more than 2,400 children are enrolled in two different government schools.” Pointing at the media delegates, he said, “They are here to make stories out of us, but the fact is that we have already become a story.”

Mentioning Mastung, Khuzdar, Kalat, Panjgore, Kharan, Turbat and even Gwadar, the concerned teacher, who was hiding from lurching cameramen around him, said in all these areas and in 80 percent of Balochistan, books, such as those regarding Pakistan Studies, have been banned and the Pakistani flag cannot be hoisted at a school or any other building, even singing the national anthem is prohibited.

“By picking a few children from these areas and educating them in restive and huge vicinities of the Quetta Cantonment, the Pakistan Army has at least set the ball rolling,” he said, adding, “Though many of us consider this effort too little and a bit too late.”

Surrounding him were parents of two children studying at this army facility, and one of them, when asked for authenticity of the teacher’s claims, acknowledged it by saying, “If our pictures are run on TV channels or photographs in newspapers, we will have to face the music after reaching Khuzdar, but still we are of the idea that taking only five or six children from these areas is not enough. Either the Pakistan Army should take charge of all the children out there or the provincial and federal governments should do something to at least ensure provision of education to the children in all parts of Balochistan.”

Meanwhile, another group of parents with concerned eyes and wary faces, expressed an assortment of feelings and untold hardships they have and are going through while living in various parts of the province. They were all thankful to the Pakistan Army for taking up the noble cause of imparting education to the children of those “untouchables” who live in a minerals-and-natural-resources-rich province that covers more than 43 percent of the country’s land and holds only six percent of the country’s population. They said it’s just a contrived impression that the area is showing economic growth at the rate of over three percent annually. More on this will feature in our next column.

Many of the people, who had gathered to talk to the foreign media, especially those coming from the troubled areas of the province where insurgents and separatists are playing with their lives, sought anonymity for obvious reasons. Upon assurance, they narrated harrowing tales of political corruption, foreign involvement and increasing influence of a few armed gangs of youngsters whose control was multiplying at an alarming rate.

When around 30 children were brought to the reporters, they not only answered queries on how comfortably they were being fed, taught and kept in these facilities, but also raised slogans of “Pakistan Zindabad” and sang the national anthem. An encouraging show for the media to assume that nothing is wrong within the barracks of the armed forces, as long as funds keep pouring in.

The last time i had a talk over this CBEP with someone, i was told that soon it would be upgraded to Inter (FSc/FA)level with a huge surge in the intake of students.

People really dont know how much effort had been put in by the Army to make this project a success. Seriously, had i been in place of those guys (who made this happen) i might not have shown such restraint!

Hats off to the Army. And the govt should feel some shame and show atleast some interest, they can start by expanding the CBEP intake to govt run schools (though students ex-CBEP are being sent to some FG schools also).

 

[fatman17]

the chief is off to Australia on a 5-day visit !!!

 

[fatman17]

COAS departs for five-day visit to Australia

ISLAMABAD: Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani on Monday left for a five-day official visit to Australia.

General Kayani is visiting Canberra on the invitation of the Australian chief of defence staff. During his visit, the COAS would meet the senior defence and military leadership of Australia. General Kayani would also jointly chair a security dialogue between Pakistan and Australia.

The COAS was seen off at the Quaid-e-Azam International Airport, Karachi by 5 Corps Commander Lieutenant General Shahid Iqbal and other senior military officials. app

 

[fatman17]

Balochistan Diary: Chamalang project: bury the past, buy the future

By Saeed Minhas

Chamalang has many historic projections. This area was the scene of a major battlefield between tribal guerrillas and the army in September 1974. Tribal chiefs thought they would be able to crush the army onslaught by gathering their reserves in the rugged mountains of Chamalang. But equipped with traditional warfare skills and lesser arms, the Pakistan Army managed to teach the tribals a lesson.

Survivors of the six-day war that crushed more than 12,000 tribal women, children and guerrillas – mostly Marris, but also Lunis, Mengals and others – later fled to Afghanistan and were allowed to return only after getting a clean chit from state actors and state agencies in the 1990s.

