QUETTA: Several cities of Balochistan including Quetta hit by protest against kidnapping and killing of Baloch leaders. There is complete shutter down strike in Turbat, Gwadar, Panjgur, Khuzdar, Mushkay, Awaran and other areas.
At least four vehicles were torched in many areas of Balochistan as the province witnessed violent protests.
Protesters hurled stones on vehicles and shops and set tyres on fire in Turbat, Gawadar, Quetta and many other cities of the province. Major markets are also closed in these areas.
Amid riots, University of Balochistan has been closed for next three days while the scheduled examinations of different classes have also been postponed. According to the university administration, the schedule of postponed papers would be announced later.
Meanwhile in Khuzdar, a policeman was shot dead by unknown assailants.
Meanwhile, Balochistan National Front (BNF) has given a strike call on April 11 and 12. Sources said Balochistan chief minister has ordered a judicial inquiry for killing of Baloch leaders.
Chief Minister Balochistan Mohammad Aslam Raisani has condemned the killing of nationalists leaders and termed it as a conspiracy to sabotage reconciliation process.
Protestors in Karachi hurled stones on cars in Teen Hatti and Lasbela areas.
The funeral prayers of BNM leader Ghulam Mohammad Baloch and BRP activist Sher Mohammad will be offer in Panjgur.
---
Killing of nationalists condemned
Friday, April 10, 2009
By Tahir Hasan Khan
Karachi
Baloch nationalist parties while taking strong exception to the killing of three Baloch leaders in Balochistan have called for a seven-day mourning and a strike to condemn the incident.
Former chief minister Balochistan and Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) leader Sardar Akhtar Mengal while addressing a press conference announced that the people of Balochistan and the Baloch community living in Karachi would lodge a strong protest on Friday and Saturday while a complete shutter down strike would be observed on April 12.
BNP National Assembly Member Mir Yaqoob Bizanjo has also demanded of the Chief Justice of Pakistan to take suo moto notice of the incident to expose those involved in the act.
Leaders of the Baloch National Front (BNF) Wahab Baloch, Shahnawaz Baloch and Wahid Baloch also called a seven-day mourning and three days protest on April 10, 11 and 12.
The BNF leaders addressing a press conference on Thursday accused the law enforcement agencies of kidnapping and killing the Baloch leaders.
The bodies of three Baloch leaders, Baloch National Movement (BNM) Chairman Ghulam Mohammad Baloch, Sher Mohammad Baloch of the Balochistan Republican Party (BRP) and Baloch National Front (BNF) General Secretary Lala Munir Baloch were found in Pidrak, in Balochistan on Wednesday. They were abducted some five days back.
Sher Muhammad Baloch had joined the BRP, led by Barhamadag Bugti, after having differences with the late Nawab Akbar Bugti’s Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP).
Ghulam Muhammad Baloch, chief of Balochistan Students Organisation (BSO) had joined the BNM and was working with Nawab Khair Bux Marri while Lala Munir Baloch was also a supporter of Nawab Khair Bux Marri, who had helped in the release of the United Nations official John Solecki.
The three slain Baloch leaders had reportedly appeared in a court in Turbat on April 3 to file an interim bail relating to charges of shooting and bomb blast cases.
After the slain leaders were granted bail, their lawyer, Kachkol Ali, accompanied them to his chamber at around noon, where more than a dozen people in civvies entered the office, ransacked it and abducted them, driving them away in four vehicles which bore no registration numbers.
Kachkol Ali, a former opposition leader in the Balochistan assembly, said that the attackers refused to identify themselves or to tell him where his clients were being taken.
Later, he had reportedly tried to file an application at the Turbat police station against the Military Intelligence (MI) and the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) of the abduction. However, the police refused to file the first information report (FIR), saying they would consult their superiors in before lodging the FIR.
Kachkol Ali then tried to file a habeas corpus application at the Turbat sessions court, but the judge, Pazeer Ahmed Baloch, refused to accept it, saying it did not come under his jurisdiction and told him to file the same in the Balochistan High Court.
Later, Kachkol Ali and other lawyers including Fida Hussain, President of Turbat Bar Association, sent an application to the Chief Justice of Pakistan to take suo moto notice of the incident.
The bodies were almost beyond recognition. However, medical officers have said that they were killed on the day they were arrested, and they were jettisoned from high altitude, possibly from a helicopter.
Around 3,000 people are reported to have died since the military operation started in 2001.
-----
Caution: handle Balochistan with care
Sunday, April 12, 2009
By Tahir Hasan Khan
Karachi
Karachi can be regarded as a second home for many Baloch people. While many leaders including Sardar Ataullah Mengal, Akhtar Mengal, and Nawab Khair Bux Marri chose to spend a lot of their time in Karachi, others such as Hasil Bezinjo and Mir Zafarullah Jamali are residing in the city.
Ghulam Muhammad Baloch, former chairman of Baloch Student Organisation (BSO) and leader of Balochistan National Movement (BNM) was also a citizen of Karachi. He was a close aide to Baloch nationalist leader, Nawab Khair Bux Marri, and was dealing with the political matters of Baloch Liberation Army (BLA). Ghulam Muhammad Baloch was kidnapped along with two other nationalist leaders, Sher Mohammad Baloch of Balochistan Republican Party (BRP) and Lala Munir Baloch, Baloch National Front (BNF) General Secretary, and later killed.
