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Balochistan Weekly Monitor (Oct. 10- Oct. 16, 2011)
In a week when terrorism related violence was at the lowest in the province; nature intervened to balance the equation as according to reports, nine people were killed and five others injured when a portion of a coal mine located in Dasht collapsed on October 13. In sum, the number of dead people stands at 14 during the week. Balochistan provincial minister and chief of the Jalawan tribe, Sardar Sanaullah Zehri narrowly escaped an assassination attempt when the Baloch Liberation Front (BLF) detonated an explosive device near the minister convoy while he was traveling from Kalat to Khuzdar on Friday night, October 15. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani asked militants to shun violence, as the progress of the region lies in peace and amicable settlement of disputes. He assured that Baloch youth will be given appropriate quotas in jobs and relaxation in age in order to address the long held Baloch grievances. Interior Minister Rehman Malik declared on Friday, October 14, that the government is taking all necessary security measures in Balochistan to ensure peace in the province. He blamed banned militant outfit Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) for recent spate of sectarian killings in the province. Human Rights Commission Pakistan (HRCP), in its statement expressed serious concerns over ongoing human rights violations in Balochistan on Saturday, October 15, and urged judiciary and government to take solid measures to address the issue. Week in Review a) Acts of Terrorism/Subversion Two more bullet-riddled dead bodies of Baloch missing persons, including that of a Baloch National Movement (BNM) member, were recovered from Arbab Complex area of Khuzdar district on October 10. The deceased were identified as BNM Vice President of Mashkey, Rashid Ali, and Shafi Mohammad, a resident of Anjira area of Kalat district. According to the details, Shahfi Mohammad was abducted from Karachi in April, 2011, while Rashid Ali was abducted on August 17, 2011 while he was on his way to Karachi....
Balochistan Weekly Monitor (October 03-09, 2011)
As evident by recent back to back events of sectarian killings in the province; Balochistan is rapidly emerging as a sectarian terrorism hotbed. In continuation of this latest trend, 14 Shias belonging to Hazara community were shot dead in Quetta on Tuesday, October 4. In total, 25 people were killed during the week in different acts of violence across the province. Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI), chief Imran Khan and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), leader Altaf Hussain termed the murder of the Hazaras as ¿sectarian terrorism– that needs to be curtailed. Members of the National Assembly, including some from the ruling alliance, demanded the resignations of cabinet members and other senior officials for their failure to curb sectarian killings in Balochistan on Tuesday, October 4. On the other hand, Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged the government of Pakistan to provide protection to the Shia community residing in Balochistan, and hold accountable those responsible for targeted killings. Week in Review a) Acts of Terrorism/Subversion and Abduction In another episode of gruesome killing of Shias in the province, 14 people belonging to the Hazara communitywere gunned down whileseven injured in a firing incident near the western Bypass in Quetta onOctober 4. About 20 people were on board in a bus when unknown gunmen, riding motorcycles, intercepted the bus and sprayed bullets indiscriminately after entering into the bus. No one has claimed responsibility for the incident so far.[1] Moreover, two policemen were among four people killed in separate incidents of violence in Quetta on Wednesday, October 5. According to official sources, unidentified gunmen riding a motorbike assaulted a police van. One officer died on the spot. The injured officers and civilians were shifted to the Bolan Medical Hospital where one officer succumbed to injuries later on. In another incident, gunmen killed two civilians and injured two others in the Brewery Road area. The assailants managed to...
CRSS-AAPK Discussion Forums
Balochistan Rights– Package and the State of Balochistan Economy ISLAMABAD: ISLAMABAD: Poorly governed and extremely under-developed Balochistan requires urgent intervention by the Center to mitigate grievances of the Baloch people. The authority should also move from the para-military forces to the civilians to address simmering political grievances. Underlining the urgency of the situation in Balochistan, speakers at a roundtable discussion forum jointly organized by ActionAid Pakistan (AAPK) and Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), said that an accelerated implementation of the 'Balochistan Rights– Package' could work as the urgently-needed panacea in the province that is currently reeling under ethnic and sectarian violence. Economic infrastructure development accompanied by a political reconciliation process by the federal government must take priority if the Centre is sincere in ending the isolation of the Baloch people. Prominent PPP leader, and former member of parliament, Syeda Abida Hussain blamed the tardy socio-economic progress in Balochistan on 'political and bureaucratic issues which are holding back the province.' We must all join hands to break the politico-bureaucratic hold on Balochistan, she said. Dr Rehana Siddiqui, Director of recently established Centre of Environmental Economics and Climate Change (CEECC) at Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, Islamabad, pointed out that most of the people are caught up in 'bewilderment and are only discussing the outcomes of injustices to Balochistan,' while neglecting the indigenous causes of prevalent sorry state of affairs in the province. Discussing some of the economic indicators, Dr. Siddiqui reminded the participants that Balochistan mining share in GDP declined from 2.7 per cent in 2004 to 2.4 per cent in 2011, while the coal production has dropped by 10.6 %. It is primarily because of the ongoing security instability and political unrest in the province. She said Reko Diq and...