The Marris, who reached an agreement with the army and the Lunis in December 2009 for resuming the Chamalang coalmines, are considered a breakaway faction of the main Marri tribes and are facing pressure from within their tribe to cut their ties with the army. But, so far, they are happy and are handling these pressures as long as the army stays there and they get their share of the “treasure” from the mines.

The presence of huge coal reserves was first discovered by the adventurous British Army in 1885, when they used to stop over, either on their way to attack Afghanistan or after sustaining repeated defeats in the Afghan lands – when the great game concept surfaced for the first time to block the Red Army from reaching the warm waters.

The Chamalang reserves, however, remained untapped until the 1980s when work started to extract “black gold” from these white mountains, but after the initial excavations, tribal rivalry halted it. Fighting between the Lunis (Pashtuns) and the Marris (Baloch) claimed 53 lives, as the Marris, being the owners of the land and the Lunis being peasants, developed differences over the ownership and profit sharing. The project remained shut for over 30 years.

In the post-Bugti scenario, when the army, along with the strong presence of the Frontier Constabulary had to enforce Musharraf’s iron-fist policy, they were approached by the locals to explore this ready-to-be-tapped project, and eventually they pushed the rivals to forget the past and cash the future. Finally, in December 2006, a tripartite agreement under the army’s supervision was reached in Quetta and the project started production again in early 2007, thus allowing economic activity in the area.

Since the beginning of 2007, more than two million metric tonnes of coal has been extracted from the Chamalang coalmines (worth over Rs 8.5 billion) and more than 70,000 people are employed for the project.

According to the agreement, the army gets Rs 475 per metric tonne for carrying out various development works and social sector initiatives such as free education, technical education and health dispensaries. The Marris, being the owners of the lands, get Rs 420 per metric tonne, out of which they have had to spend Rs 220 in the name of security and social development to maintain the presence of the army, FC and Balochistan Levies and pay for their 200 tribal Levies personnel. The Lunis get Rs 275 per metric tonne for being stakeholders and inhabitants of the land. Other shareholders in this project are the federal government, which collects Rs 100 per metric tonne as GST, the Balochistan government gets Rs 60 in the name of royalty and Rs 5 as excise duty.

The average sale price of coal per metric tonne is around Rs 4,000 to 5,000. Local officials don’t have consolidated figures, but some of them said roughly the Pakistan Army, including the FC, has collected around Rs 900 million since 2007 (out of which around Rs 73.38 million is spent on free education, some on technical education and the rest on reconstruction/rehabilitation). The Marris have so far collected around Rs 800 million (out of which Rs 420 million has been paid for various security services and social programmes under the army). The Lunis seem to have fetched around Rs 500 million, the federal government Rs 220 million and the provincial government Rs 140 million, and the provincial government, in the form of EOBI, has so far collected another Rs 350 million from around 50,000 labourers in the mines’ area.

Locals, according to the officials, are hardly interested in working in the mines, they would rather like to fill all the administrative jobs to get easy money.

With an unplanned town already in place and catering to the daily needs of over 70,000 people, there are hardly any civic amenities available there. Due to mining activities, the water level has further fallen in the area and the availability of drinking water is likely to remain an issue. Electricity poles have been erected, but the availability of power remains an issue.

Health facilities for the namesake are available, but neither the provincial nor the federal government has any data available on the health or working condition of the labourers working in these mines. So far nine deaths have taken place, while the provincial government’s local mining inspector informed the media that five doctors-cum-paramedics (read paramedics) have been employed for the project, who were not seen throughout the visit. Nevertheless, an official briefing from the mining inspector revealed that they have treated 47,000 patients since 2007, but again no record was available to substantiate the claim.

An official briefing and an aerial view, however, revealed that four labour colonies for 220 families have almost been completed and would soon be allotted to the labourers, but how that will be done, none of the officials knew. Locals feared that the chiefs would recommend them mostly for the Levies – belonging to the Marri tribes – and the rest will go to some supervisors and government officials.

