Pakistan's 'secret' war in Baluchistan

[Xeric]

Hmmm........ Dear sir... i have a simple answer for all these questions.
We recieved nothing more then fu..ng bull crap...

And the question remains; what did they do of this bull crap..

 

[DESERT FIGHTER]

And the question remains; what did they do of this bull crap..

Before bein sarcastic kindly see my whole post.

Ordinary ppl dont recieve nothin its the tribal chieftains who get rich..
Even though i also belong to the same class of the sardars but i like to speak the truth.

 

[sparklingway]

Before bein sarcastic kindly see my whole post.

Ordinary ppl dont recieve nothin its the tribal chieftains who get rich..
Even though i also belong to the same class of the sardars but i like to speak the truth.

And the question remains; what did they do of this bull crap..

The tribal sardars were paid so that the federation would not have to churn out the necessary royalties and get away with as little as possible.

Therefore, the Federation is guilty and so am I as a complacent Pakistani who did not raise my voice against this. Absolving yourself of crimes and negligence is easy.

 

[Comet]

To be realistic, Balochistan is going to linger on just like the previous 6 decades or so.

It is an old habit of PUNJABIS to label others as TRAITORS.

I am just waiting to be labelled as one.

You sure about this? I am a Punjabi and I spent most of my life in Quetta which mean too much interaction with Baloch and Pathan people and what you are talking about is not the case.

 

[EjazR]

BNP leader Liaquat Mengal shot dead in Kalat

QUETTA: Haji Liaquat Ali Mengal, a leader of the Balochistan National Party-M, was shot dead near his house in Kalat on Tuesday.

The killing of second BNP-M leader in a week — Habib Jalib Baloch was gunned down on July 14 — sparked protests in the provincial capital and activists of the party held a demonstration near the press club.

Addressing the protesters, BNP-M leaders Agha Hasan Baloch, Akhtar Hussain Lango and Ghulam Nabi Marri said the killings would fail to force the party leadership to abandon the struggle against ‘usurpers’.

They said death of important leaders was a big loss but no nation could achieve its rights without rendering sacrifices.

The leaders appealed to party workers and sympathisers to remain peaceful and said that anti-Baloch forces were provoking them to take the path of violence in order to weaken their organisation.

 

[Xeric]

Before bein sarcastic kindly see my whole post.

Ordinary ppl dont recieve nothin its the tribal chieftains who get rich..
Even though i also belong to the same class of the sardars but i like to speak the truth.

And who is to be blamed? The chieftains, the sufferers or the both?

The tribal sardars were paid so that the federation would not have to churn out the necessary royalties and get away with as little as possible.

Coulndt agree more.

But, then this doesnt not absolve Balochi(stan) from their 'crimes and negligence' either.

Therefore, the Federation is guilty and so am I as a complacent Pakistani who did not raise my voice against this. Absolving yourself of crimes and negligence is easy.

i am probably been taken in a wrong context.

Let me make myself clear here; i have never in favor of the iron-fist policy to resolve the issue. i think you need to read my posts regarding Balochistan that were written before your inception here, i hope you would go through them if time permits.

i have always been firm over the following two points:

- The GoP screwed up big time over Balochistan since the very start. With BS like:

"Q: Poray Pakistan mai gas ati hai, Quetta mai gas kiyon nahi?

A: Gas kyn k Quetta k pas/kareeb say nikalti hai, islye usy pehlay thanda or uska pressure kam karenay k liye pehly baki Pakistan mai jayege phir Balochistan mai ayge"

We have always fingered every issue to an extent where it would bounce back and hurt us, Balochistan has been a classic example. Another thing, the poor habit of ours (especially politicians) to hide everything under the carpet is also a culprit in this case. Keep Bugti and likes shut (with money), this in turn would not raise concerns during my tenure of rule, and there on everybody can go to hell when this cancer would be at the verge of eating up the entire province.

- The 'crime' committed by the Balochis itself by not raising voice against the monopoly, blackmail and the ruthlessly culling of their basic rights. Moreover, when they did raise the voice, unfortunately it was in the form of BRAs and BLAs.

Though sometimes i feel that we left the Balochis with only one choice - to pick up arms against the state, and it was kind right (if for a while we keep out the indian and other related factors), but what concerns me now is the fact that when the govt and the Nation has realized that they have been treating the Balochis unequally and have acted as an impediment in their walk towards progress and that now they want to rectify and undo all that had happened, then there's no logic behind the existence of BLAs and the support to them by a common Baloch! My reference is to those numerous interviews with the likes of Harbaryar and Bramdagh where they out rightly reject any other solution other then the so called independence.

i hope i made myself clear.

 

[Xeric]

DAWN.COM | Pakistan | Pakistan denies allegations over Mumbai attacks

QUETTA: Liaquat Mengal, a senior leader of the Balochistan National Party (BNP), was shot dead in Kalat District on Tuesday.

Three unknown assailants riding a motorbike attacked Mengal when he was on his way to Kalat city, police sources said. Mengal died on the spot.

Area police started an operation to arrest the criminals.

Something's wrong with your link, buddy.

