even mapping the groups involved in the violence in Balochistan is fraught with danger.
“Please be very careful. These are merciless people,” a senior Quetta-based journalist who requested anonymity to talk about the radical groups urged. “It’s very difficult for us to work here.”
Reliable information on the insurgent groups is difficult to come by and even harder to corroborate. Nevertheless, the contours of the groups involved in the violence can be established to some extent.
A handful of groups dominate the insurgency, of which the Balochistan Liberation Army is perhaps the most well-known.
The BLA appeared in its present incarnation soon after the arrest of Khair Bakhsh Marri in January 2000. The powerful Marri chief was accused of having a hand in the murder of a Balochistan High Court judge.
Originally a rural phenomenon and limiting its operations to Dera Bugti and Kohlu, the BLA is believed to have expanded its attacks into the cities following the breakdown of a unilateral ceasefire declared in September 2008.
An affiliate of the BLA is the Balochistan Liberation United Front, a smaller organisation thought to be ‘more sophisticated’ and considerably more hard-line.
The other high-profile radical group is the Baloch Republican Army, the militant wing of the Balochistan Republican Party, a rechristened arm of Akbar Bugti’s Jamhoori Watan Party.
The BRA came into existence after Bugti’s death in August 2006 and is believed to be controlled by his grandson, Brahmdagh.
Its area of operations appears to be in relatively remote areas such as Dera Bugti, Jaffarabad and Naseerabad.
A third major group is the Balochistan Liberation Front, another name resurrected from the last insurgency in the 1970s. The present-day version operates mostly in the Mekran area and is also linked to Khair Bakhsh Marri.
Beyond that, drilling down into the specifics invariably throws up a confusing set of claims and counter-claims. Take the killing of Habib Jalib, the BNP-M secretary general.
Senior army officers point a finger at the BLUF, the affiliate of the BLA, for the killing. “BNP-M is in real trouble. Khair Bakhsh (Marri) has them in his sights,” a high-ranking officer claimed.
However, some among the Baloch have focussed on the alleged claim of responsibility made by the Baloch Armed Defence Organisation (Baloch Musallah Defai Tanzeem). It is a relatively new ‘anti-Baloch-nationalist’ group about which little is known, though the Baloch claim it is a front for the intelligence agencies.
That is denied by the army and some moderate Baloch leaders wonder whether the Tanzeem is also sponsored by the radicals.
Asma Jahangir, former chairperson of the HRCP, however, is not convinced: “The cleansing of the Baloch intelligentsia can only be the work of the agencies.”
Other things are easier to speculate about, though. Why the alphabet soup of insurgent groups, when the majority are linked to Khair Bakhsh Marri?
“Perhaps they don’t want to put all their eggs in one basket,” according to Malik Siraj Akbar, editor of the Baloch Hal.
“If one group is dismantled, at least the others will still exist.” Akbar also suggested unfamiliarity with the terrain in sprawling Balochistan leads to the recruitment of locals.
Saleem Shahid, Dawn’s Quetta bureau chief, ventured that the reason could be rooted in the tribal system: “Tribal society does not accept outside leadership, so they create their own groups.”
More than the proliferation of radical groups, however, what worries observers is the widening scope of targets. Attacks on security forces, state installations and government offices are all standard fare in Baloch insurgencies.
In addition, killings of ‘settlers’ (groups considered non-Baloch because they trace their ancestry to outside the province, even though in many instances they have been residing in Balochistan for generations) have occurred in the past. This time, however, it is the breadth and intensity of such killings that is alarming.
The senior journalist in Quetta claimed: “The target killings started in 2003, but they were sectarian in nature. The radical groups started their killings post-Bugti, initially in Quetta. Now, though, it has spread. Nushki, Khuzdar, Mastung, Gwadar, Turbat, Kech, the target killings are happening everywhere.”
According to the Balochistan government’s most recent figures, more than 125 people have been killed and nearly 200 injured in the last 18 months alone in settler-related violence.
One particular murder in Quetta last April sent shockwaves through conservative Balochistan: the killing of Nazima Talib, a female assistant professor at the University of Balochistan.
The targeting of women was previously considered a taboo, but the BLA, which claimed responsibility for the killing, was defiant and claimed the murder was revenge for the alleged killing and harassment of Baloch women by the security forces.
Another worrying trend this year: the killing of fellow Baloch by the insurgent groups. The victims have been accused of spying and working as agents of the Pakistani state.
