The Baloch Hal Monitoring Desk 

QUETTA: The bullet-riddled body of a journalist was found dumped in a deserted area near Turbat city in Kech district on Saturday morning. At least 17 journalists have been killed in Balochistan during the last three years.
Relatives of Express News correspondent Razzaq Gul said that he had been kidnapped from near his house on Friday evening and had been missing since then.
Gul’s body was found near Singani Sar area close to the Old Civil Hospital in Turbat. Law enforcement agencies shifted the body to a state-run hospital for an autopsy, where his brother identified him.
“The victim was shot in the head and chest, and his body bore marks of torture,” hospital sources said.
Gul had received 15 bullets to his head and chest, and had died instantly.
According to journalists in Turbat Press Club, Razzaq Gul had not mentioned that he was receiving death threats. He hadn’t even indicated that his life was in danger.
“He was kidnapped and later his body was dumped,” local journalists said.
Most journalists refused to comment on the killing owing to security reasons.
Acting Inspector General (IG) Police Balochistan Hussain Karar Khwaja has directed an inquiry into the murder.
Balochistan Union of Journalists (BUJ) and Council of All Balochistan Press Club strongly condemned the killing. BUJ also announced three day mourning.
“As many as 17 journalists have been killed during that past three years and not a single murder was properly investigated,” BUJ said in a statement. “This is meant to terrify journalists in Balochistan.”
Council of All Balochistan Press Club said that it will launch a protest campaign by June 1 if culprits behind the murder are not arrested immediately.
A complete shutter down strike is being observed in Tump, Mand, Hoshab and Turbat city to protest the killing of journalists.
Funeral prayers for Razzaq Gul will be held at 1pm today and his burial will take place in his hometown, Singhania Sar. (Courtesy: Express Tribune)

Republished in The Baloch Hal on May 19, 2012

By Amjad Hussain

The turbulent north-western Balochistan provice of Pakistan has been on the boil for the last couple of years. The escalating feeling of insecurity among the populace and the government operatives’ inability to ensure safety to public life and properties have compelled hundreds of thousands of the vulnerables – amongst them the Hazaras and the settlers being the worst affectees – to leave their ancestral lands and settle down in other safe places.

The province fell a prey to current violence and turmoil after the military take over in 1999. The military-led government headed by the then Army Chief General Pervez Musharraf waged a new war against the Baloch natioanlists for demanding their rights and seeking control over their resources which culminated in death of the 89-year old veteran Baloch politician and highly-regarded tribal chieftain, Nawab Akbar Bugti, in August 2006. Nawab Bugti’s assassination by the “Uniformed Terrorists” proved a turning point in Baloch struggle for their rights. Baloch armed resistance sprang up with full intensity and for the first time the slogan of “Independent Balochistan” echoed across the lawless province. Pakistani flags were removed from a number of public and private buildings and singining of the national anthem was banned in schools in the Baloch-dominated areas of the province.

Filled with wrath, the Baloch nationalists declined to carry on further negotiations with the government and a new demand for solution of the Baloch issue out of Pakistani constitutions ambit was raised. Baloch separatist movement got a new lease of life and eleventh of August was declared as “Independent Balochistan Day” in 2009.

Keeping in view the exacerbating situation in Balochistan, Islamabad came forward with multiple soothing packages with Aghaz-i-Huqooq-i-Balochistan being the most promminent one to pacify the billigerent Baloch. The Baloch armed groups reciporacated the civilian government’s appeasing advances with a three-month unilateral ceasefire. The military top brass, however, could not put up with this progress towards peace in Balochistan and came up with a new “kill and dump” strategy which, thereby, flared up the Baloch anger once again.

There is no blinking the fact that the onus for the crises currently confronting Balochistan fall on none, but, the “Uniformed Terrorists” who are playing a dirty game in the region to achieve their own ulterior motives. It has always been the same nasty uniformed group which sabotaged the peace deals negotiated every time between the civilian government and the Baloch nationalists. Though claiming itself the guardian of Pakistan’s integrity and consolidation the deeds of the this most treacherous army of the world have always been the opposite. Raising armed outfits to kill its own innocent citizens, pitching one nationality against the other, fanning sectarianism, extending support to so-called jihadi organizations, churning out terrorists and suicide bombars, minting money from drug trafficking and toppling down elected civilian governments are some fo the specialities which make Pakistan Army stand out among all the armed forces of the world.

