18.08.2009
By Hafeez Hassan Abadi
Judicious man learns from his past mistakes and rectifies them, and a foolish man repeats them continuously. There is a famous saying among investigators around the world. "However shrewd a criminal may be, he, in the long run leaves a sign behind which eventually leads to his conviction. Pakistanis have never been matchless in their scheming in the past, but their scheming particularly regarding Baloch and Balochistan have always proven failure. Leave alone a comprehensive or viable scheme; they even don't know how to make plausible a lie.
Yes it is true that to bring about a particular condition the government machineries and covert forces, around the world, scheme fabrication of deception, but it is done in a way that people believe them. They seem to close to reality that one can not reject them.
But here in Pakistan, to defame Hindustan and Afghanistan along with Brahamdug Bugti, a private TV anchor person interviews a person who ostensibly confess a guilt of suicidal crime, in which he says he has been asked by Brahamdag Bugti himself 'in person' And that he has witnessed how Hindustan supporting Baloch nation and how impatient Hamid Karzai has become to destabilize Pakistan.
I have seen several dramas in my entire life but not such a drama, which's every bit defies the logic. And it raises several questions
1. If the house has been demolished by a bomb, and according to so called suicide bomber, Gazzo, the bomb exploded outside of the wall, then the question rises how the bomb went outside? Was the explosive jacket kept outside of the veranda? But from the debris it seems that there was no sign of veranda at all, and it is an open ground!
2. If the bomb exploded outside then the walls should have collapsed inside the boundary. But it is fallen outside.
3. If the bomb was so powerful that all the three rooms collapsed simultaneously, then where is the crater on the ground?
4. If the ceiling gave in or collapsed because of impact, then where it was? If one could watch this film meticulously, one can judge from the debris nothing could be seen from within the walls, except some pieces of fallen walls. No material of ceiling is seen in the debris, but the suicide bomber says he was stuck by an iron bar; he could not make his flee. There would not be one iron bar of entire ceiling, but nothing of any iron bar can be seen in the debris.
5. The so called suicide bomber says no sooner did I lay on bed then the bomb went off. But from debris it's evident that it’s at least a 4 or 5 years old debris!! There is no sign of life around these wreckages, neither any appliances of kitchenware, nor any bed or any carpets and tables can be seen. Otherwise how an experienced anchorman could be ignorant of such thing? Particularly among the scattered things, noticeably the bed on which suicide bomber guy had laid?
6. The suicide bomber says he was laying on the bed when the second suicide bomber came in and started talking when the bomb went off, he says when he had regained conscious he saw sky through a tiny hole from the debris," now it means that the hard break and the wall had fallen on his body and face, but we failed to see any bruise on this guy who was claiming to be the suicide bomber and said that it was impossible for him to pull himself out of the remains!
7. In the same breath he says when I opened MY eyes I saw sky through debris and called for help, but there was no body to come rescue me, but later on Baloch people came and pulled me out of this trap. On the anchorman question that other bomber suffered injury? He snapped at him and said no he received minor bruises. But just two minutes ago he had said that there was no one to help him, when opened his eyes. Now on the answer of the second question, from where the second suicide bomber appeared? and how he saw the bruises on his forehead, pointing towards the minor bruises by brushing his hand on his forehead?
8. There must be an owner of the house where this saga of suicide bombing took place? The person who brings the suicide bomber from Kashmore would also get into the trap of investigation but there is no sign of the house owner in the scene who gave shelter to the culprits. If there was no owner of the house then how and when it has become deserted? It is a Balochi home there must be a soul in the neighborhood that have seen these strange people! How is it possible in a village where three strangers come and lodge in abandon house, one of the suicide bombers goes into a room and lay there and the second bomber roams here and there and chat with his friend and the third goes out to bring a mechanic to fix their car, parked outside of the house, there must be one soul around the neighborhood who noticed the strangers presence and their strange movements, because while filming the rubbles, the camera for 5 second also catches some glimpses of some houses in the neighborhood from a distance no more then 50 meters.
9. Both the anchor man and the young guy Gazzo say that when the house collapsedan iron bar pierced his foot, they showed the injury but it seemed an outer wound which could easily be done to any part of body by a make up expert, but there was no sign of an inner wound!!
10. No body knows the name of the village where? And what was the date when the incident occurred.
11. Jewan Bugti, (the alleged accomplice of suicide bomber) in the mid of the night, on May 15th 2009 had been abducted by security agencies with the help of Aali Bugti men. According to family members of Jewan Bugti, during his arrest, all members of the family had been beaten up by securities forces, now the question arises here, the so called suicide bomber Gazzo had been packed up on May 4th 2009 by security forces, while his on account of the drama speaks otherwise, he says he reached Kabul via Qandahar. Then while all this time where was Jewan Bugti from May 15 until then? During all this while under who's arrest he was? According to his family members he had been packed by Mir Aali Bugti men with the security agencies. Then how he made his escape from securities arrest? On the other hand, his wretched family says he is still missing, if a man is not arrested, and then he must be with his beloved family, particularly a responsible school teacher who is the sole bread earner of his family!!
12. The alleged suicide bomber says he never met Ahmed Karzai, but he talks in such a way as if he had been with him, saying he was supporting Baloch and giving money to them!
13. Gazzo raises three fingers to answer a question and says he had met Barhamdag Bugti five times. Even if the young man is illiterate, but he still can differentiate between 3 and 5.
14. When interviewed by the TV man, the young man says there are more then two hundreds and half men with Barahamdag Bugti in Qabul. Now first of all who told him these figures, then why should we believe his information? The second, Brahamdag Bugti fighting a war with an organized army, and he has become a big challenge to it. Do you think he is so brainless that he let know every thing to a young guy? He receives money in front of this guy and distributes them among his men? Or his close friends so stupid that they disclose all their information, facts and figures to a new young guy?
15. Had there been any suicidal bombardment in Dera Bugti Balochistan, then why it did not make any news in the local media? If the same agency men could bring a man from Lahore for recording the incident, why they could not get any news agency or TV channel or a news paper to report the incident in entire Balochistan? After the interview no matter whatever the private channel or news papers could do they wish to!! But what was the harm in making the report public?
16. Right at the centre of the collapsed wall there is a new grown tree, despite the collapse of the hard wall; the tree is still alive and standing still! As the picture is not clear and it is just a glimpse, but still by observing meticulously, one could see the grown tree in a pit of the wall. If its so then it is a proven fact the debris of this ruin walls are five years old or so! Just by watching the program, one could judge by mistakes made in the program, that it is a work of an obtuse director, of which every scene bear the witness that it's a fabricated program. To corroborate our assertions, one needs to listen to impartial observers and the members of the innocent accused ones, who have been interviewed by Radio Gwank of Balochistan Sikander Aaskani.
