Baluchistan: The Story of Another Pakistan Military Genocide

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AshishN
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Baluchistan: The Story of Another Pakistan Military Genocide

Post by AshishN »

Baluchistan: Always under Pakistani Army Oppression
http://www.boloji.com/plainspeak/011.htm
http://www.Balochvoice.com/index_a.html
http://www.balochistaninfo.com/balochis ... sweden.htm
http://www.zrombesh.org/maqalat/Press_r ... 5B1%5D.htm
http://www.securitywatchtower.com/archi ... istan.html
http://www.ostomaan.org/jan_articleOpinion.htm

The Baloch attempt to fight back: A timeline: Pakistan Army ("Government") leaves them no option
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/7935 ... 170003.htm
Armed groups in Baluchistan and their fighting capacity

Pakistan resorts to genocide: Killings from the first days on...
Baluchistan Dossier: genocide
url
Racism as a cause of genocide

Baloch Nation Letter to UNHCR
http://www.petitiononline.com/baloch/petition.html
http://intellibriefs.blogspot.com/2005/ ... itary.html

Genocide with a story
http://www.sindhtoday.net/voicebalochistan.htm

Chemical weapons used on the baloch by Pakistan Army
http://colorado.indymedia.org/newswire/ ... /index.php
http://dtirp.dtra.mil/CBW/News/NG/ng_07feb06.asp

Sana Baloch, Mehran Baloch, Wahid Baloch speak
http://fpc.org.uk/articles/369
http://www.worldproutassembly.org/archi ... s_and.html
Aziz baloch speaks
http://www.bso-na.org/BSO_NA_activist_s ... forum.html
Blogs on the Baloch
http://www.boloji.com/plainspeak/011a.htm
The real deal with Pakistan: Taliban, Baluchistan, other issues with a common thread.
http://www.paifamily.com/opinion/archives/001034.html

Murdering the leader
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5290966.stm
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/7932 ... 170000.htm
The Dera Bugti shelling
http://www.sarbaaz.com/

Non-Army Pakistanis denounce killing
http://www.dawn.com/2006/08/30/local30.htm

Genocide video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ti_OijKBNs

Where did we see all this before? The genocide in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). Different mass murderers. Same uniform. Same philosophy: Let me treat you as the slave you are--or die.
http://www.muktadhara.net/page34.html
http://www.globalwebpost.com/genocide19 ... _intro.htm
http://www.gendercide.org/case_bangladesh.htm[/b]
Last edited by AshishN on 19 Sep 2006 22:13, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by rsingh »

Good Idea. Bit too late. I needed more data from reputed sources to try to scare Gola from Brussels ( like Sharon) .........that law in Belgium.Too late now.......Gola teri kismat..
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Post by shyamd »

Dial M for Murder
Vikram Sood
It has been a strange irony of history. Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, the Tamundar of the Bugti tribe, who supported the creation of Pakistan, served as minister in the central cabinet and then as governor of Balochistan — at a time when his fellow Baloch sardars, the Mengals and the Marris, were in revolt against Islamabad — has been killed by a Pakistani bullet.

The exact circumstances of his death are not yet clear. It is not known whether he died because the cave collapsed under heavy bombardment, or was killed in cold blood by the commandos sent in by General Musharraf. It is quite apparent, though, that the frequent use of satellite phones gave away his position, thanks to the latest counter-terror direction-finding equipment that the Pakistanis now have.

It was the Shazia Khaled rape incident in January 2005 and the coverup by the Army that provided the real impetus to Baloch resistance, which had been simmering and erupting periodically since the creation of Pakistan. Bugti assumed control, and the movement had found a totem pole.

In his last interview with the BBC on July 7, Akbar Bugti described how the Pakistan Air Force had strafed his positions all day for three consecutive days, and helicopter gunships and SSG commandos were pressed into service. Yet the proud Bugti would neither bend nor surrender.

Wealthy and powerful, the 79-year old Akbar Bugti need not have chosen to die in the Bhambore Hills. Instead, he chose to fight and die for a cause bigger than wealth and power — for Baloch pride and for the Baloch nation. The nationalists lost their leader but gained a martyr. They will now fight to honour his memory.

The General was thrilled because it was on his visit to Balochistan last year that he was targetted by missiles and had to be whisked away to safety. He had neither forgotten nor forgiven that the Baloch did not celebrate his takeover in October 1999. Gen Musharraf 's exultation and his act of offering congratulations to his officers for killing the sardar are hardly likely to endear the General to the Balochs. The anger and the resentment will fester for years even if the Pakistan Army is able to sup press the movement through the use of ruthless force. The Bugti tribe now has a personal enemy in Musharraf, so says Baloch rivaz. Unlike the Pakhtoons, the Baloch wear their religion lightly, but are fiercely nationalistic.

The Balochs' age-old grievances have been about persistent economic and social discrimination, and about fear of being swamped by the Punjabis and the Army. They also resent their land being parcelled out to outsiders, military cantonments being set up in Balochistan and the central government not sharing the revenues from the natural resources that the Baloch say belong to them. Long years of Army rule had ensured a policy that either ignored Baloch demands or suppressed their protests. The Balochs' hatred for the Punjabis has been deep and never really concealed. It is sometimes forgotten that the Balochs had been dra gooned into joining the Pakistan federation, or what they thought would be a federation but turned out to be Punjabi domination.

The recent Ralph Peters thesis in the US Armed Forces Journal, which redraws the map of the Muslim world in West and South Asia, speaks of a greater Balochistan comprising parts of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. However, maps on drawing boards do not by themselves translate into a country. The Baloch sit on crucial areas that are resource rich and strategically located, lying virtually at the mouth of the Strait of Oman through which 40 per cent of the world's oil passes. The province provides access to Central Asia and Iran. It lies on the land route for gas pipelines that could one day flow from Iran to India, and from Turkmenistan to Afghanistan into Pakistan, India and, possibly, China. Balochistan could provide access to US Special Forces wishing to operate in Eastern Iran where some of Iran's nuclear facilities lie.

Seymour Hersh, writing in 2005, said the US President had signed a series of findings and executive orders authorising secret commando groups and other Special Forces units "to conduct covert operations against suspected terrorist targets in as many as 10 nations in the Middle East and South Asia." There were reports that the anti-Iranian Mujahedeen-e-Khalq had been shifted from Iran to Balochistan by the US to operate inside Iran.

Forty five years ago, even the great Henry Kissinger had not heard of the Balochistan problem. US interest was revived when the Soviets pushed into Afghanistan, but then the main interest was in Pakistan as the Cold War was being fought out. It was Carter's national security adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski, who pointed out the importance of Balochistan for the defence of the Persian Gulf. Later, Reagan upgraded American links with Pakistan.

Today, in the post-Cold War era, there are other Great Power interests in Balochistan — of the US because of Iran and the energy resources up to the Caspian Sea, and of the Chinese because of the strategically located Gwadar port that they are helping construct. The Chinese would be quite happy to receive some of their West Asian oil and gas supplies at Gwadar and have it sent overland northwards into China.

Akbar Bugti used to allege that coastal land from Jiwani (including Gwadar) to Karachi would be detached from Balochistan and given away to a foreign power. Besides, the Chinese have been extending their reach into the US's backyard by cosying up to Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. Paul Wolfowitz's recommendation that US foreign policy should prevent any hostile power from dominating a region whose resources would, under consolidated control, be sufficient to generate global power, is coming into play.

The Baloch misfortune is that they are like the Kurds. They have no friends because they are scattered across three countries — Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan. Pakistan became a rentier state and today its realtors in jackboots face the possibility of two elephants fighting on their territory. Maybe India will stand by as an interested observer or merely a bystander as the two powers play out their Great Game on Baloch playgrounds and the rebellion continues to simmer.

There are lessons for us in this, and worries, too. Perhaps the first one is for those who oppose the Indian State. Surely the Kashmiris, who have taken to the gun, now realise how the Pakistanis treat those who revolt or ask for their rights, which is in sharp contrast to how the Indian State treats its own dissidents. No aircraft are sent in to strafe them, no helicopter gunships attack them and no artillery guns pound them. Instead, even the Prime Minister is willing to talk to them.

