Balochistan Development Gateway

[sparten]

To counter the false propaganda being sprewd here.
http://balochistan.org.pk/

 

[Neo]

Thank you for the link Sparten.

I'm also leading the 'Gawadar - A jewel in the Crowne' thread with devleopment updates.
Keep posting!

 

[Neo]

Tehran offers trade corridor to Islamabad: Transit facility for exports to China sought

ISLAMABAD, Dec 19: Iran on Tuesday offered its trade corridor to Pakistan for exports to Russia and Central Asian republics and sought a similar facility from Pakistan for its exports to China.

“We are ready to provide transit facilities through land route to Pakistan," visiting Iranian Deputy Commerce Minister Dr Sadegh Mofatteh said at a press conference.

He said Iranian banks would soon open their branches in Pakistan, adding that permission for the purpose had already been granted by the government of Pakistan.

He said Iran was keen to make Pakistan its partner in trade and wanted to increase trade volume between the two countries from the current $650 million to $1 billion. It also wanted to enhance import of rice from Pakistan, which is presently 200,000 tons per annum.

Mr Mofatteh said he met chambers and federation officials in Karachi and the union of exporters of rice. He also had a meeting with the minister concerned and discussed ways for improving trade.

In reply to a query about the problems the two countries are facing in the trade sector, he said the most important problem for Pakistan was it did not have a major exporter to Iran. He said every item had some specific problems, but the most important for them was rice.

Mr Mofatteh made it clear that the import of Pakistani rice would not affect the rice production in Iran, adding that domestic production of rice was not enough.

About the proposed Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline, the deputy minister said a working group was already working on it, adding that his country gave high priority to Pakistan for being its trade partner, and

it would be good for the people as well as the government of Iran.

He said Iran and Pakistan shared borders and had close cultural links, adding that Iran was willing to resolve every problem on its side and wanted Pakistan to reciprocate in the same manner. He emphasised the need for having a close coordination between government officials and private sector of both the countries.

When asked why Iran had switched over to the euro instead of the dollar for transaction, Mr Mofatteh said there was no specific reason for that, adding that the usage of different foreign currencies facilitated trade with other countries.

APP adds: Meanwhile, the Iranian deputy commerce minister discussed matters relating to bilateral trade with Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan.

Mr Khan told the visiting minister that Pakistan was a big exporter of orange, but Iran had quarantine requirement on the export of Pakistani fruits to Iran. He said that no such quarantine conditions were ever imposed even by European countries on import of fruit from Pakistan.

The Iranian minister said that Pakistan could export its surplus potato to Iran, adding that there was a considerable potential for expanding trade between the two countries.

Bilateral trade between Pakistan and Iran has jumped from $141.7 million in 1999-2000 to $638 million in 2005-06. Export from Pakistan has increased from $24 million in 2000-01 to $188 million in 2005-06.

Pakistan and Iran had signed a preferential trade agreement in March 2004. The agreement became operational in September 2006. Pakistan and Iran had granted tariff concessions on more than 600 items under the agreement.

http://www.dawn.com/2006/12/20/top1.htm

 

[Neo]

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

CDWP takes up 29 schemes today: Extension of Pat Feeder Canal to benefit Balochistan

* PC-1 of canal extension plan revised
* It will enable Balochistan to use Indus water according to Water Accord of 1991

By Fida Hussain

ISLAMABAD: The ministry of water and power has revised the PC-I for the extension of Pat Feeder Canal that will enable Balochistan to utilize Indus water as per the Water Accord of 1991, a senior government official told the Daily Times on Tuesday.

The revised PC-I of the project costing Rs 4.467 billion will come up for discussion among all the stakeholders at a meeting of the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) on Thursday. The Balochistan government has serious reservations on the use of Indus water and complains of getting less than its full share of water.

The official said the extension of Pat Feeder Canal would help Balochistan have a capacity to utilize water in accordance with the provisions of the 1991 Water Accord. He said the Balochistan government also accuses the Sindh government of blocking its due share of water from the canal system. The ministry of water and power has revised the PC-I and this would be one of the important projects as the CDWP will take up 28 other schemes and three concept clearance on feasibility study for a potential alternative water source for Karachi – Desalination Option of Rs 45 million, retrieval of sewerage and drainage system in Lahore city (phase II) of Rs 583.9 million and capacity building of emergency services in Punjab at a cost of Rs 5.25 billion.

The official said the CDWP will also consider a position paper on Rs 3.4 billion rehabilitation, upgradation and conversion of 400 railway coaches. The planning body will also take up the construction of Chaudhry Zahoor Ellahi Shaheed Bridge over the River Chenab at Shahbazpur in Gujrat district, which would cost Rs 1.13 billion. Another important scheme to be taken up by the CDWP is construction of a dual carriageway from Gujrat to Salam Interchange Motorway through Mandi Bahauddin at a cost Rs 2.88 billion. The meeting will go through the ministry of petroleum and natural resources project of geo-hydrological exploration for the development of underground water in Hamun-Musheel Basin, Chaghi district, Balochistan. The project will cost Rs 75.4 million. The project of construction of boundary wall and site office for the Gwadar Export Processing Zone of Rs 139 million is also on the agenda of the meeting.

