When Khan of Kalat Mir Suleman
Dawood Khan convened the Baluch tribal jirga in Kalat in August
2006, he expressed a wish to hear voices other than his own.
Please click
to play excerpts from these interviews.
Recent News
Highlights:
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Balochistan
Legal Fund launched. The Baloch Society of North
America (BSO-NA) and HH Khan of Kalat have launched the Balochistan
Legal Fund and are appealing to Baloch worldwide and friends
of the Baloch for contributions to help bring the Baloch case
against Pakistan to the International Court of Justice. A team
of international lawyers has been retained and all preliminary
ground work completed. For more information and to help fund
this effort click
here.
New: Political
Foe of Musharraf Is Released in Pakistan, by Salman
Masood, NYTimes.com, May 10, 2008: "...Western officials
also feared that military and paramilitary forces were
being diverted to Baluchistan instead of being used
to fight the buildup of militants from the Taliban
and Al Qaeda elsewhere in the tribal areas of the North-West
Frontier Province..."
Govt
releases Mengal, DailyTimes.com.pk, May 10, 2008:
KARACHI: "...The government on Friday freed Balochistan National Party
(BNP) chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal, after holding him in custody
for one-and-a-half years over charges of abducting agents
of an intelligence agency..." (photo: DailyTimes.com.pk)
New:
Two killed, 50 arrested in Sui search operation, by Azizullah
Khan, ThePost.com.pk, May 10, 2008: "...
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani, Balochistan Governor Nawab Zulfikar Magsi
and Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raeesani were briefed by the military high-ups
regarding the Balochistan operation. The government has not yet stated any thing
about the operation..."
PAF
plan to take over land causes furore in Balochistan,
by Saleem Shahid, Dawn.com, May 4, 2008: Pakistan Air Force
is seeking possession of 70,000 acres of land along the Coastal
Highway in the Lasbela district of Balochistan for establishing
its new weapons testing and firing range...Officials
said the previous Balochistan government had allotted the
land to the defence ministry at a throwaway price of Rs600 an
acre.
Al
Qaeda’s HQ in tribal areas, claims Europol, by Arshad
Sharif, Dawn.com, Apr 29, 2008:
A damning report by the European Police Office puts Pakistan in the spotlight,
pointing an accusing finger at the tribal areas as the “command and control
centre” for Al Qaeda's “remaining core leadership” planning attacks in the EU...; read
full report
Gas pipeline blown up in Sui, by Daily Times Monitor, Dailytimes.com.pk, Apr 25, 2008: The Baloch Republican Army (BRA), a banned militant outfit, has claimed responsibility for the incident...Militants in Balochistan often blow up the gas pipeline and electricity poles to press the government for their demands – from seeking royalties for the region's gas supply to getting share in government jobs.
April
11, 2008: Sources report
Faiz Muhammad Baloch has been granted bail in London and
is to be released next week. No further details available
yet. Herbiyar Marri had been granted conditional bail.
(Sources variously report the operation
was launched against Jundallah, a group of militants headed
by Abdul Malik Reki from Iran, smugglers, or Baloch freedom
fighters.)
Talks
will be held with all Baloch groups: Dawn.com, Apr 3,
2008: Nawab Raisani said he had been assured by PPP co-chairman
Asif Ali Zardari that the federal government would fully
cooperate with the PPP-led coalition government in Balochistan
in releasing political activists and ending the military
operation.
Nominated candidate
for Chief Minister of Balochistan Nawab Aslam Raisani arrives
at Liaquat National Hospital to inquire about the health of
Sardar Akhtar Mengal, Mar 30, 2008, Online Photo by Hussain
Jan; Raisani
meets Mengals in bid to win support, by Jan Khaskheli,
The International News, Apr 1, 2008
Call
to end operation in Balochistan, dawn.com, Mar 31, 2008:
The Balochistan Action Committee (UK) and the World Sindhi
Congress held a two-hour protest rally in front of British
Prime Minister Gordon Brown's official residence 10 Downing
Street against what they claimed to be the “forcible and
illegal annexation of Balochistan.”...
Cool Reception for Envoys in Pakistan, by Salman Masood, NY Times, Mar 26, 2008:
Mr. Nawaz Sharif tells American diplomats, “...that situation has changed now. There is no more one-man show. Parliament has come into being, and the Parliament will decide all policies. No individual today can give a commitment on anything.”
