Quetta, Balochistan

[TopHatter]

TH, I will refrain from using the term again if you say so, but the term has been on WAB for a while, and it has never been "derogatory" till now. At the end of the day, the term "Pakjabi" is only derogatory because of the deeds done by the Pak-Punjabis.

Tronic, Please do refrain from using the term.

Let's all get back on topic :)

[Agnostic Muslim]

Quake terror: Helicopter carrying relief goods attacked by militants
By Web Desk
Published: September 27, 2013


MASHKAI: Militants fired on a helicopter carrying relief goods to Mashkai, an area of Balochistan that was devastated by the earthquake, Express News reported on Friday.

Yesterday, the helicopter of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Chairman Major General Muhammad Saeed Aleem was targeted with rockets while it was on its way to Mashkai, Balochistan for earthquake relief work.

The NDMA chairman was in the area to monitor the rescue work underway in the devastated region. Major General Aleem remained unhurt in the attack.

The September 24 earthquake has so far claimed around 357 lives in Balochistan and more than 600 people are injured.

A senior FC officer had said that most of the stricken places in Awaran are highly risky areas for relief workers and provincial functionaries as it is a hub of Baloch nationalist militants.

Mashkai – a sub-district of Awaran – has been under the militant command of nationalist guerrilla commander, Dr Allah Nazar who has been confronting the FC and Pakistan Army for a long time.

Quake terror: Helicopter carrying relief goods attacked by militants – The Express Tribune

The underlined text refers to the same Allah Nazar whose interview 1980 posted a few posts ago. I don't see how supporters of these 'terrorists/insurgents/separatists' think that these groups will somehow usher in 'peace, stability and secularism' given that they are attacking and undermining relief operations designed to help the people in their strongholds.

The Pakistani Army is leading these relief efforts and has dedicated 10 helicopters and 1200 soldiers to it (as of yesterday) so perhaps the separatists are concerned they will lose local support if they allow the Pakistan Army to operate unhindered.

[Oracle]

[Oracle]

Sad that, even in times of a humanitarian crisis, PA instead of taking ops to SWAT etc, are more interested in killing Balochis. Shame!

[Agnostic Muslim]

Sad that, even in times of a humanitarian crisis, PA instead of taking ops to SWAT etc, are more interested in killing Balochis. Shame!

Well, that tweet really does highlight Tarek Fatah's lack of objectivity - the regions of Maskhai and Awaran were identified in the media as having suffered the most damage in the earthquake before the Army initiated her relief efforts, and the Pakistan Army has always been the primary force leading relief efforts in 'hard to reach locations'. The PA led relief efforts during the 2005 quake and the massive floods in Pakistan.

It is lying hacks like Tarek Fatah, whose snake oil is lapped up by many in the West and India looking for something to bolster their existing anti-Pakistan prejudice, that have played a large part in poisoning discourse about Pakistan in the West. Aside from that tweet, does he (or you, since you are quoting his tweet) have any actual evidence that the Pakistani Army is carrying out military operations against the Baluch terrorists/insurgents/separatists instead of relief operations? The accounts of separatists/terrorists firing on Army helicopters carrying relief supplies would indicate that it is the terrorists/separatists who are provoking military clashes and preventing assistance from reaching the affected local population.

[JAD_333]

Tarek Fatah's tweet is somewhat disingenuous; true, the tragedy brings the troops, but he doesn't say it's to get a march on the separatists. Ostensibly it's for earthquake relief, which is credible, since the Pak army could move troops into the area any time they chose.

[notorious_eagle]

Well, that tweet really does highlight Tarek Fatah's lack of objectivity - the regions of Maskhai and Awaran were identified in the media as having suffered the most damage in the earthquake before the Army initiated her relief efforts, and the Pakistan Army has always been the primary force leading relief efforts in 'hard to reach locations'. The PA led relief efforts during the 2005 quake and the massive floods in Pakistan.

It is lying hacks like Tarek Fatah, whose snake oil is lapped up by many in the West and India looking for something to bolster their existing anti-Pakistan prejudice, that have played a large part in poisoning discourse about Pakistan in the West. Aside from that tweet, does he (or you, since you are quoting his tweet) have any actual evidence that the Pakistani Army is carrying out military operations against the Baluch terrorists/insurgents/separatists instead of relief operations? The accounts of separatists/terrorists firing on Army helicopters carrying relief supplies would indicate that it is the terrorists/separatists who are provoking military clashes and preventing assistance from reaching the affected local population.