Interestingly, this new developing city is a typical immigrants’ den where they are settled without families, and hence no female is seen in the entire town. Local Marris and Lunis live in nearby greener pastures and the two towns are not allowed to mingle due to traditional reasons.

 

[Xeric]

This needs to be highlighted:

Balochistan Diary: Chamalang project: bury the past, buy the future

By Saeed Minhas

In the post-Bugti scenario, when the army, along with the strong presence of the Frontier Constabulary had to enforce Musharraf’s iron-fist policy, they were approached by the locals to explore this ready-to-be-tapped project, and eventually they pushed the rivals to forget the past and cash the future. Finally, in December 2006, a tripartite agreement under the army’s supervision was reached in Quetta and the project started production again in early 2007, thus allowing economic activity in the area.

 

[Xeric]

This Minhas chap have started to pinch me, lately..

Balochistan Diary: Chamalang project: bury the past, buy the future

By Saeed Minhas

According to the agreement, the army gets Rs 475 per metric tonne for carrying out various development works and social sector initiatives such as free education, technical education and health dispensaries. The Marris, being the owners of the lands, get Rs 420 per metric tonne, out of which they have had to spend Rs 220 in the name of security and social development to maintain the presence of the army, FC and Balochistan Levies and pay for their 200 tribal Levies personnel. The Lunis get Rs 275 per metric tonne for being stakeholders and inhabitants of the land. Other shareholders in this project are the federal government, which collects Rs 100 per metric tonne as GST, the Balochistan government gets Rs 60 in the name of royalty and Rs 5 as excise duty.

In short, the Army dont put anything directly in its pocket. The money that the military collects goes back, in one way or other (as amply explained above). So no one should think as if the Army is being paid for the (extra) job.

The average sale price of coal per metric tonne is around Rs 4,000 to 5,000. Local officials don’t have consolidated figures, but some of them said roughly the Pakistan Army, including the FC, has collected around Rs 900 million since 2007 (out of which around Rs 73.38 million is spent on free education, some on technical education and the rest on reconstruction/rehabilitation). The Marris have so far collected around Rs 800 million (out of which Rs 420 million has been paid for various security services and social programmes under the army). The Lunis seem to have fetched around Rs 500 million, the federal government Rs 220 million and the provincial government Rs 140 million, and the provincial government, in the form of EOBI, has so far collected another Rs 350 million from around 50,000 labourers in the mines’ area.

See, we call this (expanding) economy.

Locals, according to the officials, are hardly interested in working in the mines, they would rather like to fill all the administrative jobs to get easy money.

That's natural.

i want to ask this guy, has he ever been inside a ******** coal mine? i bet he would get his arse out of it within 30 secs! That's a challenge.

But allow me to clarify, nobody in this world is 'happy' with his job, but if one would ask an un-educated, un-trained and un-skilled dude (those who normally are rejected in Punjab and Sindh - coz of the higher competition) somewhere around Chamalang to work in a coal mine (for a reasonable amount), he would be more than willing to do it. Rather, people there have been 'rejected' jobs as there have been less vacancies and more candidates.

And i can vouch for that.

With an unplanned town already in place and catering to the daily needs of over 70,000 people, there are hardly any civic amenities available there.

Sir for your kind info, it was the Army that hired someone known as an architect (if he knows of one) and tasked him to plan a fringging town - commercial area complex.

The sole reason - unplanned expansion of living areas and shops by the locals.

The one time i went there, i saw a shop being scratched out off the ground because the dude had built it exactly in the middle of the Chamalang - Mekhtar road (which was indeed at that time just a piaece of mud track and was metaled only on the MASTER PLAN of Chamalang Commercial Area!

Only because of this concern a MASTER PLAN was made by the Army (ofcourse with the help of a civilian (expert) planner) and now before some could start a business (shops, truck adda etc) at Chamalang, he in addition to his security clearance (which was in vogue since the very start), has to agree to a particular condition where he is shown an area on ground by a fauji and a guarantee received that no encroachment what so ever would be carried out by him and nor would he 'shift' his shop to another place, not authorized by the Army; one, for that area being vulnerable to miscreant action as they can plant a land mine there; two for not screwing the Master Plan.