Second, no State today can afford to ignore the grievances of federated units. In India's case, such grievances are bound to increase as the country progresses and greater regional imbalances emerge from increasing expectations.

Finally, since Musharraf has acted out of pique and fear, his actions reflect a sense of weakness. He had refused to negotiate an agreement. A lot depends on how the General and his Army handle the situation in the weeks ahead. There are already misgivings, and even senior retired Army generals have expressed doubts. As his position seems to weaken further, Musharraf will need a diversion. The only diversion possible is either tilting towards India or meddling in Indian affairs.

The writer is Advisor to Chairman, Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi, and former Secretary, Research & Analysis Wing (R&AW).
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Post by shyamd »

Shocks to Come
PRAVEEN SWAMI
in New Delhi

Nawab Akbar Bugti's killing could have consequences for the whole region.
WHEN the Pakistan Army killed Nawab Akbar Bugti last month, it did more than eliminate the most visible icon of the Baloch nationalist struggle: the shock waves from the bombing of his mountain hideout could have profound consequences for the future of India-Pakistan relations.

Since the death of the ageing and arthritic politician, commentators across South Asia have considered the consequences the violence that followed might have for Pakistan and the region. One real risk, however, has passed almost unnoticed. Escalating conflict in Balochistan, coupled with his domestic political vulnerability, could push President Pervez Musharraf to adopt an aggressive position against India, and even fuel a fifth India-Pakistan war.

In recent weeks, Pakistan has repeatedly charged India with financing the Baloch rebellion. Pakistan claims that Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) stations in Teheran and Kabul have funnelled funds to organisations such as the left-wing Balochistan Liberation Army, and that President Hamid Karzai's regime in Afghanistan is providing training camps for the rebels.

Battered by the growing violence in Balochistan and bereft of political allies, President Musharraf is desperate for an issue with which he could restore his fragile legitimacy. More than a few experts now believe that renewed hostilities with India is the sole card Pakistan's military ruler has left in his deck.

Pakistan on edge

Pakistan's domestic political life is shaping the fallout from Bugti's killing. Heading into elections scheduled for 2007, Musharraf is under assault from his core constituency: Pakistan's military establishment. In July, 18 prominent figures in Pakistan's public life - including former Inter-Services Chiefs Lieutenant-General Asad Durrani and Lieutenant-General Hameed Gul, and former Balochistan Governor Lieutenant-General Abdul Qadir - wrote toMusharraf demanding that he either resign as President of Pakistan or the Chief of the Army Staff.

"Besides being a constitutional office," their letter argued, "the office of President of Pakistan is also a political office. Combining the presidency with the office of Chief of Army Staff politicises the latter post as well as the Army." No democracy, its authors said, could exist, unless the institutions of state abided by their Constitutional roles, and respected the principle of separation of powers. "The elections scheduled for 2007," it concluded, "will not be credible without neutral and impartial caretaker governments, both at the Centre and in the provinces."

Not surprisingly, India's military establishment has been watching Pakistan's military deployment patterns with some disquiet. On the face of it, Pakistan is in no position to risk an offensive military enterprise, whatever Musharraf's political concerns might be. Pakistan's Mangla-based I Corps, its northern army reserve and a string of other formations that protect Punjab, are drained by counter-terrorist commitments along the Afghanistan border in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas and Balochistan. In recent months, the Peshawar-based XI Corps' 7 Division, which is fighting the Taliban in the NWFP, is thought to have received two reinforcement brigades from the I Corps' 17 Division. Two more brigades of the Pannu Aquil-based XXXI Corps' 37 Division are also thought to have been moved to support the 7 Division's operations. Similarly, the Kohat-based 9 Division, which is engaged in the NWFP, has received a brigade each from the Multan-based II Corps' 14 Division, the Quetta-based XII Corps' 16 Division, the I Corps' 35 Division and the XXXI Corps' 41 Division.

But Pakistan still has offensive options if it believes India will not punish a localised offensive across the Line of Control (LoC) by a full-scale offensive against Punjab and Sindh. In 1986-1987, India was deterred from retaliating against Pakistan's support for Khalistan terrorist groups through a conventional military offensive because of fears that the conflict might escalate to unmanageable levels.

Since then, Pakistani strategists have come to believe that their nuclear shield guarantees them the freedom to wage small, localised wars, or to support enterprises like the jehad in Jammu and Kashmir. To Pakistan's military, India's decision not to cross the LoC during the 1999 Kargil war, or to risk a conflict in 2001-2002 after the terrorist attack on Parliament House, demonstrated that this belief was robust.

Some in India's Military Intelligence establishment believe Musharraf is again considering a Kargil-style enterprise. In recent weeks, the 19 Division, a reserve formation of the Muree-based X Corps, which has its peace-time headquarters at Jhelum, moved to a concentration area at Chakoti, in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Troops of the Mangla-based 26 and 28 Brigades, along with the 7 Azad Kashmir Brigade from Jhari Khas are thought to have reinforced the division, along with significant numbers of Special Forces personnel.

In addition, the Jalalpur Jattan-based 333 Infantry Brigade, part of the 23 Division's reserves, has moved to a forward position facing the town of Naushera, in Rajouri. Such movements typically precede a sharp, localised military thrust, which in this case would threaten Indian positions in Gulmarg and Poonch.

No one believes these troop movements are in themselves indicators of war. Indeed, they are likely a careful threat - a warning of just how Pakistan might react if India extends significant support to the Baloch insurgents as tit-for-tat retaliation against the jehad in Jammu and Kashmir. However, the idea of a limited war in Jammu and Kashmir continues to engage the minds of Pakistan's military strategists even after its defeat in Kargil.

An Indian strike against terror training camps in Pakistan, provoked for example by a massive terrorist attack of the kind seen in Mumbai in July, could be the pretext for such an attack. So too could large-scale artillery exchanges along the LoC. Most important of all, a massive escalation of violence in Balochistan on election-eve is certain to provoke charges that India is underwriting the secessionists - and push Musharraf to appropriate nationalist sentiment through military action.

"Don't push us," Musharraf warned Baloch leaders soon after the fifth Baloch rebellion broke out early last year. "It isn't the 1970s when you can hit and run, and hide in the mountains. This time you won't even know what hit you." Ironically enough, the General is the one who has been looking for cover ever since that threat.

Fighting in Balochistan has been escalating steadily since January last year when tribesmen owing allegiance to Bugti stormed the Sui gasfields, which produce an estimated 45 per cent of Pakistan's consumption. The attack followed the Pakistan Army's refusal to act against a junior officer alleged to have raped Shazia Khalid, a doctor who was subsequently pushed into quasi-exile by Musharraf's regime. Bugti insurgents fired 430 rockets and 60 mortar rounds at the Pakistan Petrochemicals Limited production facility in Sui, killing eight people and disrupting supplies for over a month. Steel and fertiliser production across Pakistan was hit as a consequence of the Bugti raid.

As with many conflicts in South Asia, the war in Balochistan has a long and complex history. In 1947, the Khan of Kalat, the quasi-autonomous monarch who had ruled Balochistan under the umbrella of the British empire, chose independence. While Pakistani troops moved into the region in March 1948, the Khan of Kalat dragged his feet on signing the legally necessary Document of Accession until early in the next decade.

Across the border in India, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel had wheedled and coerced wavering monarchs to sign away their independence; Pakistan chose to settle the issue by despatching two newly acquired combat jets to strafe the Khan's palace. In the event, the accession of the Khan of Kalat's territories settled little. By the middle of the 1950s, the Prince of Kalat launched the People's Party, representing a new Baloch nationalism that cut across tribal and linguistic lines. In 1972, the People's Party and the NWFP-based National Awami Party allied with the Islamist Jamait-ul-Ullema-i-Islam to oppose the centralising regime of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

Having won the elections, the alliance sought to increase the representation of the ethnic-Baloch in government, and demanded greater control over development and industrialisation. Bhutto, representing the national ruling class of Pakistan, resisted this effort by the regional elite to assert its authority.

