Areesh
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Pakistan's 'secret' war in Baluchistan
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Abu Zolfiqar
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Musharraf Accuses Nawaz Sharif of Supporting Baloch nationalists
Musharraf accuses Nawaz Sharif for supporting Baloch nationalists | Pakistan | News | Newspaper | Daily | English | Online
ajtr
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Target killing: BNP leader shot dead in Khuzdar
QUETTA: A senior leader of the Balochistan National Party (BNP) Abdul Latif Shahwani and a passer-by were killed in an incident of firing in Khuzdar district, some 300 km off Quetta, on Sunday.
According to the police, central leader of BNP Abdul Latif Shahwani was on his motorcycle when unidentified assailants opened fire on him on Masjid Road of Khuzdar district. He received multiple bullet wounds on his upper torso and died on the spot, while a 12-year-old passer-by also sustained bullet injuries. The attackers managed to escape from the scene.
The body of the BNP leader and the injured were taken to the District Headquarters Hospital Khuzdar, where the boy Abdul Samad succumbed to his injuries. Police officials and a score of BNP activists rushed to the hospital. It could be a case of targeted killing. The police have launched a manhunt in the area, a senior police officer told The Express Tribune. BNP condemned the killing and called for a shutter-down strike in Khuzdar district on Monday and announced three days of mourning.
ajtr
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Balochistan unrest: HRCP holds rally against target killings
QUETTA: Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (Balochistan chapter) held a demonstration in Quetta to protest against the recovery of bullet-riddled bodies of Baloch missing persons, increasing incidents of target killings and kidnapping for ransom.
The HRCP took out the procession from Jinnah Road and marched through Shahr-e-Iqbal, Mezan Chowk and Court Road, and held a protest in front of the Quetta Press Club. The protesters chanted slogans against the government and law enforcement agencies for their failure to maintain peace and harmony in the region.
Addressing the crowd, former chairman of the Balochistan chapter, Zahoor Shahwani said that the law and order situation in Balochistan is deteriorating each day. People from minority communities and human rights activists are not safe in the province, he said. Shahwani added that it is high time for the government to take necessary steps to maintain peace in the volatile region otherwise the situation will go out of control and turn into a civil war.
He said that despite the presence of paramilitary troops in different districts, the crime rate is increasing and people are being whisked away in front of security officials.
The protestors questioned the performance of government functionaries and said that they have failed to book a single culprit involved in these heinous crime. They also criticised the Frontier Corps for humiliating people during checking at public places.
The commission demanded that the government take immediate and concrete steps to maintain peace in Balochistan. Protesters also urged for the early recovery of missing persons and a high-level probe on the recovery of decomposed bodies.
On the same day, four more bullet-riddled bodies of missing Balochs were found separately in Mastung.
Two bodies were found near Killi Qambrani area within the limits of Shalkot police station and shifted to the Bolan Medical College Complex. Both victims were shot in the head and their hands tied with a rope, hospital sources said. The doctors found letters from their pockets in which the names and caste of the dead were written. They have been identified as Zubair and Tariq.
Police recovered two more bodies from Dasht area of Mastung district and took them for a post-mortem. They were identified as Shadin Marri and Subat Marri. All four victims were shot in the head, hospital administration said.
Family members accused security forces of killing one of the missing persons, Zubair, during illegal detention.
All four victims were missing Balochs and had been picked up by security forces, Nasarullah Baloch, Chairman of the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons told The Express Tribune.
Zubair and Tariq went missing some 20 days ago from Quetta while Subat and Shadin Marri were listed as missing for the past six months, he added.
As many as 55 missing persons have been found dead during the past sixth months, which raises the question on the performance of the Human Rights Commission and judiciary, he said, adding that the identity of eight decomposed bodies could not be ascertained so far.
The Baloch dilemma
Zafar Hilaly
A faction of the two million or so ethnic Baloch may want their province to be independent but they are unlikely to succeed. Their numbers are too small and, like the Kurds in Turkey, Iraq and Iran or the Ibos in Nigeria, the forces arraigned against them are too powerful. Their prospects are further dimmed not only by the odds they face but also the poverty and underdevelopment visited on them by their own leaders, the mirs, sardars and nawabs to ensure that their fealty will remain undiluted.
Of course the federal government against which they have been perennially in revolt added to their woes. The fact that they have to share their province with the Pushtuns who do not wish to be ruled by the Baloch is yet another hurdle and there are other serious obstacles.
