March 26, 2012
Words of Jameel, Brahumdagh & Al Che
"I don't see any future for Balochistan or the Baloch people in this country [Pakistan]"
Jameel Akbar Bugti
"Just demanding freedom doesn't make the world support your cause, you have to prove that your demand is genuine"
Nawab Brahumdagh Bugti
"I don't care if I fall as long as someone else picks up my gun and keeps on shooting"
Che Guevara
Jameel Akbar Bugti
"Just demanding freedom doesn't make the world support your cause, you have to prove that your demand is genuine"
Nawab Brahumdagh Bugti
"I don't care if I fall as long as someone else picks up my gun and keeps on shooting"
Che Guevara
March 25, 2012
Turkish forces kill 15 female Kurdish militants
Posted
Turkish security forces have killed 15 female Kurdish militants in an operation in the south-east province of Bitlis, close to the border with Iraq.
While the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) does recruit women, an encounter with such a large group of female fighters is unusual.
Paramilitary troops backed by police and village militia were involved in Friday's operation in a densely forested area. One village guard was killed and three others wounded, the Interior Ministry said on Saturday (local time).
The latest casualties brought the number of Kurdish rebels killed in the past two days to 25 in operations in Bitlis, Cudi and Siirt, according to security officials. Six police officers were killed and 10 security officials were wounded.
More than 40,000 militants, soldiers and civilians have been killed in the fighting since the PKK took up arms in 1984.
Talks between Turkey and the PKK to end the conflict broke down and last year the fighting cranked up again. Scores more militants, soldiers and civilians have been killed since. Hundreds have also been arrested on charges of secretly supporting the PKK.
Set up to fight for Kurdish home rule in south-east Turkey, the PKK is commanded from bases in the remote mountains of northern Iraq, but was once backed by Syria.
Turkey is watching closely for any evidence that Syria had renewed backing for the PKK. Earlier this week a PKK field commander issued a statement threatening to turn Kurdish areas into a war zone if Turkish troops entered Syria.
Some 700 people were arrested, and one policeman and a Kurdish activist were killed during Kurdish New Year celebrations that turned into riots this week as police tried to stop a show of popular strength by Kurds across the country.
March 24, 2012
The Baloch Homeland
The Baloch homeland is known as Balochistan. It is larger in size than France. The Baloch people are living in their natural geographical boundaries. Balochistan was intentionally divided up with pieces going to three countries: Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. In Pakistan again, this nation is cut into three pieces: Sind, Punjab, and Balochistan.
The Baloch nation, which consists of tribes, is the owner of the vast, rich natural resources of the Baloch homeland.
Due to their historical suppression and oppression, many Baloch people have left their homeland for a better future in different parts of the world: Turkmenistan, Middle East, India, East Africa, Australia, Europe and North America.
Balochistan is rich in natural resources; it has long coastlines situated next to the Middle East and the mouth of the strait of Hurmoz "hot water," that is the route of world oil tankers and ships.
Despite all this, Baloch themselves have never seen any prosperity in terms of education, development and freedom in their homeland. They have been continuously facing decades of oppression and deprivations by their occupiers: the non-democratic and fundamentalist regimes of Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.
They have been culturally, socially, economically, and politically stripped of their birth rights. And they are struggling for their right to self-determination (struggling to regain their sovereignty) in their homeland of Balochistan according to the United Nations Charter of Rights and International law.
Historically, Baloch people are a resilient and proud people. They have strong bonds with their geography, language, culture, and identity. They love their homeland.
March 23, 2012
Swine flu outbreak in India kills 12
Updated: 04:43, Saturday March 24, 2012
Twelve people have died from swine flu in India since the beginning of March and nearly 110 others have been infected with the virus, the country's health ministry said.
The ministry announced in a statement late on Thursday that the victims were from the western states of Maharashtra and Rajasthan as well as southern Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
'The government is taking all necessary steps to curb the spread of influenza A (H1N1) virus across the country,' health ministry spokeswoman S Sharan in New Delhi told AFP.
'The states where cases had been reported have been advised to step up surveillance to control the further spread of the virus,' she said.
More than 500 people died from swine flu in India and more than 14,000 people tested positive in 2009.
The real Balochistan
Sana Baloch
Friday, March 23, 2012
Friday, March 23, 2012
Pervez Musharraf’s article ‘Understanding Balochistan’ was not only misleading, it was full of distortion of facts about Balochistan and the Baloch people. As could be expected of him, he failed to acknowledge in his article the folly of his misplaced military policies (which among other things resulted in that shameful defeat at Kargil). Nor, of course, did he apologise for the loss of lives in Balochistan. Instead, the Commando – who appears to believe that spreading of misconceptions and malicious propaganda can continue to mislead the people of Pakistan on the Balochistan issue – made a crude attempt at disinformation. He thereby sought to acquit himself, the army and the FC of the countless charges of killings, human-rights violation, disappearances, ethnic-cleansing and systematic suppression of the Baloch people.
Today Balochistan is a virtual prison. With thousands of check-posts dotting the province, the Baloch are a society under siege. This land of despair, death, and violence in numerous forms, had largely been peaceful before Musharraf launched an aggressive campaign of what can only be described as “colonisation.”
His policies and actions devastated millions of lives in Balochistan. Thousands of people were forced to flee their homes, and in the process lost their regular means of livelihood. One tragic result of their displacement was the deaths of countless children from malnourishment in the scattered inaccessible camps. Meanwhile, thousands of Baloch students were deprived of education because they were unable to go to colleges and universities for fear of abduction and murder.