According to Khair Mohmad, father of alleged suicide bomber Gazzo, before the abduction of his son, he had been approached by government salaried Sardaar Aali Bugti under the protection of agencies, for participation as the head of his clan to celebrate the ceremony of Dastaar Bandi and for war encampment against Brahamdag Bugti. But he refused to do so. Once again on May 4th the Aali pack came with security forces to Khair's house, but he was not there, they abducted his son Gazzo. To rescue his son he went to Aali Bugti taking a Balochi Madh, (a traditional envoy which is consistent of women, respected for defusing and solving feuds among people and clans in Baloch social organization).
But Aali refused to respect the Balochi Madh, and disgraced the women and turned them back. Khair Bugti says regrettably Aali have joined the ranks of his Grand Dad enemy and engaged in such nonsense dramas. He is committing atrocities against his own brothers, he has abducted one of his sons but if I had hundreds sons, I would scarify all of them for the freedom struggle of our homeland, for which, figures like reverend Nawab Bugti and Balach Marri had sacrificed their lives. It would be an honor for me and for my son to scarify our lives if we had to. So for as my son's confession of guilt is concerned, I would conditionally put it like this: give me a Pakistani military man for four days, be it an army General, or a colonel, you would see, his testimony goes against Pakistan. The forced confession, is a false, has been extracted out of my son under duress at gun point.
He appealed Baloch nation to unite behind Barhamdag Bugti to foil the ridiculous dramas of our enemy. The accounts of Pahlwan Bugti, the brother of Jewan, the alleged accomplice are horrifying, according to him, his crime is that he showed respect for Brahamdag Bugti. Our home was surrounded by military forces when Azli Bugti men broke into it and took Jewan with them, other members of the family tried not to let Jewan be taken away, but got beaten up by forces. Pahlwan told radio Gwank that "I do not know any thing about Gazzo, but I know that he has been forced to take part in the fabricated drama of suicide bomber to defame Brahamdag Bugti. Here every Body knows that people like Gazzo and Jewan are routinely being abducted by military and Aali Bugti men, but nobody listen to us. Police, military and agencies are supporting them.
He revealed that there is no such a place in entire Dera Bugti where this ridiculous drama was filmed by Express News TV Lucman. He asked the media to visit the area themselves if there exist such a place in Dera Bugti!! He said the old ruins could be a place somewhere in Sindh or Swat in Frontier.
Bahram Bugti, a local teacher and a friend of The alleged accomplice of Gazzo, Jewan, has also a horrifying account of the drama why it was filmed, in his interview to Radio Gwank Sikander Askani, he said whatever have been done to Jewan and khair mohmod bugti's son Gazo, by the hand of agencies, have surpassed every limit of inhuman treatment. According to him Jewan and Gazzo have without any reason been incriminated at the behest of Aali Bugti.
Bahraam Bugti told Radio Gwank of Balochistan that he knows only the fact that Gazzo had been abducted by Aali Bugti, with the help of Pakistani government agencies, I went to meet Khair Mohamad on the sad new of his son abduction, and offered my sympathy with family. He said that all this filthy game is being conducted just to defame Barahamdag Bugti to appease SARKAR.
About the alleged confession extracted by agencies, a senior Baloch journalist Shehzada Zufikar told Radio Gwank that this interview is full of mistakes, raising several questions which need to be looked upon from every angle.
First, Express News channel have eight correspondents in Balochistan along with its bureau chief, But instead, the agencies have summoned a team from Lahore to direct this drama and the exclusive interview of Gazzo. Why this alleged suicide bombardment accident has been kept secret to media at first instance? Why they have ignored the entire Balochistan Media? Zulfikar told Radio Gwank that several journalists in Balochistan have been kicked out of their job just because they refused to make fake news and report them as per the wishes of the government.
Second, that there are many instances of suicidal bombing accidents in Swat, Lahore and Islamabad, first they have been reported in media and then interviews were conducted, but here In Balochistan things are different, fake interviews are a ready made to be aired, before any suicidal accident occurred.
Third, the anchor man conducting the interview was more interested in getting a fake confession out of him, rather then finding a fact. All emphasizes in his questions and goading were in the intention of how to tarnish Brahamdag Bugti luminous name, how to show that Hindustan is involved in Balochistan unrest, and how to show that Afghanistan is committing the crime of supporting the Baloch.
Now it is explicit that the main purpose of staging this drama was to extract a particular confession out of interviewee.
Fourth, this common suicide bomber man Gazzo went to Afghanistan and directly met Brahamdag Bugti. In his talk he seemed he was involved in every talk about relationship between Hamed Karzai and Brahamdag Bugti. India's high officials came and met brahamdag bugti where this young also present. In front of him a brief case full of money is handed over to Brahamdag Bugti by Indian representative. Right at the spot he, Brahamdag Bugti, distributes all the money among his commanders. Such are the scenes of this drama which have nothing to do with reality.
The senior journalist said for the past three months Pakistani government is talking about the Indian involvement in Balochistan, now it need to bring forwards some evidences to prove that, for that reason they have staged this drama, full of mistakes. In fact Pakistan is in the search of a way how to defame Brahamadag Bugti and to degrade him from the status of hero of freedom struggle to a terrorist so that it show the world that he was not a leader of freedom struggle but a Taliban like terrorist.
But I'm confirmed that this drama is utterly a flapped one, and people in Balochistan, from a common man to a educated man and intellectuals, have all rejected this interview and regarded the these evidences as a fake ones.
Before going to end this subject, let us remember Jewan Bugt's single sentence, which is all powerful to render this governmental drama a fake. On the anchorperson question, how you become a part of this story?, he said he had been asked by Wadera Khuda Buksh to take that boy to Kashmore, at this point, the anchorperson snapped at Jewan and asks him way you had abducted him by the order of Wadera?, then Jewan answers " had I not headed to Wadera, he would have handed me to ISI and MI….. Many other people have also gone through this heinous crime by the hand of this man with the help of ISI and IM". Here the anchorman became infuriated at Jewan and averted to talks to control the damage done by Jewan's real remarks. Heavier then any explanation, Jewan's single sentence contains the answers of all questions, "if I had not listen to Wadera, he would have handed me over to ISI and IM".
Now the question is that why those people who have been abducted by ISI and IM, should be concern about Brahamdag Bugti? If they wanted to do something, they could have done it for salaried Nawab Aali Bugti of the Islamabad, who is supporting Islamabad in Balochistan.
from the interviews of Radio Gwank of Balolchistan by Samander Askani, what we figured out from Jewan Bugti, Khair Mohamad(Gazzo's father),Pehlwan(Gazzo's brfther),Bahram Bugti(Jewan's friend), journalist Shehzada Zulfikar, it is firmly established that it was a shameful attempt on the part of Pakistani state not only to malign Barahamdag Bugti fame, but also to show to the world that India and Afghanistan are involved in Balochistan affairs.
Conclusion: it is beyond of our understanding what kind of people are those who make schemes in Islamabad, once a man makes a mistake, then when he realizes that he was mistaken, he tries to rectify himself ,yet since 1973 the same mistakes are repeated here with negative results and foolish adamancy prevailing.