A senior journalist said, “Even Pathans have been killed, and businessmen too. The impact is enormous. There is an exodus of teachers, doctors, businessmen.”
The killings by Baloch radicals are of course not occurring in a vacuum. Entrenched attitudes in the army towards Balochistan and the Baloch may be sustaining the cycle of violence.
“The army thinks of the Baloch as lazy, that they don’t want to work,” according to Zahid Husain, a respected analyst.
“They believe all Baloch are suspect, that they are against Pakistan,” said Senator Hasil Bizenjo. The senator recalled an incident where an entire area was sealed off by security forces in order to pull down a BSO flag hoisted atop a school.
A senior army officer admitted that sometimes the security forces need to show restraint. “They see this (the Baloch flags) as an affront to Pakistan, but I tell them not to react to small provocations.”
In present times, however, what may be impacting most directly on the army’s tough line against the insurgent groups is the foreign connection — the insistently whispered claims that Balochistan has become a stamping ground for foreign intelligence agencies
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Contours of the Baloch militant groups
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
BNP reduced Baluch to a mere puppets of history
Baluchistan national, national party, ppp reduce the Baluch to a mere puppet of history, and portray the Baluch as a masses which has become integrated into Punjabi dominated society through the influence of Pakistani television.
The Baluch culture is depicted as a force binding the Baluch to the Pakistan order and incapable of sustaining any real opposition to the existing system except on the individual and small groups level.
Self contained culture built around the tribal culture has a limited potential, for it is a culture in which the Baluch remains a subordinated seemingly unable to develop beyond the autonomy.
The progressive Baluch are saying, the Baluch are not the abject, defeated, but a nation in full hope and energy relatively educated and defended by a strong Baluch unity for independent Baluchistan. The young educated progressive are preparing to challenge the Sardars and Punjabi domination on Baluch culture only accepts the legitimacy of reform within the Baluch political framework of democracy.
This is not to argue that the Baluch are a passive, only that there is no other alternative to political and economic and that negotiation necessary takes place within framework of Pakistan and therefore takes on a peaceful but dogged issue for independent.
These political parties failed to understand the aspect of the modern Baluch struggle, and it is against the apparent obedience of their fellow Baluch, rebellious and violent acts have their meaning.
“Mango diplomacy” will further divide the Balochs
“Mango diplomacy” will further divide the Balochs
By Malik Siraj Akbar
http://thebalochhal.com/2010/05/news-analysis-“mango-diplomacy”-will-further-divide-the-balochs/
This scribe was a part of a so-called peace delegation from Balochistan in August 2008 that visited Islamabad to meet people from different walks of life in order to inform them about the actual situation in Balochistan. Organized by a western non-governmental organization, the delegation comprised of representatives of political parties, civil society and the media from Balochistan to hold multiple sessions of debate with different organizations and their representatives to let them know what the Balochs actually wanted and how the government was responding to their demands.
Among others, our delegation comprised of former leader of the opposition in Balochistan Assembly, Kachkol Ali Baloch, secretary general of the Balochistan National Party, Habib Jalib Baloch, secretary general of Hazara Democratic Party (HDP) Abdul Khaliq Hazara, Baloch Students’ Organization (BSO-Pajar) central president Abdul Wahid Raheem Baloch and several other leaders. Subsequently, we were joined by other leaders, including Rafiq Khoso of Baloch Republican Party (BRP) and Bismillah Khan Kakar of the Pakistan People’s Party.
One of the best interactions with the Islamabad’s bright minds took place at Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) where we did not only get a chance to put our point of view but it also exposed us to sharp questions from political, social and economic spectrum of society. Over all, everyone in the interaction at SDPI concord that Balochistan had not been properly treated and if timely measures were not take for damage control, the situation in the aggrieved province would get out of control.
Deadlock among the participants of the peace delegation and the organizers reached when we were informed by our hosts that as a part of the trip to Islamabad, we would also be required to meet with one representative of the government of Pakistan to put Balochistan’s case before him. All delegates protested. The most vocal members of the delegation who clearly refused to meet any government official in Islamabad were Habib Jalib Baloch of BNP and Kachkol Ali Baloch.
“What if tomorrow the government issues a press statement claiming to have initiated contacts with the Baloch leaders,” feared Jalib, “We cannot take such risks to talk to the government of Pakistan formally or informally. If you (the organizers) further insist upon us to meet the government representative, we will walk out of this delegation and go back to Balochistan in protest.” The Baloch leaders clearly stated that they did not have the confidence of their nation to enter into any kind of conversation with the government authorities.