Too much Kashmir, polls, mumbai and Balochstan, perhaps

 

[sparklingway]

The Baloch insurgency, Part I​

July 23rd, 2010 by Cyril Almeida

The killing of Habib Jalib Baloch on July 15 has sent a wave of concern across Balochistan and Islamabad that the insurgency in the province has entered a dangerous new phase.

Mr Jalib was the secretary general of the Balochistan National Party led by Akhtar Mengal, a moderate party considered to be secular, middle class and at a remove from the oppressive sardari system that dominates politics in the province.

While publicly Mr Jalib’s death has been blamed by Baloch leaders on the intelligence agencies, there is growing concern in the ranks of parties such as the BNP(M) and the National Party that hard-line Baloch separatists may be eliminating those willing to work inside the Pakistani federation.

“We are in a very difficult position,” Senator Hasil Bizenjo of the NP said. “The message to us is that people talking about nationalist politics, about staying within the federation, will not be spared.”

According to Mr Bizenjo, the BNP(M) and NP are viewed as collaborators by the separatist forces. “They (the hardliners) say, ‘We are being killed by the ISI and you people are working for them.’”

The killings — Mr Jalib was the third former BSO chairman and one of a dozen Baloch leaders killed in the last three years — raise a more fundamental question: why is the cycle of violence still continuing in Balochistan?

While the violence is down from the 2005-2008 peak period, the Pakistani state and parts of the Baloch population are undeniably still locked in conflict.

In a series of conversations with Dawn, senior government and army officials and Baloch representatives attempted to explain why, in their view, a conflict that has claimed between 500 to 1,500 lives since 2001 continues today.

Foremost is the issue of missing persons.

Estimates vary wildly: the Baloch claim thousands of fellow citizens are missing; rights groups like the HRCP suggest a figure in the low hundreds; the army acknowledges no more than a few dozen missing. Yet, it isn’t necessarily the detentions per se but the lack of information about the detainees that makes the missing-persons issue so incendiary.

“We asked them (the army) to do two things. One, produce all the missing person in court and file charges against them. Two, allow the families to meet them,” according to Hasil Bizenjo.

A senior federal minister involved in discussions concerning Balochistan concurred: “We weren’t even asking to set them free. But they (the army) weren’t willing to listen because they considered them (the missing persons) to be treasonous. We said, they may have done things they need to be punished for, but they are still Pakistanis and we have to treat them as such.”

Army officers deny the charge. A high-ranking officer claimed that comprehensive internal investigations have been conducted: “We’ve looked and we haven’t found anything. It’s a myth, one of those unfortunate consequences of this situation.”

The army does admit nearly 30 suspects are in the custody of agencies such as the ISI, MI and Corps Intelligence and are being investigated by Joint Investigation Teams. In addition, senior offers admit some of the missing have been killed in encounters. Beyond that, high-ranking officers claim they are ready to investigate any and every case of alleged disappearances brought to their attention.

That does not cut ice with rights groups. According to Ali Dayan Hasan of the Human Rights Watch “it’s the state’s responsibility to protect its people. If the families are claiming people are missing, then the MI should prove that they aren’t. Find these people and show us where they are.”

Part of the problem, according to Hasil Bizenjo, is that the army does not understand the impact of missing persons. “Balochistan is a backward society. If you pick up a boy from a village, you make an enemy of the entire village.”

The depth of anger over the missing persons can be gauged from the fact that it has dislodged as the central complaint the decades-old grievance of the Baloch: that the province’s gas and mineral riches have been exploited by the Pakistani state.

No one, not even army officers, denies that reality.

Referring to the disparity in the gas price offered to Balochistan and the other provinces, Petroleum and Natural Resources Minister Naveed Qamar explained: “There was definitely an anomaly in pricing. Sui was discovered in the mid ’50s and the subsequent increases in the price were made using the original price as a benchmark. Qadirpur (in Sindh) was priced using the benchmark of international oil prices. That doesn’t justify it, though. It was wrong.”

However, Mr Qamar disputes the notion the centre is still exploiting Balochistan’s resources: “Over the last 18 months, significant change has come about. We’ve fixed the gas-price anomaly to a large extent. Rikodiq (where large reserves of gold and copper are reported to exist) has been handed over to the provincial government and Saindak will be soon.”

Even so, perceptions about the intentions of the army and ‘centrist’ bureaucrats in Islamabad linger.

“It’s about greed. They want Balochistan’s resources to create prosperity in the other provinces,” claimed Syeda Abida Hussain, co-founder with her husband, Fakhar Imam, of the Friends of Baloch and Balochistan.

“It’s no longer about the resource-sharing at present. It’s about the potential,” Naveed Qamar suggested. “Balochistan contributes 17 or 18 per cent of gas today to Pakistan’s needs, but the vast resources that are still untapped because of the security situation, that is the real prize.”

The Baloch look no further for modern-day proof of the Pakistani state’s intention to ‘colonise’ Balochistan than the port at Gwadar. “There are these beautiful, paved boulevards in the port area. And right outside the poverty of the Baloch is shocking,” said Sanaullah Baloch, a former BNP(M) senator. “Gwadar has nothing to do with concern for the Baloch.”

If the Baloch, army and government do agree on one thing, it is that a great deal of the blame for the violence continuing must be shouldered by the Balochistan government.