Another obnoxious act which Pakistan military is frequently carrying out in Balochistan and which has brought it ample notoriety across the world is the subjection of its ideological dissidents and political rivals to forced disappearances. Thousands of Baloch political activists have been whisked away by the military intelligence operatives over the past couple of years in Balochistan. They have either been excruciated to death or are still in extra-constitutional military detention. The Zardari – Gilani duo and the so-called custodian of justice in Pakistan have proved executive and judicial eunuchs in front of the military operatives as they have failed to deliver their commitments to the affected Baloch families regarding recovery of their missing loved ones.

Evidences show that in many incidents of targeted killings of innocent citizens and blowing up of national installations in Balochistan the “Uniformed Terrorists” were themselves involved. Such acts are carried out to score diplomatic point against India on international level and to justify its interference in Indian-held Kashmir. Pakistan has been blaming India for backing the Baloch separatists and interfering in Balochistan, but, interestingly, no evidence in this regard has ever been disclosed to media by the authorities up to date.

The pogram of minority Shia Hazaras in Quetta by a handful of religious terrorists trained by Pakistan Army as a tool of “Strategic Depth” is also a military strategy. Ironically, to military operatives, the genocide of a hapless nationality which has rendered innumerable sacrifices and even laid their lives for Pakistan and which is making a considerable contribution to country’s foreign exhcange is also a service to national cause.

It has been the policy of Pakistani military Generals to always be at loggerheads with the neighbouring countries to keep themselves alive and to ensure drawing lion’s share form the national budget which, otherwise, is meant for uplift of the impoverished masses. It is the cost of the ill-intended military adventures which the poor people of Pakistan in general and of Balochistan in particular are paying at the moment.

Its about time the Pakistani military reviewed its strategy towards the neighbouring countries to provide peace with an opportunity to prevail in the most backward province and performed the actual obligations it has been tasked with as under the constitution to ensure Pakistan’s stability and integrity.

Amjad Hussain is a senior journalist and a regular contributor to The Baloch Hal. Read more articles by Mr. Hussain 

Published in The Baloch Hal on May 19, 2012

By Yousaf Ajab Baloch

Despite being rich in terms of its natural resources and significant due to its geostrategic location, Balochistan has remained the most backward of all Pakistani provinces. Hence, the province does not get sufficient attention in the national media whereas there is a tremendous need for building journalists’ capacity. Balochistan also lags behind in terms of standard of journalism practiced here. The poor quality of journalism in Balochistan is because of lack of proper training and exposure opportunities for the local journalists.

The key problem or the cause of backwardness of journalism in Balochistan is somewhat because of a lack of training and internship opportunities for reporters because mainstream Pakistani media organizations hardly provide such chances to journalism students from Balochistan. Students even cannot fully available an internship offer, if ever made, to them from outlets based in Karachi, Islamabd or Lahore because the host media organizations or the universities where the students are enrolled do not pay travel or lodging expenses to facilitate such rare learning opportunities.
Meager financial resources also hinder the news gathering process in the province. Most social and political issues are not reported because the regional newspapers lack the funds to train their reporters about the idea of investigative journalism and encourage them to follow a career in this essential domain of journalism. Even a university degree in journalism does not necessarily lead to investigative journalism skills. The absence of trainings causes the poor standard of reporting. Journalists, who hold professional degrees cannot prove themselves as skilled journalist , because the degree holders work only on theory rather than practical work. No doubt, there has not been any productive output of journalist classes at the University of Balochistan because a large number of students prefer to go out of Balochistan and work in other provinces mainly in Karachi , the capital city of Sindh, to pursue a career in journalism.
The backwardness of journalism in Balochistan is depicted in the deficient media. Most newspapers carry press releases from government offices, headquarters of political parties which they are sent to them via fax. They also suffice with calling their friends and getting news. Having done that, they publish then news which are in fact mere “desk stories”. In local press clubs, all journalists share the same news story and fax it to their news offices by only changing the bylines. What we learn from such practices is the deficiency of investigative work. Journalists get information from their colleagues instead of going out in the field to dig out stories themselves. Not surprisingly, the same news report gets published the next day in a number of local publications without even a single edit in the entire copy. This reflects not only weaknesses in the reporting section but also a sad state of affairs in the copy-editing department.
Newsrooms often remain contended with press releases they receive from various sources via fax or stories they copy and paste from the internet or news agencies.