Thank You very much for this post. Its a pittance of how low people can go just to score a browny point.

PA is doing a commendable job considering how stretched out it is and the meagre resources it has its disposal. Pakistan Disaster Management Authority or the Civilian Government is nowhere to be seen, while the Army is forced to step in and rescue the people. Than people wonder why PA is the most popular institution in Pakistan.

[1980s]

Back on topic, i found this an interesting bit of news regarding Baloch-Pashtun relations and their common plight of resisting Talibanization, Islamic extremism and Pakistani expansionism and interference in their affairs. I had no idea actually until now that such a formal 'unity day' for leaders of the two peoples existed as was marked in Afghanistan:

Cementing Pashtun-Baloch unity essential



Pashtun-Baloch Unity Day was observed in Kabul on Saturday where Pashtun and Baloch leaders gave vent to their views how to address the issue of militancy, insecurity and Talibanization. The crux of what they say is that the military establishment in Pakistan has been responsible for the current day plight of the two peoples—Pashtuns and Balochs.

This Unity Day has been observed since 1949 aimed at cementing relations among Pashtuns and Balochs, who are straddling on both sides of the Durand Line. The day has been observed in such a while when Pashtuns and Balochs have become a worst victim to an international conspiracy—the war on terror. Their voices are being gagged and their leaders being killed.

In such a critical juncture, the unity of the two peoples, living in a strategically important region, needs to be cemented more and more. The contentious Durand Line has undermined the strength of the two peoples. On the Afghan side of so-called line, the de-facto frontier stretches from Nimroz in the southeast to Nuristan in the northeast. On the other side of the line, the de-factor border includes the provinces of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and the tribal belt—the seven tribal agencies.

The land where Pashtuns and Balochs live has been of utmost importance for the international powers because of its geopolitics and strategic location. For certain strategic, economic and other objectives the land of Pashtuns and Balochs have been pushed into a perpetual state of mayhem and confusion. The lives of these two peoples have become miserable at the hands of those who cannot tolerate their political, educational and economic development. To be specific, it is Pakistan that’s blameworthy. Being obsessed unhealthily with Pashtun-Baloch unity, Pashtuns have been given over representation in Pakistan army and its top spy agency, the ISI, while throwing the human and political rights of Balochs away. It is a deliberate attempt by Pakistan military strategists and establishment to bring a cleavage between the two ethnic nations.

Pakistan has long been supporting the Taliban because they also alienate the ethnically, religiously and linguistically diverse populations in Afghanistan and Pakistan. For instance, the Taliban chauvinism has led to the failure to unite with the adjacent Baloch, who at times have demonstrated even greater hostility to the Pakistan state, with their continuous history of insurgent resistance. This is highly advantageous for Pakistan—a country that has already lost its eastern wing in 1971 when the Bengalis successfully tore the Pakistan state into two. With secessionist movement in Balochistan, and disgruntle among Pashtuns of Pakhtunkhwa and the tribal belt, Pakistan is once again faced with the same situation. Being fallen victim to its own strategy, Islamabad has nothing to say but to blame India for security situation in Balochistan.

Pakistan is also squaring off with India in Afghanistan but it has lost the race, which is why it is hell-bent on blaming New Delhi for insecurity in the tribal belt in Pakistan. But the allegations of Pakistan seem to be unfounded as Baloch resistance movement started in 1948. It continuously remained a serious challenge for Pakistan in 1958-1959, 1962-63, 1973-77, and 2002-2009 and onwards. Instead of waning, their resistance against the Pakistan state has become more vigorous with the passage of time.

Pakistan considers the Taliban an effective tool in undermining and gagging the Pashtun irredentist movement and as well as causing a schism among Pashtuns and Balochs. The Balochs live on both sides of the Durand Line as well as in neighbouring Iran. People on both sides of the Durand Line consider it just a line and not an international boundary. The ongoing war on terror has been going against the interests of Pashtuns and Balochs as the war has become directionless. Unlike the Taliban, Pashtun nationalists and Balochs consider the Punjab-led establishment in Pakistan responsible for their backwardness.