The February 2008 provincial elections were boycotted by the moderate Baloch parties such as the BNP(M) and NP, an “unintended consequence that we didn’t understand at the time,” according to a senior army official, and which “the province is paying for.”

The provincial government is widely perceived to be epically corrupt and monumentally inefficient. That has real consequences.

For one, it allows the army to deflect attention from the heavy-handedness of the Frontier Corps, which is still tasked with law and order duties. Practically speaking, it becomes difficult to debate the withdrawal of the FC, a major demand of the Baloch, when the police are incapable of establishing even a modicum of law and order.

The provincial government’s incompetence also impacts on the possibility of winning over disaffected Baloch. “They’ve got all this extra money,” Naveed Qamar said referring to the Rs12bn of new resources-related payments to the province, “but will it make its way to the people? That’s a big question mark.”

Another commonality among the Baloch, government officials and army officers spoken to: none were optimistic the violence will abate soon.

In fact, many suggested the two extremes appear to be digging in their heels.

On the Baloch side, the armed radicals are bent on intimidating, perhaps even eliminating, moderate voices, making the possibility of a compromise with the state that much more distant.

On the army’s side, while it fiercely denies it has a ‘colonial’ approach towards Balochistan, there is a steely resolve to prevent any ‘mischief’ by outside powers in the province — an approach which severely diminishes the possibility of concessions towards the Baloch extremists.

“If the federation is to survive, the moderates need to be heard,” according to Raza Rabbani. The trouble is, no one seems to believe that is an imminent possibility.

 

[TaimiKhan]

Guys check this out, good info and steps taken by the Army, now the civilian setup needs to do more.

We Make the Difference - Baluchistan

 

[sparklingway]

The Baloch insurgency, Part II ​

July 25th, 2010 By Cyril Almeida

A week ago, a war of words between the National Party and BNP-M on the one side and insurgent groups demanding independence for Balochistan on the other erupted out in the open.

According to the Baloch Hal, an online newspaper, on Sunday, July 19 newspapers in Balochistan carried a statement by the National Party’s central spokesperson suggesting the Balochistan Liberation Front was to blame for the recent killing of an NP leader, Maula Baksh Dashti.

The same day, newspapers in the province also carried a defiant statement by Akhtar Mengal, chief of the BNP-M, rebuffing a call by the Anjuman-i-Ittehad-i-Marri, a group linked to Khair Baksh Marri, leader of the Marri tribe, to reject parliamentary politics in the wake of Habib Jalib’s murder.

The public outbursts were extraordinary: even mapping the groups involved in the violence in Balochistan is fraught with danger.

“Please be very careful. These are merciless people,” a senior Quetta-based journalist who requested anonymity to talk about the radical groups urged. “It’s very difficult for us to work here.”

Reliable information on the insurgent groups is difficult to come by and even harder to corroborate. Nevertheless, the contours of the groups involved in the violence can be established to some extent.

A handful of groups dominate the insurgency, of which the Balochistan Liberation Army is perhaps the most well-known. The BLA appeared in its present incarnation soon after the arrest of Khair Baksh Marri in January 2000. The powerful Marri chief was accused of having a hand in the murder of a Balochistan High Court judge.

Originally a rural phenomenon and limiting its operations to Dera Bugti and Kohlu, the BLA is believed to have expanded its attacks into the cities following the breakdown of a unilateral ceasefire declared in September 2008. An affiliate of the BLA is the Balochistan Liberation United Front, a smaller organisation thought to be ‘more sophisticated’ and considerably more hard-line.

The other high-profile radical group is the Baloch Republican Army, the militant wing of the Balochistan Republican Party, a rechristened arm of Akbar Bugti’s Jamhoori Watan Party. The BRA came into existence after Bugti’s death in August 2006 and is believed to be controlled by his grandson, Brahmdagh. Its area of operations appears to be in relatively remote areas such as Dera Bugti, Jaffrabad and Naseerabad.

A third major group is the Balochistan Liberation Front, another name resurrected from the last insurgency in the 1970s. The present-day version operates mostly in the Makran area and is also linked to Khair Baksh Marri.

Beyond that, drilling down into the specifics invariably throws up a confusing set of claims and counter-claims. Take the killing of Habib Jalib, the BNP-M secretary general.

Senior army officers point a finger at the BLUF, the affiliate of the BLA, for the killing. “BNP-M is in real trouble. Khair Baksh (Marri) has them in his sights,” a high-ranking officer claimed.

However, some among the Baloch have focused on the alleged claim of responsibility made by the Baloch Armed Defence Organisation (Baloch Musalha Defai Tanzeem). It is a relatively new ‘anti-Baloch-nationalist’ group about which little is known, though the Baloch claim it is a front for the intelligence agencies.

That is denied by the army and some moderate Baloch leaders wonder whether the Tanzeem is also sponsored by the radicals. Asma Jahangir, former chairperson of the HRCP, however, is not convinced: “The cleansing of the Baloch intelligentsia can only be the work of the agencies.”

Other things are easier to speculate about, though. Why the alphabet soup of insurgent groups, when the majority are linked to Khair Baksh Marri?