In most of the cities teacher and clerks work with newspapers published from Quetta, the capital city of Balochistan. Newspapers hardly pay the reports or journalist for their work, therefor; they can find teachers to report for their newspapers without paying them any compensation for their services. Fulltime commitment is extremely essential for high quality and this job cannot be performed by government school teachers in such exploitative circumstances.
The unprofessional editors further contribute to the deplorable situation because the publishers and owners of the newspapers simultaneously also serve as the editors. They have little or no journalistic experience at all. The other owner-cum-editors are unskilled, untrained or compliant of government dictations because they want to receive advertisements from the government’s Ministry of Information.
Apart from, above mentioned issues journalist face threats from sectarian , armed groups and allegedly intelligence agencies. Currently, journalists of Balochistan are witnessing the appalling murder of their professional colleagues on a regular basis. More than 12 journalist of Balochistan have either been shot dead or killed and dumped after being abducted.
The local journalists are still unfamiliar with the concept and benefits of social media and internet. It has been observed that a large number of writers and journalist cannot use computer and they do not know how to use the internet to send their news reports by using email.
There is a great need to create opportunities of exposure and trainings for journalist of Balochistan to know the required techniques of the time in journalism and become aware of the standard in journalism or media which has been applied in the developed countries.
Although a number of national and international organizations have extensively worked in various major cities of Pakistan to develop the capacity of journalists and introduce them with modern tools and techniques, such initiatives have, unfortunately, not been taken on a large scale for the journalists of Balochistan. It is the time these organizations prioritized Balochistan in their media development projects considering the overwhelming need in this important area.

Yousaf Ajab Baloch is a Staff Writer at The Baloch Hal. Read his previosu posts here

By Malik Siraj Akbar

Pakistan’s relationship with the United States was hit hard in 2011, owing to various factors, prime amongst which were the May 2 raid to kill Osama Bin Laden in Abbottabad and the attack on Pakistani armed forces’ check-post in Salala in November.

Both countries have been unable to undo the damage and Pakistani parliament’s review of relations has not deterred Washington from continuing drone strikes inside Pakistan’s tribal areas.

To assess the state of US-Pakistan relations, Dawn.com spoke exclusively to Professor Dr Marvin G. Weinbaum, Director of the Pakistan Center at the Middle East Institute in Washington DC.  He is a professor emeritus of political science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. From 1999 to 2003, he served at the US Department of State’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research as an analyst for Pakistan and Afghanistan.  

What has been the response in Washington to the parliamentary review of Pakistan’s relations with the United States?

It was interesting to see the Pakistani parliament debate the issue. Normally, the military in Pakistan decides the foreign policy. One wonders if the parliament was competent to examine the foreign policy vis-à-vis the United States.

Washington wants the reopening of supplies to Nato forces in Afghanistan, while the bottom line for Pakistan has been to stop the drone strikes. Drones are one area where the US is most reluctant to give up.

It is believed in Washington that Pakistani officials secretly endorse drone operations but publicly denounce them. Which of these statements is true?

Everyone realises that one could not have conducted the operations over the years without some cooperation from the Pakistani military authorities. The dispute between the two armed forces has been the issue of who to target. Pakistan does not mind if the US targets Al Qaeda. The raid on the Bin Laden compound was the only exception. Likewise, Pakistan does not mind if the drones strike on Hakeemullah Mehsud’s people. Pakistan seems to have problems when the Americans go behind the Haqqani Network or the Quetta Shura. The cause for friction between the two countries on drones is over the issue of the targets.

What is going to be the impact of the bounty announced by the US government on Jammat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed?

The US has been watching the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in the context of the rise of the Pakistan Defence Council (PDC).  The PDC has become much visible and the Pakistani civil and military authorities have done nothing to stop it. The objectives of the LeT are aimed at the South Asian region as well as American interests and beyond. The bounty could have been announced one or two years ago but it has come now as a mark of American frustration with Pakistan in the wake of the stoppage of the supply lines, the parliamentary debate and, most importantly, how  groups like the LeT and even the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi have been given a free hand to operate.

What do you think are going to be the major transitional challenges in Afghanistan in 2014?  

There are going to be different transitions and different challenges. For example, the security transition looks into the matter of transferring authority to the Afghan security forces, finances, competence of Afghan forces and their loyalties.

Afghanistan will also go through political transition as there is going to be a change in political leadership of the country. If the Afghans can’t negotiate among themselves ahead of 2014, the Taliban are likely to take advantage of this and attain military gains which will eventually lead to a civil war. There is a need to sufficiently stabilise the security forces to avoid a civil war.

