The Baloch Hal News

QUETTA: Lawyers continued province-wide boycott of court proceedings on Wednesday, in protest against the killing of colleague lawyer Zaman Marri whose bullet-riddled dead body was found from Mastung town on Sunday.

The courts wore deserted look as no lawyer appeared in superior and lower courts and all cases in sessions and before judicial magistrates adjourned till next date.

According to Press release issued here, Aminullah Kakar has said that the strike will be continued till Eid. The lawyers will decide future course of action soon after the Eid.

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KHUZDAR: A complete shutter down strike was observed in Khuzdar district on Wednesday in response call given by BSO-Azad condemning hostage taking of its member Imran Baloch.

The Baloch Student Organization (BSO-Azad) workers also blocked the RCD highway on Wednesday disrupting Quetta Karachi traffic in Khuzdar.

All the shops and trading centers remained closed for the day and most of the streets wore a deserted look with very thin traffic.

Meanwhile, dozens of BSO workers put up barricades on main RCD highway and held a sit-in. the strike continued for several hours and had caused massive traffic jam due to which people, including women and children, faced great hardship in sweltering sun. However traffic was restored around noon.

According to spokesman of BSO, Imran Baloch was kidnapped from Civil Hospital Quetta on Tuesday by a group of armed men.

They demanded immediate release of Imran Baloch who they alleged picked up by security forces.

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QUETTA: Unknown assailants set three more NATO trailers on fire in Khuzdar some 300 kilometer from here on Wednesday.

According to sources, two trailers, carrying logistic support for NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan, were heading to Kandahar from Karachi when unknown armed men intercepted them near New Bus Stop and made the drivers and cleaners hostage at gunpoint.

The assailants sprinkled fuel on trailers and set ablaze. The cargo into the trailers were burnt to ashes and attackers managed to flee from the scene.

Separately, unidentified men set one trailer of NATO forces ablaze in Wadh area of Khuzdar.

Law enforcement agencies and police rushed to the spot soon after the incident and inspected the site. However no causality was reported in the attack.

Meanwhile, unknown armed men torched the ambulance of Civil Hospital Khuzdar and managed to escape from the scene. Separate cases have been registered and investigations were underway. The militants have been frequently carrying out attacks on NATO  trucks for the past 12 days during which around two dozen container and trailers had been destroyed or burnt to ashes.

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QUETTA: Two people, including a local leader of Balochista National Party (BNP) and a Police sub-inspector, were killed and five others, also a  minor girl, sustained injuries in an explosion in busy Rind Market of Industrial Town Hub in Lasbela district on Wednesday.

According to official sources, unknown persons planted an explosive material in a room on second floor of Rind Market. It went off with big bang killing a man, who was offering prayer inside the room, instantly and injuring seven others.

The windowpanes of nearby shops were shattered and walls had been damaged due to intensity of blast. There was heavy crowd in the market who were engaged in shopping when blast took place. People received injuries as roof of the shopping center collapsed.

The police squad rushed to the spot soon after the blast and took the dead body and the injured to Jam Ghulam Qadir Hospital Hub where one of the injured succumbed to his injuries on arrival.

The deceased were identified as Abdul Khaliq comrade who was affiliated with Balochistan National Party (BNP-Mengal) and police sub-inspector Abdul Sattar. The injured have been identified as 8-year-old Sana, Allah Bachai, Ghulam Qadir, Dilawar and Din Mohammad. The four injured were referred to Karachi for specialized treatment.

“Police has collected the evidence from the crime scene and investigating the matter,” a police officer told this scribe adding that the levy official was killed when sailing of the building collapsed. However, sources confirmed the target was BNP leader.

A case has been registered in Hub Police Station and investigations were underway. No group has claimed the responsibility of blast till filing this news report.

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By Siddiq Baluch—- Exclusive to The Baloch Hal

The Federal Interior Minister  Rehman Malik paid a two-day visit to the Provincial Capital to meet with security officials and provincial Ministers and finally talked to media on the Balochistan situation which he thought would be improved by using greater force against the political opponents of the government demanding national rights.

On his arrival, the minister announced aSwat-like military action would  be taken in Balochistan to crush the Baloch national movement with use of brute force. It was his first statement on arrival, particularly after having a briefing on security matters on Balochistan. However, the next day, he backed out from his first harsh statement and claimed that merely Frontier Corps, a centrally controlled civil armed force, had been given police powers to combat militancy, particularly the target killing and other acts of violence.