The war in Afghanistan should have come to an end after the USSR pulled out its troops but it didn’t happen. Why? Because the military establishment in Pakistan didn’t want peace in Afghanistan. It is well evident from the statement of Pakistan’s then Lieutenant General and head of ISI, AKhtar Abdur Rahman, who was assassinated in a plane crash along with then Pakistan President Zia-ul-Haq. He said that Kabul must burn and it is burning even today. Why did he say that Kabul must burn? Because they knew that Kabul has been a symbol of Pashtun-Baloch unity and once that’s destabilized their unity will be undermined forever. But those who are against the unity of Pashtun-Baloch should know that their turn is coming to an end that will be followed by our turn.

[1980s]

Good insight from Reuters

Special Report: The struggle Pakistan does not want reported | Reuters
By Matthew Green

KARACHI, Pakistan | Tue Sep 24, 2013 11:10am EDT

(Reuters) - Abdul Razzaq Baloch worked nights. After dinner, he would start his shift as a proofreader at the Daily Tawar, a newspaper published on a shoe-string from a cramped office in Karachi, Pakistan's commercial capital. At 2 a.m., the 42-year-old would make the short journey home on his new Super Star motorbike.

One night in March, Baloch did not return. His phone was switched off and his bike was missing. His family made enquiries with the police, then hospitals, and finally in the lanes of Lyari, the gritty neighborhood where they live.

The word on the street was that Baloch had been kidnapped, his relatives said. He had last been seen as he was bundled into a white SUV with a blanket over his head.

Speaking to Reuters two months later, Saeeda Sarbazi, Baloch's outspoken sister, was in no doubt as to the identities of the culprits: Pakistan's intelligence services.

"This case is like a bombshell - nobody we go to wants to touch it," Sarbazi said at the family home in Lyari, where his wife and four children awaited his return. "People are scared that the agencies will harm them."

On August 21, Baloch's body was found dumped amid the brambles overrunning wasteground in Suranji Town, a scrappy neighborhood on Karachi's northwestern fringe. A piece of paper bearing his name had been stuffed into his pocket. His hands were tied; he had been strangled. Pakistan's military, which has repeatedly denied involvement in extra-judicial killings, did not respond to a request for comment on Baloch's death.

Baloch's associates believe his disappearance and murder was linked to the Daily Tawar's coverage of a separatist guerrilla campaign in Baluchistan, a huge Pakistani province bordering Afghanistan and Iran, where his family has its roots. The Daily Tawar supports independence for the province, and according to several of his friends, Baloch himself belonged to a pro-independence party.

The Baluch rebels, who believe the rest of Pakistan has always treated Baluchistan like a colony, have agitated and fought for their own independent, secular homeland for decades. In response, the security forces have waged a lengthy but little-known counter-insurgency to try to quash them.

In the past three years, the bodies of hundreds of members of pro-independence political parties, student groups and even poets have been discovered on desolate verges or patches of scrub. Baluch activists say the bodies are evidence that the military is pursuing a systematic "kill-and-dump" campaign to crush dissent - a charge the army denies.

Under growing pressure from Pakistan's increasingly assertive judiciary to explain the disappearances, military officers have speculated that a range of armed groups or criminal gangs active in the province may be to blame.

But Baloch's death has hardened a belief among Baluch that the security forces - far from softening their stance - have sharply expanded their crackdown this year in a drive to extinguish the uprising once and for all.

In a new trend, the bodies of the disappeared have begun to turn up beyond Baluchistan's borders in Karachi, a city of 18 million people and the motor of Pakistan's economy.

The discovery of Baloch's remains, alongside those of another man, brought the total number of bodies of missing Baluch that have been found in the city to 18 since the start of this year, according to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP). Although Baloch vanished in Karachi, many of the others had been reported missing hundreds of km away in Baluchistan itself.

Asked to comment on Baloch's disappearance, a security official said he had no specific knowledge of the case but added that the military would have no reason to detain an obscure proofreader.

"Unknown journalist. Unknown newspaper with a very limited or no following at all. Why should we go and pinch him and make him part of the news?" the official said. "It doesn't serve us."

