For compressed versions at TheBaluch youtube channel: youtube.com.
Please note, youtube offers a 'watch in high quality' link for high speed connections
when you click on individual parts: Part
I, Part
II, Part
III.
Click for coverage specific
to the killing of Baloch nationalist leaders Nawab Akbar Bugti in 2006, Balach
Marri in 2007, and the arrest of Balach Marri's brother political and human rights
activist Herbiyar Marri and fellow activist Faiz Mohammad Baluch in London in
December, 2007.
Click for videos of 2006
All-Baloch jirga (1 of 6 hour-long espisodes are uploaded, more to come)
Attendees (left to right):
Murtaza Ali, journalist for The News, Tariq
Baloch, Mehrab Baloch, Ehsan Arjumandi
Baloch, Peter Tatchell, Khan of Kalat
Suleiman Daud Ahmadzai, Faiz Baluch, Baroness Helena
Kennedy, Gareth Peirce, Hyrbair Marri, Samad Baloch,
Ghulam Hussain Baloch, Marzook Ali Shah with Sahil
MagZine in UK.
New: United
Kingdom, May 5, 2009: CAMPACC (Campaign
Against Criminializing Communities) organized and
sponsored a public meeting on issues related to Balochistan
in the House of Lords. The meeting was hosted and
chaired by Baroness Helena Kennedy QC, one of the
UK's top defence barristers. Labour Peer Lord Rea
attended the meeting and said he will do his best
to raise these issues with other members of the Houses
of Lords. Khan of Kalat Suleiman Daud Ahmadzai was
also in attendance. Apologies and messages of solidarity
were sent by Dominic Grieve QC MP, Conservative Party,
the Shadow Justice Secretary & Shadow
Attorney-General, and Hywel Willliams MP, Plaid Cymru
(Party of Wales).
2006
All-Baloch Jirga video: Following
the murder of Baloch tribal leader Nawab Akbar
Bugti in 2006, Khan Suleiman Daud called an
all-Baloch jirga. The first
of six hour-long episodes is now uploaded
at blip.tv. (To link to individual episodes,
view from this player.)
More to come.
Call
for creation of Pashtoon province, by Amanullah Kasi,
Jul 1, 2009: "A protest rally organized by Pashtun Quami
Tehreek in Quetta for a separate Pashtoon province to be
carved out of Balochistan..."
Iran
extends its influence in Afghanistan and Pakistan, by Reza Hossein Borr,
May 27, 2009: "In another agreement that was signed between
Iran and Pakistan, president Ahmadinejad committed Iran to
provide free electricity to the great and new Pakistani port
of Gwadar which is located in Baluchistan. The Iranian
port of Chabahar is considered to be a competitor of
Gwadar and yet why Iran wants to grant free electricity
to it, poses a mysterious question...When the American
and European analysts predicted that Pakistan may collapse
in the near future, the Islamic Republic of Iran transferred
and deployed its Revolutionary Guard Corp at the borders of
Pakistan. Some analysts believe that the Islamic Republic of
Iran was planning to occupy the mine-rich Baluchistan and Gwadar
port after the collapse of Pakistan..."
Taliban-Style
Justice Stirs Growing Anger, by Pamela Constable, Washington
Post, May 10, 2009: "Islam is our identity and our system
of life, but variety and choice are part of it. People should
dress modestly, but women don't have to cover their faces
and men don't have to grow long beards," said Khurshid Ahmad,
an Islamic scholar and national legislator. "The Koran is
very clear that there should be no coercion in religion.
You cannot cram it down people's throats. This is where the
Taliban destroyed their own case."
In
Pakistan, 'Great Rage, Great Fear', by Pamela Constable
and Hag Nawaz Khan, Washington Post, May 7, 2009: Refugees
Fleeing Swat Valley Tell of Taliban Crimes, Abuses
Afghanistan
and India behind BLA: Malik, Dawn.com, Apr 23, 2009: "The
prime minister's adviser on interior affairs surprised the
Senate on Wednesday when he directly accused Afghanistan
and India of supporting the Baloch National Army's campaign
for Balochistan's secession from Pakistan and also implicated
the BLA in the kidnapping of UNHCR official John Solecki...
Senators from Balochistan staged a walkout in protest against
Mr Malik's statement..."
Senators
call for prompt resolution of Balochistan issues, Dailytimes.com.pk,
Apr 21, 2009: "Senators from both sides of the aisle
on Monday urged the government to take prompt steps for resolution
of Balochistan issue saying the country could otherwise face
a possible disintegration..."
Pakistan sells
its citizens down the river: Pakistan
president signs off on Islamic law deal, by Asif Shahzad,
Associated Press writer, Breitbart.com, Apr 13, 2009: "...The
Taliban warned before the vote that lawmakers against the
deal were guilty of apostasy, or abandoning Islam, which
carries the death penalty in some parts of the Muslim world...";
"
"The whole nation is united in its support of the Swat regulation and wants the
president to approve it," Prime Minister Yousuf
Raza Gilani said at the start of parliamentary debate Monday."
Editorial: Addressing
Baloch grievances, DailyTimes.com.pk, Mar 28, 2009; letter
to the editor, by Mah Rang Baloch, Quetta: "I was once again
disappointed with your anti-Baloch editorial published on March
28..."
'Terror
abroad' retrial ruled out, BBC News, Mar 10, 2009: "The
CPS counter-terrorism division has carefully considered the
evidence against Hyrbyair Marri in light of the jury's verdicts
and decided that the case no longer meets the tests set out
in the code for Crown prosecutors."
Secrecy
and denial as Pakistan lets CIA use airbase to strike militants,
Times Online, Feb 17, 2009: "... But The Times has discovered
that the CIA has been using the Shamsi airfield — originally
built by Arab sheikhs for falconry expeditions in
the southwestern province of Baluchistan — for at
least a year. The strip, which is about 30 miles from the
Afghan border, allows US forces to launch a Drone within
minutes of receiving actionable intelligence as well as allowing
them to attack targets further afield..."
Balochistan
problems,
Dawn.com editorial, Feb 16, 2009 (posted at balochunity.org)
'We
are creating suicide bombers from the sons of the dead',
by Chris McGreal, The Guardian, Jan 17, 2009: "...the [Israeli]
military has preferred to pretend simply that dissenters
don't exist - as hundreds of soldiers and reservists signed
petitions refusing to enforce the occupation...; (repost)
Panetta
Is Chosen as C.I.A. Chief, in a Surprise Step, by Mark
Mazzetti and Carl Hulseny, NY Times, Jan 6, 2008. "Those
who support torture may believe that we can abuse captives
in certain select circumstances and still be true to our
values,” he [Panetta] wrote in The Washington Monthly last
year. “But that is a false compromise.” He also wrote: “We
cannot and we must not use torture under any circumstances.
We are better than that.”
End
of ceasefire raises many an eyebrow, by Malik Siraj Akbar,
DailyTimes.com.pk, Jan 7, 2009: "...BLA spokesman says government
did not respond positively to truce, Armed groups say they
see no justification to end their operations..." (original)
Middleman
in the Middle East, by James Harkin, Financial Times,
Jan 2, 2009: "Sometime in the late 1980s, a British
embassy vehicle was inching its way through the mountains
of Balochistan in Pakistan when angry tribesmen barred its
path. The tribespeople were in dispute with the government
over water rights and when they caught sight in the car of
what they assumed was a British diplomat – who happened to
be en route to a meeting with the district commissioner – they
couldn't resist the idea of seizing him as a bargaining chip.
Shortly afterwards the district commissioner's office took
a call. “This is Alastair Crooke. I'm afraid I might be a
little late,” he apologised. “I've been kidnapped.” The district
commissioner sent 12 Pakistani troops to retrieve Crooke,
but they found him in no hurry to leave. He was, he said,
going to stay put until something had been done about the
tribesmen's complaints..."