Nature, for example, may have been kind to the Baloch, but cruelly so. They have far too many riches buried under the ground to be left alone to enjoy them. The second and third largest deposits of copper and gold in the world at Reko Diq, extensive coal and gas deposits, uranium, lithium and every kind of ium, plus, who knows, oil, are all mouth- watering prospects that any country would be loath to forego regardless of how selfish it may appear or to what lengths it may have to go to secure them.
Furthermore, there is the matter of Balochistans strategic location which gives it unrivalled importance in todays geostrategic-conscious world. The province bridges Southwest Asia to Central Asia and South Asia and forms the closest oceanic frontage for the land-locked countries of Central Asia. It is the major site for a proposed gas pipeline from Iran and Turkmenistan to Pakistan and perhaps eventually India. Moreover, Gwadur is the terminus of a projected interstate transport corridor linking Pakistan to China and via Afghanistan to the energy rich Central Asian Republics. In the circumstances it is impossible for Pakistan to countenance an independent Balochistan even if it were not to comprise as much as 40 per cent of Pakistans land mass.
Common sense would therefore suggest that the Baloch are better off trying to achieve their goal of self-rule within the ambit of the Pakistani federation rather than cast about for sponsors, like the US and India. Neither can help much, and in their candid moments would probably advise them to make their peace with Pakistan and strive to achieve a settlement with Islamabad by means other than armed rebellion.
Alas, good sense is sorely missing nowadays, as the senseless war in Afghanistan and the repression in Kashmir makes painfully evident. Moreover old enmities die hard, hence sadly the Baloch will continue to kill and die in a war that has gone on intermittently since 1947 and has now become endemic, all to no avail.
Its sad that the Baloch militants remain blind to the politics of the situation and the efficacy of negotiations to achieve their aims and prefer instead to rely exclusively on military means in pursuit of extreme solutions. They have gone on a killing spree against the non-Baloch murdering innocent civilians and driving them out by the tens of thousands solely because they are non Baloch, forgetting that such actions make them no better than those they accuse of similar crimes against the Baloch. This has robbed the Baloch cause of the goodwill of those in the neighbouring provinces who at one time empathised with their plight and without bringing deliverance from their own suffering or victory any closer. Worse, it has lent credence to accusations that they are tools in the hands of Pakistans enemies who are funding, equipping and providing them with protection and a base for operations against Pakistan.
Actually all their present antics do is to distract attention from the heart of the problem which is the failure of the Centre to allow the Baloch control of their province and their rightful share of political and economic power. Everybody concedes that the Baloch have been deprived of their proper share of both in the past and have suffered as a result of the four army operations launched thus far. Army operations in a largely civil population are perforce clumsy and they can even go awfully wrong.
Mr Zardari was therefore right to apologise for the suffering the Baloch had experienced. He and the opposition were also right to announce the packages (the National Finance Commission Award and Aghaz-e-Huqooq-e-Balochistan) that they did. Mr Zardaris mistake, as always, was to run off at the mouth with promises on which he could not deliver. It demonstrated that when it comes to unfulfilled promises he is no different from his predecessors and equally weak, which are precisely the qualities that render him an inconsequential figure in the eyes of the Baloch. Worse, his unfulfilled promises have further fuelled the insurgency.
The fact is that the Baloch are a beleaguered community; their proportion of the population has been declining because of the influx of people from other parts of Pakistan and even from across Pakistans borders. Given their small number and their current inability to compete for jobs and contracts, what they need are firm assurances that if full-scale development gets under way it will not put them in a demographic squeeze and that the lions share of benefits will accrue to them. Both sides have much to gain from a grand bargain and we need to get on with the business of full scale development both for Balochistans sake and for the countrys economic future and long-term strategic stability.
We should not balk if a special dispensation is needed to provide concrete assurances to the Baloch rather than making pledges and offering half baked measures. But before this can happen the Baloch need to take up the governments repeated and manifestly sincere offers of a dialogue preceded by safe passage for all those Baloch now on the run.
The writer is a former ambassador.
The News, Pakistan
The Baloch dilemma
Zafar Hilaly
A faction of the two million or so ethnic Baloch may want their province to be independent but they are unlikely to succeed. Their numbers are too small and, like the Kurds in Turkey, Iraq and Iran or the Ibos in Nigeria, the forces arraigned against them are too powerful. Their prospects are further dimmed not only by the odds they face but also the poverty and underdevelopment visited on them by their own leaders, the mirs, sardars and nawabs to ensure that their fealty will remain undiluted.
Of course the federal government against which they have been perennially in revolt added to their woes. The fact that they have to share their province with the Pushtuns who do not wish to be ruled by the Baloch is yet another hurdle and there are other serious obstacles.