“Perhaps they don’t want to put all their eggs in one basket,” according to Malik Siraj Akbar, editor of the Baloch Hal. “If one group is dismantled, at least the others will still exist.” Akbar also suggested unfamiliarity with the terrain in sprawling Balochistan leads to the recruitment of locals.

Saleem Shahid, Dawn’s Quetta editor, ventured that the reason could be rooted in the tribal system: “Tribal society does not accept outside leadership, so they create their own groups.”

More than the proliferation of radical groups, however, what worries observers is the widening scope of targets.

Attacks on security forces, state installations and government offices are all standard fare in Baloch insurgencies. In addition, killings of ‘settlers’ (groups considered non-Baloch because they trace their ancestry to outside the province, even though in many instances they have been residing in Balochistan for generations) have occurred in the past.

This time, however, it is the breadth and intensity of such killings that is alarming.

The senior journalist in Quetta claimed: “The target killings started in 2003, but they were sectarian in nature. The radical groups started their killing post-Bugti, initially in Quetta. Now, though, it has spread. Noshki, Khuzdar, Mastung, Gwadar, Turbat, Kech, the target killings are happening everywhere.”

According to the Balochistan government’s most recent figures, more than 125 people have been killed and nearly 200 injured in the last 18 months alone in ‘settler’-related violence.

One particular murder in Quetta last April sent shockwaves through conservative Balochistan: the killing of Nazima Talib, a female assistant professor at the University of Balochistan. The targeting of women was previously considered a taboo, but the BLA, which claimed responsibility for the killing, was defiant and claimed the murder was revenge for the alleged killing and harassment of Baloch women by the security forces.

Another worrying trend this year: the killing of fellow Baloch by the insurgent groups. The victims have been accused of spying and working as agents of the Pakistani state. A senior journalist said, “Even Pathans have been killed, and businessmen too. The impact is enormous. There is an exodus of teachers, doctors, businessmen.”

The killings by Baloch radicals are of course not occurring in a vacuum. Entrenched attitudes in the army towards Balochistan and the Baloch may be sustaining the cycle of violence.

“The army thinks of the Baloch as lazy, that they don’t want to work,” according to Zahid Husain, a respected analyst.

“They believe all Baloch are suspect, that they are against Pakistan,” said Senator Hasil Bizenjo. The senator recalled an incident where an entire area was sealed off by security forces in order to pull down a BSO flag hoisted atop a school.

A senior army officer admitted that sometimes the security forces need to show restraint. “They see this (the Baloch flags) as an affront to Pakistan, but I tell them not to react to small provocations.”

In present times, however, what may be impacting most directly on the army’s tough line against the insurgent groups is the foreign connection — the insistently whispered claims that Balochistan has become a stamping ground for foreign intelligence agencies.

India features heavily in such claims. From Brahmdagh Bugti’s ‘Indian passport’ to Baloch insurgents being handed suitcases of cash in Dubai to RAW agents in the Indian consulate in Kandahar, senior army officers are adamant Indian ‘mischief’ is at work. Strikingly, even senior government officials agree that the Indian connection exists.

It goes beyond India, though. “Every agency in the world, from the Americans to the Iranians to the Afghans to the Europeans to the Arabs, has some kind of footprint in the area. For some reason the British have an extraordinary interest in the area,” according to a senior army officer.

Some, though, suggest common sense needs to prevail. “There are 100,000 security men in the province if you count the army, the FC, the police, everything. At most there will be a few thousand among the Baloch population capable of causing trouble. They will never be able to create big mischief. We need to recognise that,” according a high-ranking officer.

Unfortunately, long-time observers of the Pakistan Army believe the officer’s opinion is squarely among the minority in the army.

 

[sparklingway]

Special Report from Balochistan-1​

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Watching Balochistan slipping through our fingers; Quetta residents in grip of fear; CM spends 15 days in a month in Islamabad or Dubai; middle class leaders who oppose separatists and support Baloch cause being eliminated​

By Amir Mateen

QUETTA: Anybody who has not been to Quetta for some time will be aghast to see the ghost town that it has become. Half of the once-bustling and lively town goes to sleep as soon as the sun sets. The other half trembles even to the sound of a cracker while locked inside their overly guarded houses.

The British garrison city that was known for its cultural diversity and for its laidback evenings stands divided into quarters based on ethnicity and religion. And, more important, whether you are a “uniformed person” or not. A quarter of the city is a no-go-area worse than Karachi’s killing alleys in the 1990s. A non-Baloch would not venture into areas around Saryab Road and Arbab Karam Road even during daytime.

The localities of Spiny Road and Smungli Road are no less dangerous as the marauding gangs of armed youth are found witch-hunting for anybody wearing trousers or matching the profile of a “non-local.” Local police enter the localities at considerable risk. Even the paramilitary Frontier Corps pickets get attacked occasionally. The picket leading to Bolan Medical College, meaningfully named as “Golimaar,” has been targeted more than once by grenade attacks. In suburbs, 16 kilometres off Quetta city on the western bypass, the Hazar Ganj bus stand was ambushed by rockets. The situation on the east side is equally scary. Life in the Quetta Cantonment is stable, thanks to the 24-hour armed-to-the-teeth vigilance. But the ordinary citizenry has been left to the butchery of a lethal mix of extremist nationalists, political separatists, religious fanatics, smugglers, drug dealers and the land mafia hand in glove with criminals, not to forget international terrorists and foreign intelligence agencies. The locals are shifting to the relatively safer Pashtun localities of, say, Nawankali and Sraghurdhi. The so-called Punjabi settlers, who may have lived in Quetta for generations, are being forced to leave for other provinces, sometime after selling their assets for pennies.