In order to defame late Nawab Akber Bugti, the same fake Jirgas and foolish dramas were staged, people were brought in front of TV channels who elaborated fake story of oppression, Jirgas of salaried government dignitaries were held who stripped Shaheed Bugti of NawabiShip. But what resulted out of this? People regarded these people with the words of traitors, and those who staged sarkari Jirga were called marionettes. On the contrary Nawab Akber Bugti magnificently earned the glorious fame.
Similarly Nawab Khair Baksh Marri was opposed with same antics, conferences were held, private jails were staged and commanders were showed surrendering their weapons, but end result? Public started abhorring these people who collaborated with government.
The famous Baloch intellectual Mir Sourat Khan Marri had once deplored the tragedy of Mir Hazar khan Bejarani's second grade character in the government staged dramas, in his words, "given the 1976 experiences, on the other side, in Therdi, Mir Hazar Rahmkani's ancestral Marri area, where shameless Marri surrendering ceremony drama was staged, he should not have participated in it, Where all faces were familiar. He, Mir Hazar, had earned a name by the virtue of Mir Sher Mohamd Marri, has degraded himself to a secondary position voluntarily, a step lower from current DCO. From initial reports where Ali Hassan loharani and Gazi khan were known, if last year files reports of Bajarani Council delegation, crops commander and governor statements are checked, his name would appear in the gazetteer, and it would be a part of it."
In short, Islamabad and Tehran have failed to understand the Baloch national question, or may be they are purposely ignoring it. Today, like in the past, the same dishonest apathy, triviality, and wastage of time is maintained. Had they not resorted to such meaningless and useless actions and, used their energy positively, there might have emerged a viable solution for both sides with fewer damages. Now they should bear in their minds that people cannot be impressed with such ridiculous dramas. Yes if amusement is what they care for, then nothing is comparable to self-deception albeit.
News Source Dailytawar
Translated by Archen Baloch,
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Friday, August 14, 2009
The Evil Day, 14th August
Baloch nation see’s 14th august as a sinister day, which gave birth to the imperialist’s brain child, Pakistan. A country who has not only been involved in the genocide of innocent Baloch people but also in creating a fear among the people around the world, and have caused a lot of lives including those in sub continent cheated on the name of religion. Pakistan has caused the lives of Palestinians to Americans, Indians to Afghans, Balochs to Russians, in fact if nations affected by Pakistan is listed down, this place won’t be spacious enough. Pakistan has not only been responsible for hundreds and thousands of deaths around the world but has also been responsible for the attacks on religious monuments such as Kaa’ba, the most prestigious place for Muslims, Hindu Manders and the Christian minorities, where as in Pakistan children are mentally prepared to fight the Jews, who are thought to be the ultimate enemy of “Pakistan”.
14th August is being regarded by the Baloch people as a Black Day, which has brought a message of insecurity for them and as stated before, for the entire world. Pakistan with in its creation’s first year attacked Balochistan and occupied it, through deceiving the world it has succeeded in keeping its occupation and looting the Baloch resources side by side with a process of a slow genocide, which has caused several innocent civilian lives. Balochistan , then Kalat State, was formed on 11th of August 1947 and was accepted as a separate entity by different countries including Pakistan itself, but Pakistan didn’t gave any regard to that nor to the international laws, neither the international organizations could stop this occupation, similar to the case of Tibet’s occupation of China. From then onwards Pakistan has proved to be a barbaric occupier, killing and torturing hundreds and thousands of Balochs, deceiving whole of the Baloch nation on several occasions.
With thousands of sons, daughters, mothers and elders abducted by Pakistan, thousand others martyred, Baloch people have regarded the day of the “invention” of an un-natural state as a Black Day, which has been responsible for snatching their identity, plundering their resources, crushing their culture and massacring their sons, elders, children and women.
Pakistan has used every available weapon against the Baloch nation, including chemical, atomic and the weapons of hunger, defrauding, fear, inaccessibility to education, non Baloch mass migration, snatching separate identity, immense torture, and degradation, in fact the international declaration of human rights have been ripped apart by Pakistan.
Baloch case and cause are different and immense from the atrocities done by Pakistan on the other nations such as Sindhis and Pashtuns, as Balochistan was annexed by force. Still Baloch Students Organization Azaad and Baloch people, under the flag of Independent Balochistan sympathize with all the nations of the world been and being affected with the presence of Pakistan, and appeals the indigenous people of the Earth to help Baloch people to gain their independence for Pakistan, which would be a beginning of a new and peaceful world and appeals the peace loving people around the World to regard 14th August as a Black Day against the security risk of the world named as Pakistan.
14th August is being regarded by the Baloch people as a Black Day, which has brought a message of insecurity for them and as stated before, for the entire world. Pakistan with in its creation’s first year attacked Balochistan and occupied it, through deceiving the world it has succeeded in keeping its occupation and looting the Baloch resources side by side with a process of a slow genocide, which has caused several innocent civilian lives. Balochistan , then Kalat State, was formed on 11th of August 1947 and was accepted as a separate entity by different countries including Pakistan itself, but Pakistan didn’t gave any regard to that nor to the international laws, neither the international organizations could stop this occupation, similar to the case of Tibet’s occupation of China. From then onwards Pakistan has proved to be a barbaric occupier, killing and torturing hundreds and thousands of Balochs, deceiving whole of the Baloch nation on several occasions.
With thousands of sons, daughters, mothers and elders abducted by Pakistan, thousand others martyred, Baloch people have regarded the day of the “invention” of an un-natural state as a Black Day, which has been responsible for snatching their identity, plundering their resources, crushing their culture and massacring their sons, elders, children and women.
Pakistan has used every available weapon against the Baloch nation, including chemical, atomic and the weapons of hunger, defrauding, fear, inaccessibility to education, non Baloch mass migration, snatching separate identity, immense torture, and degradation, in fact the international declaration of human rights have been ripped apart by Pakistan.
Baloch case and cause are different and immense from the atrocities done by Pakistan on the other nations such as Sindhis and Pashtuns, as Balochistan was annexed by force. Still Baloch Students Organization Azaad and Baloch people, under the flag of Independent Balochistan sympathize with all the nations of the world been and being affected with the presence of Pakistan, and appeals the indigenous people of the Earth to help Baloch people to gain their independence for Pakistan, which would be a beginning of a new and peaceful world and appeals the peace loving people around the World to regard 14th August as a Black Day against the security risk of the world named as Pakistan.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Top Article: A Home-grown Conflict
Malik Siraj Akbar11 August 2009, 12:00am IST
When the first Baloch insurgency broke out in 1948 to resist the illegal and forceful annexation of the Baloch-populated autonomous Kalat state
with Pakistan, Manmohan Singh - today Indian prime minister - was barely a teenager while his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani had not even been born to witness the rebellion's magnitude. Yet, last month, both leaders in Sharm el-Sheikh discussed for the first time the indefatigable Baloch insurgency.