Virtually sealed off to foreigners, Baluchistan is potentially one of Pakistan's most prosperous regions, endowed with copper and gold. Iran's government hopes a planned $1.5bn pipeline project will one day snake across its rocky wastes to export natural gas to Pakistan and India to help Tehran circumvent U.S. sanctions. China wants to import oil via Baluchistan's deepwater port of Gwadar.

But none of that is likely to happen as long as the unrest in Baluchistan continues.

The rebels, as well as the army, stand accused of waging a dirty war. In recent years, the HRCP believes Baluch separatist gunmen have murdered hundreds of civilian "settlers" from Pakistan's eastern Punjab province to try to drive out the community. In turn, Baluch say the Frontier Corps, the main official force in Baluchistan, launches punitive raids to torch homes and round up opponents.

Unfolding in closed-off badlands, the conflict is subject to far less international scrutiny than the army's separate battle against the Pakistani Taliban on the frontier with Afghanistan.

Nonetheless, repeated reports by human rights groups of abuses in Baluchistan have raised awkward questions over the conduct of Pakistan's military, which has received almost $11 billion from Washington since 2001 to finance its anti-Taliban campaigns, according to data compiled by Alan Kronstadt of the Congressional Research Service.

Speaking to Baluch living inside and outside the province over the course of several months, Reuters has been able to gather testimony from witnesses and relatives over what they describe as three apparent cases of "kill-and-dump."

Reuters submitted a dossier of testimony related to the disappearance of Abdul Razzaq Baloch, the journalist, and two other alleged "kill-and-dump" cases within Baluchistan to the army on June 10. The military said it had pursued the query but had not yet been able to obtain any information.

Reuters also wrote to Pakistan's government seeking permission to visit Baluchistan to meet military officers but received no reply. The Interior Ministry did not offer an explanation, but officials have previously said that journalists travelling to Baluchistan may face risks from armed groups.

The lack of access makes collating data on disappearances difficult and there is a risk that some of those reported missing may have gone into hiding.

Taking these caveats into account, one online database of abductions run by a group of activists in the United States who track media reports, suggests the pace of disappearances has increased sharply. The group says 247 Baluch were reported abducted in the first six months of this year, compared with 214 in the whole of 2012, and 206 in 2011.

"Anyone remotely linked to Baluch (separatist) politics is targeted," said Jeeand Baloch, a leader of Baloch Students Organisation (Azad), a pro-independence group. "If they go into hiding, their families are punished."

The allegations come at a sensitive time for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, whose new government has pledged to rein in abuses as a prelude to seeking negotiations with insurgents to usher the alienated province into the national fold.

Whether he can succeed will be an early test of his authority over Pakistan's powerful military, whose commanders exert far greater influence in Baluchistan than the feeble provincial administration.

"LINES YOU CAN'T CROSS"

Baloch, the missing journalist, lived with his extended family in an apartment in Lyari, a warren in old Karachi where police tread warily and gangsters make the rules.

His family and friends described him as a bookish man who socialized little and prided himself on his role as bread-winner.

The proofreader was a member of the Baloch National Movement (BNM), a separatist party, according to several people who knew him and party officials. Although it espouses peaceful protest, the BNM's stance marks its members as traitors in the eyes of the security forces, still haunted by the loss of East Pakistan, which broke away to form Bangladesh in 1971.

The separatist message was one shared by Baloch's newspaper. Founded a decade ago, The Daily Tawar had a circulation of a few thousand copies within Baluchistan, but its pro-independence stance earned it a loyal online following among the Baluch diaspora in Europe and the Middle East.

The paper - whose title means "Call" in Balochi - has regularly reported on allegations of enforced disappearances by the military and its editors have said they received repeated threats. Several of its reporters had been murdered.

In early March this year, a little over two weeks before Baloch disappeared, the Daily Tawar reported the discovery of the body of Abdul Rehman Baloch, a senior member of the BNM who had disappeared in Baluchistan in February. His remains were discarded in bushes in the eastern Steel Town area of Karachi in March.

Pakistan's military has always denied involvement in disappearances.

According to a source in BSO-Azad, the Baluch students' movement, Baloch was among those who went to a hospital to retrieve Abdul Rehman's bullet-ridden body.

In an angry editorial published the next day, The Daily Tawar accused security agencies of using Karachi as a dumpsite for bodies in the hope the discoveries would go unremarked because of the city's high murder rate.