The third transition is going to be economic. Most of the economic growth in Afghanistan in the past one decade took place by the virtue of the money that came because of the military’s presence there. Recently, there has been a sharp decline in military assistance. The challenge is how the Afghan economy is going to make an adjustment with where it is today and what it would look like by 2015.

After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Pakistan was left alone by the United States and even isolated due to its nuclear program. Now, it seems the US won’t be there to help Pakistan grapple with the post-2014 challenges, such as the Pakistani Taliban, because Washington is still annoyed with Islamabad over Bin Laden’s presence in Abbottabad. So, what do you think is going to happen to Pakistan?

In 1990s, there was no insurgency in Pakistan but now it has to calculate what the events in Afghanistan will lead to inside its territory. I do not think that the Pakistani government, or even the military, wants a complete Taliban victory in Afghanistan. They don’t want to see a civil war in Afghanistan which would place Pakistan on the other side of the military influence of Iran, Russia and India. Taliban rule could lead to further isolation for Pakistan and could also lead to the rise of an uncontrollable Taliban in Pakistan.

What is the future of the Pakistani Taliban?

The Afghan Taliban, if they come into power, would like to realign themselves with the Pakistani Taliban. At this time, their top priority is to get into power in Afghanistan because of which one does not see a lot of realignment between the two. But once the Taliban in Afghanistan achieve their goals, they would want the Sharia law for Islamabad as much as they want it for Kabul.

Pakistan wants to be instrumental in bringing a peaceful settlement in Afghanistan. They do not want to run Afghanistan but want to make sure that they have their elements there who will take care of Pakistan’s needs. This means, Pakistan would like to offer the Afghans so much domestic influence that they should be able to keep the Indians from getting too much of a foothold in Afghanistan.

What was the impact of Pakistan’s boycott of the Bonn Conference?

I think Pakistan’s boycott was emotional. It made no sense. Pakistan wants to be at the table whenever anything regarding Afghanistan is being discussed. The reason its absence did not matter much is because nothing significant happened in Bonn. Some speeches were made but nothing substantial took place there.

What do you think we should expect from Nato’s upcoming Summit in Chicago?

Some tough decisions, such as the pace of withdrawal, have to be made at the Chicago Summit. Presumably, some bilateral strategic agreements are going to be signed. This is, therefore, an event of important interest for Pakistan.

Would you agree that Pakistan was not consulted while opening an office for the Taliban in Qatar or initiating the reconciliation process?

Pakistan has never objected to the Taliban setting up an office in Qatar. Pakistan was on board on that notion from the very beginning. That is why it never complained about it. For instance, when Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Bradar was secretly talking to the Americans, the Pakistanis immediately locked him up. The problem with Pakistan’s strategy is that Islamabad can’t make the Taliban deliver what it wants them to do. It is naïve to expect the Afghan Taliban to accept Hamid Karzai as a part of the political set-up or form a political party of  their own to become a part of the electoral system.

Do you see a future relationship between the United States and Pakistan after 2014?

Both the countries can ill-afford a complete separation. They will struggle to find those areas of common interest that serve their purpose. There should be no illusions that it is going to be a broad-based strategic partnership. It is going to be a narrowly construed and transactional arrangement.

Why can’t the two countries have a successful strategic partnership?  

The military and the elements in the government are willing to develop a strategic partnership but the public opinion prevents it from happening. Political forces in Pakistan do not want a resolution of tensions between the two countries. Despite controlling the country’s foreign policy, the military in Pakistan involved the public and the media in key debates concerning the relations with the United States as was seen in the Raymond Davis affair. The Bin Laden raid and the killing of soldiers last November has created a set of expectations among the public which serves as the limiting factor for the policymakers.

Pakistanis complain that the United States comes up with a new set of demands every time. When should one expect an end to future pressures on Pakistan to ‘do more’?

I do not think that the US comes up with new demands all the time. We only keep repeating the old ones. The only new demand has come in the case of Hafiz Saeed.

Some sections of opinion in Pakistan believe that the United States is eying their nuclear program and would eventually take away the country’s nukes.