US
report takes up issue of the missing, by Anwar Iqbal,
dawn.com, Mar 13, 2008: the State Department concluded: “Politically
motivated disappearances occurred during the year. Police
and security forces held prisoners incommunicado and refused
to provide information on their whereabouts.” The official
US document acknowledged that while some disappearances were
associated with terrorism and national security cases, “many
missing individuals were Sindhi and Baloch nationalists.”; full
report here
Six
independent MPAs declare support for PPP, Dawn.com,
Mar 5, 2008: Sardar Bizenjo: “Our support is unconditional
and we believe that the PPP will fulfil the promises it
has made about the recovery of the missing people, release
of political leaders and ending military operation in the
province"
Nawab Mohammad Aslam Raisani: “Our aim is to bring about a change and serve the
people of this province who have been badly neglected in the past..."
Islamabad,
L to R: Independent MPA Irfan Karim from Kalat joins PPP, with
PPP Co-Chairman, Asif Ali Zardari and President
PPP Balochistan, Nawab Lashkari Raisani, Feb 28, 2008
From before: Hearts and Minds on the Durand Line, balochwarna.org, Feb 18, 2008. Readers respond: Noutak Baloch: ... now again you want to win hearts and minds of tribesmen offering them peanuts. If you want to help Pakhtun and Baloch then the best way is to help them to free themselves from Pakistani military operation in the name of so called war on terrorism; Friends of Balochs, Afghan-zone: ...[Americans] should help by expelling FC and other Pakistani Military from Balochistan...The job of peace-keeping & guarding the borders of Balochistan should be entrusted to Balochs by raising "Baloch Levy`s" number by 150,000 soldiers, which should be trained, equiped and paid directly by United States to fight against Al-quida/talibans...and not against Balochs who yearn for their civil and political rights. The command & controll of "Baloch Levy" should be entrusted to Mir. Brahamdagh Bugti, the grand-son of Mir Akber Khan Bugti which shall bring harmony among Baloch tribes. Thanks.
Baloch
want independent homeland: Bizenjo, by Shahid Husain,
The News, Feb 4, 2008: ...This urge is a result of frustration...Even
those who want reconciliation, are being treated badly
by the establishment."
Asma
seeks ‘a chance' for politicians, by M. Ziauddin, Dawn.com,
Feb 3, 2008: London School of Economics: Asma Jahangir
said "while things were going from bad to worse in
her country there were chinks of light as well like the
ongoing struggle of the lawyers and the civil society against
military rule and in support of democracy.
She blamed the US and the West for the perpetuation of Musharraf's rule."
Borderland
bullets and the ballot, by Aurangzaib Khan, HimalSouthAsian.com,
Jan, 2008: Pakistan's elections don't look set to change
the situation on the ground in either the NWFP or Balochistan,
where the security situation continues to deteriorate precipitously.
West
'embraces sham democracies', BBCNews.com, Jan 31, 2008:
The US, EU and other democracies are accepting flawed and
unfair elections out of political expediency, Human Rights
Watch says in its annual
report.
Dr.
Arif Barakzai, a member of the BSO and
a lecturer at Uppsala University in Sweden,
died after 'falling' 11 floors from the
balcony of his apartment on Jan 10, 2008.
Dr.
Barakzai ran a website devoted to Baloch culture: http://bizmkaar.com.
It is unknown what if anything Norwegian authorities
have determined about the circumstances of
Dr. Barkazai's death.
Musharraf
on Balochistan: QUOTABLE QUOTES, A report from the new Middle
East—and a glimpse of its possible future by Jeffrey Goldberg,
excerpts from Atlantic Monthly, IntelliBriefs.org, Jan 19, 2008
Canada
puts US on 'torture list', BBC News, Jan 18, 2008: The United
States has been listed as a country where prisoners are at risk
of torture in a training document produced by the Canadian foreign
ministry...The manual - part of a training course on torture
awareness for diplomats - also includes Israel, China, Iran
and Afghanistan on its watch list.
Fatima
Bhutto Denounces Family Business, by Jeremy Page, The Times,
Jan 12, 2008: 'the 25-year-old newspaper columnist also rejected
her own claim to the Bhutto legacy, calling
for a new era of politics based on platforms rather than personalities.
“The idea that it has to be a Bhutto, I think, is a dangerous
one. It doesn't benefit Pakistan. It doesn't benefit a party
that's supposed to be run on democratic lines and
it doesn't benefit us as citizens if we think only about personalities
and not about platforms.”
