from
the editors: The international press is largely
unable to cover events in Balochistan, despite pleas
and invitations from virtually all Baloch organizations.
The Pakistan government has made it virtually impossible
for journalists to travel to the strife-ridden province
and so we rely on intrepid Baloch bloggers, webmasters,
eye-witness reports, as well as Pakistani news reports,
for our accounts. Occasionally a foreign writer manages
to break through the lockdown imposed by the Pakistan
military and intelligence agencies. One such journalist
is Spanish journalist Karlos Zurutuza, whose Ryszard
Kapuscinski-like accounts are an invaluable contribution
to the documentation of this ongoing war in Balochistan.
A new article by Karlos Zurutuza published on this, Balochistan's Independence
Day, will be translated into English shortly. It is titled: 62th
Anniversary of the Frustrated Independence of Baluchistan (Part I) The
Baluch of Pakistan, the hard life in Punjab, gara.net, Aug. 11, 2009.
There are two more articles to follow in this new series on Balochistan.
This August 11 has been marked by a chaotic increase in violence and the
arrests of Baloch political activists and students, news of which is just
trickling in (one report states a further 25 activists from the student
party BSO-Azad have been arrested; another notes that the jailer of the
notorious Mach jail was shot dead. This morning the Daily Times reported
that the Baloch Republican Army (BRA) has killed the remaining 10 of 22
abducted police officers after the Pakistan government refused to release
Baloch political prisoners).
Khan of Kalat Suleiman Daud stated that Baloch defiance is dramatically
escalating and that "Today there is not a single Pakistani flag flying
in Balochistan except those flown by the military and para-military."
The recent escalation of crackdowns on Baloch activists has been covered
by K.P. Nayar in the Indian paper, The
Telegraph. And the Times of India has just published an editorial by
Balochistan Daily Times bureau chief Malik Siraj Akbar: A
Home-grown Conflict, on Aug 10, 2009, which further outlines the roots
of crisis in Balochistan. Daisann McLane has written an article rich in
background detail for those unfamiliar with recent Baloch history: The "Disappeared" of
Balochistan.
more on today's events: Balochwarna.org; Balochunity.com; bso-na.org; balochvoice.com; ostomaan.org.
from the New York Times, 1947, and Related
articles from the NY Times:
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