Two weeks later, on March 24, Baloch left his house just before evening prayers, saying he was going to buy new sandals. He was wearing a cream-colored loose fitting shirt and trousers. His wife cooked fish biryani, his favorite, and waited for his usual call of "I'm home."

When the proofreader did not return, his family assumed he had gone straight to work. Later they heard that he had been pushed into the back of one of two white SUVs spotted prowling Lyari after dark.

Although Baloch's relatives say they are certain he was picked up by security agencies, they have produced no hard evidence. They said it was impossible for Reuters to meet the people who reported witnessing his abduction since they were too scared to discuss the incident.

On April 6, almost two weeks after Baloch vanished, a group of men ransacked the Daily Tawar office in the early hours of the morning and set fire to files, according to the Committee of Pakistan Newspaper Editors. Baloch's family said the intruders took his computer.

The Daily Tawar's staff went into hiding. The paper has stopped printing but still posts stories online.

"There are lines you can't cross as a journalist in Karachi," said a Baluch reporter. "Maybe he crossed one of those lines."

"NO WAY TO PAY"

A week after he went missing, Baloch's sister Sarbazi saw her brother's number flash up on her cell phone. A man she did not know demanded 10 million Pakistani rupees ($100,000) for his release. She could hear laughing in the background. Another call followed and the amount dropped to 1 million.

Then, nothing.

Several Karachi journalists told Reuters they suspected Baloch had been taken by Pakistani intelligence. The police officer in charge of the Baloch case rules out kidnapping for ransom, a common practice in Karachi.

"The family has no way to pay," said Senior Superintendent of Police Niaz Ahmed Khosa, one of the city's most respected investigators. He declined to offer an alternative theory.

Raja Irshad, a lawyer who has represented the military, said security forces faced a dilemma since the judicial system was too weak to prosecute suspected separatist rebels.

"To my mind, these missing persons, they are militants. When they fight with the security forces, they get killed," Irshad said in Islamabad. "Not a single innocent person in Baluchistan has been taken away by the security agencies. No unarmed young man gets killed."

News Baloch's body had been found broke on Vsh, a Balochi channel. The family's television was out of order and word only reached them at midday; relatives rushed to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital to identify his body.

At first they insisted there had been a mistake: Baloch's face was so badly bloated it bore scant resemblance to the man they knew. Only the next day did Sarbazi confirm it was him, after a careful examination of the only part of his body that was not badly disfigured - his feet. He was wearing the same cream-colored shirt he had donned on the day he vanished.

"TORTURED WITH A DRILL"

Baloch's disappearance is not unique. Reuters has gathered testimony from several witnesses and relatives about two other alleged "kill-and-dump" cases in Baluchistan itself, one in April this year and one in May.

Haji Mohammad Anwar Baloch, a senior member of the Baluch Republican Party, which also supports Baluch independence, said he fled Pakistan in July 2011, after security forces repeatedly raided his house. He settled in Switzerland; some family members, including his son Zaheer, remained in Baluchistan.

Anwar said security forces raided his house in the province's Panjgur District at four a.m. on April 22, and took away 32-year-old Zaheer, who had a masters in biology and worked as a volunteer teacher. Zaheer was also active in his father's party, participating in rallies and strikes.

Zaheer's body was found in the Suranji Town area of Karachi in early June, the same district where Baloch's body would be dumped. Zaheer's body was accompanied by a paper bearing his name and the phone number of one of his friends: a common pattern with dumped Baluch bodies.

Anwar said relatives had showed him images of the body via Skype.

"He was tortured with a drill - an electrical drill to make a hole in the wall," Anwar told Reuters in Geneva, running his finger from the base of his throat down to his stomach to demonstrate the path of the wounds.

Police said bodies of Baluch had been routinely dumped in Suranji Town this year; they could not provide details of each case. The military did not respond to a request for comment.

"WHERE IS ASIM?"

On February 2, a young man named Asim Faqir left the Baluchistan town of Turbat on a packed minibus, with his wife Hanifa Baloch and their infant son. Hanifa said members of the Frontier Corps stopped the bus near a village called Nodez.