Nature, for example, may have been kind to the Baloch, but cruelly so. They have far too many riches buried under the ground to be left alone to enjoy them. The second and third largest deposits of copper and gold in the world at Reko Diq, extensive coal and gas deposits, uranium, lithium and every kind of ium, plus, who knows, oil, are all mouth- watering prospects that any country would be loath to forego regardless of how selfish it may appear or to what lengths it may have to go to secure them.
Furthermore, there is the matter of Balochistans strategic location which gives it unrivalled importance in todays geostrategic-conscious world. The province bridges Southwest Asia to Central Asia and South Asia and forms the closest oceanic frontage for the land-locked countries of Central Asia. It is the major site for a proposed gas pipeline from Iran and Turkmenistan to Pakistan and perhaps eventually India. Moreover, Gwadur is the terminus of a projected interstate transport corridor linking Pakistan to China and via Afghanistan to the energy rich Central Asian Republics. In the circumstances it is impossible for Pakistan to countenance an independent Balochistan even if it were not to comprise as much as 40 per cent of Pakistans land mass.
Common sense would therefore suggest that the Baloch are better off trying to achieve their goal of self-rule within the ambit of the Pakistani federation rather than cast about for sponsors, like the US and India. Neither can help much, and in their candid moments would probably advise them to make their peace with Pakistan and strive to achieve a settlement with Islamabad by means other than armed rebellion.
Alas, good sense is sorely missing nowadays, as the senseless war in Afghanistan and the repression in Kashmir makes painfully evident. Moreover old enmities die hard, hence sadly the Baloch will continue to kill and die in a war that has gone on intermittently since 1947 and has now become endemic, all to no avail.
Its sad that the Baloch militants remain blind to the politics of the situation and the efficacy of negotiations to achieve their aims and prefer instead to rely exclusively on military means in pursuit of extreme solutions. They have gone on a killing spree against the non-Baloch murdering innocent civilians and driving them out by the tens of thousands solely because they are non Baloch, forgetting that such actions make them no better than those they accuse of similar crimes against the Baloch. This has robbed the Baloch cause of the goodwill of those in the neighbouring provinces who at one time empathised with their plight and without bringing deliverance from their own suffering or victory any closer. Worse, it has lent credence to accusations that they are tools in the hands of Pakistans enemies who are funding, equipping and providing them with protection and a base for operations against Pakistan.
Actually all their present antics do is to distract attention from the heart of the problem which is the failure of the Centre to allow the Baloch control of their province and their rightful share of political and economic power. Everybody concedes that the Baloch have been deprived of their proper share of both in the past and have suffered as a result of the four army operations launched thus far. Army operations in a largely civil population are perforce clumsy and they can even go awfully wrong.
Mr Zardari was therefore right to apologise for the suffering the Baloch had experienced. He and the opposition were also right to announce the packages (the National Finance Commission Award and Aghaz-e-Huqooq-e-Balochistan) that they did. Mr Zardaris mistake, as always, was to run off at the mouth with promises on which he could not deliver. It demonstrated that when it comes to unfulfilled promises he is no different from his predecessors and equally weak, which are precisely the qualities that render him an inconsequential figure in the eyes of the Baloch. Worse, his unfulfilled promises have further fuelled the insurgency.
The fact is that the Baloch are a beleaguered community; their proportion of the population has been declining because of the influx of people from other parts of Pakistan and even from across Pakistans borders. Given their small number and their current inability to compete for jobs and contracts, what they need are firm assurances that if full-scale development gets under way it will not put them in a demographic squeeze and that the lions share of benefits will accrue to them. Both sides have much to gain from a grand bargain and we need to get on with the business of full scale development both for Balochistans sake and for the countrys economic future and long-term strategic stability.
We should not balk if a special dispensation is needed to provide concrete assurances to the Baloch rather than making pledges and offering half baked measures. But before this can happen the Baloch need to take up the governments repeated and manifestly sincere offers of a dialogue preceded by safe passage for all those Baloch now on the run.
The writer is a former ambassador.
The News, Pakistan
The Baloch dilemma
Aslan
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Dude when u put in the effort to highlight a lengthy article make sure that you highlight all the parts rather then self satisfactory comments cut out from a point to make it sound like something else. I didnt get a chance to go through the whole piece yet, but who ever reads it please read the whole thing to come to a judgement rather then the marked out points of some Pakistani hating ____.
somebozo
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The baluch are very patriotic and none of them have any support for it. Except for legacy elements of BLA and RAW "secret hand" making life miserable for poor people. Even the rumored "terrorists" like Shah Zain and a bunch of others have no interests in revolting against the state. They themselves are annoyed by the lawlessness.