Matters came to a head in March 1973, after Pakistan's covert services interdicted a consignment of weapons believed to have been despatched by Iraq's covert service to Sardar Ataullah Mengal, the head of the Balochistan provincial government. Bhutto dismissed Mengal's government, leading to the outbreak of civil war. Led by the Marxist Balochi People's Liberation Front and the Balochi Students' Organisation, some 10,000 guerillas took on six divisions of the Pakistan Army, which received helicopter gunships and armour from the regime of Mohammad Reza Shah Pehlavi, the despised monarch of Iran. The use of napalm was reported in the destruction of the Baloch tribes' most valuable economic asset, their livestock. Five thousand three hundred insurgents, 3,300 Pakistani troops and perhaps tens of thousands of civilians were killed in the fighting, which dragged on until Bhutto was overthrown and the military regime of General Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq arrived at a political settlement with some Baloch leaders.

Over the following decades, pipelines began to carry gas from Sui to distant Karachi, and work began on a massive port at Gwadar. However, a considerable section of the benefits went to the growing numbers of ethnic-Punjabi and ethnic-Sindhi migrants who arrived in the province to capitalise on new opportunities. Of the 33,275 personnel of the Frontier Constabulary deployed in Balochistan, Mengal pointed out at his Karachi press conference, only 300 were from the province. Only three per cent of the coastguards deployed in Sindh and Balochistan were ethnic-Baloch; 62 per cent were Punjabi. Moreover, investment in itself did little to bring about social development. For instance, women's literacy in the region stands at just 7 per cent, the lowest in Pakistan. Balochistan was a perfect illustration of what the economist William Easterly has described as "growth without development".

Political engagement could have offered a way forward - but the Pakistan Army was not interested. To the veteran Baloch politician Sherbaz Khan Mazari, there was a grim historical parallel. In the build-up to the Bangladesh war, he recalled, Bhutto was "determined to crush Mujib [ur-Rahman, the East Pakistan leader]. I think our generals held the Bengalis in contempt. The present Balochistan situation has some similarity to 1971."

Crisis ahead

Musharraf's policies on India will be shaped by how desperate his situation becomes - but if the Baloch media is a good index of sentiment in the province, a full-blown secessionist war, of the kind Mazari warned of is not far ahead.

For The Balochistan Express, the protests that broke out after Bugti's death were similar in their character and intensity to the mass protests which broke out after General Yahya Khan decided to call off elections which would have brought East Pakistan Awami's League to power. Bengali nationalists responded to the military dictator's decision by launching a massive popular mobilisation, which in turn was met by a brutal military crackdown. The Baloch protests, the Express asserted, were "of the same level that was [seen] in Bangladesh on March 1 1971, which was the beginning of the end of politics".

Azaadi, an Urdu language newspaper, argued that Islamabad had repeatedly "betrayed" the Baloch people. "Nawab Norooz Khan Zehri, 90, a Baloch fighter, received promises from [Field Marshall] Ayub Khan's government that he would be granted an amnesty once he surrendered," it recorded. "But," the newspaper continued, "the government backtracked from its promise and killed the aged leader. This time, they have repeated the same deceitful act with Nawab Bugti." Some newspapers found words inadequate to express their anger. The widely-read Asaap chose to publish just five lines of commentary condemning Bugti's death, filling in the rest of the space normally reserved for the editorial with a black box.

Judging by events in recent days, it seems likely the anger demonstrated by Asaap's editors will drive political mobilisation in Balochistan. On September 3, the Akhtar Mengal faction of the Balochistan National Party announced that it would resign four seats in the Provincial and National Assemblies, as well as Pakistan's Senate. Two members of the Provincial Assembly and one of the National Assembly subsequently resigned. Senator Sanaulla Baloch, who threatened resignation, is out of the country and on the exit control list. Other Baloch parties who might have been valuable interlocutors for Pakistan's military seem to have been alienated beyond the point of return. Tens of thousands of protesters were reported to have participated in a recent rally organised by the four-party Baloch Alliance and the Alliance for Restoration for Democracy against Bugti's killing.

While Baloch political resistance against the military regime in Pakistan clearly escalated, the military consequences of this development are still unclear. Several Pakistani commentators have suggested that Bugti's death could become the catalyst for thousands of new recruits to the ranks of Balochistan's secessionist militias. Baloch groups have already demonstrated both the capability and material resources to engage Pakistan's armed forces in a bitter war of attrition. Younger leaders like Nawabzada Balach Marri or Bugti's grandson, Brahmdagh Baloch, could well decide that an escalation of the conflict will serve their interests.

Egged on by hawks in Pakistan's military, Musharraf hopes Bugti's killing will signal to secessionist groups in Pakistan the costs of raising their heads. But Pakistan's President knows the risks this desperate manoeuvre contains within it: after all, Bhutto paid for the failure of the Pakistan Army in Balochistan with his life. Could a General this time be sacrificed for the Pakistani military's errors of judgment? Perhaps. Musharraf is, more likely than not, aware of the abyss that lies ahead.

In a desperate moment, a desperate man could well stake his future on the desperate belief that a small war in South Asia is an acceptable price for survival. India's strategic establishments will have to watch events in Pakistan with the greatest possible care - and respond with the greatest possible caution.
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Post by enqyoobOLD »

Westerners stating the obvious without the 180 degree spin (for once.. :roll:)
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Close this window
Nation

ICG trashes Pak's Balochistan blame on India

Press Trust of India

New Delhi, September 17: Pakistan's allegation of India being involved in the unrest in Balochistan has been rubbished by noted European think-tank International Crisis Group (ICG) which slammed President Pervez Musharraf for the continued military campaign against Balochis.

The Brussels-based group, headed by former European Commissioner Chris Patten and former US diplomat Thomas Pickering, has criticised Musharraf for "eliminating" Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, saying that because of this the President's credibility has "sunk to an all-time low".

"Pakistani intelligence agencies are convinced that Indian consulates in Kandahar, bordering Balochistan, and the city of Jalalabad, bordering NWFP, provide funds and arms to the Balochistan Liberation Army and the Balochistan Liberation Front," the ICG said in its report released three days back.

But Pakistan government "has offered little hard evidence of substantive foreign funding or cross-border sanctuaries and bases," the report noted.

Pointing out that "even if India were conceivably cultivating Baloch dissidents", the ICG said New Delhi would not like to support unrest in that region as it would not be in its interest.
....

URL: http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=73996
OK, but the UN and NATO need to supply tanks and anti-aircraft missiles and anti-tank missiles to the Bugtis and Marris.

Oh! and diapers to the Pakistan Army.

:roll:
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Post by jrjrao »

It is surely slipping away from the loathsome Pakjabis now.

Baloch leader Marri rules out talks with "oppressive" Pak govt
Karachi, Sept 18 (ANI): Prominent Baloch leader Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri has ruled out any possibility of talks with the Pakistan federal government, saying that there could be no talks between "oppressors and oppressed".

"Before Pakistan came into being, Balochistan was a sovereign state, forcibly occupied and turned into a colony. We have never accepted this colonial status," the Dawn quoted Marri as saying in a recorded videotape played at a public meeting held in Chakiwara.

A large number of Baloch youths attended the public meeting.


The chief of the Marri tribe said that ...the Balochs would never compromise on their basic rights and would continue struggle till they were recognised as a "free nation", he added.
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Post by Yogeshwar »

ADMINS

Please consider adding the following i front of the title to this thread. We should hammer the fact that this is a way of life for those fro that excuse of a nation.