Rights
of Provinces, Dawn editorial, Dec 25, 2008: "...RESENTMENT
grows when citizens of the state are denied the opportunity
to benefit from the exploitation of local resources.
Withholding this share in the collective pie does
not serve the cause of harmony between the federating
units as well as the centre and the provinces..."
Govt
assures justice in Akbar Bugti case: Talal, by Iftikhar
A. Khan, Dawn.com, Dec. 21, 2008: "...The Government has
assured a trial of former President Pervez Musharraf for
killing veteran Baluch leader Akbar Bugti in a controversial
military operation...He demanded that military operation
in Sui, Dera Bugti and Kohlu agency be immediately stopped
and the role of intelligence agencies be eliminated..."
Gwadar
Port becomes fully operational, by Saleem Shahid, Dawn.com,
Dec. 21, 2008: "...The Balochistan Chief Minister, Nawab
Aslam Raisani, while speaking on the occasion said, ‘Gwadar
port is an asset of the Baloch people and we will neither
allow anyone to occupy it, nor allow converting the Baloch
majority into a minority in Gwadar.' He said that the agreement
signed with a Singapore company would be reviewed and subsequently
it would be amended if found necessary..."
Pakistan
follows its own path, by Syed
Saleem Shahzad, Asia Times Online,
Dec. 6, 2008: "... Now the US
has given the names of four former
ISI officials, including Gul, to
the United Nations Security Council
to put them on a list of international
terrorists..."
Pakistanis
Mired in Brutal Battle to Oust Taliban, by Jane
Perlez and Pir Zubair Shah, NYTimes.com, Nov 10, 2008: "...'The
enemy had a lot of advantage,' Colonel Baluch said.
'They knew the area completely. We were told we would
meet foreign fighters and local fighters supporting
them. The resistance unfolded differently.'..."
Govt
reveals six Pakistanis incarcerated at Gitmo, by Syed Irfan Raza, Dawn.com,
Nov 11, 2008: "...Six Pakistani nationals are languishing in the Guantanamo Bay...According
to the information provided to the National Assembly, so far only Ammar Al Baluchi
is put up for trial by the US military commission...".
Conflict
with Taliban good for Balochistan: Mengal, by Amanullah
Kasi, Dawn.com, Nov 11, 2008: "...BNP-M leader
said that Balochistan issue was very simple ‘Give us
authority on our resources and coast, wherein the centre
should retain currency, foreign affairs and defense
portfolios and remaining subjects should be transferred
to the federating units, he added..."
UN
should hold Syria to account, An Open Letter to
the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, the Hon. António
Guterres, and to the Secretary-General of the United
Nations, the Hon. Ban Ki-moon, (Word doc; download pdf)
Pakistan's
role in regional strife:Why
the Neo-Taliban is Winning, by Syed Saleem Shahzad,
counterpunch.org, Oct 11-12, 2008; Taliban
leader killed by SAS was Pakistan officer, by
Christina Lamb in Kabul, Oct 12, 2008: "...British
officials covered up evidence that a Taliban commander
killed by special forces in Helmand last year was
in fact a Pakistani military officer, according to
highly placed Afghan officials..."
Press
Release:Pashtuns
want peace not war and support Joe Biden to pacify
over 700 mudrassas in Pukhtunkwa!: PPF reminds
the international community to consider the plea of
Democratic VP candidate Joe Biden to take care of
the over 700 mudrassas (religious schools). PPF propose
that these madrassas should be converted to the ‘Bacha
Khan Peace Schools' to avoid war and bring sustainable
peace.
Eleven
injured in Quetta blasts, DailyTimes.com.pk, Sep
29, 2008: "...According to the shopkeepers, Lashkar-e-Islam
had warned owners of music shops to close their businesses..."
FC-tribesmen
clash leaves nine dead, by Saleem Shahid, Dawn.com,
Sep 28, 2008: "...Fresh clashes between Baloch
militants and security forces were reported 25 days
after three Baloch militant organiations announced their
joint unilateral ceasefire on Sept 1..."
In
the USA:A
bailout and a new world, by Pepe Escobar, atimes.com,
Sep 26, 2008: "...Sarkozy
described speculators as "the new terrorists".
US Republicans of course call Sarkozy's plan socialism
- as if the Ben Bernanke-Hank Paulson bailout scheme
was not no-holds-barred socialism for the wealthy...[Morales]
stressed there was not a single word of condemnation
by the US of relentless right-wing terrorism in Bolivia,
unlike all the nations of South America talking with
one voice via UNASUR..."; Noam
Chomsky's view, BBCNews.com, Sep 2008; Wasilla
Watch: Sarah
Palin and the Rape Kits, by Dorothy Samuels, NYTimes.com,
Sep 25, 2008
In America:
Hundreds of thousands of Democrats being removed from
voting rolls: RFK
Jr. "Votes are being stolen, now, by hundreds of thousands",
Will be denied right to vote in Nov. election, interview
with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., reposted at dailykos.com,
Sep 23, 2008
At Least 40 Are Killed in Blast at Pakistan Hotel, by Carlotta Gall, NYTimes.com, Sep 20, 2008: "...A huge truck bomb exploded at the gateway of the five-star Marriott Hotel in Islamabad on Saturday evening, just a few hundred yards from the prime minister's house, where all the leaders of government were dining after the president's address to Parliament..."
US
revokes visa for Amina Janjua: "...The United States has revoked the
travel visa of a Pakistani human rights defender ahead of her trip to Washington,
human rights group Amnesty International said Saturday...", DailyTimes.com.pk,
Sep 15, 2008
Peace
For Who?, by Che Mureed Baloch, balochunity.org,
Sep 11, 2008
Tehran
targets journalists: The Iranian authorities are
cracking down on media freedom, especially reporters
who dare to cover the persecution of ethnic minorities,
by Peter Tatchell, The Guardian Comment, Sep 11, 2008.
(You can help save Iran's jailed journalists. Email
your appeals to addresses in article.)
HEC overlooks Baloch students for scholarships, BalochUnity.org, Sep 10, 2008: "...It was informed during Question Hour in the National Assembly that no scholarship has been awarded to a Balochistan's student since 2006..."; from before:World Bank mission assesses Balochistan education support programme, May 2008: "... eight of the ten most deprived districts in Pakistan are located in Balochistan. While there has been some improvement in the enrolment rates in recent years, Balochistan continues to lag behind other provinces in education service delivery.."; Balochistan students protest against admission policy, by Malik Siraj Akbar, Malik Siraj Akbar writes, Jul 18, 2008
Political prisoners to be freed, Dawn.com, Sep 7, 2008: "... The provincial government has decided to release all political prisoners and drop cases against Bugti tribesmen languishing in different jails in Balochistan..."
BLA,
BRA, BLF announce cease-fire, AAJ TV Online, Sep
2, 2008: "...Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA),
Balochistan Republican Army (BRA), and Balochistan
Liberation Front (BLF) announced cease-fire for indefinite
period, Aaj TV reported..."
New
al-Qaeda focus on NATO supplies, by Syed Saleem
Shahzad, atimes.com, Aug 12, 2008: From this teeming
financial center [Karachi], 80% of the goods go to
Torkham in Khyber Agency on their way to the Afghan
capital of Kabul. About 10% go to Chaman, then on
to the northern Afghan city of Kandahar... Several
al-Qaeda cells have apparently been activated in Karachi
to monitor the movement of NATO supply convoys.
Girls'
school set on fire in Quetta, DailyTimes, Aug
4, 2008: "...It is the first time that a girls'
school has come under attack in the city. No group
has so far claimed responsibility..."; Fighters
killed in Pakistan clash, Al Jazeera, Aug 2: "...Five
girls' schools [in Swatt] were set on fire early on
Sunday morning in the latest assault..."