He claimed that the Balochistan Government had approved this decision. For the proof, the Provincial Home Minister, Mir Zafarullah Zehri, was also present at the news briefing and he did not contradict the statement of Rehman Malik. In a way, it was approved by the Provincial Government. The Interior Minister claimed that the FC would be under the command of the Chief Minister of Balochistan who will direct the targeted actions against his own constituents in unspecified number of districts of the Province.

However, he clarified that there would be no military action on the pattern of Swat and Malakand as he had earlier claimed on arrival of Quetta. The Federal Government had already taken five military actions against the Baloch nationalists in the past demanding national rights within the framework of one Pakistan. President of Pakistan and other leaders have admitted that excesses were committed on the Baloch people for which they apologized to the Balochs in general. Former President General Pervez Musharraf publicly apologized and later ordered assassination of Nawab Akbar Bugti along with his 70 comrades.

The decision of the Government to hand over police power to the FC will remain unpopular and unwelcome by the people in general. On the contrary, the people are demanding withdrawal of FC from all the major population centres. A day earlier, all the organizations of the lawyers, from Supreme Court Bar to the Baloch Bar, unanimously demanded withdrawal of FC from Quetta and other major cities sending them back to the international frontier with Iran and Afghanistan to beef up security there leaving the police to deal with the civilian affairs. Some of the lawyers hurled serious allegations against the FC.

Yet another decision announced by the Interior Minister was banning the Baloch armed outfits of Baloch Libeation Army (BLA), Baloch Republican Army (BRA), Baloch Liberation United Front (BLUF), Baloch Musla Defai Tanzeem (BMDT), Baloch Liberation Front (BL) and Lashkar-i-Balochistan freezing their all bank accounts and assets.

The BMDF is openly sponsored by the government functionaries and used to kill Baloch nationalists at the behest of the functionaries. It had also threatened the newspapers not to publish the statements of Baloch nationalists engaged in struggle for national rights. It indicated that the Interior Minister had very sketchy and infirm information about Balochistan.

Malik is mixing up or distorting the facts for lack of proper and specific information. It seems he is not in the picture at all. At one stage, the Provincial Home Minister came to the help of the Federal Interior Minister clarifying that no action against the Baloch Students Organization (BSO) was planned as it was a political front organization of the students and not a militant outfit. A day earlier, the Interior Minister launched a tirade against the BSO along with other militant outfits.

It is definite that the Interior Minister will use his Interior Ministry troops in launch an operation in Kohlu, Bugti Agencies, Turbat, Khuzdar, Quetta and a few other districts where Baloch nationalists have a significant presence in political sense. It will definitely not bring good result for the political Government at the Centre and Province. It will erode the political base of the Party ruling the Centre and in the Province making all the past efforts going down to the drain.

The government should review its policy and should not grant police power to the FC for political reasons. Instead, it should improve the political climate and create conducive conditions for holding talks with the Baloch nationalists by releasing all the arrested persons, including all those missing people for years and all in illegal custody of the government functionaries. The present political and security climate around Pakistan do not permit to the Government to initiate yet another adventure to undermine security of Pakistan. People like Rehman Malik had no stake in politics or such people had any political standing among the broad masses. They should be kept on sideline while dealing delicate political and constitutional issues.

(The write is a veteran Quetta-based journalist with five-decade journalistic experience of covering Balochistan. He is currently the editor-in-chief of Daily Balochistan Express and Daily Azadi (Urdu), Quetta: dailyazadi@gmail.com. To read previous articles by the same writer, click here)

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QUETTA: President of the Balochistan National Party (BNP) and former chief minister of Balochistan Sardar Akhtar Mengal,  while reacting on the recent strong-worded decision of the federal government to ban all armed groups and empower the Frontier Corps (FC), has said that the military operation had in fact never stopped in Balochistan.

He said it was either accelerated or slowed down with the passage of time. The Operation was started by General Musharraf and it is continuing to this date, Mr. Mengal claimed.

In an interaction with the media, the top Baloch nationalist leader said the situation was under the control of Army and the politicians and leaders were mere proxy and the real rulers were the Army generals who took major policy  decision about Balochistan.

The BNP leader claimed that more workers and political activists of his and other parties had been kidnapped and killed during the PPP Government than Musharraf’s rule. He claimed that the Army had decided to crush the Baloch movement for national rights.

It is cruel joke, he added, to claim that IGFC or the entire Frontier Corps is under the control and command of the Chief Minister. He was of the view that democracy had no scope in Balochistan.

” Only political proxies of the generals are allowed to do politics supporting establishment only,” he said.

Mengal  predicted a very strong reaction if FC personnel began an operation in Baloch areas.  He said such an intensified military action would have serious repercussions increasing Baloch hatred against Pakistan.