After Bangladesh, Baluchistan: The Story of Another Pakistan Military Genocide


OR

Baluchistan: The Story of YET Another Pakistan Military Genocide After Bangladesh

Thanks for any consideration
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Post by Tilak »

EDITORIAL: And now we have another story on Nawab Bugti’s killing...
Thursday, September 21, 2006


[quote]The federal minister of state for interior, Zafar Iqbal Warraich, made a Freudian slip on Tuesday when he told the Senate that Nawab Akbar Bugti was killed in an ‘encounter’ with security forces. Not only is his statement a major shift from the government’s earlier claim that Bugti was killed when his cave hideout collapsed in a mysterious self-generated explosion, it also serves to put many pieces of the puzzle together. This is what Mr Warraich was reported as saying: “Sabotage activities and attacks on national installations had been going on in the [Balochistan] area. The security forces have been countering these attacks and Bugti was killed in an encounter with security personnel. It was an incident for which we feel sorry and... are ready for a DNA test of Bugti’s body as demanded by the opposition.â€
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Post by Tilak »

Baloch jirga agrees to appeal to ICJ
By Malik Siraj Akbar

[quote]QUETTA: Baloch tribal chiefs announced on Thursday that they would appeal to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against the “violation of their territorial integrity, exploitation of Balochistan’s natural resources, denial of the Baloch right to the ownership of their resources and the military operation in the provinceâ€
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Post by Neupane »

Photo of Baluch rebells blew up the Gas pipeline-

http://www.indiapress.org/gen/news.php/ ... n/400x60/0
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Post by Tilak »

Khan of Qalat convenes jirga
Sunday, October 01, 2006
LAHORE: Khan of Qalat Mir Ahmad Suleman Daud has convened a tribal jirga on October 2 in Quetta, Aaj TV reported on Saturday. According to the channel, Dawood told reporters in Quetta that all Baloch elders had been invited to the jirga. The Khan of Qalat was quoted as saying that plans would be made to implement the decisions of a September 21 jirga in Qalat. Dawood said Baloch elders from Punjab and Sindh had not been invited, the channel reported. daily times monitor
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Post by Omar »

The Murder of Nawab Akbar Bugti

Some other thoughts on the Nawab's recent death.
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Post by Laks »

Photo journal: Life in a tribal Balochi settlement
New Kahan is raided by the police from time to time. After a bomb explosion in Quetta, they come here and arrest people they suspect of involvement.

These people were rebels and active in the 1970s and the government, it appears, believes they are still involved in insurgency. They believe there are artillery depots held in the camp.

This is a picture from a demonstration last year after many men from New Kahan were arrested. The women are protesting for the men to be released."
here was only one primary school in this town, for girls not boys. Another independent school for boys was started by some Baloch people. These children will probably be educated till they are about 15 years old.

But I can say that here in Balochistan even graduates find it hard to get jobs. So I am not optimistic for his future. He will probably get a menial job after he finishes his education."
The people of New Kahan have tense relations with the authorities. This old man had been arrested by the police and released after a few hours. People say they feel alienated in their own homeland, as if they are under constant surveillance. I cannot vouch for the truth of these claims. But people do feel angry.

From what I saw, I can say they live in quite primitive conditions. The major concern was that they could not keep warm in the cold weather.
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Post by Tilak »

Jirga rejects mega projects
QUETTA - A two-day Baloch tribal jirga on Monday said that the military-dominated government wanted to capture Baloch resources by bulldozing the tribal traditions and culture, warning government and intelligence agencies to stop interference into tribal affairs.
This was stated by Sardar Sanaullah Zahri, Chief of Jhalawan while briefing the newsmen here at Awan-e-Kalat late Monday night. Khan of Kalat Mir Suleman Daud and Sardar Akhtar Mengal were also present on the occasion. Over 50 tribal heads participated in the Jirga, who discussed deteriorating situation of Balochistan in details and condemned the government for massive arrests of the people of Balochistan.
The tribal chieftains and sardars warned the government that they were poushing them to protests. Sardar Sanaullah said the jirga also condemned the intelligence agencies’ action in Dera Bugti. He said the government had set a precedent by not handing over body of Nawab Bugti to heirs.
He said even Aimal Kansi's body was handed over to his family.
Sardar Sana Zahri said that government wanted to grab property of late Nawab Bugti. He said that Baloch jirga would never dance on government's tune.
He maintained that Baloch jirga had also rejected mega projects, which were aimed at capturing Baloch resources.
Khan of Kalat Mir Suleman Daud said that he had sent relevant papers to a panel of lawyers in Holland for their legal opinion over continual violation of Pakistan of tripartite agreement regarding accession of Kalat state and would soon file a suit in International Court of Justice.
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Post by Tilak »

Baloch jirga to form supreme council to implement decisions
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
By Malik Siraj Akbar

[quote]QUETTA: Khan of Kalat Mir Suleman Daud said on Tuesday that a two-day tribal jirga had decided to form a supreme council of Baloch sardars, which would be led by him, to implement decisions made by the jirga.

“The chief of Sarawan, chief of Jhalawan, chief of Beraak Nawab Shahwani, Sardar Mengal and the Nawab of Magsi will be permanent members of the council, which will meet once in a month. The jirga has authorised the supreme council to move the ICJ against violations of a 1947 agreement between Quaid-e-Azam and then Khan of Kalat,â€
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Post by Laks »

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5404256.stm
Tribal militants have shot dead three members of the Pakistani security forces in the troubled province of Balochistan, officials say.

The officials said the soldiers were on their way to fetch water when their jeep came under attack, in a mountainous area in Kohlu district.
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Post by surinder »

Baloch council contacts Dutch lawyers

Interesting news of Baluchis contacting the ICJ. I am not sure what they are trying to argue, this report is vague, perhaps deliberately. I suspect the issue they are trying to argue is about the forced acquisition of Baluchistan into TSP ... espeially the saga of Khan of Kalat refusal to join TSP. I wish there were some Indian newspapers investigating this more.

s
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Post by Laks »

B. Raman writes that it was the BLA which left rockets near Musharraf's residence and the ISI HQ in 'Pindi.

http://www.saag.org/%5Cpapers20%5Cpaper1984.html
4. After the murder of Nawab Bugti, the leaders of the BLA and other groups of freedom-fighters met in the Kohlu area to discuss the future course of their freedom struggle. They also discussed as to how to avenge the death of the Nawab by the Army. Some of the participants suggested a spectacular attack of reprisal either in Islamabad or Rawalpindi. This suggestion was not approved since it was feared that any casualties in the capital area might be exploited by the Army to project the Baloch freedom struggle as a terrorist movement to the international community. Till now, the Army has been projecting the freedom struggle as a movement of "fararis" (absconders) or miscreants. It has not yet been projecting them as terrorists.

5. The meeting decided that instead of staging reprisal attacks in the Islamabad-Rawalpindi area, the BLA, to demonstrate its capability in the capital area, should smuggle in four rockets of Soviet vintage and leave them near the President's House and the headquarters of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) as a message to the Army and the people of the capital area that the BLA was in a position to strike in the capital, whenever it chose to do so. Two of these rockets with a launcher and a mobile phone were left near the President's House on October 5, 2006, and the other two with a launcher and a mobile phone near the ISI's headquarters the next day.

6. Baloch sources say that to make it clear that it was their warning they left behind at both the places mobile phones recovered from Pakistani security forces personnel killed by the BLA in Balochistan. One of the mobile phones left behind near the President's house had reportedly been recovered by the BLA from a Pakistani army officer killed during the raid to kill Nawab Bugti. These sources also say that the explosion in a park adjacent to the Army House in Rawalpindi on October 4, 2006, was not by the BLA. They do not know who caused the explosion.

7. Not only the Army and the ISI, but also the people of Islamabad have been unnerved by the ease with which unidentified elements managed to smuggle the rockets into a heavily protected area and leave them there. The "Daily Times" of Lahore reported on October 8, 2006, that there was considerable panic in Islamabad after the recovery of these rockets.

8. While the freedom struggle has not been affected by the murder of Nawab Bugti, his loss is definitely being felt in respect of public projection of the Baloch cause to the international community. His charismatic figure and ability to articulate the anger and grievances of the Balochs in a very eloquent manner were a big asset to the freedom-fighters. They are hoping to find a suitable replacement from among the other Baloch nationalist leaders.

9. It is understood that the Musharraf Government has failed in its efforts to persuade the Government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to hand over to the ISI two sons of Nawab Khair Bux Marri, the legendary leader of the Marri tribe----- Ghazen Marri and Harbyar Marri--- who were living in Dubai. The ISI accused them of indulging in fund collection for the freedom struggle. The UAE authorities, who were originally inclined to meet the request of the ISI, are since reported to have decided to release them from custody and let them go to London. After seeing the widespread public protests in Balochistan over the murder of Nawab Bugti, the UAE authorities reportedly decided that it would be unwise to hand them over to the ISI.