Baluchistan
worse than Darfur, ICC at Hague told, Jul 29,
2008: "Two Baluch organizations have approached
the International Criminal Court at the Hague and
appealed to it to bring the Pakistan army generals
to justice for the on-going ethnic cleansing in Baluchistan..."
Pak
accuses India of supporting Baloch nationalists,
ZeeNews.com, Jul 25, 2008: "... Pakistan has
accused New Delhi of supporting Baloch nationalists
demanding greater autonomy in the resources-rich southwestern
Balochistan province..."
Don't
mention the Afghan–Pakistan war, by Fraser Nelson,
Jul 23, 2008: Weapons, men and suicide bombers are
flooding in from Pakistan every day. Like it or not,
war is being waged on Afghanistan from Pakistan.
Pakistan
responsible for killing, says Khan of Kalat: LONDON,
JULY 17: The De Jure Ruler of Baluchistan, the Khan
of Kalat Mir Suleman Daud Ahmedzai, has blamed the Pakistani
establishment for killing his close relative at his
hometown of Kalat on Tuesday in the smokescreen of aerial
firing...(photos
from graveside)
Baloch students on hunger strike: Three students'
conditions worsen...Balochistan
students protest against admission policy, by Malik
Siraj Akbar, Jul 18, 2008: "...The students,
led by Qambar Baloch and joined by pupils from other
educational institutions, are demanding that the admission
policy at BUITMS should be reviewed and the merit
system be devolved at district level. Currently, 70
percent merit-based seats are fixed for the entire
province, but the Baloch students argue that the largest
beneficiaries of such a system are the non-Baloch
students living in the urban parts of the province.
They are demanding that admissions should be granted
on a district-based merit system..."
(click for
more pictures)
New:
Miners
bank $3bn on Baloch project, by Syed Fazl-e-Haider,
atimes.com, Jul 3, 2009: "...Critics say that the government
in Islamabad blundered by selling what may be the world's
biggest untapped copper and gold deposits, worth over
$100 billion, to foreign mining firms at a throwaway
price, to the disservice of the people of the country's
most backward province and economy..."
photo by Malik Siraj Akbar, IDP camp, Jaffarabad
Until lions have their own 'story tellers,' tales of a lion hunt will always
glorify the hunter." - African proverb, quoted in Hastings Center article
below.
In
the Kidney Trade: Seller Beware, by Denise Grady,
NYTimes, June 30, 2009:
"...But who sells their kidneys, and what becomes of these people afterwards?
The article, by two doctors and a psychologist from
Karachi, paints an ugly picture of the kidney business
and challenges the argument made by some that selling
organs is a great financial boon to the poor and that they are grateful for
the chance to do it..." (original research here, log in to read for free: Conversations
with Kidney Vendors in Pakistan: An Ethnographic Study, The Hastings Center,
May-June, 2009.
New:An
unfair deal, by Sanaullah Baloch, Dawn.com,
Jun 29, 2009
"...No doubt Pakistan’s
civilian establishment has made a historic blunder
by signing such a costly gas purchase accord. The
price formula and the gas deal with Tehran indicate
a great level of injustice as well as the inability
of the political and official leadership of the
country to negotiate a reasonable price formula
with Iran; a country faced with immense global and
economic pressures caused by international sanctions..."
Special Report-Separate Ways:
The separatist movement in Balochistan dates back to the beginning of Pakistan itself, by Yasir Babbar, Newsline.com.pk, Jun 2009
'...Philip Alston of the United Nations
Human Rights Council has been an almost isolated
voice denouncing US shadow, "targeted assassination" teams
working out of Afghan bases in Kandahar and Nangarhar,
and allied with wily, local militias. The victims
are mostly Afghan civilians. In Balochistan, the
available "local militia" will always be Jundallah.
The base will be in the Afghan "desert of death".
In the absence of Taliban or al-Qaeda, victims of "decapitation" are
plenty of Iranians across the border.
How better to apply Petraeus' tactics than to expand these teams into destabilizing
Iran and preventing Iran and Pakistan from closer integration via a key
Pipelineistan node - an integration that also benefits China?
That is achievable with a Balochistan mired
in chaos. From the Pentagon's point of view, China profiting from
the Baloch port of Gwadar to be supplied with Iranian gas is anathema.
Islamabad may not be allowed by Washington to take out Jundallah after
all. Shadowplay rules.'
Pakistan’s
Fatal Shore, by Robert Kaplan, The Atlantic Monthly,
May 2009: "...With
its “Islamic” nuclear bomb, Taliban- and al-Qaeda-infested
borderlands, dysfunctional cities, and feuding ethnic
groups, Pakistan may well be the world’s most dangerous
country, a nuclear Yugoslavia-in-the-making. One key
to its fate is the future of Gwadar, a strategic port
whose development will either unlock the riches of
Central Asia, or plunge Pakistan into a savage, and
potentially terminal, civil war..."
Photo: American Friends of Baluchistan presiding council member Mohammed Ali
Baloch [extreme right] with Fauzia Deeba, Sharif Behruzand Dr. Karim Abdian
Inside
Kalat, Reviewed by Farhan Siddiqi, Dawn.com, May
31, 2009: "NOT two, rather three political units
proclaimed independence in the middle of August 1947:
Pakistan on August 14, India and the Khanate of Kalat
on August 15. By virtue of Kalat's independence, Pakistan
became a unique state in more ways than one..."
"...Islamabad has promised an
all-parties conference "within days" to seriously
deal with Balochistan. No one is holding their breath.
Over a year ago, Balochistan was promised greater
control over its immense natural resources - the
undisputed, number-one Baloch grievance - and a
massive aid package. Not much has happened.
Punjabis derisively refer to Balochistan's "backwardness". But the heart
of the matter is systematic, hardcore pillage by Islamabad - combined with
hardcore repression and serial Latin America-in-the-1970s-style "disappearances" of
political activists and senior Baloch nationalists. Not to mention virtually
no investment in health, education and job creation. This Third World dictatorship
catalogue of disasters fuels Baloch nationalism and separatism...
For the moment, Iran, Pakistan, China and Russia win. The SCO wins. Washington
and NATO lose, not to mention Afghanistan (no transit fees). But will Balochistan
also win? If not, all hell will break loose, from desperate Balochis sabotaging
IP to "foreign interference" manipulating them into creating an even greater,
regional, ball of fire."
Obama
And Counter-Insurgency in Chinese Colours,
International Terrorism Monitor -- Paper No.527, by
B. Raman, May 27, 2009: "I did not know whether
to laugh or cry when I read that the Obama Administration
believed that "China is skilled in counter-insurgency",
that it acquired its skills during its "war of liberation" against
the KMT troops and that it can teach Pakistan "a more
sophisticated strategy than Pakistan's current heavy-handed
approach."...
Slouching
towards balkanization, by Pepe Escobar, atimes.com,
May 21, 2009: Meanwhile, Balochistan, the biggest
prize in the region (see Balochistan
is the ultimate prize, Asia Times Online, May
9, 2009) remains totally under the radar of the frenetic
US news cycle.
From
before: Balochistan’s
Unaddressed Grievances, by Rahil Yasin, countercurrents.org,
Apr 19, 2009: "...Balochistan is a transit site
for major proposed natural gas pipelines that would
carry gas from either Iran or Turkmenistan to Pakistan
and from there potentially to India. One of many obstacles
to the implementation of these pipeline projects has
been the threat of Baloch militant attacks to disrupt
gas supplies...Baloch nationalists have complained
that the government has developed the port and corridor
without consultation with, involvement of, or benefit
to the Baloch people. The anger of Baloch nationalists
has sometimes been directed against China, whose investment
in the Gwadar project and in other Balochistan-based
ventures has been substantial..."