That is nonsense. Anything that weakens the government in Pakistan should be treated contrary to the US interests. The US needs a predictable partner. A partner that is distracted from issues cannot be an interlocutor in any kind of negotiations. If the US has to worry about Pakistan’s nuclear program, it would be for the fear of a break up within the Pakistani military. Does the US worry about it? Yes, it does. The US does not expect the imminent break up of the country but the consequences are catastrophic if junior officers (with support to Jihadi elements) turn on the senior officers causing a serious command-and-control challenge. Fortunately, we are not there at this point. It is not in the interest of the US or even India to deliberately weaken the Pakistani government or the military. (Courtesy: Dawn.com)

Malik Siraj Akbar is a Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy(NED), Washington DC. The contents of this interview do not reflect the policy of NED.

The Chief Justice of Pakistan Mr. Justice Ifthakar Mohammad Chaudhary and the Inspector General of the Frontier Corps (FC) Balochistan, Major General Ubaidullah Khan engaged in a fascinating conversation on Monday during the ongoing hearing of the Supreme Court of Pakistan on the issue of the missing Baloch persons.

It is too premature and simplistic to hope that the ongoing hearing will lead to the release or recovery of all the missing persons in Balochistan. But such conversations, which should have ideally started as early as 2004, are a healthy and positive development. Monday’s hearing showed how security forces had mismanaged Balochistan for almost a decade. They committed all illegal acts and easily got away with it because of the absence of  a culture of accountability.

The Balochistan Police once again embarrassed the FC by sharing the video evidence of the extrajudicial disappearance of a Baloch citizen who was forcefully whisked away by FC personnel. The judges, it seemed, were fully convinced about the authenticity of the video. On the top of it, the Deputy Inspector General of Balochistan, Hamid Shakil, also told the court that members of Balochistan’s Traffic Police had seen under their nose the illegal actions of the FC personnel in broad daylight. One such example, the DIG said, was the forceful detention of 29-year old Mehran Khan whose forced disappearance was witnessed by traffic police officers. While the FC had justified Mr. Khan’s detention by accusing him of  indulging into criminal activities, the FC now denies having him in its custody.

When the Chief Justice asked the Inspector General to provide an answer to the strong evidence available against his force, the IG even brushed aside the authenticity of the video. He insisted that the folks shown in the video were actually not Fc personnel but ‘criminals’ who had worn the FC uniform. This is a shocking remark from the head of such an important security force who, after all,  has not been asked to review a Bollywood action movie but to provide an honest account of the deplorable state of FC’s involvement in human rights abuses.

The defensive IG is unwilling to accept any solid evidence against his force. He was baffled when the Chief Justice asked him about the official vehicles the personnel used while whisking away the Baloch boy and also lack of action at FC check posts. The IG had no satisfactory answers to the valid and tough questions of the Chief Justice but he still refused to take responsibility for the charges leveled against FC men.

The Chief Justice has ordered the IG FC to come up with better results in the next hearing on the same topic on May 21st. As stated above, there is not much this hearing is going to immediately achieve in terms of seeking the release of  allthe missing persons. But this is still a very important dialogue among important government officers who, in the past, had been easily forgiving each other’s negligence of duty. That culture  of impunity is diminishing, some signs show.

Officers like the IG FC are being asked again and again about the illegal actions of the FC which is a positive beginning toward bringing security forces under civilian control. Had the judiciary taken the same level of interest several months ago, hundreds of the missing persons  in Balochistan would not lose their lives in kill and dump operations.

