• March 27, 1948, when Pakistan forcibly annexed the Kalat State
• The attack on Khan Kalat’s residence on October 6, 1958, which resulted in his imprisonment
• The hanging of seven Baloch companions of Nawab Nauroz Khan in Hyderabad and Sukkur jails on July 15, 1960, after trials in military courts
• The unconstitutional dismissal of the Ataullah government on February 13, 1973
• The arrest of top Baloch leaders on August 16, 1973
• The wrongful arrest of Baloch leader Khair Bakhsh Marri on January 12, 2000
• The bombardment of Dera Bugti on March 17, 2005
• The brutal killing of former minister Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti on August 26, 2006
• The assassination of activist Sabeen Mahmud on April 24, 2015, after she hosted a discussion on Balochistan

More recently, the use of water cannons, tear gas, and baton charges against the protesting families of missing persons in Islamabad on December 21, 2023; the shooting of participants in a protest march in Mastung on July 27, 2023; and the brutal attacks on peaceful protesters in Gwadar on July 28-29 have further fueled the grievances of the Baloch people. Additionally, we must remember the names of individuals such as Saba Dashtyari, the victims found in the Tutak mass graves, Comrade Ghulam Mohammad and his friends, Hayat Baloch, and many other Baloch people who lost their lives.

BLA attack and demands for an “apology”

Completely disregarding the history of oppression faced by the Baloch people, Pakistan’s intelligentsia—along with certain segments of civil society—is currently demanding apologies from Dr. Mahrang Baloch, a young woman leading the Baloch struggle against oppression. This demand follows a recent terror attack carried out by Baloch separatists.

On August 25-26, during a well-coordinated attack, the militant group Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) targeted police stations, railway lines, and highways throughout the province. The assault resulted in the deaths of at least 73 individuals, including 21 militants from the BLA. The separatist group claimed responsibility for the attack on a Frontier Corps camp in Bela, as well as assaults on police stations and Levy posts. Additionally, they detonated a railway bridge in Bolan, blocked roads at several locations across Balochistan, burned vehicles, and forcibly detained individuals at Musakhail, which borders Punjab. The victims were targeted based on their identification cards, which revealed they were from the Punjab province.

The government reported that 21 militants were killed in response to the incident, and some bodies were discovered in Khuzdar and Hub. Several victims were identified by their relatives as missing persons in state custody. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Army Chief General Asim Munir, and Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi all visited the provincial capital of Quetta to develop a strategy to counter such incidents. The scale, depth, and duration of the BLA attacks not only exposed the government’s security lapses and failures but also highlighted the increased capabilities of militant groups in Balochistan.

Anyone with a basic understanding of what is generally considered ‘common sense’ will recognize that events do not occur in isolation.

‘Do you condemn BLA?’

The way Baloch activists are being pressured to condemn separatists despite them never having supported violence reminds me of a current global event. On October 7 last year, Palestinian fighters from the resistance group Hamas breached the Israeli border and launched attacks on military installations and civilian areas. As a result, Israel experienced between 1,100 and 1,200 fatalities, with numerous individuals taken hostage as the remaining Hamas fighters retreated to Gaza.

The international community expressed shock at the brutality of the attacks. Governments worldwide—including those from developed, developing, and underdeveloped nations, as well as the so-called Muslim Ummah—swiftly condemned Hamas’s actions. There was widespread outrage, with many perceiving the incident as a significant injustice. However, this condemnation of Hamas by the international community has, paradoxically, resulted in escalating acts of violence against Palestinians, which have continued unabated to this day. With few exceptions, the global response has remained largely silent, allowing Israel to kill, injure, starve, displace, and terrorize Palestinians with apparent impunity, based on the belief that Hamas’s actions constituted terrorism—an outrage in its own right.

The atrocities, killings, displacements, and denial of land to the Palestinian people, along with the cultural and economic genocide they have faced since Israel was established in 1948, are often overlooked because Hamas killed 1,100 Israelis. How can the world’s conscience reflect on itself each day and feel content with the deaths of over 40,000 people in Gaza alone since October 7, 2023, disregarding the suffering of Palestinians since 1948?