They asked the driver to identify Faqir, who Hanifa says had no political affiliation. When the driver refused, soldiers beat him. The paramilitaries then demanded other passengers identify Faqir; they also remained silent. The soldiers beat the driver again until he glanced at Faqir, whom they took away, Hanifa said.

Pakistan's military, which handles media for the Frontier Corps, did not respond to a request for comment.

On May 26, a convoy of Frontier Corps arrived at Faqir's village of Nazarabad, according to his sister and another resident who declined to be named. As the sister, Zareena Baloch, stood watching, the paramilitaries searched their compound.

"Where is Asim?" one of the men asked.

"You should know. You people abducted him four months back," Zareena replied.

The soldiers searched the house of Azim, Asim Faqir's older brother. They emerged carrying framed photos of both men and set the house on fire.

As the soldiers left, Zareena heard a burst of gunfire which she took to be celebratory shots. Shortly afterwards, members of a local police force arrived bearing Asim Faqir's body.

"I couldn't recognize him at first," Zareena said. "But then I knew it was him. I touched his face."

Another resident of Nazarabad corroborated part of Zareena's account, saying residents had emerged from their houses after hearing the shots and found Faqir's body. One bullet had pierced his left eye, Zareena said. Relatives provided what they said was a photo of the body, in a pool of blood, to Reuters.

Another relative of Faqir who lives outside Pakistan said: "They (the intelligence services) have long arms. If you talk about freedom, if you talk about anything, they will come and get you."

Long ignored in Pakistan, the allegations of abuses in Baluchistan have begun to be heard. Last year, Pakistan's chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry held a series of hearings over the disappearances and subjected the head of the Frontier Corps to a rare public grilling. Sharif's new government has also begun to talk more openly about the accusations of extra-judicial killings in Baluchistan.

Abdul Malik, a veteran Baluch politician who was chosen by Sharif to head the provincial administration, has called on the military to end human rights violations as a prelude to talks.

"We will all together, me and Nawaz Sharif, tell the security establishment that these things have to end," Malik told Reuters in Islamabad in June. "We have to create an environment in which we are in a position to invite insurgents for negotiations."

(Additional reporting by Mehreen Zahra-Malik and Syed Raza Hassan in Islamabad and Tom Miles in Geneva; Writing by Matthew Green; Edited by Simon Robinson and Sara Ledwith)

[1980s]

PA is doing a commendable job considering how stretched out it is and the meagre resources it has its disposal. Pakistan Disaster Management Authority or the Civilian Government is nowhere to be seen, while the Army is forced to step in and rescue the people. Than people wonder why PA is the most popular institution in Pakistan.

Interestingly, in regards to that last part, this is not what i have read on any Baluch papers, commentaries or blogs i have been observing and the sentiments expressed on these are being corroborated by the media too:



'Within the next 48 hours or so, when Pakistani soldiers arrived in Teertaj with a truckload of tents and food supplies, the villagers turned them away. "We told them we did not want anything to do them," says a villager.'

BBC News - Pakistan quake highlights Balochistan ethnic fractures

[JAD_333]

Could it be they were afraid of what the separatists would do to them if they seemed to be cooperating with the PA?

NB: That woman in the picture has seen a hard life.

[farhan_9909]

Back on topic, i found this an interesting bit of news regarding Baloch-Pashtun relations and their common plight of resisting Talibanization, Islamic extremism and Pakistani expansionism and interference in their affairs. I had no idea actually until now that such a formal 'unity day' for leaders of the two peoples existed as was marked in Afghanistan:

Cementing Pashtun-Baloch unity essential



Pashtun-Baloch Unity Day was observed in Kabul on Saturday where Pashtun and Baloch leaders gave vent to their views how to address the issue of militancy, insecurity and Talibanization. The crux of what they say is that the military establishment in Pakistan has been responsible for the current day plight of the two peoples—Pashtuns and Balochs.

This Unity Day has been observed since 1949 aimed at cementing relations among Pashtuns and Balochs, who are straddling on both sides of the Durand Line. The day has been observed in such a while when Pashtuns and Balochs have become a worst victim to an international conspiracy—the war on terror. Their voices are being gagged and their leaders being killed.