Construction of water filter plant and expansion of the existing filtration capacity at Karachi at a cost of Rs three billion, greater Karachi sewerage plan of Rs eight billion are also included in the agenda of the meeting. The CDWP will also consider Rs 2.3 billion scheme of construction of Medical Tower at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), Islamabad, and Rs 3.4 billion project of construction of medical tower at the JPMC, Karachi. Rs 2.5 billion project of upgradation/extension of laboratories of the Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Institute and Technology (PINSTECH), Phase II.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\12\20\story_20-12-2006_pg5_4

 

[Awesome]

Thanks Sparten, great site.

Another slap to the people sitting in distant lands and making false claims about Balochistan's development.

 

[sparten]

I have Balochi friends (3 of them in my office 1 in the college). They guided me here.

 

[EagleEyes]

Do ask Lulldapull for help.

Anyways. Pin this thread, and post all the Balochistan development & economic specific news here. Send them a mail that they can use this thread as a refrence to post contents on their site.

Keep up the good work Neo!

 

[lulldapull]

I am watching this bullshiit thread closely...Any bullshiit will be reponded to. My website on Balochunity has been hacked into many times by Punjabastani's. It is banned in Punjabastan just like Baloch2000 and our sister BLA sites.

No one buys these 'development' claims being made by our duggay/ matarway leaders. Naheen chahiyae bhai.....this type of ****** develuphmunt, where illegal immigrants come to our country.

My suggestion to our matarwa in Islamabad will be to walk the walk like when he says that dissolve kashmiri borders.....so bhancho why not also dissolve this hidu-pak country run on imperialist whims??...Hain jeee???

Why not hindu-pak kay duggay/ matarway live happily together, and pump cheese together too? watch Indian movies together...marry one another like they do in Chicago at Devon?

Akhir aik hee to qaum hae yae.

Just leave us Baloch alone!

 

[sparten]

For a Balochi nationalist you speak pretty good Punjabi. Lets see a few words in balochi or Brahui maara.

Enjoy perth.

 

[solid snake]

Just leave us Baloch alone!

Too bad your dreams of an independant Balochistan will never come true. It is a part of my country and I care about Balochistan just as much as I do about Punjab or anywhere else.

 

[Neo]

I have Balochi friends (3 of them in my office 1 in the college). They guided me here.

Invite them over to PFF Sparten.
We could use some moderate Balochis around here.

 

[sparten]

One of them dose come over sometimes as a lurker but he is pretty busy otherwise. Like me, except that I manage to wriggle out of things.

And Neo, lull is an Iranian Baloch from Kirmna. So just ignore him.

 

[lulldapull]

One of them dose come over sometimes as a lurker but he is pretty busy otherwise. Like me, except that I manage to wriggle out of things.

And Neo, lull is an Iranian Baloch from Kirmna. So just ignore him.

The unhappy province
By Ardeshir Cowasjee


THIS government of Pakistan seems to be digging itself into a hole as far as the province of Balochistan is concerned. It has on its own admission used jet planes, gunships, and missiles against the rebels of the province.

The rebels have been rebelling against the attitude of the government towards the underdevelopment of the province, its extreme poverty, its illiteracy, its lack of food, potable water, health facilities and the lack of all else that goes towards the making of a democratic state, highly enlightened and reasonably moderate.

Balochistan, 43 per cent of Pakistan’s land mass, housing but four per cent of its population of 160 million, some 6.5 million deprived, in poor health, illiterate, hungry and thirsty, mainly in thrall to the local sardari system, has of late been targeted by President Pervez Musharraf, who, after having rid himself of Thorn Nawab Muhammad Akbar Shahbaz Khan Bugti in a gun battle fought between the Pakistan army troops and the Nawab’s private army, has promised to do wonders for Balochistan and the Baloch — they are to be developed to the teeth.

They will be the recipients of much government funds, in return, of course, for cooperation and the cessation of bomb blasts and rockets faring by members of the movement demanding enhanced autonomy and a share in the gas-rich, poverty-stricken province. So far, the dissenters seem not to be in a cooperative mood as we read daily reports in the press of bombs going off here and there causing casualties and deaths.

So, it should not have been so strange to read the report in this newspaper on Friday, ‘Balochistan instability displaced 84,000 — UN help sought to save IDPs from starvation.’ But it was because of the story related. 84,000 Baloch, out of 6.5 million, is a lot and that they have been displaced through the acts of the government is not disputed. Reportedly, the government has so far not acknowledged the existence of the 84,000 though various UN agencies have known about them for many months and have been trying, almost begging, to help — but were always prevented from doing so by the caring, enlightened and moderate government of Pakistan.