Part 2:Balochistan-the
ultimate prize: "Balochistan is totally under
the radar of Western corporate media. But not the Pentagon's...
How crucial Balochistan is to Washington can be assessed
by the study "Baloch Nationalism and the Politics of Energy
Resources: the Changing Context of Separatism in Pakistan" by
Robert Wirsing of the
US Army think-tank Strategic Studies Institute. Predictably,
it all revolves around Pipelineistan...There's fear in
Islamabad that the government has taken its eye off the
Balochistan ball - and that the BLA may be effectively
used by the US for balkanization purposes. But Islamabad
still seems not to have listened to the key Baloch grievance:
we want to profit from our natural wealth, and we want
autonomy. So what's gonna be the future of "Dubai" Gwadar?
IPI or TAPI? The die is cast. Under the radar of the Obama/Karzai/Zardari
photo-op in Washington, all's still to play in this crucial
front in the New Great Game in Eurasia."
Washington's
Imperial Attitude: We Talk About Countries Like We Own Them, by Tom Engelhardt,
Tomdispatch.com. May 9, 2009: ...Keep in mind a certain irony here: We essentially
know what those crisis meetings will result in. After all, the U.S. government
has been embroiled with Pakistan for at least 40 years and for just that long,
its top officials have regularly come to the same policy conclusions -- to support
Pakistani military dictatorships or, in periods when civilian rule returns, pour
yet more money (and support) into the Pakistani military. That military has long
been a power unto itself in the country, a state within a state. And in moments
like this, part of our weird extremism is that, having spent decades undermining
Pakistani democracy, we bemoan its "fragility" in the face of threats and proceed
to put even more of our hopes and dollars into its military. (As Strobel and
Landy report, "Some U.S. officials say Pakistan's only hope, and Washington's,
too, at this stage may be the country's army. That, another senior official acknowledged
Wednesday, 'means another coup.'")...
As one unnamed expert commented recently in the insider Washington newsletter,
the Nelson Report , "I find it troubling that we are hyping the 'security
situation' in Pakistan. Pakistan is not being taken over, the FATA [Federally
Administered Tribal Areas] is. This has been happening since 2004."...
By the way, for all our kindly talk about how the poor Pakistanis just can't
get it together democracy-wise, the U.S. has a terrible record when it comes
not just to promoting democracy in that country, but to really giving much of
a damn about its people. In fact, not to put too kindly a point on things, Washington
has, over the past decades, done few favors for ordinary Pakistanis. Having played
our version of the imperial Great Game first vis-à-vis the Soviets and,
more recently, a bunch of jihadist warriors, we are now waging a most
unpopular and destabilizing air war without mercy in parts of that country, and
another deeply unpopular war just across its mountainous, porous border...
Exile
Voices, The News, Apr 26, 2009 (orig
post):
"We are only against Punjabi-military elite", Murtaza Ali Shah talks
to Hyrbyair Marri;
"Our Demand: Greater Baluchistan", Murtaza Ali Shah talks to Noordin
Mengal;
"It is Not A Regional Problem", M. Ali. Shah talks to Khan of
Kalat Suleiman Daud Khan;
"The Baloch youth is infuriated", Waqar Gillani talks to Rauf Khan Sassoli
Calls
for policy review, by Anwar Syed, Dawn.com, Apr
26, 2009: "...Some of Pakistan's problems may
be complex and the ways of resolving them difficult
to figure out. But there is nothing complicated about
the disaffection and unrest in Balochistan. They are
as old as Pakistan itself. Balochistan is the largest
and also the most neglected of its provinces. It has
suffered deprivation all along in that its mineral
resources have been exploited and taken out for the
benefit of others; its gas fields have provided fuel
to furnaces and kitchens all over the country. Any
compensation it gets has never reached its people.
They remain unspeakably poor..."
The
Baloch Question, by Umer A. Chaudhry, MRzine.monthlyreview.org,
Apr 25, 2009: "...We in
Pakistan -- and particularly those of us in Punjab --
love to externalize the roots of problems that irritate
our sensibility. Therefore, fingers were immediately
pointed at foreign involvements [in the murder of three
Baloch nationalist leaders], scarcely any thought given
to our own attitude towards one of the largest provinces
of our country. The deliberate lack of introspection
combined with the respect that wild conspiracy theories
continue to enjoy renders it very much necessary to
take a dip into the history of Balochistan, for that
is where the roots of the question lie..."
"...In
his new book, The Inheritance, New York Times correspondent
David Sanger reveals that "several" key U.S. intelligence
officials told him of National Security Agency telephone
intercepts in which Pakistan's army chief of staff,
Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, referred to a key Taliban warlord,
Jalaluddin Haqqani, as a "strategic asset." According
to Sanger, another Pakistani general, in a meeting
with the visiting U.S. director of national intelligence,
Mike McConnell, explained that "we must sustain contact
with the Taliban and support them" to make sure that
in the future, the Afghan government "is a government
friendly to Pakistan..."
"As
tensions flare in Balochistan and the government alleges
foreign involvement in the nationalist movement there,
Dawn.com talks to Sanaullah Baloch, the Central Secretary
Information of the Balochistan National Party – Mengal...";
Sana Baloch: "According to one study, rural poverty
in Balochistan increased 15 percent between 1999 and
2005. The only ‘development' Balochistan has
witnessed during Musharraf's rule is the 62 percent
increase in police stations..."
From
before: Baloch
Nationalism and the Geopolitics of Energy Resources,
The Changing Context of Separtism in Pakistan, by Robert
G. Wirsing: "In Afghanistan's Shadow, a book
published in 1981 by well-known author Selig S. Harrison,
examined that era's threat of Soviet expansionism in
the light of Baloch nationalism... “A glance at the map,” Harrison
wrote at the outset of his book, “quickly explains why
strategically located Balochistan and the five million
Baloch tribesmen who live there could easily become the
focal point of superpower conflict.” Over a quarter-century
has passed since Harrison made that observation. Baloch
nationalism is again on the rise, and Balochistan is
again the scene of violent encounters between Baloch
militants and Pakistani security forces. Not surprisingly,
in comparing today's insurgency with its 1970s forerunner,
we find numerous continuities. Conspicuous among them
are the government's persistent refusal to concede any
legitimacy to Baloch nationalism or to engage the Baloch
nationalists in serious political negotiations. These
refusals run in company with its parallel tendency to
secure its aims in Balochistan mainly by military means..."
Pakistan's
Fatal Shore, by Robert D. Kaplan, The Atlantic, May
2009: With its “Islamic” nuclear bomb, Taliban- and al-Qaeda-infested
borderlands, dysfunctional cities, and feuding ethnic
groups, Pakistan may well be the world's most dangerous
country, a nuclear Yugoslavia-in-the-making. One key
to its fate is the future of Gwadar, a strategic port
whose development will either unlock the riches of Central
Asia, or plunge Pakistan into a savage, and potentially
terminal, civil war. (pdf)
Militants
Threaten Pakistan's Populous Heart, by Sabrina Tavernise,
Richard A. Oppel Jr. and Eric Schmitt, NYTimes.com, Apr
13, 2009: "Taliban insurgents are teaming up with
local militant groups to make inroads in Punjab..."
Security
and development in the region: the new US strategy for
Pakistan and Afghanistan (Word doc), AIRRA (Aryana
Institute for Regional Research & Advocacy) Special
Edition, Apr 1, 2009 (download pdf): "...One
is tempted to point out a few missing links in the newly
announced US policy for Pakistan and Afghanistan. Though
religious militancy in Pakistan is a threat to Pakistan,
Afghanistan, Europe and the US, those who bear the major
brunt of this insurgency are the people living in FATA,
NWFP and Northern Baluchistan besides Southern and Eastern
Afghanistan. The newly announced US strategy is silent
on the issue of how much these people can help make the
new strategy succeed or fail. There
is no provision in the new strategy or any other strategy
developed by Pakistan and Afghanistan to take these people
into confidence. The
provincial government of NWFP, the cultural organizations
in the Pashtun belt and the civil society within the Pashtun
belt have to be engaged in a ‘strategic
communication system’ and
in the regional consultations on the implementation of
the newly announced policy..."