Throughout this time, those condemning the atrocities in Gaza are being pressured to first denounce Hamas. In a similar manner, following the recent BLA attack in Pakistan, there has been widespread outrage demanding apologies and clarifications from Dr. Mahrang and anyone else with “Baloch” in their name. This expectation for apologies seems reserved for the weaker side, while the powerful conveniently overlook the plight of the victims.

Have any political leaders—Nawaz Sharif, Shehbaz Sharif, Asif Zardari, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, or Imran Khan—ever apologized for the “kill and dump” policy, the Tutak mass graves, the extrajudicial killings, or the regular baton charges against protesting Baloch women who are relatives of missing persons? They are powerful enough to evade accountability. They did not apologize for the atrocities in Bangladesh in 1971, which were conveniently brushed under the carpet in hopes that the world—and most Pakistanis—would soon forget.

How many of those outraged by the attack on August 26 have ever offered a word of condemnation for the killings and abductions of Baloch individuals, even those from universities in Islamabad and Lahore? Why are only the Baloch supposed to condemn violence, while others are exempt from this duty? Why is the killing of certain individuals considered tragic while that of others deemed acceptable?

Are the Baloch students who are taken and held in dungeons for months, only to be released later, considered combatants? Moreover, when they are released, many are left in a vegetative state. A daughter of a missing person who was released after spending time in a dungeon shared with me that she didn’t recognize her father because he appeared to be 75 years old. For quite some time, his mental state resembled that of a child. What pain and trauma do the families of missing individuals endure, and what agony do the families of those released experience upon seeing the condition of their loved ones? Wouldn’t a desire for revenge and a yearning for justice arise in the minds of relatives who suffer so greatly?

The state’s failure

The rulers have attempted to address the Baloch rights issue with force rather than seeking to understand, listen, and engage in dialogue. They had an opportunity to do so when Sardar Ataullah Mengal formed the government in Balochistan in May 1972, but they squandered it by dismissing his government. Although militant groups announced a unilateral ceasefire in September 2008, there was no response, leading them to resume fighting in January 2009. This situation illustrates that Balochistan has been an ongoing tragedy, and the attitude of the rulers suggests that it will continue to be so.

The absurd statement recently made by the Interior Minister, claiming that militancy in Balochistan can be controlled by a Station House Officer (SHO), is not only ludicrous but also reflects the mindset of government officials; he is not alone in holding such views. After the ‘Tandoori Incident’ on May 18, 1973, in which eight Dir Scouts were killed, General Tikka Khan declared in a message to Radio Pakistan that “miscreants would be apprehended in 72 hours.” However, those 72 hours extended into 1977 and beyond. State officials have consistently been out of touch with the realities on the ground in Balochistan.

Neither Hamas’s actions on October 7 nor the BLA’s actions on August 26, 2024, should be viewed in isolation from the larger historical context affecting both groups over the past 75 years. Those leftists who condemn the BLA while supporting Hamas are politically and ideologically inconsistent. The same applies to individuals who regard Kashmiris as freedom fighters while labeling the Baloch as terrorists.

Violence begets violence, and it is never a viable path to resolution. The violence faced by the Baloch has been imposed by the state, and they have responded in kind. Some well-meaning individuals have suggested that the events of August 26 may lead to further repression of the Baloch. However, has life ever been a bed of roses for the Baloch? They have suffered violence as a routine part of their lives for a long time.

The incident on August 26 should serve as an eye-opener for those in charge of this country. First and foremost, they must recognize that this violence stems from the actions they carry out through the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD), various agencies, and state-sponsored death squads. Additionally, the significant participation of militants on that day should, upon honest reflection, highlight the level of resentment prevalent in Balochistan. This resentment drives young people to risk their lives and endanger their relatives, particularly since those identified often face ongoing repercussions.