I happen to know certain baluch sardars who are sick of poverty in their villages now. They have been chasing the government for developments but with zero response. They are really desperate to bring electricity, medical services, schools and modern infrastructure in their regions. When the government does not co-operate then what do you expect from people???? When the government be it Nawaz, Mushraff or Zardari is failing on its own people. Instead they take example of few bad apples all over the media and end up irking the Baluch by defaming their identity. Those who understand the Baluch culture know that honor and identity is very important to baluch. Even the most pooorest of poor baluch will NOT stand in line of charity out of his honour. And what we are doing here is depriving hard working people from opportunities and then asking them to stand in line for charity. An ordinary baluch will fight to last extent before doing such. And the fight starts from hitting the government which is failing them.
I used to believe the usual crap that Baluch are involved in insurgency but after meeting a few high profiles I am sorry to say that ground reality is very different and it is the Pakistani establishment at 100% fault. The baluch find themselves stuck in dilema..suffering at the hands of Indian terrorism and incompetency of Pak establishment to secure its strategic borders.
I happen to know certain baluch sardars who are sick of poverty in their villages now. They have been chasing the government for developments but with zero response. They are really desperate to bring electricity, medical services, schools and modern infrastructure in their regions. When the government does not co-operate then what do you expect from people???? When the government be it Nawaz, Mushraff or Zardari is failing on its own people. Instead they take example of few bad apples all over the media and end up irking the Baluch by defaming their identity. Those who understand the Baluch culture know that honor and identity is very important to baluch. Even the most pooorest of poor baluch will NOT stand in line of charity out of his honour. And what we are doing here is depriving hard working people from opportunities and then asking them to stand in line for charity. An ordinary baluch will fight to last extent before doing such. And the fight starts from hitting the government which is failing them.
I used to believe the usual crap that Baluch are involved in insurgency but after meeting a few high profiles I am sorry to say that ground reality is very different and it is the Pakistani establishment at 100% fault. The baluch find themselves stuck in dilema..suffering at the hands of Indian terrorism and incompetency of Pak establishment to secure its strategic borders.
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DESERT FIGHTER
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I want to clear something here!
Nawab Bugti might be the worst human being but he was certainly NOT ANTI PAKISTAN!
Musharaf f...kep up by killing him.
This is our country too... and we love it just as much as any pashtun,punjabi,hazara,baltistani or sindhi!
Nawab Bugti might be the worst human being but he was certainly NOT ANTI PAKISTAN!
Musharaf f...kep up by killing him.
This is our country too... and we love it just as much as any pashtun,punjabi,hazara,baltistani or sindhi!
black_magic pk
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was he not supporting BLA??
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T-Faz
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Talal Bugti used to be our neighbour and some of Nawab Akbar Bugti's family members are still my neighbours, they are definitely not anti-Pakistan, that is for certain.
It was Bhutto who initiated military operations in Pakistan killing many in the process, this caused a lot of problems and these problems still persist today.
Bhutto was an absolute blunder, the Bugti's have a lot of say in Balochistan and alienation then would just cause more problems.
Autonomy should be given to each province with a centralised authority to overlook the entire running process.
It was Bhutto who initiated military operations in Pakistan killing many in the process, this caused a lot of problems and these problems still persist today.
Bhutto was an absolute blunder, the Bugti's have a lot of say in Balochistan and alienation then would just cause more problems.
Autonomy should be given to each province with a centralised authority to overlook the entire running process.
somebozo
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Saudi Royal family employs arab baluch for their personal guards. Baluch are known for their loyality in history. Islam in the former baluchi territories (parts of Oman, Pakistan and Iran) spread much rapidly and peacefully than anywhere else. Once the Baluch pledge their alliance to Muslims they never revolted. It wasn't like the conquest of Persia which was bloody, disastrous and source of conflicts to date.
Bugti's turned their guns against the establishment because despite sucking mineral resources from their lands for nearly half century we failed to invest those returns in sustainable development of Baluchistan. Bugti had nothing against the Pakistani people and state..we was sick of encroachment.
Bugti was not a self appointed rag-tag "neek mohammaed" or "baitullah mehsud" riding high on waves of heroism. He showed plenty of tolerance and patience. Problems started with the plans of Gawader port where baluch were not given their rightful chance to employment. Then the whole country went into a season of "gawader gold rush" while baluch were sidelined to watch from distance. Unfair..very unfair.
