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Pakistan's 'secret' war in Baluchistan

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Baloch observe International Day of the Disappeared as 1,100 still "missing"

WASHINGTON, DC: The International Day of the Disappeared Monday was marked by the Baloch Diaspora in a somber mood as the fate of more than 1,100 documented victims of enforced disappearances is still unknown in Balochistan in southwest Asia.

The United nations has declared August 30 as the International Day of the Disappeared to draw attention to the fate of thousands of victims of enforced disappearances in the world.

“In Balochistan, since 2005 there had been more than 8000 enforced disappearances including women and children under the age of twelve years and currently over 1,100 documented Baloch political activist are held in incommunicado by Pakistani Army,” said Imtiaz Baloch, member of the International Voice for Baloch Missing Persons, Sweden.

“For the last few weeks the Pakistani Killing machine had intensified and Baloch are shocked over the extreme cases of execution of the political workers, while the said victims were the victims of enforced disappearances. Almost every victim has bullet holes in their heads,” said Imtiaz Baloch.

While the pro-independence groups inside Pakistan held meetings to highlight the issue of enforced disappearances, the Sweden-based International Voice for Baloch Missing Persons plans to hold a sit-in protest in front of 10 Downing Street, the official residence of the British prime minister in London on September 5 at 12 noon.

On Monday, the I.V.B.M.P. sent out an urgent appeal on behalf of Farzana Majeed, sister of a victim, to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.
Ms. Majeed said her brother Zakir Majeed, resident of Khuzdar and student of Mehreen University, Lasbela, who is senior vice chairman of the Baloch Students Organization Azad was abducted by Pakistani secret agencies on June 8, 2009 from Mastung in “occupied Balochistan.”

She said the family lodged an F.I.R in the nearest police station and filed petitions in the High Court of Balochistan and the Supreme Court of Pakistan against the highhandedness of the Pakistani law enforcement agencies, but in vain.

She requested the WGEID to prevail upon Islamabad if there is any allegation against her brother, he should be produced before the courts in Pakistan.

The WGEID consists of Jeremy J. Sarkin, who is the Chairperson from South Africa and includes Olivier de Frouville from France; Osman El Hajjé Lebanon; Jasminka Dzumhur from Bosnia and Herzegovina; and Ariel Dulitzky from Argentina.

“Zakir’s continuous disappearance has affected our entire family, specially the education of our siblings,” Banuk Farzana Majeed said.

The WGEID in Geneva took up the cases of Zakir Majeed, Dr. Deen Mohammad Baloch and Ehsan Arjemandi last year, but their families still have no word about their fate.

“We expect action on the part of international institutions for the releasing of zakir majeed and all abducted people,” Farzana Majeed said in a separate email to this reporter .”Their lives are not safe in the custody of secrete agencies of Pakistan.

“Our people are not criminals or thieves. They educated. Doctors, lawyers, professors and students and leaders who are struggling for there basic rights of the Baloch nation. They are in torture cells for a long time.

In July Pakistan interior minister Rahman Malik had confessed to a Norwegina television channel that Norwegian national of Baloch descent, Ehsan Arjemandi was in the custody of Pakistan intelligence. The victim family said Arjemandi has not been produced in any court.

The I.V.B.M.P. held its first teleconference on August 14, and has submitted the forms for Ali Asghar Bangulzai, who was abducted on October 18, 2001 in Quetta; Jalil Reki, who was abducted on February 13, 2009 in Quetta; and Safeer Baloch, Agha Abid and Abdul Sattar Baloch who were abducted on August 15. 2010 from Panjgur.

Comprised of pro-independence writers, intellectuals and activists from United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway and Balochistan, the more than 20 strong committee is based out of Sweden.

“Torture and kidnap of Balochs in Balochistan by the Pakistani law enforcement, especially the paramilitary forces, have become very common practice since the last few years,” Baloch intellectual and poet Khalid Hayat Jamaldini writes in the The Baluch (TheBaluch.com). “They kidnap us, arrest us on false charges, torture us, brutally murder us and then throw us away.”

The I.V.B.M.P. has informed the WGEID it is ready to provide the United Nations with as much details as they may need about the 1,100 documented cases of victims of enforced disappearances in Balochistan.