Pakistan has been blaming India for causing trouble in its resource-rich province. Gilani broached the issue with India at a time disgruntled Baloch youth have removed the Pakistani flag from schools and colleges and stopped playing the national anthem. Punjabi officers refuse to serve in Balochistan, fearing they would be target-killed. Islamabad attributes the unrest to 'foreign involvement'. India is not the first to be blamed. Similar allegations were levelled in the past against the now defunct Soviet Union, Afghanistan and Iraq to discredit the indigenous movement for retaining a distinct Baloch identity. Indian assistance sounds ridiculous given that the Baloch do not share a border, common language, religion or history with India. Hardly has 1 per cent of Balochs have visited India.
The idea of Pakistan never attracted the secular Baloch. Ghose Baksh Bizanjo, a Baloch leader, said in 1947: "It is not necessary that by virtue of our being Muslims we should lose our freedom... If the mere fact that we are Muslims requires us to join Pakistan, then Afghanistan and Iran... should also amalgamate with Pakistan."
Over the years, Islamabad has applied a multi-pronged approach to deal with Balochista Apart from military operations launched in 1948, 1958, 1962, 1973 and 2002 to quash the rebellion, Islamabad adopted other tactics. First, it kept the province economically backward by denying it good infrastructure, mainly in education and health. Natural gas was discovered in Balochistan in 1951 and supplied to Punjab's industrial units. The Balochs hardly benefit from their own gas.
Second, Balochs, whom the state views as traitors, were denied representation in the army, foreign services, federal departments, profitable corporations, Pakistan International Airlines, customs, railways and other key institutions. Third, Balochistan has historically been remote-controlled from Islamabad. A Pakistan army corps commander, often a Punjabi or a Pathan, and the inspector general of the Frontier Corps, a federal paramilitary force with less than 2 per cent Baloch representation, exert more power than the province's elected chief minister. The intelligence agencies devise election plans and decide who has to come to the provincial parliament and who should be ousted.
Fourth, Islamabad has created a state of terror inside Balochistan. Hundreds of check posts have been established to harass people and restrict their movement. Forces and tanks are stationed even on campuses of universities. Fifth, national and international media are denied access to conflict zones in Balochistan. Several foreign journalists were beaten up supposedly by intelligence agencies personnel or deported when they endeavoured to report the actual situation. Sixth, international human rights organisations are denied access to trace the whereabouts of some 5,000 'missing persons'. Pakistan is also in a state of denial about the existence of around 2,00,000 internally displaced persons in Balochistan.
Seventh, Islamabad has been engaged in systematic target killing of key Baloch democratic leaders. Ex-governor and chief minister of Balochistan, Nawab Akbar Bugti, 79, became a victim once he demanded Baloch rights. Balach Marri, a Balochistan Assembly member, was killed to undermine the movement. In April this year, three other prominent leaders were whisked away by security forces and subsequently killed.
Eighth, Pakistan has pitted radical Taliban against secular and democratic Baloch forces. The state is brazenly funding thousands of religious schools across the province with the help of Arab countries to promote religious radicalisation. Elements supportive of Taliban were covertly helped by state institutions to contest and win general elections. They now enjoy sizeable representation in the Balochistan Assembly to legislate against the nationalists and secular forces.
Ninth, Islamabad has been using sophisticated American weapons, provided to crush Taliban, against the Baloch people. This has provided breathing space to Taliban hidden in Quetta and weeded out progressive elements. Finally, Afghan refugees are being patronised to create a demographic imbalance in the Baloch-dominated province.
Baloch leaders are critical of many democratic countries for not doing 'enough' to safeguard a democratic, secular Baloch people. I asked Bramdagh Bugti, a Baloch commander, about the India link. He laughed and said, "Would our people live amid such miserable conditions if we enjoyed support from India? We are an oppressed people... seeking help from India, the United States, the United Nations and the European Union to come for our rescue."
The Baloch movement is rapidly trickling down from tribal chiefs to educated middle-class youth aggressively propagating their cause on Facebook and YouTube. This generation would understandably welcome foreign assistance but will not give up even if denied help from countries like India. The Baloch insist their struggle was not interrupted even at times when India and Pakistan enjoyed cordial relations.
The writer is Balochistan bureau chief of Daily Times .
Source: The Times Of India
When the first Baloch insurgency broke out in 1948 to resist the illegal and forceful annexation of the Baloch-populated autonomous Kalat state
with Pakistan, Manmohan Singh - today Indian prime minister - was barely a teenager while his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani had not even been born to witness the rebellion's magnitude. Yet, last month, both leaders in Sharm el-Sheikh discussed for the first time the indefatigable Baloch insurgency.
Pakistan has been blaming India for causing trouble in its resource-rich province. Gilani broached the issue with India at a time disgruntled Baloch youth have removed the Pakistani flag from schools and colleges and stopped playing the national anthem. Punjabi officers refuse to serve in Balochistan, fearing they would be target-killed. Islamabad attributes the unrest to 'foreign involvement'. India is not the first to be blamed. Similar allegations were levelled in the past against the now defunct Soviet Union, Afghanistan and Iraq to discredit the indigenous movement for retaining a distinct Baloch identity. Indian assistance sounds ridiculous given that the Baloch do not share a border, common language, religion or history with India. Hardly has 1 per cent of Balochs have visited India.
The idea of Pakistan never attracted the secular Baloch. Ghose Baksh Bizanjo, a Baloch leader, said in 1947: "It is not necessary that by virtue of our being Muslims we should lose our freedom... If the mere fact that we are Muslims requires us to join Pakistan, then Afghanistan and Iran... should also amalgamate with Pakistan."
Over the years, Islamabad has applied a multi-pronged approach to deal with Balochista Apart from military operations launched in 1948, 1958, 1962, 1973 and 2002 to quash the rebellion, Islamabad adopted other tactics. First, it kept the province economically backward by denying it good infrastructure, mainly in education and health. Natural gas was discovered in Balochistan in 1951 and supplied to Punjab's industrial units. The Balochs hardly benefit from their own gas.
Second, Balochs, whom the state views as traitors, were denied representation in the army, foreign services, federal departments, profitable corporations, Pakistan International Airlines, customs, railways and other key institutions. Third, Balochistan has historically been remote-controlled from Islamabad. A Pakistan army corps commander, often a Punjabi or a Pathan, and the inspector general of the Frontier Corps, a federal paramilitary force with less than 2 per cent Baloch representation, exert more power than the province's elected chief minister. The intelligence agencies devise election plans and decide who has to come to the provincial parliament and who should be ousted.
Fourth, Islamabad has created a state of terror inside Balochistan. Hundreds of check posts have been established to harass people and restrict their movement. Forces and tanks are stationed even on campuses of universities. Fifth, national and international media are denied access to conflict zones in Balochistan. Several foreign journalists were beaten up supposedly by intelligence agencies personnel or deported when they endeavoured to report the actual situation. Sixth, international human rights organisations are denied access to trace the whereabouts of some 5,000 'missing persons'. Pakistan is also in a state of denial about the existence of around 2,00,000 internally displaced persons in Balochistan.