Balochistan Weekly Monitor (Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2011)
Executive Summary Against the backdrop of last week whooping violence, the week in focus witnessed a fragile lull in violence. An explosion near the Frontier Corps– (FC) fort in Dera Bugti on Monday, September 26 resulted in injuring 10 FC personnel. Balochistan National Party (BNP) leader Abdul Salam was shot dead by unknown gunmen in Khuzdar on Wednesday, September 28. Two armed men riding a motorbike sprayed bullets on Salam vehicle, injuring him and his daughter. Later on, both the victims were rushed to the hospital, where Salam succumbed to his injuries. In sum, five people fell prey to the ongoing spate of violence across the province. The newly appointed head of the commission on missing persons, Justice ® Javed Iqbal said on Monday, September 26 that the commission tasked to recover missing persons will also investigate cases of mutilated bodies which have been surfacing in Balochistan. Addressing the lawyers at Balochistan High Court Bar Association, he emphasized that we have to prepare an authentic list of missing persons firstly, since earlier lists also carry the names of those who are jailed or engaged in fighting in Afghanistan. Balochistan High Court criticized on September 27, the provincial home department report regarding last week sectarian attack in Mastung and observed that 'Balochistan government is pushing the province towards destruction and it should clarify its policy.' Meanwhile, Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President, Asma Jehangir said on Wednesday, September 28 that Balochistan situation has been deteriorating since the day security forces were given authority to make decisions for the province. Week in Review a) Acts of Terrorism, Subversion and Abduction At least 10 FC men injured in an explosion near the FC fort in Dera Bugti on Monday, September 26. According to an FC official, acting on a tip-off, FC personnel seized an explosive device near the FC fort in Dera Bugti. 'It went off, injuring 10 personnel. All injured...
Balochistan Weekly Monitor (September 19- 25, 2011)
Two disgustingly atrocious episodes of sectarian violence, reportedly orchestrated by Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) jolted Balochistan this week. On Monday, September 20, a group of armed men attacked a passenger bus carrying Shia pilgrims from Quetta to Iran; killing at least 29 people near Ganjidori area of Mastung, about 30 kilometers southeast of Quetta. Three days later, LeJ militants again attacked a passenger van and killed three people from Hazara community on Sibi Road in Saryab, on the outskirts of Quetta. In total, 36 people were shot dead during this week in different acts of terrorism. Moreover, Chief Minister of Balochistan Nawab Aslam Raisani formulated a committee on Thursday, September 22 to probe the killing of 29 pilgrims in the Ganjidori area of Mastung in a sectarian attack. Afghan intelligence sources blamed the Taliban leadership in Pakistan for the assassination of former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani. Tajik and Russian diplomatic missions in Pakistan submitted before the National Assembly Standing Committee on Human Rights on September 22 that their citizens who were killed in Kharotabad in May had no criminal record. Week in Review a) Acts of Terrorism/Subversion and Abduction The Shia community in Balochistan suffered a huge loss of lives on Tuesday, September 20, when 29 people were killed in two separate incidents of ostensibly sectarian violence perpetrated by LeJ. Reports suggest that at least 26 people were killed and six others injured in Ganjidori area of Mastung, about 30 kilometers southeast of Quetta, when a group of armed men attacked a passenger bus carrying Shia pilgrims from Quetta to Iran. Hours later, three more people, hailing from the Hazara community, were gunned down near Akhtarabad area of Quetta as their rescue team made its way to the site of the bus attack. The assailants managed to escape.[1] Frontier Corps (FC) seized huge quantity of explosive materials and arrested an accused during a search operation near...