The decomposed corpses of the three slain leaders were found after four days of their kidnapping. Torture marks were visible on the bodies, which provoked a violent reaction from people. This made provincial leaders such as Senator Mir Hasil Bezinjo and Akhtar Mengal take a hard line against these killings. Baloch leaders blamed the murder directly on intelligence agencies, and warned that these killings could have grave consequences for the nation. These allegations were also supported by Kachkol Ali, lawyer for the three deceased Baloch leaders.
Chief of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Athar Abbas however termed this act as highly regrettable. Abbas claimed that “an anti-state element is out to destabilise and undermine the reconciliatory efforts of the government”.
Interestingly, the United Nations (UN) and United States of America (USA) also expressed concern over killing of these leaders, and demanded that the Pakistan government launch a probe behind the incident. It is worth mentioning here that that neither the UN nor America condemned the killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti. While Ghulam Muhammad Baloch was also member of the committee constituted to help recovering John Solecki, a UN representative in Quetta, observers believe that the reaction of the UN and the USA goes beyond simply the support lent by Baloch.
Observers have linked the American reaction on this issue with the American agenda against Pakistan, and particularly Balochistan. One is led to question why America is more concerned about this particular murder than the assassination of Nawab Akbar Bugti.
Nawab Akbar Bugti was not an extremist and he was considered as a leader of establishment. Bugti supported the government during the 1972 military operation when Nawab Khair Bux Marri was fighting against the army. However, he was killed when he disagreed with the former military chief on certain issues.
America, India, Afghanistan and Iran are closely following the situation in Balochistan, and they may fully cooperate with nationalist forces in creating a dangerous state of affairs for Pakistan.
The establishment also did not allow Akhtar Mengal to hold a public meeting in Quetta. Such an act provides fuel to nationalist forces, who can exploit the situation and promote activism within the Baloch youth. As things stand, Baloch youth are already disenchanted as they think that they are not getting their due share from the federation. Observers fear that if this situation continues, it will promote violent politics, which would worsen the situation.
The current state of affairs doesn’t bode well not only for Balochistan, but also for Sindh as tribal communities living on both sides of the Sindh-Balochistan border would be in danger if the situation in Balochistan is not controlled.
tahir.hasan@thenews.com.pk
----
Baluch militants kill six mine workers in Pakistan
12 Apr 2009 06:43:53 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Gul Yousafzai
QUETTA, Pakistan, April 12 (Reuters) - Separatist militants in Pakistan's Baluchistan province have claimed responsibility for killing six coal-mine workers as violence intensified in the resource-rich province.
Nuclear-armed Pakistan is already grappling with intensifying Islamist militant violence while struggling to revive a flagging economy.
A surge of separatist violence in Baluchistan will compound fears for the U.S. ally's stability.
Bullet-ridden bodies of six coal-mine workers were found in mountains near Marwar, 35 km (20 miles) east of the provincial capital, Quetta, on Saturday, a senior police officer said.
"Their hands and feet were bound with rope and they were shot in the head," police officer Wazir Khan Nasir told Reuters on Sunday.
The six, none of whom was from Baluchistan, were abducted outside their company offices in Marwar on Friday.
Baluch nationalists have for decades campaigned for greater autonomy and control of the province's abundant natural gas and mineral resources, which they say are unfairly exploited to the benefit of other parts of the country.
Baluch militants have also waged a low-level insurgency, at times targetting gas and mining infrastructure as well as "outsiders" from other parts of Pakistan.
A spokesman for the Baluchistan Liberation Army militant group telephoned a press club in Quetta on Saturday to claim responsibility for killing the six workers, saying it was in retaliation for the killing and kidnapping of Baluch people.
"If the military keeps on killing and abducting our people, such things will continue," said the spokesman, Meerak Baluch, according to a journalist who spoke to him.
INTERNATIONAL CONCERN
Tension has surged in the province of bleak deserts and mountains since Thursday, when three Baluch political leaders were found shot dead.
Several people were killed in rioting that broke out in Quetta and other towns after the discovery of the three, who were abducted by unknown men days earlier.
Their supporters said they were taken away by security men.
The provincial government said the killing of the three was an act of terrorism and ordered an inquiry. The military blamed an "anti-state element" bent on undermining reconciliation.
The United States condemned the killing of the three men, saying one of them had recently helped in the release of a kidnapped American U.N. official. The United Nations expressed its serious concern and called for an immediate investigation.
Rights group Amnesty International also urged authorities to investigate the killing of the three, adding the government had failed to investigate an estimated 800 enforced disappearances in Baluchistan over the past two years.
Baluchistan borders Afghanistan and Iran and is Pakistan's biggest province in terms of area, but its population is the smallest and poorest.
Taliban Islamist militants fighting in Afghanistan also operate out of Baluchistan but have no links with the largely secular nationalists.
There have been were no reports of disruptions at gas fields over recent days. (Writing by Kamran Haider; Editing by Robert Birsel and Jerry Norton)
No comments:
Post a Comment