Seventh, Islamabad has been engaged in systematic target killing of key Baloch democratic leaders. Ex-governor and chief minister of Balochistan, Nawab Akbar Bugti, 79, became a victim once he demanded Baloch rights. Balach Marri, a Balochistan Assembly member, was killed to undermine the movement. In April this year, three other prominent leaders were whisked away by security forces and subsequently killed.
Eighth, Pakistan has pitted radical Taliban against secular and democratic Baloch forces. The state is brazenly funding thousands of religious schools across the province with the help of Arab countries to promote religious radicalisation. Elements supportive of Taliban were covertly helped by state institutions to contest and win general elections. They now enjoy sizeable representation in the Balochistan Assembly to legislate against the nationalists and secular forces.
Ninth, Islamabad has been using sophisticated American weapons, provided to crush Taliban, against the Baloch people. This has provided breathing space to Taliban hidden in Quetta and weeded out progressive elements. Finally, Afghan refugees are being patronised to create a demographic imbalance in the Baloch-dominated province.
Baloch leaders are critical of many democratic countries for not doing 'enough' to safeguard a democratic, secular Baloch people. I asked Bramdagh Bugti, a Baloch commander, about the India link. He laughed and said, "Would our people live amid such miserable conditions if we enjoyed support from India? We are an oppressed people... seeking help from India, the United States, the United Nations and the European Union to come for our rescue."
The Baloch movement is rapidly trickling down from tribal chiefs to educated middle-class youth aggressively propagating their cause on Facebook and YouTube. This generation would understandably welcome foreign assistance but will not give up even if denied help from countries like India. The Baloch insist their struggle was not interrupted even at times when India and Pakistan enjoyed cordial relations.
The writer is Balochistan bureau chief of Daily Times .
Source: The Times Of India
Monday, August 10, 2009
Unforgotten Independence Day
The unknown country once was a colony of Britain ; compromises the area of 347,190 km² & 900 km long coastline declared as an independent country on 11th august 1947 known as Baluchistan.The new ray of hope for a better future came in the life of Baluch nation.But unfortunately after a 7 months of short period of time once again Baluch nation lost their status of independence as Pakistan invaded the Baluchistan on 27th march 1948 and forcibly merged.
Baluch never accepted the merger of Baluchistan with Pakistan from the first day.The
Baluch rebels headed towards the mountains took the positions and started the first Guerrilla fight for the freedom against the pakistani regime.The Baluch freedom fighters warned the occupied army that your pakistani flag does not belong to Baluchistan.But the wicked rulers of pakistan always used the religion islam as a tool to achieve the objective.Pakistani government asked freedom fighters come down to the mountains for negotiations but as a result government arrested most of them ,few kept behind the bars for life and many of them executed.
Afterwards Pakistani government started the method of British ''divide&rule policy''.They had
bought a group of greedy people,who started work within the Pakistani constitution and showed all of them as a real leader of Baluchistan.They made every illegal action legal through such traitors of Baluchistan.They tried to show the world that Baluch are now very much accommodated in the Pakistani system,they have accepted the Pakistan as their homeland.But during that all period occupiers forgot the guerrilla fighters who are now once again organised in a better way with the latest weapon to resist the occupied army.This time freedom fighters are not limited to camps in mountain,they headed down to the towns and streets of Baluchistan.Pakistani army and their informers are not feeling secure in the presence of freedom fighters.Freedom fighters easily targeting the army vehicles,checkposts,cantonments in the day light.Security personels insisting for transfers out of Baluchistan.Pakistani flag & anthem disappeared from the government buildings schools,universities,police-stations.So called Pakistani flag replaced by Baluchistan national flag in all schools,universities student started singing the Baloch national anthem.
Baluch national movement for independence purely supported by baluch masses in Baluchistan.Baluch student organization & baluch nationalist parties organising the mass rallies,protest in the favour of freedom fighters.Pakistani regime disappearing the student activist,political leadership,human right campaigners,brutally torturing them in the military torture cells,threatning them to stop the demand for freedom.But salute to brave sons of balochistan who are not caring the life threats but happily accepting the martyrdom for the holy cause.
Baluch patriot parties,Baluch student organisation and Baluch liberation wings appealed the entire nation to be ready for the celebrations of independence day on 11th august.Baluch freedom fighters recent courageous statement is the new hope for the nation,that they are ready for the final combat and Pakistani forces should be ready to face the worse.Baluchistan independence will be declared on the same day.
After passing sixty years of occupation Baluch nation possess same spirit and courage on 11th august the day of Baluchistan independence, while every year 14th august marked as a black day in Baluchistan; now its the duty of United Nation should immediately consider the ground realities of Baluchistan and solve the baluch national question for independence.
Written by Ali Baluch
Baluch never accepted the merger of Baluchistan with Pakistan from the first day.The
Baluch rebels headed towards the mountains took the positions and started the first Guerrilla fight for the freedom against the pakistani regime.The Baluch freedom fighters warned the occupied army that your pakistani flag does not belong to Baluchistan.But the wicked rulers of pakistan always used the religion islam as a tool to achieve the objective.Pakistani government asked freedom fighters come down to the mountains for negotiations but as a result government arrested most of them ,few kept behind the bars for life and many of them executed.
Afterwards Pakistani government started the method of British ''divide&rule policy''.They had
bought a group of greedy people,who started work within the Pakistani constitution and showed all of them as a real leader of Baluchistan.They made every illegal action legal through such traitors of Baluchistan.They tried to show the world that Baluch are now very much accommodated in the Pakistani system,they have accepted the Pakistan as their homeland.But during that all period occupiers forgot the guerrilla fighters who are now once again organised in a better way with the latest weapon to resist the occupied army.This time freedom fighters are not limited to camps in mountain,they headed down to the towns and streets of Baluchistan.Pakistani army and their informers are not feeling secure in the presence of freedom fighters.Freedom fighters easily targeting the army vehicles,checkposts,cantonments in the day light.Security personels insisting for transfers out of Baluchistan.Pakistani flag & anthem disappeared from the government buildings schools,universities,police-stations.So called Pakistani flag replaced by Baluchistan national flag in all schools,universities student started singing the Baloch national anthem.
Baluch national movement for independence purely supported by baluch masses in Baluchistan.Baluch student organization & baluch nationalist parties organising the mass rallies,protest in the favour of freedom fighters.Pakistani regime disappearing the student activist,political leadership,human right campaigners,brutally torturing them in the military torture cells,threatning them to stop the demand for freedom.But salute to brave sons of balochistan who are not caring the life threats but happily accepting the martyrdom for the holy cause.
Baluch patriot parties,Baluch student organisation and Baluch liberation wings appealed the entire nation to be ready for the celebrations of independence day on 11th august.Baluch freedom fighters recent courageous statement is the new hope for the nation,that they are ready for the final combat and Pakistani forces should be ready to face the worse.Baluchistan independence will be declared on the same day.