So , this is how it works - when a shop is to be established, the owner is shown a general area (within and as per the Master Plan - because alot of area is un-occupied so the Army do give him the liberty to chose his own place), and once he has chosen, a fauji team would go there, vet the selection and then demarcate the boundaries of that shop on ground. Moreover the owner is shown that invisible danda and instructed not to 'trespass'. Lastly, a team comprising of civilians and faujis has also exists who survey the area every now an then to see if someone has expanded his shop off the limits, and thankfully, the locals are upright enough and adhere to the instructions in true letter and spirit.

Man, what the heck was this guy thinking, that he was dealing with WAPDA?!

Due to mining activities, the water level has further fallen in the area and the availability of drinking water is likely to remain an issue.

Yep, with roses come thrones.

Yet, if someone would bother to read that Chamalang Thread on PDF, he would come to know about that Water Point which provide water to almost entire Chamalang.

Dude, what do you think, are you mining somewhere in Lahore? It's Balochistan, man. You dont get water in Quetta (say thanks to Seven Streams) and you worry about water at a place that is 80 kms off the sole fringing main road in the entire Northern Balochistan!

Douche!

Electricity poles have been erected, but the availability of power remains an issue.

Refer to WAPDA.

and oh yes, it took the Army an arse blasting liaison to get those pole 'erected'. Otherwise, there wouldnt be any poles in a 100 years there! That's again a challenge.

Health facilities for the namesake are available, but neither the provincial nor the federal government has any data available on the health or working condition of the labourers working in these mines.

Tsk tsk...
The civilian govt.

And oh yes, the military do have aaaa.. what do they call it..hmmm yes, FTC with almost all the basic facilities available at Chamalang, atleast i could get my blood pallet count there. (kidding - but yes they could do it there, they also has a minor OT there and a make shift arrangement for hospital admissions, ofcourse they cant cure breast cancer there ) But that is primarily for the faujis and the levis (civilian guards). But every now and then the civilians are also entertained without any discrimination AT ALL and every emergency case is also dealt with by this FTC.

Moreover, a hospital have been completed (thankyou Army), and Army Docs have shifted there from that (God forsaken) camp ..or may be not..wait lemme check - yes they have. And they still awaits the provincial govt to send in some more CIVILIAN docs.

Lastly, there are a few civilian medical stores and clinics in the area, but afcourse they are scarce, but i dont think any one who was in a need of a doc have ever been left unattended, the evacuation process is superb and the Army docs are available round the clock. 95% of the cases are taken care and disposed off by AM Docs.

See, there isnt even a hospital at Mekhtar (the nearest town in the entire area - 80 kms from Chamalang) and he wishes for one at Chamalang itself.

Just talked with a dude serving at Chamalang, there yet has to be a complain. And this can be verified, the reporter can contact me and i would give him the name of the officer concerned. But still, the more the merrier, ofcourse, if we could cure cancer at Chamalang, who wouldnt like that.

So far nine deaths have taken place,

More.

while the provincial government’s local mining inspector informed the media that five doctors-cum-paramedics (read paramedics) have been employed for the project, who were not seen throughout the visit.

Err... ask sir Raisiani.

Nevertheless, an official briefing from the mining inspector revealed that they have treated 47,000 patients since 2007, but again no record was available to substantiate the claim.

The reporter should have gone to that FTC, he would have been given such loads of data that he would have remembered his Pol Science classes!

An official briefing and an aerial view, however, revealed that four labour colonies for 220 families have almost been completed and would soon be allotted to the labourers, but how that will be done, none of the officials knew. Locals feared that the chiefs would recommend them mostly for the Levies – belonging to the Marri tribes – and the rest will go to some supervisors and government officials.

Thankyou thankyou.

No need to thank, that was Army's job.

Oh and yes, the colonies are primarily for the levis (civilians) and the labor workforce, sorry guys we have our priorities.