In such a critical juncture, the unity of the two peoples, living in a strategically important region, needs to be cemented more and more. The contentious Durand Line has undermined the strength of the two peoples. On the Afghan side of so-called line, the de-facto frontier stretches from Nimroz in the southeast to Nuristan in the northeast. On the other side of the line, the de-factor border includes the provinces of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and the tribal belt—the seven tribal agencies.

The land where Pashtuns and Balochs live has been of utmost importance for the international powers because of its geopolitics and strategic location. For certain strategic, economic and other objectives the land of Pashtuns and Balochs have been pushed into a perpetual state of mayhem and confusion. The lives of these two peoples have become miserable at the hands of those who cannot tolerate their political, educational and economic development. To be specific, it is Pakistan that’s blameworthy. Being obsessed unhealthily with Pashtun-Baloch unity, Pashtuns have been given over representation in Pakistan army and its top spy agency, the ISI, while throwing the human and political rights of Balochs away. It is a deliberate attempt by Pakistan military strategists and establishment to bring a cleavage between the two ethnic nations.

Pakistan has long been supporting the Taliban because they also alienate the ethnically, religiously and linguistically diverse populations in Afghanistan and Pakistan. For instance, the Taliban chauvinism has led to the failure to unite with the adjacent Baloch, who at times have demonstrated even greater hostility to the Pakistan state, with their continuous history of insurgent resistance. This is highly advantageous for Pakistan—a country that has already lost its eastern wing in 1971 when the Bengalis successfully tore the Pakistan state into two. With secessionist movement in Balochistan, and disgruntle among Pashtuns of Pakhtunkhwa and the tribal belt, Pakistan is once again faced with the same situation. Being fallen victim to its own strategy, Islamabad has nothing to say but to blame India for security situation in Balochistan.

Pakistan is also squaring off with India in Afghanistan but it has lost the race, which is why it is hell-bent on blaming New Delhi for insecurity in the tribal belt in Pakistan. But the allegations of Pakistan seem to be unfounded as Baloch resistance movement started in 1948. It continuously remained a serious challenge for Pakistan in 1958-1959, 1962-63, 1973-77, and 2002-2009 and onwards. Instead of waning, their resistance against the Pakistan state has become more vigorous with the passage of time.

Pakistan considers the Taliban an effective tool in undermining and gagging the Pashtun irredentist movement and as well as causing a schism among Pashtuns and Balochs. The Balochs live on both sides of the Durand Line as well as in neighbouring Iran. People on both sides of the Durand Line consider it just a line and not an international boundary. The ongoing war on terror has been going against the interests of Pashtuns and Balochs as the war has become directionless. Unlike the Taliban, Pashtun nationalists and Balochs consider the Punjab-led establishment in Pakistan responsible for their backwardness.

The war in Afghanistan should have come to an end after the USSR pulled out its troops but it didn’t happen. Why? Because the military establishment in Pakistan didn’t want peace in Afghanistan. It is well evident from the statement of Pakistan’s then Lieutenant General and head of ISI, AKhtar Abdur Rahman, who was assassinated in a plane crash along with then Pakistan President Zia-ul-Haq. He said that Kabul must burn and it is burning even today. Why did he say that Kabul must burn? Because they knew that Kabul has been a symbol of Pashtun-Baloch unity and once that’s destabilized their unity will be undermined forever. But those who are against the unity of Pashtun-Baloch should know that their turn is coming to an end that will be followed by our turn.

On one hand Unity
On the Other Hand the Pashtuns of Balochistan Now wants a seperate province upto Kalat

The Bugti Tribe from Baloch and the Talibans or there followers might have some sort of unity.The rest is not true
All i hear is that there ratio of being in army is said to be increased to 5% in near future event though baloch being only 2.5%-3% of Total Pakistan Population

[1980s]

Could it be they were afraid of what the separatists would do to them if they seemed to be cooperating with the PA?

NB: That woman in the picture has seen a hard life.

Perhaps, but if that was the case then im sure the journalists would've spotted that and mentioned any intimidation factor among the locals not to accept that aid. On the contrary, the hostility against Pakistan is said to run to deep and judging by that photo (i know it is just one) they seem quite at ease with the reporter and his cameraman.