Spiking Sectarian Violence in Balochistan
Balochistan, the area-wise largest and population wise smallest province of Pakistan, embodies great geo-strategic importance not only for the countrybut also for the region. Balochistan shares borders of about 1,200 kilometers with Afghanistan to its northwest and 900 kilometers with Iran to its west. Some 1,129 kilometers of the Persian Gulf MakranCoastare in Balochistan. The geographical location of Balochistan is unique as it is a gateway to South Asia, Middle East and Central Asia. Moreover, home to almost seven million people, Balochistan comprises 44 per cent of Pakistan's total land mass. Mostly deserts and mountains, it is rich in untapped resources such as natural gas, uranium and possibly oil. Some 20 per cent of the area is sparsely populated with nomadic and settled Baloch and Pashtun tribes. Since independence in 1947, there have been intermittent disturbances in Balochistan. These are being variously referred to as Baloch militancy–, ¿insurgency–, sectarian violence, and ¿uprising– or ¿resurgent nationalism–. Ethnic Balochs always demanded greater autonomy and more control over revenues from their gas fields and other mineral resources, whereas Pakistani government in response launched four military operations and the fifth one, that beganin 2003, is in progress, primarily against hardline Baloch separatists operating from hills and remote areas. Sectarian Militancy As Balochi nationalist separatists continue their violence campaign against the government,the province has seen an unusual spoke insectarian violence in recent years. A staggering 30 per cent growth of the religious schools has been recorded in Balochistan between 2002- 2007, when a coalition of religio-political parties and tribal chieftains ruled the province. The majority of these seminariesbelong to the Sunni Deobandi school of thought, and some of them are considered to be the primary source ofsectarian violencethe province. This dimension of newly emerged paradigm of violence has...
Rabbani Assassination: A Jolt to Afghan Peace Process
The assassination of Burhanuddin Rabbani, former Afghan President and Head of the High Peace Council, seemingly a repeat of what had happened to Ahmed Shah Massod, the Northern Alliance military commander on 9th September 2001, underscores the extreme volatility of present day Afghanistan. Masood fell toassassins disguised as journalists, with explosives in their recording camera, at the height of his fight against Taliban, while Rabbani lost his life to an attacker disguised as a Taliban emissary, at a time when he had speeded up the reconciliation and peace efforts in the country. This event could be termed as the most high-profile political assassination since the US-led invasion in 2001. And since January, Rabbani has become the seventh high-profile victim of a campaign directed against pro-government personalities. Afghan President Hamid Karazai half brother, Ahmed Wali Karazi, was also one among the seven. This represents a severe blow to the reconciliation efforts under the High Peace Council established last year by President Hamid Karzai. The progress made by the 68 member High Peace Council was meanwhile slow, yet Rabbani made all possible efforts to initiate peace process between the government and those sections of Taliban who were willing to surrender their weapons to become a part of the political process. He had thus invited the 'emissary' into his highly fortified Kabul home, hoping it would get him closer to the Taliban.But a cursory look at the current thought stream, particularly the emanating from the American quarters, suggests that sections among the NATO alliance may not be in total favor of the peace process involving the Taliban, as this would endanger the pro-NATO Karzai government. Major events such as a day long siegein the heart of Kabul last week by Taliban insurgents, or the attack late last month on the British Council in the heavily barricaded capital, or recent assassination of Rabbani underline the Taliban ability to strike at...
ActionAid, CRSS stress for taking humanitarian angle into account to address deteriorating security situation in Balochistan
ISLAMABAD: Tuesday (September 20, 2011): Speakers at a roundtable discussion forum demand that the Center should shun the politics of security in Balochistan so that the public grievances and real issues of under development are better redressed. In a roundtable discussion forum'Incessant Descent: The State of Security in Balochistan' jointly organized by ActionAid Pakistan andCenter for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), issues related to proper implementation of ¿Balochistan Rights Package– and specially its components relating to security were discussed in detail. Speakers including Dr Aasim Sajjad, assistant professor at National Institute of Pakistan, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Ms Amna Yousaf Khokhar, research fellow at Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad and Mr Naveed Qaisar, lecturer at Defence and Strategic Studies Department, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad said that the federal government should stop treating Balochistan like a satellite state, rather it should try adopt an inclusive approach to address Balochistan issue. Mr. Naveed said from 1948 to 1977, there were three episodes of the traumatic state military run over the province. He said there are guerrilla forces operating in the area that are not willing to let down their arms until the government does not change its attitude towards their land. Meanwhile, Ms. Khokhar said the international players are becoming active due to the impending dearth of resources around the globe. She narrated that issues of Indian involvement and Saudi funded madrassahs should be taken care of by the state. She observed that sustained violence in Balochistan will push the province to a point of no return. Dr. Aasim highlighted that 'kill and dump' operations in the province has instigated the young Balochis to take up arms against the state and this is an alarming trend. He said state policies have failed to bring about a positive change in the situation. He said positive signals of...