Wonder, how many have been constructed at Gwadar...

Interestingly, this new developing city is a typical immigrants’ den where they are settled without families, and hence no female is seen in the entire town. Local Marris and Lunis live in nearby greener pastures and the two towns are not allowed to mingle due to traditional reasons.

Ok.

i would ask all here, what's the wildest place they have ever been to?

i mean some place like Siachen, Gobi desert, the wastelands of Australia, China’s Creeping Sandbox etc etc.

It's a mining area - 70% of mainland Blaochistan yet have to be 'discovered', i mean, inhabitated and he would like to have families at Chamalang!

Seriously, sometimes these guys would go to any extent to get theor news 'spicy'!


Chamalang is a jungle, a jungle of hills and mounds. A wasteland where nothing had existed. (For a sec, picture yourself in one of those 'Survivor Man' series on Discovery Channel). But the Army has changed that. Ever imagines what was Sui like before it became a 'gaseous' life-line of country? i mean the dues there have their own runway strip and charted flights now! And guess what, there was no blood fight between two main tribes when Sui was launched, no external pressures (from head of tribes) and no attempt to shut down the project by anyone whatsoever, nobody got killed then nor does they planted a mine and kill a worker or a soldier every other week there!

 

[air marshal]

COAS meets Australian Defence Minister

ISLAMABAD, Jul 7 (APP): Chief of the Army Staff (COAS), General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, who is on an official visit to Australia, arrived in Canberra City.

According to a news release issued here on Wednesday, the COAS called on Defence Minister of Australia John Faulkner and discussed matters of mutual interest. Earlier, he laid a wreath at the Australian Army War Memorial.

 

[air marshal]

General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, Chief of Army Staff saluting after laying wreath at the Australian Army War Memorial.

 

[muhammad asim aslam]

Gen.Ashfaq ix really a nice personality...

 

[air marshal]

HILAL MAGAZINE (URDU)

 

[air marshal]

HILAL MAGAZINE (ENGLISH)

 

[GUNNER]

COAS In Australia

Rawalpindi - July 9, 2010:

The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, who is on an official visit to Australia, co-chaired the Pak-Australia Security Dialogue along with Air Chief Marshal Allan Grant (Angus) Houston, Chief of Defence Forces, yesterday. The dialogue, attended by senior civil and military officials from both countries, is being held to explore avenues of cooperation between the two countries in the security domain.

COAS also delivered a talk on ‘Strategic Stability in South Asia’ at the senior hierarchy of Australian Defence and other security departments of Australian Government.

The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, who is on an official visit to Australia, earlier participated in the Special Chiefs of Services Committee meeting. The COAS was specially invited to this meeting normally attended by Australian Service Chiefs.
He also called on Air Chief Marshal Allan Grant (Angus) Houston, Chief of Defence Forces, Mr Ian Watt, Secretary Defence and various other military officials and discussed with them the matters of professional interest.

Australian Chief of Defence Forces later hosted a dinner at his residence in the honour of General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and his delegation.

 

[fatman17]

Pakistan tries new counterinsurgency strategy

By SEBASTIAN ABBOT (AP)

CHAMALANG, Pakistan — With every bag of coal Madad Khan dumps into trucks at this mine reopened with the army's help, Pakistan hopes it is moving closer to quelling a 60-year-old nationalist insurgency in this restive southwest province where Afghan Taliban leaders are rumored to hide.

Echoing U.S. counterinsurgency strategy in neighboring Afghanistan, the army has peppered Baluchistan with dozens of development projects to win hearts and minds, an effort officials say has accelerated in recent months alongside a push by the federal government to address local grievances.

Pakistan hopes to replicate this counterinsurgency strategy in other areas along the Afghan border where the army is battling a separate rebellion led by the Pakistani Taliban. But like the U.S. effort in Afghanistan, many observers are skeptical Pakistan's recent push in Baluchistan will succeed given the deep distrust of the state and security forces.

"They are unable to pacify the people because the political and economic alienation of the local population is huge," said Riffat Hussain, professor of defense studies at Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad.