10. At a meeting with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and other important members of the Cabinet and Army officers held by Musharraf after his return from his overseas tour, he is reported to have directed that the ISI and the Foreign Office should jointly prepare a dossier on the alleged Indian support for the Baloch freedom fighters to be taken up at the next meeting of the Foreign Secretaries of the two countries
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Post by AshishN »

The Baloch War

by Amir Mir
Almost prophetically, writer and scholar Abul Maali Syed, evolving scenarios for Pakistan in the year 2006 over 14 years ago, predicted, in his book The Twin Era of Pakistan: Democracy and Dictatorship (New York: Vantage Press, 1992): “Who would have believed that Balochistan, once the least populated and poorest province of unified Pakistan, would become independent and the third richest oil-producing country after Saudi Arabia and Kuwait?...Development in Balochistan was neglected and whenever a tribal chief spoke about the plight of their people, the Pakistan government shoved the barrel of a gun at him and silenced him. Today, having lost East Pakistan, Balochistan, Sindh, and part of the Seraiki belt, Pakistan is still entangled with Pakhtoon tribes on her northern border and is no more in a strong position to hold on to the Pakhtoon area much longer.â€
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Balochistan Will Break Away by 2020

Post by Amit_ip »

Yes, my subject is correct. There is enough violence and disagreement in the region. Plus, here are other factors:

- Iran wants to expand and will look towards balochistan for land
- India will fund "events" in the region
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Post by Prem »

Indian talking to Baki Gov should be contingent upon Baki behaviour in Balochistan. Since Balohcis are going to ICJ, GOI should help them to bring their problems with Bakis on UN agenda also.
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Post by A Sharma »

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Post by shiv »

This thread can probably survive as one of our longstanding ones - but it need not be a sticky.
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Post by shyamd »

Balochistan observes ‘black day’ to mark Musharraf’s visit
[quote]
QUETTA: Balochistan observed a black day and went on a complete shutter-down strike on Thursday as President General Pervez Musharraf paid his first visit to the volatile southwestern province since the killing of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti.

Police simultaneously rounded up more than 100 political activists, including National Party (NP) Secretary General Mir Hasil Khan Bezanjo. Business activities came to a complete standstill throughout Balochistan as a peaceful but organised black day and shutter-down strike was observed in the Baloch capital of Quetta and almost all districts of the province on the behest of the Baloch nationalist group, the National Party.

The Pashtoon nationalist outfit, the Pashtoonkhawa Milli Awami Party as well as the Pakistan Peoples Party, backed the call for the strike and black day.

Most shops and business centres in Quetta remained closed from dawn till dusk. This included shops in the busy business centres along Jinnah Road, Prince Road, Liaquat Bazar, Sariab Road, Zargoon Road and Abdul Sattar Market.

“The call for the strike was meant to protest General Musharraf’s visit. His hands are red with Baloch blood. We can’t welcome him amid relentless military operations against our innocent people,â€
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Post by shyamd »

An Insurgency Falters
But General Musharraf's bravado notwithstanding, there is obvious concern in the Pakistani establishment about the widespread retreat of the state across an extended swathe of territory.

KANCHAN LAKSHMAN

The 'terrorism' in Balochistan, President Pervez Musharraf informs us, has been 'wiped out'. At Gwadar in Balochistan he stated, "We have been able to destroy over 50 per cent (terror) networks. We are also committed to wipe it out from the country." He stated, further, that a handful of elements involved in disruptive activities consider themselves to be strong but they are not. "I am not a person to be subdued by cowardly attacks," he declaimed, warning that if they fire "one rocket they will receive 10 hits."

General Musharraf's bravado notwithstanding, there is obvious concern in the Pakistani establishment about the widespread retreat of the state across an extended swathe of territory. Musharraf had himself conceded that "increasing dissatisfaction in smaller provinces was a major problem facing the country when he took over in October 1999." A scrutiny of the conflict in Balochistan indicates that it has, since then, in fact becoming increasingly difficult to manage the rebellion in the province.

Has the province calmed down after the assassination of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti on August 26, 2006? Are the tribal chiefs ready to throw in the towel and settle for 'more autonomy'? These and related questions will be a matter of interest in the immediate future.

After the assassination of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti on August 26, 2006, and till November 16, 2006, thirty-two people, including 24 civilians, have died in 83 insurgency-related incidents in Balochistan. Before this, between January 1 and August 26, 414 persons, including 198 civilians, 134 insurgents and 82 soldiers, had been killed in at least 644 incidents. The insurgency evidently continues to simmer and there has been a steady stream of bomb and rocket attacks on gas pipelines, railway tracks, power transmission lines, bridges, and communications infrastructure, as well as on military establishments and governmental facilities. Acts of violence are, according to Pakistani news reports "not confined to a few districts but are taking place in practically all the Baloch districts including Quetta." Indeed, violence in the provincial capital, Quetta, has increased in the recent weeks, with as many as 14 explosions recorded since October 1, 2006. Landmine blasts continue to affect normal life in the province. According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), there were 121 landmine blasts in 2006 (till September). At least 78 civilians and 28 soldiers were killed and over 150 people injured in these incidents. Farid Ahmed, HRCP coordinator in Balochistan, indicated that "All these incidents have taken place in the Kohlu and Dera Bugti areas."

President Pervez Musharraf is reported to have met only "notables" from five Districts during his visit to Gwadar, rather than addressing a Jirga (assembly) of the Sardars (tribal chieftains). These notables were from Gwadar, Turbat, Panjgur, Awaran and Lasbela. The Government had earlier announced that it was convening a Jirga of Baloch tribal elders in Islamabad on November 8, but it was subsequently postponed till November 17 and the venue shifted to Gwadar. Sources indicate that this was due to the unwillingness of some Sardars to attend the Islamabad Jirga. The eventual decision to allow only elders from five Districts to meet the President, as against the convocation of a Jirga, manifestly reduced the significance of the meeting at Gwadar. News reports indicate that the Sardari system in the old Makran division — which comprised Gwadar, Turbat and Panjgur — was abolished decades ago, while Awaran and Lasbela have a semi-sardari system. Pakistani columnist Amir Mir told SAIR that Islamabad even dropped the honorific 'Grand Jirga' and instead relabeled it as a meeting of 'notables'.No Sardar is reported to have met the president, according to sources in Pakistan. It is also a clear indication that Islamabad will not negotiate with the existing leaders of the insurgency, suggesting the persistence of a hard-line approach against them. This is entirely in line with Musharraf's stated position that only three (Nawab Bugti, Sardar Attaullah Mengal and Nawab Khair Bux Marri) of the 78 tribal chiefs were "troublemakers."

A Jirga has a unique position in the Baloch society, and there appears to be a competing facet to it now. Mir Suleman Dawood, the Khan of Kalat, (his grandfather Baglar Begi had signed the accession of what is present-day Balochistan province with Pakistan on March 27, 1948) called a Grand Baloch Shahi Jirga (grand meeting) on September 21, 2006, to protest against Islamabad's policies in Balochistan. With 95 tribal Sardars and 300 other 'notables' reportedly in attendance, it adopted a resolution condemning the killing of Nawab Bugti and Pakistan's "colonial occupation" of Baloch land. The Jirga, said to be the first of its kind bringing together so many chieftains under one platform in more than 100 years, adopted a resolution condemning what it called the "violation of its territorial integrity, exploitation of Balochistan's natural resources, denial of the Baloch right to the ownership of their resources and the military operation in the province." They also decided to move the International Court of Justice over what they said was the violation of an agreement between the former Kalat state, the then British Raj and Pakistan at the time of India's Partition. The Shahi Jirga was also an indication that the largely reclusive Khan of Kalat is still a respected figure and may emerge as a future player in Baloch politics.

General Musharraf's visit to Gwadar comes at a time when Bugti's Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP) is reported to be 'falling apart'. Pakistani news reports attribute this to the "disruptive interference of Pakistan's intelligence agencies." While the JWP obviously faces a leadership crisis, sources in Pakistan told SAIR that secret agencies have gained control over the party. After the Bugti assassination, JWP members wanted to resign from their legislative posts but the Quetta Corps Commander threatened them with dire consequences, and they backed off. The party was weakened further after a few members, including Secretary-General Shahid Bugti, resigned from their positions after reportedly developing differences with Bugti's son Jamil Bugti. However, recent reports now indicate that some rapprochement has occurred, and Shahid Bugti and others have declared that they would carry on with Nawab Bugti's 'mission'.