The I.V.B.M.P. has also promptly informed the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture, Manfred Nowak, about the recent spate of killings of Baloch activists. These killings were reminiscent of the Pakistani army brutalities in the erstwhile East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, in 1971.

http://www.examiner.com/foreign-policy-in-baltimore/baloch-observe-international-day-of-the-disappeared-as-1-100-still-missing
 
We support bluch peoples for their freedom. The human right violence is on the peak in Baluchistan by this evil Pakistan army

and we support freedom movements throughout India and condemn the human rights violations by the evil Indian army.

get a life u troll:disagree:
 
We support bluch peoples for their freedom. The human right violence is on the peak in Baluchistan by this evil Pakistan army

oh..... so much pain u have for balochs who are our brothers .....
and who is more evil pak amy or army of evil the indian army ...
actually it is due to negligence of pakistani government ... nothing more ... once governmet would start to take care of such issue the indian paid insurgents would have nothing in their hands ...
and it is reality that insurgency is due to dirty game of india through afghanistan ...
and other fact there are upto 60 percent pathans in balochistan who are patriots...
and even balochs too are not as agaist pakistan as they they are depicted, i have many friens from ther, e even some with very extreme mind set but they too at one piont say that they it would not be safe for them to break up from pakistan ...
so its responsibility of government to address this issue sincerely so that to end this contoversy .. that is allowing our enemies to fish in troubled waters
 
We support bluch peoples for their freedom. The human right violence is on the peak in Baluchistan by this evil Pakistan army

T R O L L

if you have nothing meaningful to say, I suggest you don't say anything at all. :no:
Plz! We could now say the same about your army in J&K! but I'll try to keep on topic
 
the troll will be sent to AF-BANISTAN soon. Ignorance is a bliss! Some people seem content with it, it seems :)
 
and we support freedom movements throughout India and condemn the human rights violations by the evil Indian army.

get a life u troll:disagree:

totally agree with u....
actually our problems are due to our bad governance...
our nation has been deprived from a patriot leader since death of quaid-e-azam....
neeed of national integration ...
ALLAH 1
muhammad(s.a.w.w.) 1
QURAN 1
than why we should devide ...
it is nothing more than dirty game of our enemies and some disaffected (munafiq) people among us ...
ISLAM is totally against racism and teaches muslim brotherhood and parity ...
here we need parity and make our baloch brothers realise taht we love them more than any .......
 
http://studysols.com/balochistan-government-increased-grant-for-universities/

Balochistan Government increased Grant for Universities

The provincial government has increased the grant for public sector uni- versities in Balochistan from Rs200 to Rs500 million with immediate effect in order to help resolve their financial problems.

The five public sector universities of the province had sought Rs1,427 million in grants from the Higher Education Commission (HEC) for the financial year 2010-2011 to complete their development projects. However, they were provided only Rs837 million.

The universities have been facing financial difficulties since the last several years but this year their woes grew worse as the HEC cut their grants further.

The commission suggested that the universities generate funds through their own resources – that is, through enhancement of tuition fees, etc.

But the administrations of the universities and various bodies representing their students and staff opposed this option, saying Balochistan was a poor province and its people could not afford higher fees.

This year the universities could not send their teaching staff and students abroad for higher studies because of their financial woes, sources said.

They said that in view of the financial problems being faced by the universities, Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani had approved the increase in government grants by Rs300 million.

The five public sector universities are the Balochistan University, Balochistan University of Information Technology, Engineering and Management Sciences, Balochistan University for Engineering, Khuzdar, Lasbela University of Agriculture, Water and Marine Sciences, Lasbela, and Sardar Bahadur Khan Women’s University, Quetta.

Balochistan Government increased Grant for Universities,Balochistan Government, Balochistan University, Balochistan University for Engineering Khuzdar, Balochistan University for Engineering Lasbela,Balochistan University of Agriculture Water and Marine Sciences Lasbela,Balochistan University of Information Technology, Engineering and Management Sciences, Grant for Universities,Grant increased for public sector universities, quetta news,Sardar Bahadur Khan Women’s University Quetta,universities in Balochistan
 
are teachers there still being threatened by anti-state locusts
 
Amnesty calls for Pak probe over Balochistan violence


ISLAMABAD: Rights group Amnesty International called on Pakistan Tuesday to investigate the alleged torture and killing of more than 40 political leaders and activists in Balochistan.

Amnesty said the cases have occurred in the last four months against a backdrop of increasing political unrest and Pakistani military activities in the southwestern province which borders Iran and Afghanistan.

Violence has surged this year in Balochistan and human rights activists have raised concerns about an increase in targeted killings in the province.

“The Pakistani government must act immediately to provide justice for the growing list of atrocities in Balochistan,” said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International’s Asia Pacific director.

“Baloch political leaders and activists are clearly being targeted and the government must do much more to end this alarming trend.”

Amnesty warned that bullet-ridden bodies of those who have been abducted, many showing signs of torture, are increasingly being found across Balochistan whereas previously bodies of the missing were rarely recovered.

Victims’ relatives and activists often hold Pakistan’s security forces and intelligence agencies responsible.

Amnesty said a previously unknown group, Sipah-e Shuhada-e Balochistan, has also claimed responsibility for some of the killings.