When all political members of the delegation refused to attend the informal chat with a high-ranking official of the Ministry of Law and Justice, the organizers feared they would be embarrassed for not making up for an appointment they had earlier sought with the government official. On the mutual consultation of the group members as to not offend the hosts and undermine the Baloch cause at the same time, all members of the delegation nominated this writer to be accompanied with one representative of the organizing NGO to meet the high government official because I was not a part of any political party. Therefore, there was no harm for a journalist to hear the government point of view. Thus, I went along with the organizers to see the senior official at the Law and Justice Department to hold a two-hour long discussion on the issue of the missing persons of Balochistan.
The reason for narrating this succinct anecdote is to indicate how much offensive Baloch leaders felt while communicating with a secretary-level officer two years ago. They had the courage to say openly inside Islamabad that they would not talk to the government on gun-point until Islamabad reviewed its approach towards the province.
Balochistan National Party, the largest Baloch nationalist group, has once again flabbergasted everyone in Balochistan by suddenly establishing contacts with the government of Pakistan. A meeting between Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani and BNP patron-in-chief Sardar Attaullah Mengal on Saturday has left no room for BNP spokesmen to deny any kind of contacts with the government.
One may not solely be criticizing BNP for its contacts with the government. The unanticipated and unilateral move has pained those who wish to form a single united Baloch party. Smaller parties, such as the National Party, which comprises of the middle class educated youth, whines that BNP’s decisions are highly influenced by its chiefs who prefer to assert their tribal status than their position in a democratic political party. Historically, a similar attitude of the tribal sardars has been the main cause of rifts in Baloch political alliances.
Many nationalist political parities in Balochistan complained that they were not taken into confidence by BNP while deciding to resign from the parliament on the wake of Nawab Bugti’s killing. They allege that the BNP went on a solo flight to cash Bugti’s killing. BNP has once again made a disastrous effort to present itself as the sole representative of Balochistan. If the Baloch leaders really wanted to hold talks, they should have communicated with the government on the platform of their erstwhile Four Party Baloch Alliance.
Sardar Mengal’s meeting with Gilani will further widen the divisions among Baloch parties. It will distance NP and Jamori Watan Party from the BNP. Baloch National Front (BNF) and Baloch Republican Party (BRP) would surely take this as a pretext to criticize BNP for an alleged ‘sell-out’ of the Baloch case in return of the ‘mango diplomacy’ initiated by Primer Gilani. With Islamabad always trying to pursue a policy of divide and rule, this is another occasion where Baloch leadership has unwisely fallen in the trap of Islamabad’s treacherous policy of mitigating the Baloch movement with void promises. This will tremendously shatter Nawab Bugit’s dream of a single Baloch party.
(The writer is the editor of The Baloch Hal)
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Recovery of missing JI leader demanded
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
By Our Correspondent
LAHORE
JAMAAT-E-ISLAMI Secretary General Liaquat Baloch has demanded of the government to immediately recover missing JI Gawadar leader Saeed Ahmed Baloch, who was believed to be kidnapped by agencies on April 21 for raising voice against the illegal allotment of Gawadar lands and for rights of local people.
Addressing a press conference at Lahore Press Club on Tuesday, Baloch also urged upon the Supreme Court to take a suo motu notice of the abduction of the JI leader from Gawadar.
He announced that JI would give a call for wheel jam strike on May 1 against the abduction of Saeed Ahmed Baloch.
Baloch said locals and family members of the missing JI leader apprehended that Saeed Ahmed Baloch was abducted by government agencies.
He said there was strong resentment and a revolt- like situation in Balochistan due to the attitude of the government, the armed forces, agencies, Frontier Constabulary and Coast Guards, etc. he said the entire responsibility of this rested with the authorities in Islamabad.
Liaquat Baloch also demanded trial of former military dictator Pervez Musharraf under article 6 of the Constitution for breaching the Constitution and other heinous crimes like assassination of Sardar Akbar Bugti, Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, massacre of hundreds of innocent girl students of Jamia Hafsa, bloodshed at Lal Masjid and abducting thousands of patriot Pakistanis and handing them over to Washington for the sake of dollars.
Commenting on the designs of MQM for Punjab, Liaquat Baloch remarked that MQM was fast losing in Karachi and it could not gain ground in Punjab. He said MQM chief while sitting in London could only befool the people of Karachi, but the people of Punjab won’t be taken in by him. He hoped that JI would soon regain its lost position in Karachi.