Writing in the Lahore-based weekly Nida-e-Millat on September 20, Maqbool Arshad notes: "Brahamdagh Bugti and Meer Aali Bugti [grandsons of Nawab Bugti] are viewed as strong candidates to become head of the Bugti tribe. Jameel Bugti and Talal Bugti [sons of Bugti] cannot be ignored — though they don't have the majority on their side. Brahamdagh is a strong candidate because Nawab Akbar Bugti wanted him to be his successor, though some influential sardars of the tribe are opposed to his leadership, arguing that Aali Bugti has the right to become the sardar of the Bugti tribe because he is the son of the eldest son of Nawab Bugti i.e. Saleem Bugti. Reportedly, "The Bugtis are divided over the issue of succession. Nawab Akbar Bugti's supporters want Brahamdagh Bugti to be the sardar. But another group wants to follow the traditions according to which the eldest son is sardar always. Saleem Bugti has died. According to tradition, Saleem Bugti's son i.e. Aali Bugti has to become sardar… Akbar Bugti had three wives and six sons.His Baloch wife gave birth to four sons — Saleem, Talal, Rehan and Salal. Three sons have died. Talal is alive. Akbar Bugti's second wife was a Pathan. She gave birth to Jameel Bugti. The third wife was Iranian and she gave birth to Shehzore Bugti. Thus there are five candidates for the office of sardar — Talal, Jameel, Shehzore, Aali and Brahamdagh."

There is evidence of some disarray in the leadership of other Baloch nationalist formations. While Khair Bux Marri is silent, Attaullah Mengal has been vocal after Bugti's death. The provincial assembly members from Mengals' party have resigned their seats. He had been issuing strong statements but has abruptly become quiet. Noted Pakistani writer Mohammed Shehzad told SAIR that "Agencies are talking to him. His son Akhtar Mengal has been offered the 'job' of Balochistan Chief Minister provided he stopped creating trouble for Musharraf."

There has been a momentary dispersal of the insurgents into the largely inaccessible hills, according to sources. While there are some preliminary signs of their regrouping — they continue to attack a variety of state installations with impunity — a clearer post-Bugti strategy is yet to crystallize, though they are receiving instructions from Brahamdagh Bugti regularly and working accordingly. Reports of November 3 said Pakistani intelligence agencies have claimed that Brahamdagh is in Kabul and demanded that the Afghan Government extradite him. Brahamdagh, who was reportedly formally designated by Bugti as his successor, is accused of orchestrating the insurgency. There is no extradition treaty between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Kanchan Lakshman is Research Fellow, Institute for Conflict Management; Assistant Editor, Faultlines: Writings on Conflict & Resolution. Courtesy, the South Asia Intelligence Review of the South Asia Terrorism Portal
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Post by Tilak »

Khan of Kalat named in bomb attack case
SHAHZADA ZULFIQAR
QUETTA - District Coordination Officer of Dera Bugti Abdus Samad Lasi who was recently tipped for being posted in foreign service has nominated four persons including Khan of Kalat Mir Suleman Daud and Deputy Speaker of Balochistan Assembly Muhammad Aslam Bhootani in bomb attack on his home in Hub town.
Lasi rang a number of media men on Thursday and told them that he recorded his statement before the police in the bomb blast case conducted on his home in Hub some six months ago. He said that he nominated Khan of Kalat Mir Suleman Daud, the Deputy Speaker Balochistan Assembly Muhammad Aslam Bhootani, Nawabzada Brahamdagh Bugti and Maqbool Rind, a local leader of Balochistan National Party.
When one of the media men asked that why he nominated Khan of Kalat, District Coordination Officer Dera Bugti replied candidly ‘because he organised Baloch grand Jirga in Kalat’.
Meanwhile, the govt has registered a treason case against Nawabzada Jamil Bugti, the son of the slain Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti who was killed in an army operation in Kohlu area on August 26, last and froze the accounts of his two granddaughters.
Abdul Hai, the police official of Sariab Police station Quetta said that the police registered a treason case under section 124 A against Jamil Bugti for his objectionable words which he uttered in his Press conference 15 days ago and further investigations was under way.
On the other hand, Provincial Police officer Balochistan Chaudhry Muhammad Yaqub told the newsmen on Thursday afternoon that the police registered treason case on the request of Amanullah Kunrani, the Central Secretary Information Jamhoori Watan Party.
When contacted Aman Kunrani denied and said that if police registered a case against Jamil Bugti on his request, so he urged upon Police Chief to withdraw the case. He said that it was a baseless allegation and devoid of facts.
Meanwhile,Jamil Bugti avoided to make any comments over the registration of case and bank accounts freezing of women of Bugti family, but he said that he came to know through the Press and formerly had not received anything in writing.
He said that he would comment when he receives anything in writing.
Jamil Bugti who was also sacked from Pakistan Petroleum Limited in July last year after his around 20 years service on executive post on the charges of being involved in helping his father Nawab Akbar Bugti who was leading tribesmen in Dera Bugti mountains.
Jamhoori Watan Party and all its office-bearers have become silent against the govt while Jamil Bugti and Brahandagh Bugti, the grand son of Nawab Bugti who is still leading his tribesmen in the mountains, are urging the member Assemblies and Senate of the party to step down as protest over the military drive in Balochistan and killing of party leader.
Brahamdagh whom govt says has reached Kabul, views that since Parliament is not the solution of Baloch problems, so Baloch people should adopt arms struggle for the achieving their goals for right to rule and have control over their own resources and coast.
The bank accounts of mother and sisters of Brahamdagh were frozen a couple of days ago while the accounts of other family members that were frozen some three months ago were opened on court orders.
Meanwhile, Azad Baloch, the spokesman of Baloch Liberation Army claimed that the tribesmen killed 14 army soldiers and injured scores of others in two ambushes in Kahan area of Kohlu district on Thursday.
He said that the fighters attacked an army camp in Karmo Wadh and killed 8 soldiers and injured scores of others.
He said that in the same area, the rebel fighters ambushed an army vehicle and killed all six occupants.
However the govt sources could not confirm the incidents as well as the death toll of the security forces.
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Post by shyamd »

Justice News
More than 400 Activists Arrested in Balochistan

The Asian Human Rights Commission has received information that the Pakistani government has arrested more than 400 political and human rights activists within 72 hours from the night of 27 November 2006 to stop the planned protest during President Musharraff's two day visit to Balochistan province from 30 November 2006.

www.pej.org


More than 400 Activists Arrested in Balochistan
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/ ... 68058.html
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Post by Tilak »

Son escaped assassination bid: Talal Bugti

[quote]QUETTA: Talal Bugti, son of the late Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, on Monday alleged that his son Shah Zain Bugti had escaped an assassination attempt the other day. In a press statement, Talal said that Shah Zain was visiting his agricultural land in the Pat Feeder Canal area when some unidentified men attacked him. “They are the same people who had isolated my father in the mountains,â€
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Post by Vivek K »

Blast Kills Baloch Traitor

.....Bangan Bugti, who had been a bodyguard of former Baloch leader Akbar Bugti, was killed when his vehicle hit an explosive device as he drove to Quetta.

He had deserted Akbar Bugti and reportedly helped the army track him down and kill him in August.
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Post by Vasu »

Found this video on Youtube.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Glx8NSwo-9s

Pakistani & Kashmiri pigs murder Pashtun children in Wazir

Afghan is only a jihadi when he fights his fellow Afghan in the eyes of these pakistani Sadhus.LOL.Bad news pakistani beasts,50% of paki is pashtunistan & balochi land & your plan to destroy pashtuns & Afghans has backfired,your in problems & using us as mercenary slaves has also finished.You Pakis are just dirty outcasts of the world who will do anything so NATO, US and EU become the sole superpower.
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Post by Rye »

http://headlines.sify.com/news/fullstor ... d=14356384

3 Indians among 7 kidnapped in Balochistan
Saturday, 23 December , 2006, 19:03
Islamabad: Seven people, including three Hindu traders, were allegedly kidnapped by armed men in two separate incidents from the Abdul Qadir Shah village and Nautal in Balochistan.