“The Pakistani government must show that it can and will investigate the Pakistani military and Frontier Corps, as well as intelligence agencies, who are widely accused of playing a role in these incidents,” said Zarifi.

Amnesty warned that the rise in disappearances and bodies being dumped has aggravated political tensions and led to reprisal killings by Baloch groups.

On August 14, gunmen shot dead at least 16 people in Balochistan. Amnesty said 17 people —all from Punjab province —were killed and that the Balochistan Liberation Army claimed responsibility.

In response to the report, Pakistan said it was working to implement a package of political and economic reforms, which was unveiled last November in a bid to grant the province more independence and boost wealth creation.

“The democratic government is trying its best to protect human rights as enshrined in the constitution,” said foreign ministry spokesman Abdul Basit.

There was no immediate comment from the military.

Amnesty calls for Pak probe over Balochistan violence DAWN.COM
 
What is the stance of pashtuns of balochistan in insurgency, they are pro-baloch or patriotic pakistanis?
 
reasonably patriotic; they kind of stick to themselves, mind their own business

there have been times Pashtun and Baluch tribes clashed, usually over petty disputes
 
I have no sympathies for those Balochis who are trying to split away from Pakistan... plain and simple...

If Balochistan has some issues of not being treated equally like other provinces, terrorism is not going to solve it...
 
Lies and half-truths on Balochistan

Ejaz Haider

The situation in Balochistan is throwing up lies and half-truths. While partisans can’t be trusted with truth, what about some so-called libs whose favourite pastime is to find fault with the state without offering viable policy solutions?

Let me put it up front: Balochistan needs to be healed — within Pakistan’s federal framework. Those who want freedom by resorting to violence and through the support of hostile elements have no place in any negotiating process unless they lay down arms. Let us also flag the point that the issue is about Balochistan’s grievances, not just Baloch grievances. Lest anyone forget, Balochistan houses other ethnic groups too.

There is deep irony in the fact that the Baloch sub-nationalists who don’t tire of talking about their rights have shied from fighting the internal battle for more egalitarian social structures which could have freed them from the debilitating influence of the sardari system. It is that system, also exploited by successive governments, which has kept Baloch areas undeveloped.

Look at the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), led by Hyrbiar Marri, son of Khair Bakhsh Marri. Educated, like most scions of the sardars (while the common Baloch remains pathetically uneducated), he is based in London. It was his group that took responsibility, among other terrorist acts, for killing the innocent Punjabi labourers.

Next is the Balochistan Republican Army (BRA). Not a nice bra this one. It is led by Brahmdagh Bugti, grandson of Akbar Bugti, whose district Dera Bugti, according to the Human Development Index, is the worst in Pakistan, even though the late Akbar Bugti served at various times as the interior minister of Pakistan and chief minister and governor of Balochistan. While BRA fights for the liberation of Balochistan, presumably on the basis of Baloch rights, Dera Bugti lives in the 12th century. The Bugti patriarch was not prepared to grant equal rights even to other Bugtis.

Then we have the Baloch Liberation United Front. This group killed four Punjabi businessmen and kidnapped John Solecki.

The fourth is the Balochistan Liberation Front of Dr Allah Nazar Baloch, the only group which comprises middle-class professionals. It also draws its cadres from the Balochistan Student Organisation (Azad) and mainly operates in the Makran belt and central Balochistan.

The fifth is Lashkar-e Balochistan, which is the militant face of Akhtar Mengal’s Balochistan National Party (M) and operates in the Khuzdar area. The slain Habib Jalib Baloch was the secretary general of BNP (M).

The sixth group, Baloch Musalla Dafa Tanzeem, is led by Ataur Rehman Mengal, son of former state minister Naseer Mengal, and also operates in Khuzdar. In the murky waters of Balochistan, this is likely the establishment’s response to Baloch militancy. Most of these groups draw people along tribal lines; there’s no united leadership and they continue to fight among themselves.

Balochistan in general and the Baloch in particular need to get their rights. But negotiations must be within the federal framework. Equally, the Baloch must realise the irony of fighting for their rights while living in a stultifying tribal system. Many want their children to be educated. There are cases of fighters secretly sending their boys to enroll in the army-funded education programme. They must not be disappointed.

So backward is the ordinary Baloch that the Baloch demand recruitment quota even in private organisations. A Pashtun from Pishin cannot get into the Bolan Medical College despite high marks while a Baloch with very low marks can secure a seat because of the quota system. This needs to change.

Finally, for those who think the Hazara community is living in great peace in Quetta or that the Punjabis are not leaving: visit Quetta and meet both communities. Since 2002, the Hazara community has suffered more than 1,200 casualties in various sectarian attacks and target killings. And try telling the Punjabis their numbers are swelling rather than depleting. You better be a good runner!

Published in The Express Tribune November 6th, 2010.
 
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