Balochistan to collect highway toll
Source ::: AGENCIES
QUETTA: Pakistan’s National Highway Authority (NHA) has decided to introduce a road toll collection regime in Balochistan province and to make all its toll collection centres in the province operational.
Official sources said yesterday that for this purpose, bids have been invited for 102 toll collection centres which will be auctioned in a transparent manner. The roadside tax collection centres will be run by local contractors. A decision to this effect was made at a recent meeting of the authority’s executive board.
About 37 per cent of the road network controlled by the NHA is located in Balochistan. There are 102 toll centres, but all of them are non-functional. The NHA does not get any revenue in the form of toll from the province because people there are not used to paying road taxes. Notwithstanding this, maintenance of the road network is being done on a regular basis.
NHA Chairman Altaf Ahmad told the meeting that the operation and management of toll centres in Balochistan would be awarded to local contractors keeping in view cultural constraints and peculiar law and order situation in the province.
The bidding rates were deliberately kept low in order to attract local contractors, he said. “Though the bids are low, our purpose should be to introduce a toll regime in Balochistan to get revenue,” he added.
Targeted killings undermine legitimate Baloch cause: Imran
ISLAMABAD – Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Imran khan has said that targeted killings of settlers in Quetta and other parts of Balochistan undermine the legitimate cause of the people of Balochistan.
Imran Khan condemned the killing of a lady Professor in Quetta on Tuesday. He said the Provincial Government has failed to provide security to the people of the province. He said it was the responsibility of all the political forces, particularly those fighting for the rights of the people of Balochistan, to categorically condemn the killing of innocent settlers who had every right to live and work in any part of Balochistan.
The PTI chief said that the ruling PPP coalition government in Balochistan was merely paying lip service to the cause of the people of the province. By championing the cause of Balochistan, they are only demanding greater resources to siphon off, he added. “How else can the Government justify that all except one member of the provincial assembly are ministers or holding equivalent status at taxpayers’ expense. If the Provincial Government was committed to the cause of Balochistan, they would reduce the size of the provincial cabinet to around 10 and the rest of the MPAs would work for the betterment of the people,” he further said.
The PTI Chairman called for fresh elections in Balochistan as the real representatives of the people of the province boycotted the last elections. Only the genuine representatives of the people could improve the worsening security situation in Balochistan and implement development projects which would improve the livelihood of the people of the province irrespective of their ethnicity, Imran added.
Scholarships for Balochistan, FATA students in jeopardy
* Hundreds of students on govt scholarship await release of funds
* Many students quitting institutions due to non-payment of fees
By Irfan Ghauri
ISLAMABAD: The government’s claims of extending special incentives for students of FATA and Balochistan – as part of its strategy to turn the tide against extremism – seem mere rhetoric as projects initiated in this regard are in jeopardy due to mismanagement and bureaucratic hurdles.
The “Quality Education Opportunities for Students of FATA and Balochistan Project”, under which hundreds of students are enrolled in elite schools across the country, is a case in point.
The project’s fate seems to be in the doldrums due to squabbling within the Ministry of Education.
Official record available with Daily Times shows that wrangling within the ministry and officials aspiring for benefits attached with the project have been hitting the enrolled students hard.
Under the Rs 481.38 million, nine-year project initiated in 2007, 330 scholarships are awarded to students from FATA and Balochistan each year for studying in cadet and technical colleges across the country.
Those selected for cadet colleges receive Rs 106,000 a year, while those selected for technical colleges get Rs 40,000 in scholarship each year.
Students quitting: So far, funds for the 2009-10 session have not been released due to the ongoing tussle between two wings of the Education Ministry.
The record of internal communication of ministry officials shows that the situation has compelled a number of students to quit studies, while others fear that they might not be able to sit for their annual exams next month if the ministry did not pay their pending dues to the institutions.
The record shows that although the ministry has funds available for immediate release, bureaucratic bickering is hindering their release to the institutions.
Earlier, officials of the Education Ministry’s Training Wing objected to cheques issued to various institutions by the project’s deputy director.
A notification was issued on February 20 this year that two officials of the Training Wing would also be co-signatories to every cheque along with the project deputy director.
The project officials have objected to the inclusion of training officials in their sphere, calling it in violation of rules and PC1 of the project.
Trans-parency in the Education Ministry’s affairs can be judged from the fact that a section officer issued a notification on April 3 notifying the additional charge of the post of project director to a female official with effect from December 7, 2009, in an apparent attempt to secure financial benefits from back dates.