Khurram Hayat, Riaz Ahmed, Pappu Khan and Abdul Rasheed were on their way to the Uch Power Plant in Jaffarabad district, when several unknown armed persons intercepted their car near the village of Abdul Qadir Shah, kidnapped them and fled towards Balochistan, The News reported on Saturday.

In the Nautal area of Balochistan three Hindu traders, Ratan Kumar, Naresh Kumar and Suneel Kumar, were on their way to Sindh from Bhag when armed persons abducted them at gunpoint and fled, the report said.

A heavy contingent of police sealed the entire border area of Sindh and Balochistan but no arrest or recovery was reported so far.
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Post by Rangudu »

A crime against humanity a.k.a business as usual for the terrorist nation.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1221/p01s04-wosc.htm
New aid crisis in Pakistan

The Pakistani government has blocked food aid to war-torn Balochistan.
By Gretchen Peters | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN

Pakistan's military government is preventing aid groups from helping more than 80,000 people - many of them acutely malnourished children - who have been displaced by a widening civil war in remote southern Balochistan, say international aid workers and diplomats.

An internal assessment by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), shown to the Monitor, paints a disturbing portrait.

UNICEF and Pakistan provincial health officials, who surveyed the area in July and August, report that 59,000 of those suffering are women and children and that 28 percent of the children under 5 were "acutely malnourished." Six percent of the children were so underfed that they would die without immediate medical attention.

"I would say this now qualifies as a 'crimes against humanity' situation," says one foreign observer who has interviewed delegates from the region.

For six months, aid agencies and diplomats have been pressing Pakistan authorities to permit them to distribute aid packages, which include emergency rations, tents, and medicine. The UN won't deliver aid without permission from the host nation, says Robert van Dijk, the top UNICEF officer for Pakistan.

He and other aid workers say provincial officials have continued to assist his local staff in monitoring conditions in southern Balochistan, but more senior provincial and federal officials have simply refused his requests or derailed efforts with endless bureaucratic hurdles.

"We have tried everything to get our aid there," says Mr. van Dijk. "I even know of aid groups that tried to deliver relief without permits, but they got turned back on the road."

Meanwhile, reports from the region indicate the situation has grown even more wretched with the onset of winter.

Pakistani authorities have dismissed the UNICEF report as overblown, saying the majority of people in Balochistan were already dirt-poor and nomadic, and that most of those displaced by fighting returned home after an important rebel leader was killed in August.

"This report is untrue," said Maj. Gen. Shaukut Sultan, a spokesman for the military. "Almost all of those people have gone back."

Van Dijk agrees that some did return home in September, but says a recent UN assessment showed that other villagers have since been displaced.

"When we went back there recently, we found the same numbers of people," he says, "and even worse conditions - among the worst I've ever seen."

Pakistan's other conflict
Villagers are caught in a conflict between the government and rebel tribesmen, who took up arms last year to demand greater autonomy for the Baloch people and a larger share of the resources in the gas-rich, sparsely populated province.

Vast Balochistan makes up 40 percent of Pakistan's land area, but is home to only 4 percent of its 170 million people. Because of federal formulas that dole out development funding for roads, schools, and hospitals based on population alone, the impoverished province lags far behind other parts of the country in development and social indicators.

The homelands of the rebel Bugti and Marri tribes sit atop rich oil and gas fields the government wants to exploit.

Their struggle has remained largely out of view of the global media, which focuses instead on Islamabad's wavering efforts to root out the Taliban and Al Qaeda along the Afghan border.

But it's grown into a major conflict - and a major challenge for President Pervez Musharraf, who has dispatched thousands of paramilitary troops to put down the rebellion. During 2006, the rebel tribesmen bombed civilian buses, rocketed military bases, and attacked gas pipelines.

In August, a Pakistani military operation killed one of the main rebel leaders, 79-year-old tribal chief Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti. On Tuesday, a former lieutenant of Mr. Bugti, who surrendered to the government in June in return for amnesty, was killed by a land mine.

President Musharraf says tribal chiefs like Bugti keep their people poor and backward in order to maintain control. He has repeatedly pledged to bring development and economic investment to the province.

But Bugti's death sparked widespread rioting among his supporters in the provincial capital of Quetta, and four months later, the insurgency shows no signs of abating.

Strategic neglect?
Frustrated aid workers and diplomats are increasingly concerned about the widening humanitarian crisis - and furious they are being denied access to the area.

Six months since the UNICEF assessment, a Western diplomat says: "The UN is now desperate. They are literally begging us for help."

Just this week, the government abruptly canceled a planned tour to Balochistan by a visiting delegation from the European Commission.

There are aid-worker reports that military trucks rounded up displaced people and hid them ahead of earlier visits by local aid groups.

Why wouldn't Pakistani authorities let relief workers in to help? "The official logic is that they can't guarantee safety for the internationals, or even for local aid groups," says Samina Ahmed, head of the International Crisis Group's (ICG) office in Islamabad.

"The unofficial logic, I suspect, is basically neglect more than anything. This is just not a priority for the government, and they probably hope they will all go back home if everyone ignores them," she says.

Compounding the lack of aid access is the fact that the displaced families have decamped across wide, isolated areas.

"These are small groups - some as small as 10 or 50 people," says van Dijk. "And they roam around. They don't have permanent dwellings."

In the isolated districts of Naseerabad and Jafarabad, where the bulk of the displaced villagers have gathered, one eyewitness describes the refugees as "utterly desperate."

"It's very upsetting to see children in this state," says the local resident, who did not want to be named for fear he would be arrested. "They have no shelter, little clothing, and almost no food."

A climate of political oppression, in which more than 150 Baloch activists have been arrested and taken to undisclosed locations, only amplifies the crisis, say human rights workers and opposition politicians.

Some analysts wonder why the UN hasn't pushed Pakistan on the issue more publicly. "It's quite clear that quiet pressure is not working here," says one Pakistani political analyst. "This situation demands a strong, international condemnation."

Ms. Ahmed of the ICG says that, "The UN has a mandate and UN agencies have a responsibility to help people. My concern here is that if agencies don't meet their mandate they lose credibility."

The UN is not alone in being unable to provide aid. Other organizations, such as Oxfam, CARE, and the International Committee of the Red Cross, have also been trying to gain access to the region.

Baloch politicians meanwhile complain that millions of dollars in US military hardware, given to the Pakistan military to fight Islamic insurgents in the tribal belt, have been diverted to Balochistan and used against the rebel tribes.

"Are the American people aware of how their donations are being used?" asks a Baloch politician angrily.

As debate over the issue rages behind the scenes, van Dijk says supplies of medicine and food are sitting in Quetta warehouses, and could be distributed in as little as two weeks.

On Wednesday, an hour after the Monitor interviewed van Dijk about the crisis, his office suddenly received a letter from the Pakistani government giving permission to deliver some initial packages.

"This should have happened 10 months ago," he says. "If it would have happened then those children who died would still be alive. I don't know how many more have died by now."
shyamd
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Post by shyamd »

Iron Purdah?
A military raid in '05 killed 33 Hindus in a Baloch borough. As hush-up bids failed, it now seems the event was well-designed.

SANJAY SURI
Thirty-Three Hindus Killed in Pakistan in Attack by Government Troops. Most of the Dead Women and Children. Many More Injured. Hundreds Flee Homes...headlines like these never managed to hit the Indian media when it all happened in the neighbouring nation in March 2005.

An independent account of those killings emerged after teams from the Pakistan Human Rights Commission (PHRC) led by human rights activist and famous lawyer Asma Jahangir visited Dera Bugti town in Pakistan's Balochistan province, in January 2006, nine months after the killings there. The human rights commission published its report later last year. Among the pieces of evidence presented to the human rights team was a video that a resident had managed to take of some of the violence—and of the dead. In the face of silence from Pakistani authorities, Baloch political leaders smuggled that video out of the country. This video is now being circulated among political and human rights groups as some indication of the face of Pakistani military authorities in Pakistan.

"This has been shown to members of parliament here and to members of the European parliament," a Baloch opposition leader campaigning to raise awareness of Baloch human rights issues told Outlook. "We will take it to every international forum if necessary to show the world the true face of what is going on, so that they know."