Pakistan's
way out: Euthanasia, by C N Anand, Media with Conscience,
Apr 11, 2009: "Euthanasia has very few supporters
no matter how excruciating the pain is for the terminally
ill. Unfortunately, this humanitarianism extends to nations,
even when the writing on the wall screams that the failing
state must be put out of its misery for the sake of giving
its citizens a second chance..."
The
Pakistan government and military abandon its citizens in
Swat Valley to the brutal 'justice' of the Taliban. Warning:
This mobile phone video contains graphic violence. Man
who made Swat flogging video speaks to Dawn News, Dawn.com,
Apr 4, 2009: "...Shaukat said the people in Swat are
so scared that no one has the courage to stand up and speak
out against the Taliban and their verdicts."
Webster
Brooks interview with Shuja Nawaz: Obama's Response
to Pakistan's Long March.
Shujah Nawaz is longtime Pakistani analyst, scholar and Director of the
new South Asia Center at the Atlantic Council of the United States.
From
before: Independent
Baluchistan?, Ataullah Mengal's 'Declaration
of Independence' by Lawrence Lifschultz, Economic
and Political Weekly, May, 1983
Brahamdagh
threatens to ‘repay' PPP, by Malik Siraj Akbar ,
DailyTimes.com.pk, Feb 10, 2009: "...hundreds of
supporters of the BRP protested on Monday in front of
the Quetta Press Club against the disappearance of their
central secretary general and Chakar Qambarani, a member
of the BRP Central Committee... Baloch and Qambarani
are the first important Baloch leaders to go ‘missing'
since the restoration of democracy in the country and
the ouster of former president Pervez Musharraf..."
Musharraf
still pulls the strings, by Peter Tatchell, The Guardian,
Feb 9, 2009: The government of Pakistan says it wants
peace in Baluchistan but supporters of the ousted dictator
hold the real power
Where
has all the money gone? Despite billions
of dollars in U.S. military aid to Pakistan over
the past years, the Pakistan military can't (or won't?)
prevent the Taliban from destroying schools in Swat Valley: Diary
of a Pakistani schoolgirl (ii) and (part
i).
From
before, Apr 2007: Dams, Rivers & People, The Pakistan
Page, Mega
Water Projects in Baluchistan: Claims and the Reality,
edited from Mega Projects in Balochistan dated March
2007 by Azmat Budhani and Hussain Bux Mallah (extracted
from here): "...The
aim of this paper is to examine govt claims about the
financial outlay on Mega Projects in Balochistan and
its supposed benefits for the people of the province."
Pakistan
in Peril, by William Dalrymple, Descent into Chaos:
The United States and the Failure of Nation Building
in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia by Ahmed Rashid,
Jan 15, 2009 (re-post):
"...The night I arrived I went to see Najam Sethi and his wife Jugnu, editors
of the English-language Daily Times and Friday Times newspapers, who now found
themselves directly in the Taliban's crosshairs. Three weeks earlier they had
begun to receive faxes threatening them with violence if they didn't stop attacking
Islamist interests in their columns..."
State
of the Press freedom in Balochistan in 2008, by Malik
Siraj Akbar, Jan 8, 2009: "Four months after his
release from a nine-month long official detention, twenty-one-year
old journalist Javid Lehri travels on every fortnight
from his native Khuzdar district to Karachi for his medical
treatment. Lehri had been whisked away by masked officials
of a shadowy force from room No. 2 of Bugti block at
a college hostel, where he was staying, at around 21:00pm
on November 29 th , 2007 and released on August 22, 2008..."
The
study investigates the genesis of Baloch nationalism
during the first half of the twentieth century, analyses
the emergence of a Baloch national movement, and sets
it into relation to therise of an Indian and Muslim
Indian national movement in British India during that
time. The study portrays the decline and disintegration
of the Baloch khanate of Kalat during the last decades
of British rule and summarizes the colonial legacy
of Balochistan in respect of its political, administrative,
and constitutional development.
Walking
on fire to prove innocence continues in Balochistan,
by Malik Siraj Akbar, DailyTimes.com.pk, Jan 7, 2009:
Scholar says practice becoming urbanised is the biggest
concern, Balochistan minister for human rights says practice
a part of local traditions, government cannot eliminate
it..." (original)
Insight:
Balochistan needs a rethink, by Ejaz Haider, DailyTimes.com.pk,
Jan 7, 2009: "... The province’s
leaders, for all the clamouring about rights
etcetera, have woefully fallen short of reforming
their social structures. The late Akbar Khan
Bugti not only ruled his area like a medieval
tyrant, Dera Bugti even today has the worst human
development indices in Pakistan..."
Note from thebaluch
editors: We are told that in the Mekran region, Panjgur district to be precise, there has not been a Sardari system for decades. The district does still not have good hospitals, schools and basic amenities of life.
Letters to editor: (read
letters in full)
from Kanwal Gichki, Turbat: "...The
so-called tyrant sardars of Balochistan have not been
demanding powers for themselves or legitimacy for their
hold on their respective tribes. They have been seeking
constitutional reforms. They have their political
parties, abided by the Constitution of Pakistan
and always respected the political process against
the popular insurgency. All they are asking for
is complete provincial autonomy, not only for
the Baloch sardars but for the Sindhis, Pashtoons
and the Punjabis living in the remaining three
provinces of Pakistan...
"QUETTA:
Balochistan National Party (BNP) Information Secretary
and former senator Sanaullah Baloch has disclosed that
the supporters of Taliban have captured land worth
Rs 2 billion in the eastern and western parts of Quetta
with the covert support of the ‘establishment' in order
to undermine the Baloch nationalist movement and promote
Talibanisation in Balochistan..."
The
Other Front, by Sarah Chayes, The Washington Post,
Dec. 14, 2008: "... We and our friends in Kandahar
are thunderstruck at recent suggestions that the solution
to the hair-raising situation in this country must include
a political settlement with "relevant parties" -- read,
the Taliban. Negotiating with them wouldn't solve Afghanistan's
problems; it would only exacerbate them. Ask any Afghan
what's really needed, what would render the Taliban irrelevant,
and they'll tell you: improving the behavior of the officials
whom the United States and its allies ushered into power
after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks..."
Tackling
terrorism head-on, Dawn.com editorial, Dec. 8, 2008: "...For
myriad reasons, the legacy of the Afghan ‘jihad', the
rising wave of Talibanisation, unemployment, poverty,
illiteracy and ignorance, US foreign policy, our tribal
areas have become a breeding ground for militancy and
terrorism..."
Development:
A possibility for the Gwadar area? Ocean
currents can power the world, say scientists, by Jasper
Copping, Daily Telegraph, Nov. 29, 2008
A revolutionary device that can harness energy from slow-moving rivers and ocean
currents could provide enough power for the entire world, scientists claim.
An inspiring story of development:From
hunters to conservationists, Dawn.com, Nov 23, 2008:
The remote region of Torghar in Balochistan's north-eastern
district of Qilla Saifullah is the unlikely setting for
a pioneering project that combines innovative environmental
conservation methods with the principles of sustainable
development.
New
in fiction: 'Tarbela
Damned--Pakistan Tamed,' by CN Anand, amazon.com: "Big
ideas, interesting characters, rich detail...', "A
page-turner, a spy story about the un-making of Pakistan
by blowing up its major dam."; Review at
MWCNews; Reviews at
Indialog; Eastern
Book Corp
Why
the Fight in Balochistan Matters, by Saba Jamal,
Middle East Times, Oct 30, 2008: "...Balochistan is a
strategically important region bordering Iran and Afghanistan.