After passing sixty years of occupation Baluch nation possess same spirit and courage on 11th august the day of Baluchistan independence, while every year 14th august marked as a black day in Baluchistan; now its the duty of United Nation should immediately consider the ground realities of Baluchistan and solve the baluch national question for independence.
Written by Ali Baluch
Saturday, August 8, 2009
A letter from Balochistan
The government of Pakistan has deployed thousands of FC men in the province to subjugate the Baloch nation, loot their wealth and kill the innocent Balochs by hooks or by crooks. Every unfair mean is being used by the Pakistani FC men; search operation is going on in the cities and remote areas of Balochistan. Old, young, children and women are being harassed, and shooting them at the spot is common.
Very interesting news is that, a very well known Porfessor of the University of Balochistan Professor Dr. Shaheen Qaisrani (Islamic Studies Department) was stopped at the University gate, checked him up and used harsh words against the professor. When the professor resisted then the FC men got them out and tore his cloths and beated him harshly. This shameful news spread throughout the University and the students came to the road and staged protest against the Fc but the FC men started beating them very severely. The VC of the University of Balochistan came to cool the situation but none of the FC men listened him. FC men said" we are the follower of law and order, how can we follow the VC who is a teacher."
It is nonsense and ridiculous. Every day the Baloch are being disappeared by the Army men and the Intelligence Agencies. The provincial government is not taking action against the disappearances. Thousands of such incidents are being occurred with the Baloch but the media is silent because the media is pro-government.
I am writing these lines, while i am listing the gun fires on the Saryab road and sirens of embulences I don't know today who is being killed, who is being orphaned!
Very interesting news is that, a very well known Porfessor of the University of Balochistan Professor Dr. Shaheen Qaisrani (Islamic Studies Department) was stopped at the University gate, checked him up and used harsh words against the professor. When the professor resisted then the FC men got them out and tore his cloths and beated him harshly. This shameful news spread throughout the University and the students came to the road and staged protest against the Fc but the FC men started beating them very severely. The VC of the University of Balochistan came to cool the situation but none of the FC men listened him. FC men said" we are the follower of law and order, how can we follow the VC who is a teacher."
It is nonsense and ridiculous. Every day the Baloch are being disappeared by the Army men and the Intelligence Agencies. The provincial government is not taking action against the disappearances. Thousands of such incidents are being occurred with the Baloch but the media is silent because the media is pro-government.
I am writing these lines, while i am listing the gun fires on the Saryab road and sirens of embulences I don't know today who is being killed, who is being orphaned!
The deployment of Para-military in Balochistan, What is Pakistan trying to prove?
Pakistan has deployed thousands of Para-military, military and other so called security forces in different region in Balochistan in the name of restoring law and order situation and for the protection of what they call “National Installations”. These are Baluchistan’s National Installations not Pakistan’s, so who has invited Pakistan to come and protect them? Protecting them from whom?
The feelings of people in Balochistan about the deployment of army are totally different they believe the army is there to strengthen the hold on Balochistan land, to further the occupation. Reports from the ground suggest that the Para-military and army are arresting anyone who wears a Balochi Dress. Young Baloch men are being humiliated by the army in the middle of roads in public. Several young men even complained that they were stop and asked to speak Punjabi. The forces there know that Punjabi is not the language of Balochistan but why would they still ask our young men to speak it?
According to a BBC Urdu people from most areas in Balochistan have boycotted by Pakistani flag and students have refused to sing the Pakistani National anthem. Perhaps that is why this year the government and Pakistani army has decided to celebrate the 14 August in a different way “
The Balochistan Provincial Capitol City of Quetta was sprucing up for some of the most tumultuous Independence Day celebrations, ever on 14th Aug.
“The entire City would be lit up with bright lights, and prizes would be distributed among the best, with heavy cash prize of Rs.20, 000 for the top, Rs.15000 for second and Rs.10, 000 for third position holders. A grand display of fireworks would be held on the day, with even mountaintops being decorated with visible colored lights”.
http://www.onlinenews.com.pk/details.php?id=149783
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Baloch crackdown after statement
Pakistan accused of torturing students and extracting confession of Indian hand
By K.P. NAYAR
Washington, Aug. 4: For the babus in South Block, the inclusion of Balochistan in the India-Pakistan joint statement is no more than a case of “bad drafting”, but in the restive province on the other side of the border, Balochis are paying with their lives and limbs for the foibles of Indian diplomats who were in Sharm-el-Sheikh.
The Pakistani establishment, crowing in vindication about its line on Balochistan following the joint statement, is heavily stepping up the crackdown on the people in the province, vowing to stamp out not only any traces of secession but even of dissent and legitimate assertion of time-honoured Baloch identity.
Within 48 hours of the release of the joint statement in Sharm-el-Sheikh, the Frontier Constabulary in Quetta abducted Sami Baloch, a leader of the Baloch Student Organisation, while the postgraduate student of Balochistan University was returning from tuition at night.
“His whereabouts are still unknown and it is feared that he is undergoing torture in a Pakistani army camp,” according to a statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission based in Hong Kong.
In another case which is attracting international attention — while India is wrestling with the semantics of the joint statement — Fazal Baloch, a 19-year-old student at Bolan University, was pulled off a bus by plainclothes intelligence officers in Panjgur district of Balochistan, tortured and then formally handed over to the crime branch of the Anti-Terrorist Force in Quetta.
Fazal told his family when he was eventually dumped in a hospital that he was forced to confess under torture that he was aware of India funding an outfit in Balochistan known as the Baloch Liberation Army.
The Hong Kong-based commission said in its statement that “nationalist groups and family members of the disappeared persons say that the Pakistani government is arresting students and young people with the aim to get confessions from them for alleged statements against India for its involvement in Balochistan’s insurgency.”
It added: “The Asian Human Rights Commission urges the government of Pakistan, especially the Balochistan province, to stop the arrest of students and young people and the keeping of them in incommunicado.”
In addition to illegal detentions, abduction and torture, Pakistan’s government is now using new ways in the wake of the joint statement to shut down legitimate outlets for Balochi opinion.
For example, Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) a few days ago used that country’s draconian Cyber Crime Act to shut down a popular Balochi website, www.balochunity.org.
But as of Sunday, its promoters used facilities in Dubai to revive the website, dissident Balochistan sources told this newspaper.
Pakistan’s Cyber Crime Act prescribes a punishment of up to 14 years in prison for propaganda against Pakistan’s security forces, a tool that is expected to be used to tighten efforts to silence Balochis.
Pakistani sources here have been claiming that Islamabad will now use the joint statement to pressure the US to act against American companies which host legitimate Balochi websites that propagate the history, culture and heritage of the province on the ground that these are part of the cross-border terrorist architecture in Balochistan, funded by India.
Hyrbair Marri, a nationalist leader from Balochistan now living in exile in the UK, pointedly told a recent meeting in the House of Lords organised at the instance of Bri- tain’s Campaign Against Criminalising Communities that Balochistan’s history “pre-dates the formation of Pakistan. We have a history reaching back thousands of years.”