“The country seems to have given up on Balochistan,” says social activist Dr Faiz Rehman. He believes doctors are being discouraged to attend clinics in trouble areas so that such incidents do not get reported. Dr Yousaf Nasir, a top surgeon who was a cousin of former federal Minister Yaqoob Nasir, was ambushed in a target killing on Thursday. Another senior surgeon Chiragh Hassan is also receiving threats to move out. “Everybody wants to get out of here,” he added.

Security officials are on top of the hit lists. Around 1,600 government officials have applied for long leave and for transfer to other provinces.

Under such trying times, one hardly finds a notable politician in Quetta or even in Balochistan. The doyen of Baloch nationalism, Sardar Khair Bux Marri is in Karachi, Sardar Attaullah Mengal in Wadh, his son Akhtar Mengal in Dubai and MNA Hasil Bizenjo in Karachi. Equally important among Pashtun nationalists, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai is believed to be in London. His family said he was out of the country but they would not share where or when he might return home. Most Balochistan politicians who pour their grievous heart out regularly on television talk shows reside either in Islamabad, Karachi, London or the US.

While half of the province is inundated because of floods, killing scores of people, Chief Minister Aslam Raisani is languishing in Dubai. His staff said he was in Dubai for many days and they could not confirm when he would return. In any case, he is known to be a part-time CM as he lives in Dubai or Islamabad nearly 15 days a month and is never available, intelligibly that is, after 8:00pm come crash floods or cyclone. The only exception was when, military sources confirm, his son was caught by the Frontier Constabulary in a vehicle name-plated “Sarawan 2.” The chief of Sarawan tribes that he is, Aslam had to seek the intervention of military and political leadership at the highest level to bail out his son.

In the meantime, on average two persons die every day in target killings. The official figure for target killings in the last 10 months is 370 but others say the actual number should be around 600.

The country, particularly Islamabad, wakes up to the Balochistan tragedy only when a high-profile politician like Habib Jalib gets killed. That he was murdered in the wake of other Baloch Nationalist leaders like Maula Bux Dasti and Liaquat Mengal makes it all the more tragic and mysterious. Theories abound about these killings depending on whose side you are on.

Many like Jamhoori Wattan Party Secretary General, Rauf Khan Sasoli, believe that the commonality among these killings was that they were middle class leaders who opposed separatists and supported the Baloch cause while remaining with the framework of the Pakistani federation. “It’s the extremist separatists who have killed Jalib,” Sasoli said emphatically. Others think that Sardar Khair Bux Marri has issued the decree for the Baloch youth to choose violence as the only way for the independence of Balochistan. Political sources say on the condition of anonymity that the ‘lumpen’ groups are targeting the moderate Baloch. Still others blame it on the intelligence agencies like the CIA, KGB and, interestingly, those of India and Pakistan.

Military sources at the highest level confirm that they have proof of the involvement of the exiled Brahmadagh Bugti, the grandson of the Nawab Akbal Bugti, who allegedly runs the Baloch Republican Army from Afghanistan, in these killings. They say they have a copy of Brahmadagh’s Indian passport which the Pakistan Army has also furnished to the Indians as a proof.

The Pakistani security agencies are equally blamed. “The target killings of Baloch nationalists are being carried by those who think they can control us by eliminating our political brains,” says former Senator Manzoor Gichki. Many in Quetta believe that Baloch Massallah Daffah Army (BMDA), the outfit that has claimed all three recent killings, is a front for Pakistani agencies.

Most people in Quetta have stories to share that they believe proves the involvement of Pakistani security agencies. Chairman of Balochistan’s Peace Committee, Sardar Hameed Khilji names many people who were caught with evidence on close circuit cameras but later released. “I have helped catch many culprits but they always come out to threaten you,” said Khilji.

Military sources explain that the biggest problem was the lack of prosecution and investigation, sometimes out of negligence or incompetence but mostly because of fear. They say it is very hard to prosecute criminals. In some cases, judges refuse to take up cases and in nine cases out of 10 witnesses fail to give evidence. Investigators operate under tough environment. In many cases senior police officials wear scarves to hide faces from the accused terrorists. “There are serious flaws in the legal and administrative systems to handle the situation,” said one military source. “Once these people get out they become more confident while those who help us get punished, even killed,” he said.

The Balochistan issue may not be as simple as the policy makers and pundits in Islamabad think. It’s not just about politics and terrorism. It is also about the crisis of governance, capacity, the feelings of deprivation and exploitation. Most important, it’s a psychological issue that exists in the hearts and minds of the people of Balochistan. It will take much more than the so-called the Aghaz-e-Hqooq-e-Balochistan. We shall focus on that in the coming days.