Left unchecked, this conflict between the Baloch people
and the Pakistani government over the province's resources – combined
with the increasing Talibanisation of the northern parts
of Pakistan – could wreak havoc on the country by propelling
it into a state of instability..."
How Talibanization has already affected a once peaceful
region of Pakistan: Unfolding tragedy in Swat Valley: PAKISTAN:
Swat on the verge of civil war, by Kurshid Khan, intellibriefs.blogspot.com,
Oct 31, 2008
A
Lesson to be Learnt: the Baloch Perspective, by Juma
Baloch, Oct 23, 2008: "...The solution to Baloch
national question can not be found confined to the administrative
boundaries defined by Pakistan. Baloch nation historically
never accepted the Goldsmith Line (1871) nor has it ever
recognized the Durand Line (1893), commissioned by the
British Raj to stop the Russian influence in the region.
These artificial boundaries may have divided the Baloch
into separate states but could not stop them from considering
themselves a single nation. Today nobody can deny the
strategic location of the Baloch land for peace and economic
stability in the region...", articlebase.com, Oct
20, 2008
Requiem
for Reko Diq, by Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur, Sep 30, 2008: "...There
is a saying in Balochistan that a Baloch child may be without
socks, but when he grows up every step he takes will be
on gold. Reko Diq, Saindak, Sui all prove that the barefooted
Baloch do tread on gold. That this wealth hasn't benefited
them isn't accidental..."
Opinion: The
Baluch people must have a right to make Baluchi law,
by M. Sarvoj, Sep 24, 2008: "...In the current situation
the Baluch people have no power to amend their tradition,
customary law...Solution is that by giving the Baluch
people the right to make Baluchi law, as well as to follow
it, and to ensure that this process of making law publically
debated and reflects the views of all members of the
community, not just self appointed guardian of Baluch
tradition..."
Thesis paper:Pakistan's Hidden War: Post-Colonial Baluchistan?, by Ahmed Marri, Royal Holloway University of London, Department of Politics and International Relations, 2008 (right-click to download Word doc)
Peter Tatchell
Pakistan burns prisoners alive: Despite the election of a democratic government in Islamabad, Pakistan continues to abuse human rights in Balochistan.
Additional note: Peter Tatchell: "...This article has apparently infuriated the Pakistan government. Through the Pakistani High Commissioner in London, they have demanded that The Guardian remove it from this website or publish an apology and correction...But The Guardian is, thankfully, standing firm and refusing to bow to their bullying...Interestingly, the Pakistani government did not object to my report about its army burning alive four prisoners. It does not dispute any of the allegations about army atrocities in Balochistan in this article...What the government of Pakistan objects to, and wants censored, are my statements about Pakistan invading, annexing and occupying Balochistan in 1948...(read full letter).
From before:Frontier
Years Give Might to Ex-Guerrilla's Words,
by Jane Perlez, NY Times, Jul 5, 2008: "... Fresh out of
Cambridge University in the late 1960s, and steeped in the era's
favorites — Marx,
Mao and Che — Ahmed Rashid took off for the hills of Baluchistan,
a dry, tough patch of western Pakistan. He stayed for 10 years."
From
the New York Times, 1947: Related articles from the NY Times
From
1838:thank you to the University
of Texas for this magnificent
map of "Beloochistan,"
published by "The Society for the diffusion of Useful Knowledge,"
August 15th, 1838. Note the population of Curachee 15,000 (yes
thousand) and Kelat 20,000 and Kwettah 400.
Of
global importance: The
Shock Doctrine, by Naomi Klein, The Telegraph, Sept 22,
2007: "A new gangster class capitalises on conflicts .
. ."; in Truthout.org: "The Shock Doctrine" is a powerful
tour de force . . . In an age of corporatism partnered with
corrupted political elites, it's must reading . . ."; Interview
Released: Balochwarna.org reports that after 275
days of imprisonment, Professor Hasan
Janan Badini was released, without any
charges, on Jun 27, 2009.
Professor Hasan Janan Badini: “I did not commit any crime but I performed my National duty...Writers should bring a change in the society with the power of their pen..."
American
Friends of Balochistan Release: June
24, 2009
WASHINGTON DC: Former speaker of the Baluchistan
assembly, Waheed Baloch, will preside over a talk on the
repercussions of the Iranian elections on the struggle
of the persecuted ethnic groups in Iran in Washington DC
on Saturday.
In the aftermath of Iran's stolen elections, ethnic groups including
the Baluch who have been at the receiving end of the Iranian theocracy
for three decades now are fearing further aggravation of their plight.
Join the Baluch, Kurds, Ahwazis, and others from Iran and Pakistan for a
frank and open debate on Iran.
What: Iran elections and persecuted
nationalities
Who: The talk over coffee will be presided over by
the Waheed Baloch, former speaker of the Baluchistan assembly and president
of the Baloch International League.
Other attendees include Dr. Morteza Esfandiari, a
Kurdish intellectual; Dr. Karim Abdian, executive
director of the Ahwaz Human Rights Organization; Sharif
Behruz, US Representative of Kurdistan
Democratic Party of Iran; Dr. M. Hosseinbor, a Baluch
lawyer and professor; Nabi Baloch, presiding council member
of the American Friends of Baluchistan.
[The Mayorga Coffee Factory on Georgia
Avenue and 13th Street northwest is a couple
of blocks, or 15 minutes walk, from the Silver
Spring Metro on the Red
Line. If you are driving from DC you
have to go under the overpass and make a U-turn. Free
valet parking].
When:Saturday,
June 27, 2009 at 3.30 p.m.
The event will be moderated by Baluch journalist
Ahmar Mustikhan.
RSVP: ahmar_scribe@yahoo.com
June 26 International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, poster by Baloch Vanguards
Mureed's
murder, Jang.com, Jun 24, 2009: "Another Baloch nationalist leader
has died mysteriously. Mureed Bugti, a close aide of Brahamdagh Bugti
and a member of the Central Executive Committee of the fiercely nationalist
Baloch Republican Party, was killed, along with his host, at a village
near Hala in Sindh..." (reposted at balochunity)
The Baluch will resist
until Baluchistan is liberated:
Noordin
Mengal
Reports and addresses from the 11th
session of the United Nations Human
Rights Council in Geneva (UNHRC)
and special conference on Balochistan:
The Key To Regional Security, Palais
Des Nations, Geneva, June 8, 2009
Intervention, by
Mehran Baloch, Interfaith International Human Rights Council 11th Session Item
Agenda: 4, General Debate
Khan of Kalat Suleman Daud Baluch: Any resolution without the Baluch is no resolution
at all. The Baluch
should sit at the same table as all other participants in the struggle for
peace and freedom.
...The Baluch have long been treated as the sand in the
engine of the region.
Prosperity for the region will only come about when it is accepted that
the Baluch Nation, it's people and resources are the lubricant in an
otherwise diverse, multi ethnic, religious and socioeconomic
land...
New: Baloch
rally against Iran, by Malik Siraj
Akbar, DailyTimes.com, Jun 8, 2009: "...The
protest was organised by the Baloch Women's
Panel and the Baloch Students Organisation
(BSO-Azad), and was led by University of Balochistan
Professor Dr Saba Dashtiyari..."; New: List
of Iranian Baloch hanged 2004 - 2009, RadioBaloch.org,
Jun 2009
New:The
Bahraini Authorities Recruit of Mercenaries
from Makran Town, Pakistan, Jun 6, 2009: "...The Bahrain
Center for Human Rights believes that the
recruitment taking place in Makran aims to
bring in more Baluch soldiers to join the Bahraini National
Guard as well as the Special Forces that belong to the
National Security apparatus. Both of these groups are
made up of mostly foreign mercenaries, and used to suppress
local movements petitioning for greater rights..."