Suddenly, the government has somersaulted and asked for United Nations help in feeding the starving 84,000. The provincial government has generously allowed the various UN agencies to “carry out nutritional intervention in districts of Naseerabad, Jaffarabad, and Quetta,” where the bulk of the displaced citizens have gathered — their plight has been described as ‘utterly desperate’ and is growing more desperate with the onset of winter. A one million dollar relief package will, however, be carried out through health facilities under the supervision of the local authorities who have up to now been unwilling to help in any manner.

This immediate volte face has apparently been brought about through acute embarrassment following a news item in the Christian Science Monitor of December 21 based on, “an internal assessment by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), shown to the Monitor,” which “paints a disturbing portrait.”

The disturbing portrait has it that 59,000 of the 84,000 wretched souls, bona fide citizens of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, with its nuclear arsenal, its mighty army of half a million men, its banks dispensing hefty loans for cars, weddings, jewellry and air-conditioners, are women and children. Of the thousands of children, a large number are so acutely malnourished that it is feared that they will die without immediate medical attention. One foreign observer has remarked, according to the CSM report, that it is a “crime against humanity situation.”

Helping the government dig itself deeper into a hole was the statement made without thinking, obviously, in view of the later development, by presidential spokesman Major-General Shaukat Sultan who claimed the UNICEF report to be “untrue” as most of the displaced persons “have gone back.” Disturbing also are reports by local aid workers that military trucks were used to round up the displaced men, women and children and hide them before they could get to them. According to the CSM, last week “the government abruptly cancelled a planned tour to Balochistan by a visiting delegation from the European Commission.”

This is all more than merely disturbing — the lying and the deception by both provincial and federal governments. Political oppression is the name of the game played in Balochistan, and on this score the governments are now trying to cover up their sins by appealing for help to save lives. It is indicative of the failure of the federal government, the cabinet of 80-plus, headed by an astute banker, that it has neither the means nor the wherewithal to feed 84,000 starving citizens.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan is now working on a list of what is known as the ‘disappeared’ of Pakistan, citizens who are considered a political nuisance, who have been arrested and taken to undisclosed locations. So far, the HRCP can confirm that 242 men have simply disappeared since 2000, 170 of whom hail from the province of Balochistan. To name but a handful of the more prominent Baloch ‘activists’ who have simply disappeared into thin air : Muneer Mengal, Gorem Saleh, Raja Ahmed Khan, Hafiz Saeed ur Rehman Bangalzai, and Ali Asghar Bangalzai. Now, apart from the suffering caused to these men and the other 237, one must also take into account the impact on the families of ‘enforced disappearances’ (as such victims are known by Amnesty International). The families and dependents who have no idea of the whereabouts of the disappeared, or as to whether they are alive or dead, are also victims. Enforced disappearances take a heavy toll on parents, wives, children and other relatives. They suffer extreme anxiety, and are frustrated in the face of pretended official ignorance, contradictions and even harassment.

To quote from a September 2006 Amnesty International report on Pakistan and its dismissal of human rights : “To be unaware of the fate and/or whereabouts of a family member for a prolonged period of time and to fear for his or her life and safety may in itself amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. The knowledge that torture is routinely used in Pakistan adds to the dear of the relatives.” There is also economic hardship involved, for when the main earners are victims of enforced disappearances this places a heavy burden on the families left behind.

All we see of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz now (on the front pages of our press) are photographs of him strutting about inspecting honour guards in remote countries of this world, or praying in Makkah. When I last met him, many years ago, he was not an unmitigated whatever. Now, I ask him : “How does it feel being prime minister of a country which ranks as it does in the international statistical records?”

Enjoy !

 

[Awesome]

Balochistan's kinks need to be worked out. However the current situation is to be blamed upon the previous governments and the Sardar's of Balochistan. It's 43% of Pakistan, and it has had nothing where as the rest of Pak has been developing for 60 years! Give it another 10-20 years to see some semblance of improvement.

 

[lulldapull]

Balochistan's kinks need to be worked out. However the current situation is to be blamed upon the previous governments and the Sardar's of Balochistan. It's 43% of Pakistan, and it has had nothing where as the rest of Pak has been developing for 60 years! Give it another 10-20 years to see some semblance of improvement.

I would have to strongly disagree with staying the course with Punjabastan. The situation now is at the point of hatred. The Baloch hate pakistan. No more lies......No more Pakistan for us. These Punjabi's and mahajir administration and Military are resorting to torture now.