Special Report from Balochistan-1

 

[Dance]

With US help, Khan of Kalat gets asylum in UK


Saturday, July 24, 2010
By Murtaza Ali Shah

LONDON: Britain has quietly granted refugee status to noble Baloch figure Khan Suleman Daud, the 35th Khan of Kalat. In granting him refugee status, Britain accepted that Khan had a well-founded fear of persecution if he returned to Pakistan.

Khan, who first applied for asylum in July 2007, claimed in his application that he feared of persecution at the hands of the Pakistani establishment. He cited the killings of senior Baloch leaders, the disappearance of hundreds of Baloch and the displacement of thousands, especially from the Marri and Bugti tribes, as a proof that his life was in danger too.

According to the UK’s asylum rules, Khan had to surrender his passport - which addressed him as His Highness - along with those of his family members.His asylum claim was refused initially and Khan filed an appeal against that decision. He threatened to fight his case all the way but the UK government relented and granted Khan refugee status under the provisions of the 1951 UN refugee convention. It is believed that the United Nations officials pressed the British government on behalf of Khan of Kalat before he was granted sanctuary in Britain. He has also now been issued a refugee travel document which allows him to freely travel across the world with the exception of Pakistan.

The Khan of Kalat confirmed to The News that currently he holds the UN travel document and is entitled to travel freely. The refugee status enables him to the full spectrum of welfare benefits including free housing, free education for his children and monthly allowance in case of being unemployed.

It will be almost 6 years from now before the Khan of Kalat is able to get the British passport but the UN travel document is equally good for travelling around the world. After making the picturesque Cardiff his home, the Khan of Kalat vowed that he will take Pakistan to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for committing human rights violations in Balochistan and for trampling upon many a pact the centre had signed with the elders of the Kalat hierarchy.

But some Baloch leaders among the diaspora and observes living in exile in the European countries and in the Middle East have questioned why, despite being able to travel out of the UK, the Khan has yet not made any headway at the international level to highlight the situation in Balochistan.

Baloch sources mutter that Khan of Kalat could have been a unifying force for the various Baloch factions engaged in activism against the establishment but he has failed to help pave the way for a common platform for a sizable number of Baloch settled outside Pakistan.

It is felt that the international effort against the mighty establishment has been left to the sons of veteran yet defiant Baloch leader Nawab Khair Baksh Marri. Hyrbayar Marri, who is living in exile in London with his family, Mehran Baloch, who is based in Dubai with his brother Gazain Marri, and Noordin Mengal, a young exiled leader and a grandson of both Sardar Attaullah Mengal and Nawab Khair Baksh Marri, are the only ones to run the show.

As a consequence of their constant campaigning, both Hyrbayar Marri, who spent time in Belmarsh prison, and his brother Mehran Baloch, who came close to being extradited to Pakistan and exchanged with British born Al-Qaeda operative Rashid Rauf, have faced numerous difficulties and they say they are still being hounded.

Hyrbayar Marri has not had his passport returned since June 2007 when he applied for extension of visa for himself and his family. His visa was extended but then it was revoked after Hyrbayar Marri and Faiz Baloch were arrested during a high profile night raid in December 2008 and he has been living in Britain without passport since then.

Widely admired in Baloch nationalist circles, especially amongst the new generation for his hard stance, Marri remains stuck in Britain as he has been unable to get back his passport despite his best efforts involving legal means. Faiz Baloch, a key figure in the Baloch diaspora community, who was also picked alongside Hyrbayar Marri and exonerated later when the British government was forced to drop all charges, remains in limbo since he applied for asylum in 2002.

The Khan of Kalat denied that he had become complacent or was in negotiations with the Pakistani government as suggested in the media recently. He said he had plans to take the case of Balochistan to the international level but it needed to be done in a proper way and at the right time.

“I am already in touch with the people who matter and I am highlighting the case,” he said without revealing what kind of action plan it was and who were his interlocutors at the world stage.

The Khan of Kalat said, citing media reports that Pakistani establishment was ready to broker a deal between Karzai and Jallaludin Haqqani network in Afghanistan, he didn’t need to do much campaigning as Pakistan’s true role as a militancy-supporting country was unravelling before the world.

Before leaving Pakistan, the Khan of Kalat was tasked by the representative Baloch jirga, soon after the killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti, to take the case of Balochistan to the International Court of Justice. But his role came into serious questioning when he launched the Council for Independent Balochistan in August lat year without completing the original task of going to the ICJ. He was also questioned for not taking into confidence the key exiled Baloch figures, whose following remains strong in the strife-hit Balochistan, before announcing the launch of Council for Independent Balochistan.

Nearly a year on, the Baloch sources complain, the council has not done anything worthwhile on the Balochistan issue and the grand objectives the council set forth have been cast aside in favour of some inexplicable reticence and non-campaigning.

“Balochistan is burning. The dark forces are openly eliminating the first and second tier leadership without any fear. It is the duty of every Baloch to resist this onslaught through every means possible.

“Those who fail to come to the side of their people today will be condemned in the history books,” commented Mehran Baloch, Balochistan’s representative to the UN who has campaigned indomitably at the world forum for many years now.


http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=252584

 

[Xeric]

Special Report from Balochistan-1​

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Watching Balochistan slipping through our fingers; Quetta residents in grip of fear; CM spends 15 days in a month in Islamabad or Dubai; middle class leaders who oppose separatists and support Baloch cause being eliminated​

By Amir Mateen

QUETTA: Anybody who has not been to Quetta for some time will be aghast to see the ghost town that it has become. Half of the once-bustling and lively town goes to sleep as soon as the sun sets. The other half trembles even to the sound of a cracker while locked inside their overly guarded houses.