Balochistan Weekly Monitor (September 12-18, 2011)
Against the backdrop of a deadly week, a rather tense calm prevailed in Balochistan during the week. There was no major incident of violence, however one act of dramatic abduction took place when an American national of Pakistani origin and his nephew were kidnapped and then released afterwards by unidentified abductors on Qambarani Road in Quetta on Monday, September 12. Government in Balochistan sought four weeks from Balochistan High Court to get an arrest warrant for former President Pervez Musharraf and other nominated accused in the killing of former Chief Minister and governor Balochistan, Nawab Akbar Bugti. A time where major parts of the country, especially Sindh province, are heavily affected by rain and flood, Balochistan is reportedly facing severe shortage of drinking and irrigation water. Hamid Latif Rana, the managing director at Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) said, earlier on, water level below ground was at a depth of 40 to 100 feet, which is now available, much deeper as compared the previous level. Week in Review a) Acts of Terrorism/Subversions and Abductions In a dramatic abduction episode, an American national of Pakistani origin and his nephew were first kidnapped and later on released by unidentified abductors on Qambarani Road in Quetta on Monday, September 12 afternoon. Police Superintendent Malik Arshad revealed that Zahid Hussain, a 33-year-old American national and his nephew Mubashar, a Pakistani national who is aresident of Rawalpindi, went to the Customs– House Quetta, to pay duty of an unpaid duty vehicle. A group of armed men intercepted them on Qambarani Road and after keeping them for 45 minutes in their custody, the abductors set them free.[1] b) Political Front Balochistan government on Wednesday, September 14 sought four weeks time from the Balochistan High Court to get an arrest warrant for former President Pervez Musharraf and other nominated accused in Nawab Akbar Bugti murder case. Deputy attorney general said arrest...
When Civilians Abdicate Foreign Policy?
When the Zardari-led Pakistan Peoples– Party swept into power in the Feb 2008 general elections and struck an alliance with Nawaz Sharif Pakistan Muslim League and Awami National Party, it radiated an unusual confidence and hope for qualitative, if not substantive change in Pakistan beleaguered foreign policy.Beleaguered because until then former president, General Musharrafand his cohorts, practically lorded over the entire state including the foreign policy.Shah Mehmood Qureshi¿s appointment as the foreign minister also promised a step forward. But, over three years down the lane, the major contours of the foreign policy remain more or less the same, practically abdication of diplomacy to the security establishment. During this period, many events and interventions took place which challenged, if not changed, the foreign policy of Pakistan. The major one was the Davis Saga. On January 26, 2011, Raymond Davis, an American official, shot down two Pakistani citizens -armed men- Faizan and Faheem - in Lahore as they were reportedly stalking him for abduction. The US claimedDavis had Diplomatic Immunity but the then foreign minister, Shah Mahmood Quershi, suggested otherwise, and insisted on the law taking its due course. This was a rareincident when the foreign office officials were united in fighting out any pressure from the governments. The resistance was short lived as Davis was bailed out followinga pardon granted by the affected families in return for a Diyya (blood money) of $2.4million. When Qureshifell out with the government over the issue in March, it delivered a stinging reminder that the war on terror and its consequences had left little space for the ministry of foreign affairs to conduct its defined task.At the same time, the Davis saga also reinforced the perception about the deep impact of the security establishment on matters that are foreign. Davis was released on March 17th butQureshi practically lost the job for disagreement with President...
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I am also a member of National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting. Recently, we held a meeting with the Director General of Radio Pakistan and we told them to initiate such local programs (like Constituency Hour) in regional languages to educate and inform people. Even Indian Radio can be heard in FATA which is being used for propaganda purposes and must be closed. Therefore, we should launch some standard and quality programs like CRSS that will change the taste of the listeners.