New:Rising
Above I.Q., by Nicholas D. Kristof, NYTimes.com,
Jun 6, 2009: "...the most decisive weapons in the
war on poverty aren't transfer payments but education,
education, education..."
New: Barrick
Gold colonel invites Baluch ire, by Ahmar Mustikhan,
Newsvine.com, Jun 5, 2009; Additional info on Barrick
Gold at http://protestbarrick.net/.
The site is a portal for groups researching mining issues
and is concerned with communities negatively impacted
by Barrick's (and other mining) operations.
RELEASE: Balochistan:
The Key To Regional Security, June 8, 2009, Palais Des
Nations, Geneva (download
pdf)
Event scheduled to coincide with 11th session of the United
Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva (UNHRC) and will address
human rights violations and propose solutions to simmering tension
and conflict in key region straddling Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan.
Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) in partnership with Interfaith
International and Baloch representative Mr. Noordin Mengal, will host an event
to discuss the deteriorating human rights violations in Baluchistan during the
11th Session of the UNHRC in Geneva on Monday, June 8 from 16h00 (TBC).
Balochistan is a region that makes up 44% of Pakistan’s territory but also straddles
Iran and Afghanistan. The region is exceptionally rich in natural resources
which has encouraged exploitative domestic and external intervention.
Speakers at the event will include influential Baloch leaders, security and
human rights experts and representatives of Permanent Missions to the UN, each
of whom will contribute to discussions of the present situation in the region
and possible solutions. The session, entitled Self-Determination
in Baluchistan-its Relation to Regional and Global Security will
discuss the repeated human rights violations of the Baloch, a minority community
who have been politically and economically marginalized by the Pakistan government.
These violations include indiscriminate use of force against civilians, targeted
killings and the disappearance of political activists and journalists. Hundreds
of thousands of civilians are said to have been displaced across province boundaries
into Sindh and Punjab and state boundaries into Afghanistan, underlining the
regional and international nature of the problem. The kidnapping of American
citizen and head of the UNHCR in Balochistan, Mr. John Solecki in February of
this year brought the attention of the international community to this region,
but the subsequent killing of three men who were members of the committee that
secured his release is evidence that international attention must now turn to
international action.
This event will allow assembled leaders, experts, and
decision-makers to discuss the current situation, raise awareness of the complexity
to the problem, and begin to develop possible solutions to the existing regional
turmoil and instability.
For more information on please contact:
Ms. Maggie Murphy
UNPO Project Coordinator
P.O. Box 85878,
2508 CN The Hague,
The Netherlands
unpo@unpo.org,
mmurphy@unpo.org
Tel: +31 (0) 70 36 46 504
Cell:
+31 (0) 649 864 340
Dr. Charles Graves
Interfaith International Secretary General
P.O. Box 32,
1246 Corsier, Geneva, Switzerland
charlesgraves@interfaithonline.org
Tel: 0041 22 751 23 45
Fax: 0041 22 751 23 48
View: '"Torturing
Democracy" relies
on the documentary record to connect the dots in an investigation
of harsh interrogations of prisoners in U.S. custody - and
points straight to the top. Timely and powerful, at its heart the film is about
the rule of law - and how the government pushed it aside despite the fierce resistance
of many on the inside...'
Stop
Pak from conducting nuke tests in Balochistan: Baluch
group, ZeeNews.com, Jun 1, 2009: " Asserting that testing
of nuclear weapons is the worst harm Pakistani occupation
inflicted on Baluchistan, a Baluch group in the United States
has asked the UN to take steps to stop Islamabad from conducting
further nuclear tests on their land..."
In
the region :UN
chief knew Tamil civilian toll had reached 20,000, by
Catherine Philp, TimesOnline.com, May 30, 2009: “The 20,000
figure has also been obtained by Le Monde, the
French daily newspaper, which quoted UN sources as saying
that the figure had not been made public to avoid a diplomatic
storm. The figure of 7,000 deaths until the end of April,
which was based on individually documented deaths and not
estimates, was leaked by UN sources in Sri Lanka this month
after internal anger over the secrecy surrounding them.
UN satellite images documenting the bombing of medical facilities
were also leaked from New York...The Human Rights Council's
decision not to call for specific measures to protect Sri
Lankans made a mockery of the council, but it does not mean
the end of the international community's responsibility
to respond to this continuing crisis..."; Calls
for war crimes inquiry over 20,000 civilian deaths in Sri
Lanka, by Jeremy Page, TimesOnline, May 29, 2009: "...Backed
by China, Russia and other allies, Sri Lanka also easily
defeated a proposal for a war crimes inquiry at a special
session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday
and Wednesday..."
Up
to 40pc children out of school: report, Dawn.com, May
28, 2009: "The report quoted World Economic Forum's Global
Competitiveness 2008-09 that ranked
Pakistan 117 out of 134 countries in terms of quality
of primary education...the report highlighted that education
was most under threat in two major provinces – NWFP and Balochistan – both riddled with internal conflicts.
Release: Washington
DC.
What: Nuclear Tests in Baluchistan: Political and Environmental Impacts
When: May 29, 2009 at 12 noon sharp
Where: 276 Carroll Street, DC NW 20012
RSVP: 301-957-0008
On May 29, a number of distinguished scholars and activists will talk about the
nuclear tests in Baluchistan and their impacts on the politics and environment
of southwest Asia and the world at large.
The DC-based education and advocacy organization, American Friends of Baluchistan,
has organized the meeting in Washington DC to commemorate the 11th anniversary
of Pakistan's nuclear tests in Baluchistan.
The seminar comes in the wake of recent reports that Pakistan army is feverishly
multiplying its nuclear warheads. (read
more)
Balochistan
APC, Dawn editorial, Dawn.com, May 23, 2009: "...Balochistan
is poor when it should be rich. It has a relatively small
population and vast reserves of fossil fuels and precious
metals such as gold and copper. The province has been exploited
ruthlessly, if not pillaged, by the centre. It has been
on the receiving end of brutal military crackdowns, torture
and forced ‘disappearances.' The anger felt by the Baloch
is understandable, as is their sense of alienation from
the centre. Those who take up arms in the fight against
injustice, or seek a separate homeland, will continue to
find adherents to their cause if the centre fails to invest
in Balochistan and award it control over its riches. Conversely,
the insurgents will find few takers when there are enough
schools, hospitals and job opportunities in the province..."
From
before: Pakistan refuses aid to displaced Baloch:Pakistan's
Other War, by Ziad Zafar, Newsline, Jun 14, 2007: "...For
several months now, aid agencies have been desperate to gain
access to the parts of Balochistan where villagers are caught
in the crossfire between rebel tribesmen and government forces,
but their efforts have been consistently blocked. "We
have tried everything to get aid across but all our attempts have been systematically
undermined," said Ronald Van Dijk, head of the UNICEF mission in Pakistan. "Meanwhile,
surplus supplies of medicine and food are lying in warehouses in Quetta. "I
even know of aid groups that tried to deliver relief without permits, but they
got turned back on the road." Officially, the UN cannot deliver aid without
formal permission from the host nation, something the agency has been desperately
seeking for the last nine months..."
Abdul
Wahid Qamber Baloch's life is in danger, family
announces hunger strike beginning May 20 in front of
the Karachi Press Club. Wahid Qamber's and Fazal Kareem's
sister and nieces are on strike at Turbat Press Club
from May 19 (today). Translated from Daily Tawar by
BalochWarna.org
New
in US: Little
Known Military Thug Squad Still Brutalizing Prisoners at
Gitmo Under Obama, by Jeremy Scahill, AlterNet.org,
May 15, 2009: "As the Obama administration continues
to fight the release of some 2,000 photos that graphically
document U.S. military abuse of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan,
an ongoing Spanish investigation is adding harrowing details
to the ever-emerging portrait of the torture inside and
outside Guantánamo..."