The tragic incident should be considered a lesson rather than a starting point for a new wave of vengeance and violence against the rights and lives of people in Balochistan. Unfortunately, it seems that this lesson is not being learned, as the grim reality of repression continues to surface with the discovery of many missing persons’ bodies in Khuzdar, Bolan, and other areas. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are the writer’s own and do not necessarily reflect Dissent Today’s editorial policy.

Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur

The writer has been associated with the Baloch movement since 1971. He tweets @mmatalpur and can be reached at mmatalpur@gmail.com.

The post Those Demanding Apologies from the Baloch Need a Lesson in History appeared first on Dissent Today.

The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD), which operates as an officially-sanctioned death squad, has recently adopted a tactic of killing individuals held in custody in staged encounters. This phenomenon has further intensified crimes against the Baloch, who have been brutally terrorized and repressed since 1948. The Baloch nation can no longer be expected to suffer silently.

Due to the absence of the rule of law in the country, and the judiciary being as ineffective as a discarded dishrag, the commissions formed, such as “The Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearance”, are meant to whitewash the state’s organized and systematic policy of enforced disappearances. They also seek to intimidate and harass Baloch women who seek justice for their disappeared family members. These commissions have only succeeded in bullying Baloch complainants and misleading the general public about the issue of Baloch missing persons.

The Commission for Missing Baloch Students formed under Sardar Akhtar Mengal has also proven to be ineffective, as its report has been ignored. Students continue to be picked up in Islamabad and Balochistan with impunity, which proves that these commissions are worthless and have only been created to defuse rising resentment. These commissions do not have the trust of the affected people who have seen too many of these worthless entities.

The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD), which operates as an officially-sanctioned death squad, has recently adopted a tactic of killing individuals held in custody in staged encounters. This phenomenon has further intensified crimes against the Baloch, who have been brutally terrorized and repressed since 1948. The Baloch nation can no longer be expected to suffer silently.

When the judiciary is helpless and the commissions are worthless, the question arises: what should the people do? They cannot be expected to let their loved ones remain at the mercy of the state, which continues to abduct them without even stating or proving what crimes they were accused of. Naturally, the only recourse available to them is to protest against the injustices perpetrated against them in Balochistan. These protests are unacceptable to the state and are either barred, blocked, or brutally dispersed, or misrepresented as part of an enemy agenda. The victims are stigmatized, and people in general blame them instead of the perpetrators of the crimes against humanity.

The Baloch have long protested peacefully for the recovery of their loved ones but have faced state’s highhandedness in response. Mama Abdul Qadeer Baloch, whose son Jalil Reki was a victim of disappearance and extrajudicial killing in November 2011, has been sitting outside Press Clubs for more than 5000 days, demanding recovery of the missing persons and an end to extra-judicial killings, but he is ignored.

Mama Qadeer, along with Farzana Majeed and female members of missing persons’ families, marched from Quetta to Karachi on October 27, 2013, and then onwards from Karachi to Islamabad, reaching there on March 1, 2014. This 106-day-long march was traversed on foot in difficult conditions, as the government put up obstacles, both social and physical, to deter the marchers. Despite the odds, these brave marchers accomplished a truly historic feat. I was a part of this historical march for 26 days. The public became aware of the issue of missing persons, but the state ignored it, and the disappearances continued.

The Baloch protests have long gone unheard 

When Zahid Baloch, the Chairman of BSO-Azad, was picked up in Quetta on March 18, 2014, with Asad Baloch, the organization, under Banuk Karima Baloch, decided to wait in hope that they would be released. However, after realizing that they would not be released, they started a hunger strike in Karachi on April 22, 2014. After 46 days, at the persuasion of civil society, Baloch elders, and myself, the emaciated hunger striker Latif Johar ended his strike on June 6, 2014. This protest also went unheeded.

There was a protest in Islamabad in February 2021 by Sammi Deen, Haseba Qambarani, and other affected persons. After a long delay, the then Minister of so-called Human Rights, Shireen Mazari, met them and promised a meeting with the then Prime Minister Imran Khan, which led to the protest ending. However, the meeting with Imran Khan was fruitless, and the grievances of the protesters were not addressed. Thankfully, Haseeba’s cousin and brother were eventually released.

The Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearance is meant to whitewash the state’s organized and systematic policy of enforced disappearances. It also seeks to intimidate and harass Baloch women who seek justice for their disappeared family members.

Killings in fake “encounters” 

In response to the kidnapping and killing of Lt Col Laiq of the Pakistan Army on July 12, 2022, near Ziarat, 9 Baloch men who were already in state custody were killed in a fake encounter. The affected Baloch families started a protest in the Quetta Red Zone, which continued for 50 days and ended on assurances from ministers in Islamabad. However, nothing positive was done to address the grievances of the protesters.

On the night of November 22, 2023, the CTD claimed to have killed four terrorists in an encounter on Pasni Road in Turbat and recovered a large number of weapons. Among the four killed was Balach Mola Bakhsh, who was picked up on October 29, 2023. On November 21, a case of weapon possession was registered against him, and he was produced in court. His bail hearing was scheduled for the 23rd, but the CTD preempted it by killing him in a fake encounter along with three others who were already in custody.

The family, relatives, and friends protested on the 25th with Balach’s body outside the sessions court. The court ordered that an FIR be registered against the CTD, but the police refused to do so. The protest gained strength as thousands of women and men joined it. These were the largest protests seen in the area, and the number of protesters kept increasing. The family eventually buried the body after 7 days. The protest continued to expand, and after two weeks, on December 5th, they ended the protest in Turbat and decided to hold a sit-in in Quetta.

The latest Baloch awakening is a response to the Pakistani state’s repression of the Baloch which has continued unabated for over 70 years

Throughout their journey to Quetta, people came out in droves to show support and condemn the injustices against the Baloch. They reached Quetta on the 11th and began the sit-in. The Baloch Yakjehti Committee then decided to move the protest to Islamabad and left on the 15th evening, passing through Kohlu, Dera Ghazi Khan, Taunsa Sharif, and other cities, and finally reaching Islamabad on the 20th.

On the 21st, which also marked Banuk Karima’s 3rd death anniversary, the police unleashed a brutal assault on the protesters with batons, teargas, and water cannons, and arrested all of them. In the lockups, they beat up the women protesters as well. After widespread outcry, the women were released, but they were forced to board a bus to send them back to Quetta, which the conscientious drivers refused to comply with. The boys and men were kept in jail awaiting bail, as if peacefully protesting was a crime.

Mistreatment meted out to Baloch protestors in Islamabad 

The treatment of Baloch protesters in Islamabad was criminal and shameful, for which the caretakers are responsible and will have to answer someday. It remains to be seen how some supposedly liberal individuals like Murtaza Solangi will face the people once he is out of the cabinet.

The brutality was perpetrated to break the spirit of the protestors, but these souls have seen enough trauma and anguish to be deterred by this physical violence. The protestors are led by the indomitable, brave, dedicated, and eloquent Mahrang Baloch. As her spirit has not flagged, neither has the spirit of others who are equally brave and dedicated. The caretakers and those before them, ad infinitum, are not in any way friends of Baloch. If they were, the repression would have been replaced by recognition of rights at some stage.

To add insult to injury, some journalists, while interviewing Mahrang, confronted her with the repeated question, “Do you condemn the BLA, BLF?”. This was done to intimidate her and present the protestors as supporters of militancy in Balochistan. However, the cool-headed Mahrang eloquently countered the journalists’ aggressiveness with logical answers. Sadly,  many journalists come to protestors at the behest of their mentors in the establishment to malign the Baloch and their peaceful protest, so that people may refrain from supporting them. Some Islamabad journalists are notorious for this kind of attitude. When the VBMP Long March reached Islamabad on 1st March 2014, the same type of questions were thrown at the participants, and they had been forcefully answered by Farzana Majeed, sister of Zakir Majeed, who has been missing since 2009.