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QUETTA: Senior Vice-President of the National Party(NP) Senator Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo has said that the proposed Frontier Corps (FC) action against Baloch people was meant to impose  an emergency rule in Balochistan or impose the direct central rule of the federal government through a governor on the oil and gas rich Balochistan province.

Expressing his reaction to the latest decision by Islamabad to increase the powers of the Frontier Corps (FC), Senator Bizenjo was of the view that after the 18^th Constitutional Amendment, the Frontier Corps should come under the command and control of the provincial governments.

He cited the example of 1970s when the Central Government had created a scare by issuing provocative statements and finally the Provincial Government in Balochistan was toppled down and Governor’s Rule imposed against the will of the people. He had drawn a similar political scenario.

He said he failed to understand why the Federal Government was imposing its decision on the Provincial Government for what reasons?

Mir Bizenjo said that there was totally different environment in Balochistan and Swat. Pakistan was the only country in the world that its forced launched air-strikes against their own countrymen. No country of the world had bombed it own territory, the NP Leader pointed out.

He said his party had supported the AHB asking the Prime Minister to solve the political and constitutional issues of Balochistan.

Mr. Bizenjo categorically declared that the political forces would not support any military operation against their own people, their own constituents. He said his party had proposed to surface all the missing people from illegal official custody, try the real culprits responsible for assassination of  Nawab Bugti and his comrades and make public the finding the tribunal formed to investigate three Baloch workers in Turbat. If the Government implements these demand, ways will be found to resolve all other issues, Mr. Bizenjo added. Despite the public announcement of the Prime Minister of Pakistan on the floor of the Joint Sessions of the Parliament, not single missing persons surfaced. Rather bullet riddled bodies of the missing were found, he recalled.

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QUETTA: A former governor and corp commander of Balochistan General Abdul Qadir Baloch has claimed that the entire Cabinet was unaware about the impending operation in Balochistan and only Rehman Malik knew about it.

He said that the suicide attack in Quetta had nothing to do with the Baloch rights movement. It was religious and sectarian terrorism, he added.

He said law and order was a provincial subject and the central government should not interfere. He said that FC is deployed in Balochistan for years and it played no significant role. He said that the Provincial Government in Balochistan had failed. Regarding the impending military operation, General Qadir Baloch said that his party was not consulted.

He said that there were five major military operation and after every operation the rulers tendered apologies before the people. He said before August 26, 2006, (the day Nawab Bugti was assassinated) no one had raised the slogan of Independent Balochistan. Now the people are burning the National Flag and openly talking of independent Balochistan, the former Governor and PML-N MNA said.

He also condemned the statement of Altaf Hussain inviting the Pakistan Army to take over power and impose martial law in the country. He said that the armed forces should be subservient to the civilian and political Government as is in the entire civilized world.

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QUETTA: In an unanticipated move, the federal government has empowered the Frontier Corps (FC), a central government force, to use all police powers in carrying out arrests, search and detain people. The powers were given to the FC personnel, 95% of who come from provinces other than Balochistan, for a period of three months.

The government also has imposed a ban on five Baloch armed groups  and frozen their accounts.

The Interior Minister, Rehman Malik told a news conference that the decisions taken during a high level meeting held at Chief Minister’s Secretariat on Wednesday to review the law and order situation in Balochistan. It was decided to act in order to restore the falling writ of the Government in certain districts of Balochistan which the Interior Minister did not specify.

He also clarified that government is not intended to launch a crackdown or a full-fledged military operation in Balochistan like the one in Swat. The circumstances are different in Balochistan, the Minister argued deviating from his earlier statement made on arrival. He said a small percentage of Baloch outlaws are involved in terrorist activities.

Interior Minister was of the view that police is incapable to take action against the militants possessing sophisticated weapons. Thus the police powers had been transferred to FC to carry out search in any area or district of Balochistan where writ of the Government is challenged.

He denied that it was an operation relaunched. It will be a targeted action on the basis of real intelligence reports against the outlaws he said adding that Police will lead the action and FC will assist it. He said that the powers had been given to Chief Minister of Balochistan to decide where to use FC. The force will work under his directives for three months, he added.

He said no steps will be taken without taking on board the Balochistan Government. Federal Government will also assist the provincial government in case it needed force, arms or improvement in intelligence gathering.