Rally: On
May 6, 2009, Baloch and Sindhi human rights supporters gathered
outside the White House to protest Pakistani govt. policies
in Balochistan and Sindh during Pakistan's president Zardari's
meeting with US President Obama.
London,
Public Meeting:
The
Baluch-Invisible Victims of the ‘War
on Terror’
Tuesday, 5 May, 2009, 7pm
Committee Room 4a,
House of Lords,
Hosted and chaired by Baroness Helena Kennedy QC,
"...Countless violations of international law largely go unnoticed by political
leaders in the democracies of the West because they are keen to maintain their
close strategic alliance with Pakistan. It is time that these policies were
changed and that the Baluch were granted the legitimate rights enjoyed by the
peoples of the world.
These countless violations of international law largely go unnoticed by political
leaders in the democracies of the West because they are keen to maintain their
close strategic alliance with Pakistan. It is time that these policies were
changed and that the Baluch were granted the legitimate rights enjoyed by the
peoples of the world..." (read in full)
Release: On
Apr 23, 2009, the Vancouver Chapter of BHRC (Canada)
is holding a peaceful rally to protest the brutal murders
of Baloch political activists and leaders. BHRC, Vancouver,
will highlight Pakistani military crimes against citizens
of Balochistan in an effort to help Canadians understand
the ground reality in Balochistan.
All defenders of human rights and peace loving
citizens are invited to attend. Location: in front
of Vancouver Central Public Library,
350 West Georgia Street, next to Canadian Broadcasting
Corporations (CBC) building.
Release: A
protest demonstration was held in front of Bush House (BBC
World service office in London) on 19 April 2009. The protest
demonstration was organized by Baloch Human Rights Council
in collaboration with the World Sindhi Congress and Sindhi
Baloch Forum. (read full
report, letter
to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown appealing for
British intervention in Balochistan), letter
to UN Sec. Gen. Mr. Ban Ki Moon; video
of London protest (by Balochinews.com)
including statements by Hairbyar Marri and Akbar Barakzai.
Photos.
Photos provided by BHRC (Canada)
Release: Toronto, April 17, 2009 – Baloch
Human Rights Council (Canada) held a protest rally in Toronto to express
their shock and concern over the abduction, torture, and extra judicial killings
of the three Baloch leaders, Ghulam Mohammad Baloch, Lala Munir, and Sher Mohammad
Baloch by the Pakistani military intelligence agencies. The rally was attended
by Baloch community of Toronto, World Sindhi Institute, Canadian Kashmiri Association,
and Pakhtunkhwa Peace Forum...(for detail,
for pictures)
Release,
Apr 17, 2009: A
highly successful protest rally in front of the Pakistan
Embassy in Washington DC demanded complete pullout
of Pakistani troops and intelligence services from Baluchistan
and granting the blood-torn region their right to self
determination. The rally organized by Baluch human rights
activist Maqbool Aliani and American Friends of Baluchistan
(AFB) leaders Nabi Baloch, Laurie Deamer and Mohammed
Ali Baloch condemned Pakistan for genocide and state
terrorism in Baluchistan...(more)
(video)
coverage in Hindustan Times, Apr 18, 2009: Baluchis hold
demonstratioon in front o Pak Embassy
The
Killing Fields of Inequality, by Göran Therborn, reposted
at CommonDreams.org, Apr 7, 2009: "...But the recurrent
success of the Nordic welfare-states - with Finland ranked
sixth and oil-Norway sixteenth out of 131 countries on a list of the most successful
capitalist economies - indicates that generous, relatively egalitarian welfare-states
are neither utopias nor protected enclaves, but highly competitive participants
in the world market. In other words, even within the parameters of global capitalism
there are many degrees of freedom for radical social alternatives. The lethal
effects of inequality make the search for them imperative..."
Baloch
students organization and other students of Islamabad
held a protest against the brutal murder of chairman BNM
Gulam Muhammad Baloch, Lala Munir baloch and Shair Muhad
Baloch in front of Islamabad Press Club, photo by
Sami Baloch, Apr 13, 2009
April 9, 2009: Top Baloch Leaders Assassinated Baloch nationalist leaders Baloch National Movement
President Ghulam Mohammad Baloch, Lala Munir and Sher Mohammad
Baloch were found dead in a rural mountainous region near
Turbat, police reported. One
policeman killed as riots break out in Balochistan, Dawn.com,
Apr 9, 2009
Riots
as Baloch chiefs found dead, BBCNews, Apr 9, 2009: "...The BBC's Azizullah
Khan in Quetta says Ghullam Muhammad Baloch was a leader of his own faction
of the Balochistan National Movement and a key member of the committee set up
to try to secure the release of abducted UN worker John Solecki, who was freed
last Saturday. Sher Muhammad Bugti was a leader of the Balochistan Republican
Party..."
The
Human Rights Situation in Baluchistan - Pattern
of Repression: Conference Details
On March 20, 2009 foreign observers and members of the Baluch community attended
a conference organized by Noordin Mengal titled "The Human Rights Situation
in Baluchistan - Pattern of Repression" at Palais Des Nations, Geneva,
Switzerland. The conference followed a demonstration held at "The Broken
Chair", also at the Palais des Nations. Click
for full account; click
for photos
BSO (M) 'Balochistan Protection Rally' attended by estimated 20,000 people.
Speakers Waja Mohid ul Din Baloch and Secretary General Javed Baloch addressed
the issue of independence for the province of Balochistan. Mar 28, 2009
Khan of Kalat: "The only people who are secular in that region are the Baloch,
and if you (the UK Government) want to lose your last ally on the ground... that
is your choice."
Additional audio: Royal's fight for justice: audio
only
Release!
10th Session of the UN
Human Rights Council, March 20
Please attend the Baluch Demonstration at the:
Broken Chair
20th March 2009
9am - 12pm
Palais des Nations,
Geneva, Switzerland
The Conference
on Human Rights of the Baluch is
scheduled for: 3 pm-5 pm, 20th March 2009, Palais
des Nations, Geneva, Switzerland.
Note: The Broken
Chair "represents a giant chair with a broken leg and stands on
the Place des Nations, in Geneva. It symbolises opposition to land mines
and cluster bombs, and acts as a reminder to politicians visiting Geneva."
UK
agents 'colluded with torture in Pakistan': Intelligence
sources 'confirm abuse', Extent of Mohamed injuries revealed" by
Mark Townsend, The Observer, Feb 22, 2009: "...Last
week HRW submitted evidence to parliament's Joint Committee
on Human Rights. The committee is to question Miliband
and Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, over a legal loophole
which appears to offer British intelligence officers
immunity in the UK for any crimes committed overseas..."; UK
ministers asked to appear before human rights panel,
Dawn.com, Feb 12, 2009
'No
US rights' for Bagram inmates, BBC News, Feb 21,
2009:
'...The justice department ruled that some 600 so-called enemy combatants
at Bagram have no constitutional rights...Prof Olshansky said the conditions
at the Bagram facility, which is near the Afghan capital, Kabul, were worse
than those at Guantanamo Bay, adding that there was a lack of due process available
to detainees.
"The situation in Bagram is so far from anything
like meeting the laws of war or the human rights treaties that we're bound to," she told the BBC.
"There are no military hearings where the detainees can present evidence," she
added. "Torture has led to homicides there that have been admitted by the US."
"It's quite a severe situation, and yet the US is planning a $60m new prison
to hold 1,100 more people there."
The US military considers Bagram detainees unlawful combatants who can be detained
for as long as they are deemed a threat to Afghan national security.'