The British garrison city that was known for its cultural diversity and for its laidback evenings stands divided into quarters based on ethnicity and religion. And, more important, whether you are a “uniformed person” or not. A quarter of the city is a no-go-area worse than Karachi’s killing alleys in the 1990s. A non-Baloch would not venture into areas around Saryab Road and Arbab Karam Road even during daytime.

The localities of Spiny Road and Smungli Road are no less dangerous as the marauding gangs of armed youth are found witch-hunting for anybody wearing trousers or matching the profile of a “non-local.” Local police enter the localities at considerable risk. Even the paramilitary Frontier Corps pickets get attacked occasionally. The picket leading to Bolan Medical College, meaningfully named as “Golimaar,” has been targeted more than once by grenade attacks. In suburbs, 16 kilometres off Quetta city on the western bypass, the Hazar Ganj bus stand was ambushed by rockets. The situation on the east side is equally scary.

Over exaggeration.

Life in the Quetta Cantonment is stable, thanks to the 24-hour armed-to-the-teeth vigilance. But the ordinary citizenry has been left to the butchery of a lethal mix of extremist nationalists, political separatists, religious fanatics, smugglers, drug dealers and the land mafia hand in glove with criminals, not to forget international terrorists and foreign intelligence agencies.

Q-1 What was the need to highlight this part? If it was sarcasm then i must say it was over-doing it, as the writer has already done 'justice' with the thing.

Q-2 Why would one even become sarcastic of the fact that a certain part of the city stays peaceful?

On one side having uniforms among oneself is considered volition of human rights, occupation of land and subjugation, but then they also cant stand the peace that is being sustained by the same uniforms.

Hey, if you (the writer) missed this; local law enforcement is not Army's responsibility!

Two, if some particular under the Army is 'peaceful' (which infact is under constant threat), the credit goes to those men who stand firm at their posts and dont duck nor bend when faced with danger. i suggest their civilian counterparts also start doing the same.

Three, the military will do all that it can to restore peace provided that is what is asked out of them by the GoP, but if the locals (including the writer) cant stand that, they have no right to feel sarcastic about their achievements either!

The locals are shifting to the relatively safer Pashtun localities of, say, Nawankali and Sraghurdhi. The so-called Punjabi settlers, who may have lived in Quetta for generations, are being forced to leave for other provinces, sometime after selling their assets for pennies.

i concur.

Where's the Police, Sir Raisani, GoB and party?

 

[sparklingway]

Over exaggeration.

I would agree.

Q-1 What was the need to highlight this part? If it was sarcasm then i must say it was over-doing it, as the writer has already done 'justice' with the thing.

Would have said the same thing had I just left the first sentence out and kept the rest in bold?

Q-2 Why would one even become sarcastic of the fact that a certain part of the city stays peaceful?

Not meant to be sarcastic.

On one side having uniforms among oneself is considered volition of human rights, occupation of land and subjugation, but then they also cant stand the peace that is being sustained by the same uniforms.

I guess you're even seeing it wrong (from their perspective). Of course the military areas would be protected. Peace and security are different things.

Hey, if you (the writer) missed this; local law enforcement is not Army's responsibility!

Paramilitary and military are involved throughout the province (despite what officials want to suggest). Moreover, the militant attacks throughout the province require far more than what the LEAs can conjure, especially since there is concrete evidence that state agencies have been kidnapping and in some cases targeting people as well. I won't go into long details here. Reactionary forces rise besides the already armed militants. It then becomes a sustained law and order problem, keeping in mind the widespread use of military power in the province for quite some time.

Two, if some particular under the Army is 'peaceful' (which infact is under constant threat), the credit goes to those men who stand firm at their posts and dont duck nor bend when faced with danger. i suggest their civilian counterparts also start doing the same.

Why go all savage over the issue? As far as I see it, the author was merely stating that citizens have been left at the mercy of a plethora of killers roaming throughout the city.

Should the citizens wall their localities, man their areas and restrict entries? I guess not. However, the police seriously has to do more.

PS: Self-righteousness and moralism have little value in such debates

Three, the military will do all that it can to restore peace provided that is what is asked out of them by the GoP, but if the locals (including the writer) cant stand that, they have no right to feel sarcastic about their achievements either!

I didn't get your point at all. The military is by all standards dictating the policies in Balochistan and the Federation has been apathetic and has left it to them as well.

Where's the Police, Sir Raisani, GoB and party?

Police is sleeping and greasing their palms. Raisani, et al in Dubai, as the author states.

 

[Patriot]

With US help, Khan of Kalat gets asylum in UK


Saturday, July 24, 2010
By Murtaza Ali Shah

LONDON: Britain has quietly granted refugee status to noble Baloch figure Khan Suleman Daud, the 35th Khan of Kalat. In granting him refugee status, Britain accepted that Khan had a well-founded fear of persecution if he returned to Pakistan.