Baluchistan remains Pakistan's poorest province despite the presence of vast natural resources that residents complain are mainly exploited to fill the central government's coffers. They also chafe under what they view as effective military rule.

"The government has moved in the right direction, but the province is still virtually under the control of the paramilitary forces and particularly the army," said Hussain.

Baluchistan's geopolitical importance has grown in recent years with China's construction of a huge port on the coast connecting Asia and the Middle East and a planned gas pipeline linking Pakistan and Iran. Many also believe Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar is hiding in Baluchistan, benefiting from instability in the province, which borders southern Afghanistan.

Pakistan has launched at least five separate military operations in Baluchistan, the most recent under former President Pervez Musharraf that killed one of the province's top tribal leaders. The army pulled back to its barracks at the beginning of 2008, but federal paramilitary forces are still deployed throughout the province.

The provincial government has accused those forces and federal intelligence agencies of secretly snatching nearly a thousand people off the street and holding them for years without admitting it, a problem that residents and human rights groups say continues to occur.

"A history of neglect and betrayal over the decades coupled with systematic human rights abuses carried out with impunity has made a vast number of Baluch people desperate," said the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan in a report late last year.

Insurgents have responded with a wave of assassinations against non-Baluch residents that have killed hundreds of people, many of them doctors and teachers from other parts of Pakistan.

The army has denied any involvement in the forced disappearance of people and has tried to improve its image in Baluchistan by spending more than $7 million in a development drive that first started in 2007 and has accelerated in recent months. Officials say they realize the conflict cannot be solved by force alone.

"We have learned from the past, and now there is a great realization that unless you go and touch the people's lives, it's not really going to be sustainable," said army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas during a recent visit to Baluchistan.

One of the army's first big development efforts was a deal brokered between two warring tribes to reopen the Chamalang coal mine, which had been shuttered for more than 30 years. The mine, which taps into one of Asia's largest coal fields, reopened in March 2007 and has produced more than $70 million worth of coal and employs about 70,000 people.

"The army has definitely improved its image with this mine," said Khan, the 25-year-old coal worker who earns five times more money at the mine than he did working as a farm laborer in the provincial capital, Quetta.

Proceeds from the mine, which are split between the federal and provincial governments, are used to fund an army-run program that has paid for the education of more than 4,000 Baluchi students.

The army has also built or reconstructed more than a hundred schools, health clinics and mosques, provided about 1,000 Baluchi men and women with vocational training, and stepped up local recruiting into both the army and police.

Once there is sufficient security, the army hopes to undertake similar efforts in the country's semiautonomous tribal region along the Afghan border where it has launched several offensives against Taliban militants. The rugged tribal areas are even less developed than Baluchistan and there is a similar distrust of the state.

The federal government also has stepped up efforts to improve the Baluchistan situation in recent months. It has raised Baluchistan's share of federal tax revenue, passed a constitutional amendment to increase provincial autonomy, and approved a package of reforms aimed at addressing local grievances, including the status of missing people and the share of natural resource wealth.

But Baluchi nationalists have dismissed the measures as mere political promises that have little chance of being honored.

"For me, the Baluchistan package is nothing but a political gimmick," said Tahir Bizenjo, the head of one of the province's largest nationalist parties. "As far as these army development projects are concerned, you also have Baluchistan suffering the greatest human rights violations."

Hussain, the defense studies professor, said the army's projects are too small in scale to have a significant impact on the population of more than 7 million and are located outside areas where grievances and related instability are the highest — a problem the U.S. has grappled with in Afghanistan.

He said if the Pakistani government really wants to resolve the Baluchistan issue, it needs to follow through on its reform promises and begin a political dialogue with the insurgents that addresses human rights violations by the security services.

"These are very serious allegations and unless you address them in a credible fashion and bring the perpetrators of these atrocities to justice, you will continue to have a credibility problem," said Hussain.

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press.

 

[T-Faz]

Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani in Australia

 

[Patriot]

Australian Army Generals dress is quite similar to Pakistan Army - I guess British influence.