Published in The Baloch Hal  on May 15, 2012

The Baloch Hal Monitoring Desk

ISLAMABAD: Inspector General Frontier Corps Major General Obaidullah Khan and Balochistan Inspector General Police apperaing before the Supreme Court as it heard a case on Balochistan security and cases of missing persons, left everyone stunned on Monday. No person involved in almost 2000 terrorist attacks had been arrested in Balochistan since 2011 on the basis of investigations they told the court.
The revelations were made by the Inspector General of Frontier Corps Major General Obaidullah Khattak in the Supreme Court before Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. He added that those currently in custody are those who had surrendered themselves up or had confessed to 886 attacks.
CJP Chaudhry observed that in 95 per cent of the cases, people of the province had blamed FC involvement. Justice Khilji Arif Hussain observed that once FC and security institutions were enjoying the relations of trust and respect with the public, but this had drastically decreased due to FC’s errant strategy.
Major General Khattak, answering court summons, appeared before the Supreme Court on Monday. He said that the three missing persons, allegedly abducted by FC, were currently being traced.
The court, however, was less than convinced with his arguments and told him to restrict FC’s activities to within its lawful ambit.
A video was also screened during the proceedings showing FC personnel picking up a boy and speeding away in a vehicle, that boy is now missing. The IGFC, however, denied the charge, saying that there existed the possibility that FC uniforms were being misused by unknown people.
He added that as per FC standard operating procedures (SOPs), at least two vehicles ply on the road side by side at any given point in time.
The court raised several questions after watching the video but IGFC could not satisfy the court in this regard. When the court asked him why the particular vehicle was not stopped at a check post by security officials, Khattak said that that the check post actually did not belong to the FC.
The chief justice asked whether FC and police was not on same page for maintenance of law and order situation of the country.
Making no headway in extracting satisfactory answers regarding the missing persons, an exasperated CJP Chaudhry asked “General, if FC is also not aware about whereabouts of the missing persons, then tell us whether the missing people ‘aasman kha gaya ya zameen nigal gayee’ (whether they were eaten by the sky or the ground opened up and swallowed them whole)?”
The court then gave the police and FC chiefs half an hour for a joint conference to formulate a strategy to recover the missing people.
After conference, both IGP Balcohistan and IGFC assured the court that they realise their duties and they will ensure the recovery of missing persons before next date of hearing, scheduled for May 21. The court asked both top officers to make joint efforts for the recovery and also directed the to collect relevant data for the purpose.
“General, keep in mind briefing about other cases of law and order and missing persons when this bench will convene in Quetta from May 21 to hear this case.”
General Khattak while giving assurance to the court said that recovering missing persons had now become their common object now. “You will see progress on your visit to Quetta,” general assured the Chief Justice.
During the hearing, Khattak told the court that that the FC was taking keen interest in recovery of the missing persons.
Hamid Shakeel, DIG Balochistan, repeated his statement before the court that traffic police officials have witnessed FC personnel abducting Mehran Khan, son of Murad Khan in broad daylight. He added that FC men had told the sergeant that Khan, 29, was wanted in a case of indiscriminate firing on the forces. (Courtesy: The Express Tribune)

Reproduced in The Baloch Hal on May 15, 2012

The Baloch Hal Monitoring Desk

QUETTA: Two paramilitary troops and two passersby were killed and 34 people, including women and children, were injured in a bomb explosion at a busy roundabout in the provincial capital on Monday.
“An explosive laden car parked on Airport Road at Almo Chowk was detonated by terrorists when two vehicles of the paramilitary Frontier Corps drove past,” Malik Arshad, the superintendent of police, Airport Road Circle, told The Express Tribune.
A man identifying himself as a member of the banned Baloch Republican Army claimed responsibility for the attack in a phone call to a private television channel.
“The target was the FAC convoy. Most of the injured are passersby, including five women and three children,” he added.
According to the Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS), around 40 kilogrammes of high explosives were used in the blast which destroyed eight vehicles. At least 10 vehicles, 18 shops and two banks were also damaged in the blast.
Windowpanes of dozens of houses, offices and auto showrooms were smashed due to the impact of the blast which was heard within a radius of six kilometres.
Almo Chowk is a busy roundabout where a huge market, scores of auto showrooms, government offices and restaurants are located.
The explosion ignited a fire on at least eight vehicles and the people travelling in received shrapnel wounds. The two FC vehicles targeted were destroyed.
A heavy contingent of security forces threw a security cordon around the blast site as rescuers shifted the casualties to the Sandeman Hospital, Combined Military Hospital (CMH) and FC Headquarters Hospital. A state of emergency was declared at the Sandeman hospital.
According to witnesses, the car used in the blast was parked along a footpath. “I was driving my pickup right behind the FC convoy. As soon as they neared Almo Chowk, a powerful blast went off,” one of the men wounded in the blast told The Express Tribune from his hospital bed.
The FC spokesperson confirmed that two paramilitary soldiers were killed and 10 wounded in the blast. He identified the dead troopers as Waseem Abbas and Aziz.
Medics at the Sandeman Hospital said that they have received one fatality and 32 injured people.
“Five women and three children are among the injured. Two of the women with life-threatening wounds were referred to the CMH,” a doctor told The Express Tribune. “However, one of them expired on her way to the hospital.”
It was a second deadly attack on the paramilitary force in as many months. Last month an FC convoy was targeted on Saryab Road in which two passersby were killed and dozens others injured. (Courtesy: Express Tribune) 

Reproduced in The Baloch Hal on May 15th, 2012.