He also announced a complete ban on five Baloch armed groups including Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), Baloch Republican Army (BRA), Baloch Liberation United Front (BLUF), Baloch Liberation Front (BLF), Baloch Mussalah Diffa Tanzim (BMDT) and they will not be able to hold any bank accounts and carry on any activity in province. The last one had been created by pro-establishment people at the behest of the government functionaries and it was allegedly involved in kidnapping and target killing of Baloch political activists. It had also hurled threats to newspapers for publishing the statements of Baloch nationalists.

Both the decisions will improve the law and order situation in Balochistan and the government is hopeful for positive outcome, the Minister observed

He announced to ban groups in Balochistan who use words liberation, army and lashkar in the names of their organizations.

“Those who are talking about independent Balochistan are the teenagers and could be counted in finger tips. Hostile agency and countries are providing them money to carry out target killing and bomb blast,” he maintained. He said that he had also taken the issue of Balochistan with India and Afghanistan.

“I have recorded my protest with Indian Foreign Minister Chidambrum and Afghan President Ahmad Karzai and also to the United States about their alleged involvement in Balochistan,” he said adding that he had also informed the Afghan government that Barhmdag Bugti is in Kabul and commanding insurgency in Balochistan. “I have also informed the American that you people are watching the militants through satellite but we are watching them with our naked eyes.”

Responding to a query about missing persons, Malik says “those who had been sent to Afghanistan by BLA were also included in to the list of missing persons. I was informed that around 150 Baloch women are reported to be missing but no one had provided me the list,” he maintained adding that Chief Justice of Pakistan had also taken suo motto notice of the issue and majority of the people had been recovered. A Local newspaper had published the list of 150 missing women quoting a Baloch organization.

The Minister refused to provide details about the targeted action in few districts and said he can not name the districts however he says when action will be taken the people and media would know about it.

The Home Minister, Zafarullah Zehri said that no one will be given permission to carry out operation in Balochistan. The provincial government believes on dialogue rather then using brute force, the Provincial Home Minister said

Baloch Student Organisation is a political organization and it must be clear to us and the action will be taken against militant outfits not political parties. Media projected the statement of Rehman Malik with different angle and there was bit misunderstanding,” he maintained.

Earlier, he held meeting with Chief Minister Balochistan Nawab Muhammad Aslam Khan Raisani, Home Minister Mir Zafrullah Khan Zehri, Chief Secretary Mir Ahmed Bukhsh Lehri, Home Secretary Akbar Hussain Durrani, IGP Balochistan Malik Muhammad Iqbal and other senior government officials.

He informed them that on the special directives of President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani, he would himself visit Quetta after every 10 days to monitor the LEA action against outlaws.

It may be recalled that Mr Rehman Malik used very harsh words on arrival here following a briefing on security situation. However, he was softened up next day following a strong opinion from the Cabinet Ministers protesting against his provocative statements polluting the political atmosphere in Balochistan.

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QUETTA: In a dramatic move to embarrass the Federal Interior Minister, Mr. Rehman Malik, a spokesman of the Balochistan government disowned all his decisions announced at a news conference at the CM Secretariat on Wednesday intended to ban all Baloch armed groups and give the Frontier Corps (FC) the policing powers.

An official handout categorically stated that the views expressed in the news conference were Mr. Rehman Malik’s personal and the government of Balochistan had nothing to do with those decisions/views.

Rehman Malik had said that the Frontier Corps had been given police powers and it command and control had been given to the Chief Minister.

Explaining the real position, the spokesman said that the Chief Minister had participated in a law and order meeting with the officials of the law enforcing agencies in which the Interior Minister was also present.

The meeting deliberated in detail the role of the Frontier Corps, Balochistan, and it was agreed that the FC had violated the FC Act exceeding its powers and duties assigned to it. It was agreed to order the FC to remain within the legal framework in future.

‘If the Provincial Government agreed, the Frontier Corps could be assigned the duties of policing in Balochistan,’ the spokesman said.

In this regard, the Provincial Government will prepare a draft proposal to the Federal Government for approval, the spokesman said.

The spokesman reminded that the command and control of the Frontier Corps is with the Federal  Interior Ministry (not with the CM) and it should function under the laws of the land and under the strict directive and supervision of the District Magistrate, the first citizen of the state in his district, the spokesman said.

If the FC violates the laws of the land and exceeds its power, the District Magistrate had powers to punish the FC officials or conduct an inquiry, the spokesman explained.

During the meeting, it was said that if administrative powers of the Federal Government are transferred to the Provincial Government, then it would produce positive results, it said.

The spokesman deplored that the Federal Interior Minister did not announce the decisions taken at the meeting. Instead he publicized his personal views in his news conference which can create misunderstanding. Thus it was necessary to explain and clarify the situation in the present circumstances, the spokesman concluded.

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