Khan, who first applied for asylum in July 2007, claimed in his application that he feared of persecution at the hands of the Pakistani establishment. He cited the killings of senior Baloch leaders, the disappearance of hundreds of Baloch and the displacement of thousands, especially from the Marri and Bugti tribes, as a proof that his life was in danger too.

According to the UK’s asylum rules, Khan had to surrender his passport - which addressed him as His Highness - along with those of his family members.His asylum claim was refused initially and Khan filed an appeal against that decision. He threatened to fight his case all the way but the UK government relented and granted Khan refugee status under the provisions of the 1951 UN refugee convention. It is believed that the United Nations officials pressed the British government on behalf of Khan of Kalat before he was granted sanctuary in Britain. He has also now been issued a refugee travel document which allows him to freely travel across the world with the exception of Pakistan.

The Khan of Kalat confirmed to The News that currently he holds the UN travel document and is entitled to travel freely. The refugee status enables him to the full spectrum of welfare benefits including free housing, free education for his children and monthly allowance in case of being unemployed.

It will be almost 6 years from now before the Khan of Kalat is able to get the British passport but the UN travel document is equally good for travelling around the world. After making the picturesque Cardiff his home, the Khan of Kalat vowed that he will take Pakistan to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for committing human rights violations in Balochistan and for trampling upon many a pact the centre had signed with the elders of the Kalat hierarchy.

But some Baloch leaders among the diaspora and observes living in exile in the European countries and in the Middle East have questioned why, despite being able to travel out of the UK, the Khan has yet not made any headway at the international level to highlight the situation in Balochistan.

Baloch sources mutter that Khan of Kalat could have been a unifying force for the various Baloch factions engaged in activism against the establishment but he has failed to help pave the way for a common platform for a sizable number of Baloch settled outside Pakistan.

It is felt that the international effort against the mighty establishment has been left to the sons of veteran yet defiant Baloch leader Nawab Khair Baksh Marri. Hyrbayar Marri, who is living in exile in London with his family, Mehran Baloch, who is based in Dubai with his brother Gazain Marri, and Noordin Mengal, a young exiled leader and a grandson of both Sardar Attaullah Mengal and Nawab Khair Baksh Marri, are the only ones to run the show.

As a consequence of their constant campaigning, both Hyrbayar Marri, who spent time in Belmarsh prison, and his brother Mehran Baloch, who came close to being extradited to Pakistan and exchanged with British born Al-Qaeda operative Rashid Rauf, have faced numerous difficulties and they say they are still being hounded.

Hyrbayar Marri has not had his passport returned since June 2007 when he applied for extension of visa for himself and his family. His visa was extended but then it was revoked after Hyrbayar Marri and Faiz Baloch were arrested during a high profile night raid in December 2008 and he has been living in Britain without passport since then.

Widely admired in Baloch nationalist circles, especially amongst the new generation for his hard stance, Marri remains stuck in Britain as he has been unable to get back his passport despite his best efforts involving legal means. Faiz Baloch, a key figure in the Baloch diaspora community, who was also picked alongside Hyrbayar Marri and exonerated later when the British government was forced to drop all charges, remains in limbo since he applied for asylum in 2002.

The Khan of Kalat denied that he had become complacent or was in negotiations with the Pakistani government as suggested in the media recently. He said he had plans to take the case of Balochistan to the international level but it needed to be done in a proper way and at the right time.

“I am already in touch with the people who matter and I am highlighting the case,” he said without revealing what kind of action plan it was and who were his interlocutors at the world stage.

The Khan of Kalat said, citing media reports that Pakistani establishment was ready to broker a deal between Karzai and Jallaludin Haqqani network in Afghanistan, he didn’t need to do much campaigning as Pakistan’s true role as a militancy-supporting country was unravelling before the world.

Before leaving Pakistan, the Khan of Kalat was tasked by the representative Baloch jirga, soon after the killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti, to take the case of Balochistan to the International Court of Justice. But his role came into serious questioning when he launched the Council for Independent Balochistan in August lat year without completing the original task of going to the ICJ. He was also questioned for not taking into confidence the key exiled Baloch figures, whose following remains strong in the strife-hit Balochistan, before announcing the launch of Council for Independent Balochistan.

Nearly a year on, the Baloch sources complain, the council has not done anything worthwhile on the Balochistan issue and the grand objectives the council set forth have been cast aside in favour of some inexplicable reticence and non-campaigning.

“Balochistan is burning. The dark forces are openly eliminating the first and second tier leadership without any fear. It is the duty of every Baloch to resist this onslaught through every means possible.

“Those who fail to come to the side of their people today will be condemned in the history books,” commented Mehran Baloch, Balochistan’s representative to the UN who has campaigned indomitably at the world forum for many years now.


With US help, Khan of Kalat gets asylum in UK

British are two faced hypocrites.We should limit British Access to Baluchistan.They even offered to train Frontier Corps in Baluchistan few years back which was actually attempt of putting their spy in Baluchistan and the balochi leaders need to understand that whatever they want they should discuss it with GOP @ Islamabad instead of UN.Pakistan is too strong now to listen to someone regarding such a serious issue.The moderate leaders who are willing to reconcile should be given full protection unless Swat like position will arrive.