Also the baluch are against western companies extracting minerals in their lands. They had bitter memories of English colonization. They don't want Reko Diq to be explored by Canadian company. Baluch feels very insecure in presence of foreign boots on their land. Time to time the sardars have called on establishment to self-relent for mineral exploitation and involve local companies.
Dont believe everything you read in the press...someone connected to the right sources can shed better light on baluch issues. Provincial autonomy is a must if Pakistan is to survive any longer. People are now looking up to India as a model.
Bugti's turned their guns against the establishment because despite sucking mineral resources from their lands for nearly half century we failed to invest those returns in sustainable development of Baluchistan. Bugti had nothing against the Pakistani people and state..we was sick of encroachment.
Bugti was not a self appointed rag-tag "neek mohammaed" or "baitullah mehsud" riding high on waves of heroism. He showed plenty of tolerance and patience. Problems started with the plans of Gawader port where baluch were not given their rightful chance to employment. Then the whole country went into a season of "gawader gold rush" while baluch were sidelined to watch from distance. Unfair..very unfair.
Also the baluch are against western companies extracting minerals in their lands. They had bitter memories of English colonization. They don't want Reko Diq to be explored by Canadian company. Baluch feels very insecure in presence of foreign boots on their land. Time to time the sardars have called on establishment to self-relent for mineral exploitation and involve local companies.
Dont believe everything you read in the press...someone connected to the right sources can shed better light on baluch issues. Provincial autonomy is a must if Pakistan is to survive any longer. People are now looking up to India as a model.
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Xeric
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Allow me to clear up certain things.
First, Bugti was not killed deliberately by Gen Musharraf. Here's how it worked; Bugti and his gang were hitting the administration so the govt was bound to go after them and we all know what happened after that - lots of blood shed on both the sides. Then came the time when Bugti was surrounded. He was asked to give up but he wont and in turn he (his guys) also fought back when a party was sent in. Resultantly certain harsh measures were taken which included bombing the cave in which they were hiding with Cobras, and then the unimaginable happened - the cave collapsed and all including Bugti and the SSG guys died. So may be now we can see the actual intent that prevailed there.
Second, ofcourse we know that the Balochs were not given their due share, they were also sidelined in certain cases and were also subjugated to prejudice. But then who exactly is to be blamed for this? The Baloch leaders (including Bugti and many others who headed the province since inception of Pakistan failed to deliver from what they received from the federation. See, if i dont care about my OWN people, the 'outsiders' would not do that for me. So instead of blaming the govt a 100% please also share the blame with the individuals who subjugated their own men and women and brought this misery to them.
First, Bugti was not killed deliberately by Gen Musharraf. Here's how it worked; Bugti and his gang were hitting the administration so the govt was bound to go after them and we all know what happened after that - lots of blood shed on both the sides. Then came the time when Bugti was surrounded. He was asked to give up but he wont and in turn he (his guys) also fought back when a party was sent in. Resultantly certain harsh measures were taken which included bombing the cave in which they were hiding with Cobras, and then the unimaginable happened - the cave collapsed and all including Bugti and the SSG guys died. So may be now we can see the actual intent that prevailed there.
Second, ofcourse we know that the Balochs were not given their due share, they were also sidelined in certain cases and were also subjugated to prejudice. But then who exactly is to be blamed for this? The Baloch leaders (including Bugti and many others who headed the province since inception of Pakistan failed to deliver from what they received from the federation. See, if i dont care about my OWN people, the 'outsiders' would not do that for me. So instead of blaming the govt a 100% please also share the blame with the individuals who subjugated their own men and women and brought this misery to them.
Abu Zolfiqar
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very true....by the way there were some talks about the cave being booby trapped from the inside but dont know if those theories were debunked or not
it's a closed chapter regardless....he would be more valuable alive than dead, and of course a lot of bloodshed could have been averted. But he was FAR from a saint! Treason is a crime in any country. Especially when it can compromise the security and integrity of the federation. I'm nobody to judge; and i wont say he was a necessarily a 'bad' person either.
the Baluchistan province requires much needed investment in infrastructure and the people as well; and those aforementioned people who subjugate their own men and women should not be given a voice
it's a closed chapter regardless....he would be more valuable alive than dead, and of course a lot of bloodshed could have been averted. But he was FAR from a saint! Treason is a crime in any country. Especially when it can compromise the security and integrity of the federation. I'm nobody to judge; and i wont say he was a necessarily a 'bad' person either.
the Baluchistan province requires much needed investment in infrastructure and the people as well; and those aforementioned people who subjugate their own men and women should not be given a voice
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