The video, of which Outlook obtained a copy, has become politically sensitive after the killing of Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Bugti late last year. The Hindus killed had been living around Bugti's house. The Baloch leader was accused by Pakistani authorities of working against national interests, and of being an 'India man' within Pakistan.

By early 2005, most people had left the town—a district headquarters and base of the Bugti clan—in the face of attacks by the Frontier Corps (FC), the Pakistani paramilitary force deployed in the area. And the few that remained had apparently taken shelter in Nawab Bugti's compound. The film does not show exactly why the Hindus were targeted there, but the FC evidently had a clear idea just who was living where in that area.

The video shows local people gathered in a compound scattering in panic after gunshots and explosions. Groups are seen taking shelter; among them at least one armed man as well. The attacks seem to come from behind a high wall and do not seem provoked by any immediate action from the people in the compound. Later shots show injured people, and then the dead, at places with bodies piled one above the other. Women are seen weeping, and young girls appear in a daze. The footage shows several used rockets lying around as indication of a rocket attack. It also shows extensive damage to buildings and walls, with large holes blown through them—the damage evidently caused by some form of rocket attack.

A local Hindu narrates an account of the killings and injuries his family suffered in the attack. He names many of the dead and injured—giving Hindu names. He speaks of an attack on a local Devi Mata ka mandir. The footage later shows signs of damage done to a local gurudwara as well—again apparently in a rocket attack. Much of the footage of the dead and injured makes gory viewing.

The PHRC report says "at least 43 non-combatants were killed by indiscriminate and excessive use of force of the security forces" that day (March 17, 2005). The report says that local Hindus "confirmed that 33 members of their community were killed, mostly women and children, who were in their homes and could not take shelter quickly enough".The report identifies the Hindus killed in the attack—about half are children less than five years old.

Asma spells out what could have led to the March 17 massacre. "It's very obvious that they were spoiling for a fight with Nawab Bugti. They wanted to place one of the FC posts right in his sitting room—and Bugti was objecting to it. It is like me having a house with a post outside and a tank coming towards me, I would obviously object to it," she told Outlook on phone from Pakistan. The Hindu groups, she said, had always lived there for centuries. There was no particular relation between the Hindu groups and Bugti, she said. "But in Balochistan, unlike many other provinces, the minorities do have a fair bit of protection. Discrimination against religious minorities is least within Balochistan."

This particular attack was not all; killings have continued, often as a result of heavy bombardment, the human rights commission report says. The residents that the human rights team met in Dera Bugti and in nearby Sui, where they had taken refuge, all confirmed that the FC had bombed them on March 17, 2005. "Since December 30, 2005, use of rocket launchers, shelling and bombardment has regularly been carried out by the Frontier Corps," the report says. "They have used heavy weaponry, gunship helicopters and rocket launchers targeting civilian targets and populations as well. It is alleged that since then at least 150 civilians, mostly women and children have been killed. This figure includes the fatalities suffered on March 17, 2005." The human rights team was itself fired upon on its way to investigating the violations of human rights in the area, and members of the team said they suspected the attack was "pre-planned by an organised agency".

The video tape and the circumstances around its late circulation, and the sparse and delayed reporting of the killings, are a sign of the cloak of silence laid over several areas of Pakistan, particularly Balochistan. "There is no independent or semi-independent media coverage from Balochistan," Dr Naseer Dashti, a dissident Baloch now living in Britain, told Outlook. "In many parts of Balochistan there is a total restriction on media people entering and reporting on the situation there. So there is a total blackout of the Balochistan situation in the international media."

That silence is shrouding the abuses and the insurgency that are leading to attacks on government targets almost every day. Insurgency is growing "and it has wide support among Baloch people", Dashti said. "The situation is very tense. There are so many military or paramilitary checkpoints all over Balochistan. People are feeling helpless, humiliated. There are so many cases of kidnapping, torture, and extrajudicial killings."

The killing of Hindus, and the hush-hush around, raises the issue of their status in Pakistan. As Asma says, "Of course there is discrimination against the Hindu community...in the sense that there's some against all religious minorities. But what is particularly frightful for Hindus is the kind of harassment they have to go through with the intelligence agencies. And every time there is tension between India and Pakistan, they are really harassed quite badly."

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Video clips can be accessed at indymedia.org
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Post by enqyoobOLD »

More massacres underway... These must be the US-supplied attack helicopters and missiles....
FROM THE TAXPAYERS OF THE UNITED STATES. TO THE CHILDREN OF THE WORLD. VIA THE PAKISTAN ARMY

Four camps destroyed in Kohlu, Sibi



By Saleem Shahid


QUETTA, Jan 19: Security forces destroyed at least four camps of tribal militants and arrested 30 people during an operation launched in Kohlu and Sibi districts on Friday. According to sources, the security forces started the crackdown in Babar Kach, Jalari, Sangan and Pir Darbar areas in the morning.

They said helicopter gunships were seen targeting the ‘farari’ camps.

Troops also landed in the areas and arrested around 30 armed men, 21 of them injured. A huge quantity of arms and ammunition was seized, the sources said.

However, a television channel quoted an official of the ISPR in Rawalpindi as saying that no big operation had been carried out.

A spokesman for the Anjuman Ittehad Marri claimed that 18 people had been killed, 24 injured and 45 arrested. He alleged that the dead and injured included women and children.


As always, The Pakistan Army targets only women, children and other unarmed civilians. The Pakistan Army runs when faced by armed men
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Post by Tilak »

Baloch senators protest discriminatory promotions
ABDUL AHAD

[quote]ISLAMABAD - Challenging the credibility of intelligence reports, Acting Chairman Senate Jan Mohammad Jamali observed that reports of these agencies do not carry truth in them. He recalled an instance when the agencies declared him a drinker but in reality he does not even smoke.

Jan Jamali made this observation when the senators mostly belonging to Balochistan were expressing their reservations over the discriminatory attitude being extended to the largest province of the country regarding their officers’ promotions in Grade-19 and above.

The acting chairman pointed out that these reports even term some officers, as “eveningersâ€
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Post by kgoan »

I recently found myself in a seminar on energy resources. The focus was on the "21st century fuels - Gas and nuclear".

According to a couple of knowledgeable folks there, Baluchistan gas reserves, according to recent "confidential data" apparently, are:
as large as Irans and possibly larger
Also, and again a direct quote:
we can't really say whether these are best secured through Pakistan, given all its problems, or whether something else like an independent Baluchistan would be better
Don't know what to make of this. But it's worth noting.
Sanjay M
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Post by Sanjay M »

Chinese PLAAF airbase at Gwadar?

http://www.saag.org/%5Cpapers22%5Cpaper2131.html

http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fo ... stan&sid=1
According to Baloch sources, the Pakistani authorities have agreed to allow the Chinese Air Force to use this airport in an emergency.
Wow, the closest the Soviets ever got to the Straits of Hormuz with an airbase was maybe Bagram in Afghanistan. But now China gets to be right at the mouth of the Straits -- wow!

What kind of "emergency" allows China to use that airbase? War in the Gulf?
Iranian Silkworm batteries needing replenishment after sinking too many US navy ships?

And all of this happening under Gates' nose while he's in Pakistan. Good job. Must be Musharraf's way of advertising to Gates that he has other options, in case Gates wanted to bring some pressure to bear during the visit.
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Post by Sanjay M »

Violence on both sides of Baluchistan:

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/ ... 44,00.html
On Wednesday, a car bomb blew up a bus owned by the elite Revolutionary Guards in Zahedan, capital of the Sistan-Baluchestan province on the border with Pakistan.
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Post by Sanjay M »

kgoan
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Post by kgoan »

This seems toprovide an explanation of why Bugti's grandsons were convinced the US was involved in the killing of Nawab Bugti. The quid-pro-quo for Pakee help obviously. Still, the US hasn't burnt all it's bridges apparently. Because while the Brits have declared the BLA a terrorist organisation, the US hasn't.

Clearly, the Pakees ain't the only ones who know how to run with the hare and the hounds.

From: The Friday Times, March 9-15, 2007 - Vol. XIX, No. 3.

[quote]US-Iran conflict sucks Pakistan in
Imtiaz Gul

Embroiled in the aftermath of its role in the US-funded anti-Soviet war in Afghanistan and in the “un-winding of Jihadâ€
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