He pointed out that contrary to what Pakistan was now doing in the province, “during the British Raj, Britain... did not interfere in the affairs of Balochistan so long as the Baloch allowed the British Army access to Afghanistan.”
On Sunday, a complete strike was observed in most of Balochistan to protest against the wave of arrests of Baloch leaders in the wake of the Sharm-el-Sheikh joint statement.
Reporting on the strike, a popular nationalist website in exile, balochwarna.com, alleged: “After registration of the accusation against India, the authorities started a new round of arrests with disappearances to get confessions through statements made against India.”
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090805 ... nation/story_11322822.jsp
By K.P. NAYAR
Washington, Aug. 4: For the babus in South Block, the inclusion of Balochistan in the India-Pakistan joint statement is no more than a case of “bad drafting”, but in the restive province on the other side of the border, Balochis are paying with their lives and limbs for the foibles of Indian diplomats who were in Sharm-el-Sheikh.
The Pakistani establishment, crowing in vindication about its line on Balochistan following the joint statement, is heavily stepping up the crackdown on the people in the province, vowing to stamp out not only any traces of secession but even of dissent and legitimate assertion of time-honoured Baloch identity.
Within 48 hours of the release of the joint statement in Sharm-el-Sheikh, the Frontier Constabulary in Quetta abducted Sami Baloch, a leader of the Baloch Student Organisation, while the postgraduate student of Balochistan University was returning from tuition at night.
“His whereabouts are still unknown and it is feared that he is undergoing torture in a Pakistani army camp,” according to a statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission based in Hong Kong.
In another case which is attracting international attention — while India is wrestling with the semantics of the joint statement — Fazal Baloch, a 19-year-old student at Bolan University, was pulled off a bus by plainclothes intelligence officers in Panjgur district of Balochistan, tortured and then formally handed over to the crime branch of the Anti-Terrorist Force in Quetta.
Fazal told his family when he was eventually dumped in a hospital that he was forced to confess under torture that he was aware of India funding an outfit in Balochistan known as the Baloch Liberation Army.
The Hong Kong-based commission said in its statement that “nationalist groups and family members of the disappeared persons say that the Pakistani government is arresting students and young people with the aim to get confessions from them for alleged statements against India for its involvement in Balochistan’s insurgency.”
It added: “The Asian Human Rights Commission urges the government of Pakistan, especially the Balochistan province, to stop the arrest of students and young people and the keeping of them in incommunicado.”
In addition to illegal detentions, abduction and torture, Pakistan’s government is now using new ways in the wake of the joint statement to shut down legitimate outlets for Balochi opinion.
For example, Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) a few days ago used that country’s draconian Cyber Crime Act to shut down a popular Balochi website, www.balochunity.org.
But as of Sunday, its promoters used facilities in Dubai to revive the website, dissident Balochistan sources told this newspaper.
Pakistan’s Cyber Crime Act prescribes a punishment of up to 14 years in prison for propaganda against Pakistan’s security forces, a tool that is expected to be used to tighten efforts to silence Balochis.
Pakistani sources here have been claiming that Islamabad will now use the joint statement to pressure the US to act against American companies which host legitimate Balochi websites that propagate the history, culture and heritage of the province on the ground that these are part of the cross-border terrorist architecture in Balochistan, funded by India.
Hyrbair Marri, a nationalist leader from Balochistan now living in exile in the UK, pointedly told a recent meeting in the House of Lords organised at the instance of Bri- tain’s Campaign Against Criminalising Communities that Balochistan’s history “pre-dates the formation of Pakistan. We have a history reaching back thousands of years.”
He pointed out that contrary to what Pakistan was now doing in the province, “during the British Raj, Britain... did not interfere in the affairs of Balochistan so long as the Baloch allowed the British Army access to Afghanistan.”
On Sunday, a complete strike was observed in most of Balochistan to protest against the wave of arrests of Baloch leaders in the wake of the Sharm-el-Sheikh joint statement.
Reporting on the strike, a popular nationalist website in exile, balochwarna.com, alleged: “After registration of the accusation against India, the authorities started a new round of arrests with disappearances to get confessions through statements made against India.”
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090805 ... nation/story_11322822.jsp
Monday, August 3, 2009
We didn’t start the fire
Pakistani officials have tried to insinuate that the Balochistan rebellion is of India’s making. In India, there is denial of any role by covert agencies; and a reaffirmation that Balochistan is Pakistan’s domestic business. Reality is more complex. For some time now, Balochistan has been emerging as the locus of a new Great Game. Regional powers have been using and abetting Baloch tensions for their own reasons. India knows what’s going on, but is more an informed spectator than an active player. If nothing else, its ability to operate in Balochistan is circumscribed by its relationship with Iran.
As far back as the 1970s — just after the Bangladesh war — the then Soviet foreign minister told his Indian counterpart that India should collaborate in fomenting a rebellion in Balochistan. New Delhi demurred. At the time, caches of Iraqi weapons had been found headed towards Baloch tribal chieftains. Iraq was seeking to use Balochistan as a base to instigate violence in neighbouring Iranian Balochistan.
The Iranian Baloch have a different tribal composition from the Pakistani Baloch. However, they too mistrust their national government. Iran’s Baloch are a Sunni minority in a Shia-majority country.
In the early 1970s, India was improving relations with the Shah of Iran and did not want to disrupt that process. Have things changed? Not really. Iranian Balochistan — where India has a consulate in the city of Zahedan — is crucial to the back-up strategy for Afghanistan. In the 1990s, the Iranian and Indian governments collaborated here to provide logistical support to the Northern Alliance.
The possibility — however thin — that the Americans will walk out of Kabul with their job only half done has never quite been dismissed. As such, India has to keep open the option of working with Iran (and Russia) in Afghanistan. That is a compelling priority. The price for it is India steers clear of the Baloch opportunity.
So who then is responsible for Islamabad’s Balochistan headache? The western edge of South Asia is experiencing a tectonic shift. For 30 years, since the Soviet invasion of 1979, successive regimes in Kabul were destabilised by Islamabad. Today, positions have been reversed. The Afghan establishment, at least the faction surrounding President Hamid Karzai, is doing its utmost to destabilise Pakistan. Balochistan is where this experiment is being played out.
Northern Balochistan is a Pushtun stronghold, home to many refugees from the Afghan war of the 1980s. A wing of the Taliban, led by Mullah Omar, is in Quetta, the provincial capital. In the southern part, nomadic Baloch communities have been restive for decades. Islamabad’s writ doesn’t run very far. Kabul has long smelt its chance.
This suits India, but still doesn’t mean India is responsible. Indeed, even the Americans are not quite innocent. Their intelligence agencies are known to have a network in the Baloch belt, in the hope of some day causing a problem for Tehran. The Pakistani Baloch region is a way-station in this journey.