My
heart bleeds for Pakistan. It deserves better than this grotesque
feudal charade, by Tariq Ali, The Independent, Dec 31, 2007:
'...At the heart of this dysfunctionality is the domination
by the army...Here the US bears direct responsibility, since
it has always regarded the military as the only institution
it can do business with and, unfortunately, still does so. This
is the rock that has focused choppy waters into a headlong torrent.
'
Robert
Fisk: They don't blame al-Qa'ida. They blame Musharraf,
by Robert Fisk, The Independent, Dec 29, 2007:
"...Over all this, however, looms the shocking power of
Pakistan's ISI, the Inter Services Intelligence. This vast institution
– corrupt, venal and brutal – works for Musharraf. But it also
worked – and still works – for the Taliban. It also works for
the Americans. In fact, it works for everybody." [quoting
from: Daughter
of the West, by Tariq Ali, London Review of Books, Dec 13,
2007]
David
A. Andelman On Washington And The World, Forbes.com, Sneak
Peak 2008: 2008 will inaugurate the year of the micro-state,
with an increasing number of small, homogeneous entities campaigning
for and winning independence or a path toward autonomy. From
Kurdistan to Baluchistan, this will be the future of a substantial
portion of the globe.
Benazir
Bhutto Assassinated, Who
Killed Benazir?
The Times: "...fingers will also be pointed at Inter-Services Intelligence",
Dec 27, 2007
"The catastrophe
now engulfing Pakistan was made in America. It is
the direct and inevitable result of the huge infusions
of U.S. military hardware and cash subsidies for
the past half-century that have built up Pakistan's
armed forces into a bloated behemoth with both overwhelming
firepower and financial might beyond the reach of
civilian control." (from 'America's Favorite
Dictator')
Analysis:Resolving
the Baloch National Question: aspects of a negotiated
settlement, by Dr. Naseer Dashti, May 6, 2005
(original post at regainingsovereignty.blogspot.com): "...
it is a historical fact that every violent conflict
ends up in a negotiated settlement. The failure
of a negotiated resolution of the conflict can
bring catastrophic results for both parties. Continued
state intransigence and non-accommodation of genuine
Baloch demands for cultural, economical and political
rights will ultimately lead to the possible dissolution
of the federation of Pakistan..."
"...Reporters
Without Borders has called upon the government to take
steps to end the harassment of Munir Mengal, one of the
promoters of a proposed Balochi satellite TV channel, ‘Baloch
Voice'..."
The author examines the energy context of the simmering
Baloch separatist insurgency that has surfaced in recent
years in Pakistan's sprawling Balochistan province.
Pakistan:
Another U.S.-Made Disaster, by Asad Ismi, CCPA
Monitor, March 2008: "...Commentators in
the Western mainstream media worry about what they call Islamic
terrorists taking over Pakistan. The fact is that U.S.-backed
terrorists have been running the country for decades. The
Pakistan army has always been an instrument of U.S. terrorism,
killing millions of people and ensuring that most Pakistanis
remain mired in massive poverty and illiteracy. This has
driven people in four different areas of the country to fight
for their independence..."
(original article here;
more by Asid
Ismi
Editorial:Balochistan
and a ‘new social contract', DailyTimes, editorial,
Apr 8, 2008:
"The prospective unopposed chief minister of Balochistan, Nawab Muhammad
Aslam Raisani, seems to have upset a few anchors on TV channels when he hinted
at a “new constitution” to placate Balochistan and bring it back from its insurrectionary
ways...
New: Jeay Sindh National Party activists demand release of nationalist
leaders Akhtar Mengal and Dr Safdar Sarki, demonstrate
outside press club in Islamabad, Mar 31, 2008, PPI
Mr. Munawar Laghari met UNPO General Secretary Mr. Marino Busdachin, in an informal meeting alongside the UNHRC on Friday 7 March 2008. They discussed various issues relating to issues affecting the Sindh, the recent membership within UNPO of the Sindh, and Pakistan's arbitrary detention and torture of Dr. Safdar Sarki - a Sindhi human rights activist, who holds a US passport. click to read UNPO pdf
Noordin Mengal addresses UNHRC
New video: click
to view on youtube.com:Address
to UN Human Rights Council, Seventh
session, 3 to 28 March 2008, at the Palais des
Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Mar 13, 2008:
Baluch representative on behalf of Interfaith
International; Issue: Promotion and Protection
of all Human Rights, civil, political, economic,
social and cultural rights, including the right
to development
(Nawabzada
Gazain Marri is a prominent Baloch politician and the son
of famed Baloch leader Khair Baksh Marri. His brothers
include slain Baloch leader Balach Marri, imprisoned human
rights activist Hyrbiar Marri, and Mehran Baluch, the Baloch
representative to the UN Human Rights Council.) read
full interview
From before:Hyrbyar
Marri reiterates stand on resources, by Irfan Saeed,
reposted from balochvoice.com, Nov 25, 2000: "...the
energy sources found in Marri area was the property
of the people of Balochistan and the Government should
hold talks to the representatives of all tribes if
it desired to exploit these resources. In an
interview with On-Line from Britain, he categorically
stated that the those resources were no monopoly of
Marri tribesmen alone...