‘Disappearances’ without a trace



By Irfan Husain


MOULA BUX was returning home from a court appearance in Sehwan Sharif on July 10, riding on the pillion seat of a relative’s motorcycle, when they were intercepted by a blue Toyota Corolla. The car had no number plate, and contained four uniformed policemen.

The cops dragged Moula Bux into the car and drove off. He has not been seen since then. His wife, three sons and a daughter are frantic. Relatives have been going from police stations to government offices, trying to find out where he is. Initially, the police refused to register a case, but were forced to do so in November on a Supreme Court directive.

Abid Raza Zaidi is more fortunate: kept in safe houses, he was moved around blindfolded, and tortured for four months until he was released recently. A Ph.D student, he tells of being transported by train, plane and car. He has no idea where he was taken. He was suspended upside down over an open sewer, and had his head lowered repeatedly into the foul water below. To this day, he has no idea why he was picked up. His is one of 70 such abductions reported in Karachi alone.

On December 3, Ghulam Mohammad Baloch was forced into a police van in Lyari. Witnesses say there were a number of police officers present, including a DSP and an SHO. On December 7, the Sindh High Court issued notices to the police and several intelligence agencies, directing them to produce Mr Baloch. Nobody has thus far accepted responsibility for this kidnapping.

According to Sajid Baloch, a relative, 6,000 Baloch have disappeared over the last couple of years. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has documented 400 cases, but obviously, most people, especially in rural Balochistan, have never heard of the HRCP, and therefore do not report these disappearances. Apparently, reports of such incidents have skyrocketed after 9/11. Almost invariably, the police and intelligence agencies deny any hand in these disappearances. And when the victims do return, most of them are too scared by threats to report their experiences to the media, or to go to court. In any case, most of them are blindfolded during their captivity, and cannot prove who had kidnapped them.

And yet, despite their claims of innocence, when the Supreme Court took up a case of 40 disappearances in November, and directed that they be produced, half of them were set free by various government agencies. So to pretend there is no official hand in these extrajudicial arrests is to assume a degree of stupidity in both our judges and the public. Clearly, these cases of kidnapping and torture are part of a covert state policy. There are just too many men disappearing for this to be a random crime wave.

This newspaper recently reported on a press conference held at the HRCP office by Saleem Baloch on December 20. Mr Baloch, an office-bearer of the Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP), told of being kidnapped last March, and being released a few days ago. During his eight-month ordeal, Mr Baloch came across many other Baloch in similar illegal confinement.

It appears that the uprising in Balochistan is the cause of many of these covert operations. Unable to produce any evidence that would stand up in court, the government is resorting to these methods to obtain information, and to punish people they think might be connected to Baloch nationalist organisations, most notably the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA). By succumbing to these tactics, our government is taking a page out of the American torture manual: Washington’s policy of rendition and its hellhole in Guantanamo Bay are clearly the models here.

But for all the adverse publicity these illegal operations have attracted, has the American government benefited by its actions? To my knowledge, little actionable information has been extracted from the victims. Many professional interrogators have confirmed the obvious over the years: under duress, people usually confess to anything their torturers demand. But of what use is this dubious intelligence?

By brutalising the population, you only make new enemies. We should have learned this lesson from our army’s experience in East Pakistan in 1971. An unknown number of people, possibly numbering in the hundreds of thousands, were killed; women were raped; and villages torched in an attempt to cow down the Bengali people. But far from submitting, the Mukti Bahini recruited more volunteers to its cause. Similarly, allied forces in Afghanistan and Iraq are generating increasing opposition to their presence through their harsh methods of putting down opposition.

But apart from suspected Baloch nationalists, other people have fallen victim to this policy. Moula Bux was an activist who sought a semblance of a fair deal for his people as gas was being pumped out from their land. In a letter addressed to the MD of ENI, a multinational exploiting the local gas field, Mr Bux wrote in January, 2004:

“(1) That in Gas Field’s plant as yet has not appointed any single said original area inhabitant [sic];

(2) That as by Company constructed road and Plant have not yet paid any remuneration amounts as in this respect faced losses by land owners [sic];

(3) That small small work and contracts were awarded to outsiders... [sic]”

I have no idea if Mr Bux’s agitation for local rights was responsible for his disappearance. But his family is convinced that this is the only possible explanation as he was not involved in any other kind of activity that could justify what happened to him.

The HRCP also has records of 20 young Shia men who have been abducted. Again, their families insist they were not involved in any subversive activities. This article is not about establishing the innocence of the ‘disappeared’, but to advocate their rights to a trial if the state has evidence against them. If not, they should be released. By behaving like those they seek to defeat (nationalists, extremists, etc), government functionaries are only strengthening resistance to a rule that is being increasingly viewed as illegal.

If the state does not follow the rule of law, how can it expect others to do so? So while the temptation to lash out at its perceived enemies might be great, by placing itself above the law, this government is eroding the very foundations of the state.