In his article, Musharraf also touted the old “foreign hand” theory, saying, “I have always warned of a known foreign hand trying to destabilise Pakistan through Afghanistan and Balochistan.” Therefore, for him the mass violation of human rights in Balochistan is a planted notion. Similarly, there are no disappearances and no missing persons in Balochistan, according to him; to believe otherwise is promotion of anti-Pakistan by agent provocateurs. His article was a vain attempt to take Pakistanis’ focus away from the tragedy of Balochistan. “It is a pity,” he said, “that human rights violations are not being noticed in Kashmir or Assam in India, but are visible only in Balochistan.” He blames TV anchors and writers in the print media for damaging the solidarity and unity of Pakistan.
As a true Baloch-hater, he believes in dealing with the Baloch people and their leadership with an iron hand. There is no doubt in the minds of the Baloch that the Pakistani establishment, to which Musharraf belonged, has a policy towards the Baloch people of using the “Iron-hand”-for control over Balochistan by force and for the endless exploitation of Baloch wealth. It is this arrogant, brutal mindset which is the cause of all human rights violations in Balochistan, where non-Baloch forces rampantly kill and intimidate political activists.
Musharraf’s pathetic ignorance about Balochistan clearly shows through in his version on the Baloch-Pakhtun divide. On the one hand, he certifies the patriotism of some ethnic communities and tribes by calling them pro-Pakistani, and on the other he accuses others of being anti-state. The Pakhtuns are peace-loving fruit-growers and traders, in his view, and the Baloch are foreign agents.
His knowledge of Balochistan’s geography, tribes, regions, and languages only reveals the extent of his ignorance. According to his deconstructed Balochistan, the Mengal tribe inhabits eastern Balochistan, in areas neighbouring those regions where the Bugti and Marri tribes. In fact, the Mengals inhabit central and south-western Balochistan.
The Baloch-Pakhtun divide and inter-tribal and intra-tribal conflicts in Balochistan are results of the establishment’s deliberate policy of divide and rule. The Baloch and Pakhtuns in Balochistan are well aware of the fact that, although tensions and differences are part of human societies, particularly less-developed ones, these are always inflamed by the establishment in pursuit of its divide and rule policy.
In overemphasising the element of tribal differences and existence of militants the former dictator has deliberately tried to take readers’ attention away from Balochistan’s genuine political demands. Nowhere does he mention the fact that Balochistan has a history of progressive nationalist political parties and movement.
Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti was head of the Jamhoori Watan Party and he confronted Islamabad as a Baloch nationalist politician, not as a tribal chief. Nawab Bugti in his political capacity helped many settlers reach Pakistan’s top positions. He chose many settlers to represent his views in parliament. Non-Baloch jurist Muhammad Zafar was elected to the Senate in 1994 as a member of the Jamhoori Watan Party. In 1997, Nawab Bugti chose two Pashto-speakers, including the well-known political figure Khudai Noor, to represent his party in the Senate. Mr Bugti was an open-minded political figure, and not just a tribal chief.
Musharraf mentioned Mengal tribal elders without mentioning their immense role in Baloch politics. Sardar Attaullah Mengal and Akhtar Mengal are not followed by thousands of Baloch for tribal reasons, but because of the two leaders’ commitment to and sacrifices for the Baloch cause. Their views represent Baloch aspirations and dreams and their legitimacy is derived from the Baloch people, not from government agencies. Akhtar Mengal heads one of the largest and most popular political organisations of Balochistan, the Balochistan National Party, and his views represent a strong segment of moderate Baloch political activists of the province. Likewise, Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri is respected by the Baloch and neighbouring people because of his policies and his political standing, not because of his tribal position.
Since Balochistan’s democratic voice has always been neglected and ignored by short-sighted ruling elite in Pakistan, Baloch political frustrations accumulated over a long period. Musharraf’s aggressive introduction of military and paramilitary garrisons in Balochistan raised apprehension among the more conscious segments of Baloch society. The political reaction to these exploitative, suppressive and demographic threats was understandable.
Musharraf and the anti-Baloch clique within the establishment hold the Baloch people and their leadership responsible for Balochistan’s underdevelopment and miseries. Yet how can a region develop when it has more soldiers than teachers, more garrisons than universities, more naval bases than institutions devoted to science, technology and research?
In Balochistan, cantonments of the Frontier Corps (FC) outnumber colleges. There are more police stations than vocational training centres and more check-posts than girls’ schools. Is this what Musharraf and his ilk call development?
(To be concluded)
The writer is a former senator from Balochistan. Email: balochbnp@gmail.com
March 19, 2012
March 14, 2012
March 07, 2012
March 01, 2012
Baloch Culture Day to be celebrated today (02March2012)
Baloch cultural day will be celebrated on 02March2012 (Wednesday) throughout the world mainly in Balochistan and Sindh province, besides in Iran, Afghanistan, Dubai, Muscat, Norway, USA, UK, Switzerland, Egypt, Canada, Australia, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, India and many more from all over the world. The Visionary Group of Gwadar, involved in developing, construction and social services in Balochistan, has taken the initiative of highlighting and promoting Balochi culture and language beyond the borders of Balochistan. Chief Executive of the Visionary Group Ashraf Iqbal Baloch told on Tuesday that Balochi cultural shows, including musical programmes have been organised in various cities and towns of Balochistan.
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