Why are there no reactions, both from the government and the civil society, to the brazen and bizarre statement of Balochistan Communication Minister Ali Madad Jattak that there is nothing wrong with indulging into corruption? A person holding a public office and defending corruption would have indeed been kicked out of the cabinet had he lived and worked in a civilized country with a functioning democracy.

Mr. Jattak is going to continue to work in his office because he works under a boss who once publicly endorsed possession of fake and fraudulent degrees for the members of the Parliament. Aslam Raisani, Jattak’s boss and Balochistan’s current chief minister, told the media that a degree was a degree whether it was fake or original. This is a sickening state of affairs in Balcohistan where overt defenders of corruption and fraud hold public offices. There is no reaction on the part of the civil society ostensibly because of public sense of powerlessness and despondency. The ordinary citizen in the province is caught between rogue and repressive intelligence agencies, security forces and a bunch of crooks occupying public offices.

While talking about the conflict in Balochistan, one key area that almost always remains ignored is the performance of the provincial government. One often hears about the illegal actions of the military and the intelligence agencies, flawed policies of the federal government and a growing rebellion in the province among the youth who aspire to seek independence from Pakistan. What we do sufficiently hear about is the members of the provincial government who get the least attention in the conflict. If not getting attention is a blessing then only ministers in the Balochistan government can explain its benefits.

Balochistan has a group of permanent members of the Pakistani Establishment who continue to rule the province during all good or bad times. This bunch of individuals mainly comprises of tribal chiefs and the clergy. They have nominal political affiliations. They switch political loyalties with the change in the federal government. They join the Pakistan Muslim League, either Nawaz or the Quaid-e-Azam League, when this party rules the country but instantly become members or supporters of the Pakistan People’s Party when it comes into power. Thus, there is a little that changes in Balochistan’s internal politics following an electoral process. This group of people will remain in power no matter what Balochistan’s relations with the central government look like. For example, more than half of today’s provincial government comprises of the loyalists of General Musharraf. They immediately become supporters of the PPP as Musharraf lost popularity. Some of them are gradually becoming admirers of Nawaz Sharif and Imran Khan keeping in view the changing politics in the country.

What is missing is the clear absence of a political or civil society-driven movement in Balochistan that calls for accountability of the provincial government. The current assembly of 65 members has only one member of the opposition whereas everyone else is a part of the government as a minister or an adviser. They are corrupt to such an extent that they, just like Mr. Jattak, publicly defend corruption because they know that they are not answerable to anyone for their deeds. While being skeptical and cynical of government policies is a positive attitude in a democratic culture, pessimism and complete disassociation is catastrophic.  It offers a free opportunity to politicians to misuse public office and indulge into corruption. Lack of public interest leads to lack of the primary public quest for accountability.  No one can help the people of Balochistan but themselves to stand against the status quo.

The youth in Balochistan, political parties and the media must play a vibrant role in holding the provincial government accountable just like the way they vigorously fight the federal government for its exploitation of the province’s mineral wealth and committing human rights abuses.  The people should give up a policy of forgiving to their elected representatives for whatever nonsensical statements they make.  We would also like to urge the Minister to apologize for his remarks. The PPP central leadership should take notice of his remarks and it must discourage such undemocratic attitude in the greater interest of the democracy. Democracy should not be deemed as a means to absolute authority and stark impunity. If unchecked, such arrogant (mis)use of power leads to collapse of democracy in any given society and serve as the catalyst for authoritarianism.

Published in The Baloch Hal on May 14, 2012

By Mohammad Zafar

GWADAR: Planning Commission (PC) Deputy Chairman Dr Nadeemul Haq has asked the Balochistan government to study feasibility report of the Gwadar Port and look into the prospects of its development by keeping in view the progress in port cities of neighbouring countries – Chabahar of Iran and Jabal-e-Ali of the UAE.

Dr Nadeem and his three-member team held a meeting Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani on Sunday and discussed prospects of the port city with him.

Provincial ministers Maulana Abdul Wasey, Mir Asim Gaillu, Zahoor Buledi, Mir Hamal Kalmati, Syed Ehsan Shah and Mir Asghar Rind and Chief Secretary Fatah Babar Yaqub were also present in the meeting.

The federal government assured the Balochistan government of its support for development of the Gwader Port and advised the province to review its feasibility report and make it economically viable.

Dr Nadeem said that the provincial government should present its recommendations to the federal government to make the Gwader Port operational.