What does it all add up to? Far from converting a domestic insurgency into a bilateral issue, and pinning the blame on India, Pakistan is actually trying to box in an international situation and somehow fit it into a two-country framework. In truth, even if India were to disappear off the face of the planet tomorrow morning, the Baloch mess would remain.
There is one other prism through which to look at the Baloch issue: it offers an alternative model of Muslim oppression. In the past few years, sources of Islamic grievance have become the subject of passionate debate. These are generally seen as Arab/Middle Eastern- Palestine; the presence of American troops in Saudi Arabia — or South Asian, as in Kashmir.
This template offers no space for grievances of Muslim peoples, as opposed to Islamists. The Baloch are one such, and so are the Uighurs and Kurds (people of the BUK, to coin a handy acronym). These are predominantly secular Muslim communities. Each has a small sliver of al-Qaeda-type zealotry but that is not the defining characteristic.
In all three struggles, the Crusader-Zionist-Hindu triumvirate that Osama bin Laden talks about is not the principal villain. In two of the three, a small Muslim minority is being oppressed by other, locally dominant Muslim ethnicities. A notional Kurdistan, with oil-rich Kirkuk as its capital, would be the most pro-West territory in the Middle East after Israel. No wonder it is not bin Laden’s rallying cry.
The Islamists are not the only hypocrites. The US would be happy to have Iranian Balochis demand autonomy but not Pakistani Balochis. Turkey protests against China’s treatment of Turki-speaking Uighurs but is scarcely as generous to Iraqi Kurds, lest it gives Turkey’s own Kurds ideas. China lectures India on Kashmir and America on Iraq. When it comes to Xinjiang, it brutalises its Muslim minority, no questions asked.
Like the Uighurs and the Kurds, the Baloch are the forgotten underdogs of the Muslim world. India should stop pretending they don’t exist.
Ashok Malik is a Delhi-based writer
Ashok Malik
August 02, 2009
As far back as the 1970s — just after the Bangladesh war — the then Soviet foreign minister told his Indian counterpart that India should collaborate in fomenting a rebellion in Balochistan. New Delhi demurred. At the time, caches of Iraqi weapons had been found headed towards Baloch tribal chieftains. Iraq was seeking to use Balochistan as a base to instigate violence in neighbouring Iranian Balochistan.
The Iranian Baloch have a different tribal composition from the Pakistani Baloch. However, they too mistrust their national government. Iran’s Baloch are a Sunni minority in a Shia-majority country.
In the early 1970s, India was improving relations with the Shah of Iran and did not want to disrupt that process. Have things changed? Not really. Iranian Balochistan — where India has a consulate in the city of Zahedan — is crucial to the back-up strategy for Afghanistan. In the 1990s, the Iranian and Indian governments collaborated here to provide logistical support to the Northern Alliance.
The possibility — however thin — that the Americans will walk out of Kabul with their job only half done has never quite been dismissed. As such, India has to keep open the option of working with Iran (and Russia) in Afghanistan. That is a compelling priority. The price for it is India steers clear of the Baloch opportunity.
So who then is responsible for Islamabad’s Balochistan headache? The western edge of South Asia is experiencing a tectonic shift. For 30 years, since the Soviet invasion of 1979, successive regimes in Kabul were destabilised by Islamabad. Today, positions have been reversed. The Afghan establishment, at least the faction surrounding President Hamid Karzai, is doing its utmost to destabilise Pakistan. Balochistan is where this experiment is being played out.
Northern Balochistan is a Pushtun stronghold, home to many refugees from the Afghan war of the 1980s. A wing of the Taliban, led by Mullah Omar, is in Quetta, the provincial capital. In the southern part, nomadic Baloch communities have been restive for decades. Islamabad’s writ doesn’t run very far. Kabul has long smelt its chance.
This suits India, but still doesn’t mean India is responsible. Indeed, even the Americans are not quite innocent. Their intelligence agencies are known to have a network in the Baloch belt, in the hope of some day causing a problem for Tehran. The Pakistani Baloch region is a way-station in this journey.
What does it all add up to? Far from converting a domestic insurgency into a bilateral issue, and pinning the blame on India, Pakistan is actually trying to box in an international situation and somehow fit it into a two-country framework. In truth, even if India were to disappear off the face of the planet tomorrow morning, the Baloch mess would remain.
There is one other prism through which to look at the Baloch issue: it offers an alternative model of Muslim oppression. In the past few years, sources of Islamic grievance have become the subject of passionate debate. These are generally seen as Arab/Middle Eastern- Palestine; the presence of American troops in Saudi Arabia — or South Asian, as in Kashmir.
This template offers no space for grievances of Muslim peoples, as opposed to Islamists. The Baloch are one such, and so are the Uighurs and Kurds (people of the BUK, to coin a handy acronym). These are predominantly secular Muslim communities. Each has a small sliver of al-Qaeda-type zealotry but that is not the defining characteristic.
In all three struggles, the Crusader-Zionist-Hindu triumvirate that Osama bin Laden talks about is not the principal villain. In two of the three, a small Muslim minority is being oppressed by other, locally dominant Muslim ethnicities. A notional Kurdistan, with oil-rich Kirkuk as its capital, would be the most pro-West territory in the Middle East after Israel. No wonder it is not bin Laden’s rallying cry.
The Islamists are not the only hypocrites. The US would be happy to have Iranian Balochis demand autonomy but not Pakistani Balochis. Turkey protests against China’s treatment of Turki-speaking Uighurs but is scarcely as generous to Iraqi Kurds, lest it gives Turkey’s own Kurds ideas. China lectures India on Kashmir and America on Iraq. When it comes to Xinjiang, it brutalises its Muslim minority, no questions asked.
Like the Uighurs and the Kurds, the Baloch are the forgotten underdogs of the Muslim world. India should stop pretending they don’t exist.
Ashok Malik is a Delhi-based writer
Ashok Malik
August 02, 2009
Another lie of Rehman Malik exposed
Afghanistan rejects admission of terror camps
Sun, 02 Aug 2009
Afghanistan denies reports that President Hamed Karzai had admitted that his country was home to "terrorist" camps that operate against Pakistan.
Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik said last week that Kabul had admitted that the separatist Baloch youths are being trained on Afghan soil to carry out terrorist attacks inside Pakistan and that President Karzai had promised to take action against these training grounds.
"This is absolutely not true. This is baseless," Afghan Interior Minister Hanif Atmar told a press conference on Sunday adding that after the Pakistani minister expressed Islamabad's deep concerns over the deteriorating security condition in the region, the president had pledged "firm action" against threats to Pakistan from Afghanistan should he receive evidence.
The Afghan minister also rejected his Pakistani counterpart's reported claim that 90 percent of militants arrested in Pakistan were of Afghan origin, saying Kabul had "strong evidence that Afghan as well as Pakistani, Central Asian and Al-Qaeda-linked militants of various nationalities were operating from safe havens across the border."
Malik had also claimed that Indian intelligence agencies were running the anti-Pakistani terrorist camps to cause unrest in Balochistan.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=102319§ionid=351020403
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