[Agnostic Muslim]

Interestingly, in regards to that last part, this is not what i have read on any Baluch papers, commentaries or blogs i have been observing and the sentiments expressed on these are being corroborated by the media too:



'Within the next 48 hours or so, when Pakistani soldiers arrived in Teertaj with a truckload of tents and food supplies, the villagers turned them away. "We told them we did not want anything to do them," says a villager.'

BBC News - Pakistan quake highlights Balochistan ethnic fractures

As mentioned before, the areas most severely impacted by the earthquake are sparsely populated strongholds of the insurgent/terrorist groups. The response from a few villagers does not establish 'deep rooted hostility against Pakistan throughout Balochistan'. Isolated anecdotal accounts aside, the fact remains that the Pakistan Military is the primary relief organization in the region and obviously its aid is being accepted by the majority of those affected given that relief supplies continue to be distributed and complaints of 'aid shortages and slow distribution' continue to be voiced.

JAD_333 pointed out the possibility of intimidation, but given the influence of the terrorist/separatist groups in this region (Pakistan Army relief efforts continue to be attacked by terrorists indicating some level of coerced and/or willing local support for the terrorists), it is just as likely that the sentiments expressed were genuine given the potential links between these particular villagers and the terrorists/separatists, but extrapolating 'wide-spread hostility towards Pakistan' from that is disingenuous.

[Agnostic Muslim]

This article offers a counter-narrative to the one pushed by 1980 and Baloch separatists/terrorists - it would appear that the majority of the affected people have no qualms about accepting Pakistani government aid, and are in fact, implicitly, critical of the separatists/terrorists for hampering relief efforts:

Conflict with rebels hurting earthquake relief efforts

Ammar Shahbazi
Tuesday, October 01, 2013

Karachi

Despite receiving plenty of relief goods from the federal and other provincial authorities, the Balochistan government is unable to help the earthquake-affected people in the rebel-dominated areas of the province, claim survivors who have reached Karachi for medical treatment.

“The conflict between the security forces and the rebels in the quake-hit areas is hampering relief efforts,” said Zahid Baloch, a survivor, who has arrived in the city from Mashkay for his maternal aunt’s treatment.

Mashkay is known as the “hometown” of one of the top rebel groups in the province.Zahid lost 17 members of his family in the devastating earthquake on September 24. He was lucky to rush out of his house before it collapsed.

The moment

Recalling the instant that altered his life forever, Baloch said that when the quake struck, he shouted to his sister and grandmother – the only ones present in the house - to run and had hardly managed to sprint for 10 meters or so when everything around him crumbled.

“I thought I was watching a movie. There is this bazaar five kilometres away from our neighbourhood. When I got out of the house, I could see that bazaar; everything else in the way had flattened.

Government numbers

More than 300,000 people have been directly or indirectly affected by the earthquake. “Around 35,000 people have been left homeless,” said Balochistan government spokesperson Jan Mohammed Buledi. “The calamity has killed 376 people.”

Buledi confirmed that the rebels were bent on jeopardising the government’s relief efforts.

“Just last night, they [rebels] attacked the chief minister’s convoy with a rocket,” he told The News over the phone from Balochistan.

Despite the rebel leaders’ assurances that they would not disturb private or international organisations’ relief activities, Buledi said the government could not allow individuals to move without security in the rebel-dominated areas.

“It’s not possible,” he said, “when the security forces are being attacked in a region, you can’t permit civilians to roam free there. If any untoward incident happens, the government will eventually be held responsible.”

Volunteers and social activists engaged in relief efforts also complained that the conflict was affecting their work.“There are relief goods worth millions stranded at the government offices in Awaran, as the government can’t take them to the rebel-controlled areas out of fear,” said Sherali Baloch, a social worker who recently visited the affected areas in the Awaran district. “The government is reluctant to allow private organisations to go to the rebel-strongholds without adequate security and the rebels don’t allow security personnel in their areas,” he added.

More survivors arrive

The injured survivors of the Awaran earthquake continued to arrive in the city on Monday, their overall number now standing at 85.

Almost all of them have been admitted to the Civil Hospital Karachi and the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical College except for three who were admitted to private hospitals because their serious condition.

Zahir Baloch, whose aunt is admitted to the JPMC, said the government was providing well for those for whom it could, “but there are thousands who are sitting under the open sky, waiting for help”.

Conflict with rebels hurting earthquake relief efforts - thenews.com.pk

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