Land
of Magic, by Aftab Ahmed Baloch, balochunity.org,
Mar 11, 2008
Pakistan's
human rights hero, by Peter Tatchell, The Guardian,
Mar 3, 2008:...The torture of Sindhi human rights activist Dr Safdar Sarki is emblematic of President Musharraf's tyranny
Symptomatic
of Musharraf's regime is the illegal detention and torture
of Sindhi human rights activist Dr
Safdar Sarki. His persecution has been widely documented by
the international media and human rights groups. Dr Sarki
is currently being held in Zhob prison in a remote region
of occupied Baluchistan, far from his place of origin,
Sindh province. The Pakistani police, military and intelligence
agencies have refused to release him, despite court orders
granting him bail and despite appeals from human rights
organisations and civic dignitaries in Pakistan and worldwide
- including Amnesty International...
Spin: Pakistan
to serve as trade, energy corridor through Gwadar,
APP, Feb 14, 2008: Ambassador Durrani said the launch
of unprecedented development activity in Balochistan
has already started accruing benefits to the local people...
US
aids Pakistan massacres, by Peter Tatchell, The
Guardian, Feb 11, 2008:...In 2006 alone, the US sold
Musharaff weapons totalling
a value of $3.6 billion,
including
F-16 attack aircraft. Previous US sales included Bell and
Cobra attack helicopters. In truth, Baluchistan - unlike
much of the rest of Pakistan - has a strong democratic
and secular tradition. The people
want a separation of religion from the state. They yearn
for the restoration of independence, self-government, democracy
and human rights. We should support them...
Pakistan
will remain unstable, by Selig Harrison, Observer
Research Foundation, Feb 6, 2008 (reporting by Rahul
Mukand & Sushmita Nath for ORF Pakistan Studies
Programme)
He
said even if the elections were held in a reasonably fair
and transparent manner, "democratization is not on
the cards in Pakistan". He pointed out that judges
and political leaders continued to be under house arrest
and nothing much could be expected from political leaders
like Zardari" who is nothing but a deal maker"...
He said the way out for Pakistan would be to aim for a
lose federation which will abate the growing ethno-nationalism
in Pakistan. Reverting to the 1973 Constitution which
provided for provincial autonomy could be the first step
towards resolving Pakistan's internal conflicts.
Go
Vote, No Vote, by Senator Sanaullah Baloch, reposted from
The Nation, Feb 13, 2008
Balochistan
on Brink, Dawn.com, Feb 8, 2008:
The time has come for Pakistan 's civil-military establishment to change its
attitude towards the people and their problems. Let the federating units be
given provincial autonomy so that a just socio-economic contract may be implemented.
Noam
Chomsky on Sindh, Balochistan and democracy:Benazir's
martyrdom may exacerbate unrest in Sindh: Noam Chomsky,
with Fahad Faruqui, news.aaj.tv, Business Recorder, Feb 2,
2008: I'm afraid to say Pakistan is the paradigm example
of a failed state and has been for a long time. It has had
military rule, violence and oppression... (http://www.chomsky.info/)
Peter
Tatchell: Crushing
dissent, Comment, The Guardian, Feb 1, 2008: A
former MP and government minister from Pakistan-occupied
Baluchistan, Hyrbyair
Marri, has been languishing in Belmarsh prison for the
last two months...Earlier this week, I spoke to the chair
of the human rights commission of Pakistan, Asma
Jahangir. She confirmed the apparent attacks on civilian
areas; saying she visited the site of a supposed rebel
military camp that was blasted to pieces by the Pakistan
army and air force. Littering the ground, she said, were
domestic artifacts, civilian clothing and children's toys..."
photo: 