The meeting was informed that 80 percent work of the Gwader-Rato Dero Highway had been completed at a cost of Rs 15 billion and remaining work would be completed within a couple of months. The chief secretary told the meeting that all security agencies had assured the provincial government of their full cooperation regarding the security of officials working on development projects. He said that the port had been envisaged as the growth engine of Balochistan and people attached high hopes to it. He warned that if the port project failed it would have negative impact on Balochistan development. He said that it had been envisaged in feasibility report that 6.2 million tonnes of cargo would be handled at the port by 2030.

He informed the meeting that the federal government was firm in its resolve to make the port fully operational in the near future, but was reviewing its economic prospects. He said that federal government would also issue directions for the National Highway Authority (NHA) for early completion of Gwader-Turbat-Rato Dero Highway, linking the port city with the Indus Highway. The deputy chairman asked officials of the Gwader Port Authority to explain as to why the Singapore Port Authority, which was awarded contract for port operation during the Musharraf government, was not working at the port.

An NHA official told the meeting that contractors and labourers were reluctant to work on the highway due to security reasons. Raisani assured that foolproof arrangements would be made for security of contractors and workers.

He said that the NHA officials did not inform the provincial government about the difficulties they had faced during the development work and wrote directly to the federal government. The chief minister complained that the Balochistan package had not been implemented and that the notification regarding the Balochistan chief minister as the Gwader Port Authority chairman was still pending. He said that the NHA had committed that the Quetta-Karachi Highway would be completed by June 2010, but the work on it was still continued. (Courtesy: The Daily Times)

Republished in The Baloch Hal on May 14, 201

If every country in the world has a flag and a capital then why is it that the countries (allegedly) involved in Balochistan do not have a name? While sovereign states do have every reason to strictly check the involvement of foreign countries into their domestic matters, the citizens of the state, on the other hand, also have a genuine democratic right to check if their leaders are using ‘foreign hand’ as a mere pretext to avoid responsibility and accountability. In Balochistan’s context, the fresh statement by Chairman Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS)  Senator Raza Rabbani about the involvement of a “foreign hand” is absolutely outrageous. 

In his media talk, Mr. Rabbani, who is widely perceived as a more sober leader than Interior Minister Rehman Malik, blamed foreign elements responsible for the situation in Balochistan. As usual, he did not raise fingers at a certain country nor did he provide any evidence in support of his allegations. Considering the history of similar statements in the past, we believe Mr. Rabbani was referring to India and Afghanistan. One wonders what prevents the Pakistani government from publicizing the proof of foreign countries’ involvement in Balochistan. The only reason behind it is probably the absence and unavailability of such evidence.

Mr. Rabbani, who was the key architect  of the Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan Package and the 18th Amendment, has also exhibited professional insincerity on the issue of the missing persons saying that the PCNS Committee had found out that many of the disappeared citizens had voluntarily gone abroad.  How did this happen? The immigration and border security authorities surely maintain a regular record of people’s entry and exit in and from Pakistan. Records of (missing) people who exited Pakistan to go overseas but still have their names registered as ‘disappeared persons’ should be brought to public. Rhetoric should replace reality. There must be more accuracy and transparency in the issue of the missing persons. To almost an annoying degree, the government has been harping about foreign countries interference in Balochistan and missing person’s presence overseas. It is the time to bring some evidence to public attention.

Likewise, Mr. Rabbani and his team will further mislead the Parliament and public opinion because of their own ignorance about the ground realities in Balochistan. For instance, one of the key findings in the PCNS meeting, according to the Daily Times, was that the Lashkar-e-Tayyba (LeT) was involved in sectarian killings in Balochistan. A very junior student of politics and security studies would even contest this ‘finding’. The LeT does not have sectarian ambitions but a clear history and objective of fighting for the rights of Kashmiries. The group operates not in Balochistan but inside India-administered Kashmir beyond in India.

Mr. Rabbani’s talk to the media after PCNS meeting indicates a total disconnect of the civilian government from the actual situation in Balochistan. The heads of the intelligence agencies and security forces are deliberately not educating the civilian leadership about the  actual situation prevailing in the province. This is further alarming how such important meetings are used as a venue to lump nationalistic and sectarian groups. Not that we endorse any groups right to employ violence for attaining political goals, what merits attention is the diversity of issues in Balochistan, key actors, their varied goals and connections with each other. As long as the government itself fails to acquire the basic knowledge of the key players, it will only mess up with the situation.

Published in The Baloch Hal on May 14, 2012