This sort of bullying and attempted intimidation of peaceful protestors by Pakistani journalists just adds to the already infamous reputation of the press and media of Pakistan, which incidentally also has the largest number of journalists killed for presenting the truth. These bullying journalists besmirch the noble name of the truthful journalists and should be called out and exposed as enemies of truth and servants of the establishment.

People unaware of Balochistan’s political dynamics are surprised that the Baloch protests are being traumatized in Islamabad at a time when a politician from Balochistan is serving as the PM. They fail to understand that Anwar Kakar is the PM not because he cares for the anguish and pain of Baloch, but because he is expected to help his mentors in the establishment inflict more pain on the Baloch. He was installed there not for any services to the Baloch, but because he has faithfully served the establishment, supported their injustices, and helped malign those Baloch who struggle for their rights.

We need to understand that this awakening is not something out of the blue. It is the result of the Pakistani state’s unabated repression of the Baloch that has continued for over 70 years and the ceaseless resistance to these injustices by the Baloch. The blood and tears shed over the years have given birth to this unparalleled wave of protest from Balochistan.

Repression has given birth to the fearlessness of Karima Baloch, who blazed the trail for Baloch women to come out and speak out fearlessly against the injustices and for the rights of the Baloch. She was an icon in her life and even more so after her tragic death. She inspires Baloch women to resist oppression of all sorts. Mahrang Baloch, who is now the face of peaceful resistance, is also a product of state repression. Her father, Ghaffar Langove, was abducted by the State, and his mutilated body was thrown in July 2011.

Sammi Deen, whose father Dr. Deen Mohammad has been missing since 2009, is also the undying spirit behind this awakening. There are so many unnamed Mahrangs and Sammis among the Baloch women who strive and struggle for Baloch rights and the recovery of their loved ones who remain missing, and their fates unknown.

The Baloch women and children have suffered unbearably from injustices, and the Pakistani State and its caretaker government decided to inflict more pain on them in Islamabad, where they came in hope of redemption from their woes. What happened in Islamabad to the Baloch children, women, and men on December 21 and the continuing harassment of the protesters after that, will not be easily forgiven or forgotten. It will only strengthen the people’s resolve to struggle against a callous and heartless state.

Those hoping to break the Baloch spirit should understand that the more they repress, the more we will resist. The more you repress, the more Karimas, Sammis, and Mahrangs you will have to face, and it is you who will eventually be defeated.

Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur

The writer has been associated with the Baloch movement since 1971. He tweets @mmatalpur and can be reached at mmatalpur@gmail.com.

The post The Latest Baloch Uprising Cannot Be Defeated appeared first on Dissent Today.

This could lead to a conflict with dominant actors as we have seen it happening in the case of Bangladesh and Balochistan. Historically, this forced uniformity didn’t bode well either for Pakistan or for the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, as they broke up. 

For creating conditions for uniformity, the state first disenfranchises the recalcitrant nations politically by installing pliable politicians who act as the henchmen of the dominant nation, trying to give people a false sense of representation, but this ploy doesn’t make much headway as people see where the real power lies. In Balochistan, there have been so-called representative governments that have only furthered Islamabad or rather Rawalpindi’s interests there. Secondly, the imposition of uniformity on a minority is invariably connected with the economic interests of the dominant. Corporations and predatory countries are given free rein to exploit their resources to keep people in penury busy eking out lives. 

The forced accession of Balochistan on March 27, 1948, followed concerted efforts by Pakistan to erase the Baloch identity by force. Pakistan has always tried to force “patriotism” by undermining nationalistic sentiments in the province. This was resisted by the Baloch people, as were consequent injustices, as they drew inspiration from strong Baloch political leaders. People resisted not only the subtle overtures but also the persistent brutal assaults that became the norm in Balochistan.

The State has allowed and empowered religious groups and madrassas to proliferate in Balochistan, hoping that religion will change or at least dilute the nationalist sentiments.

In Balochistan, these unfortunate attempts at imposing uniformity have led to an open conflict. In the last two decades, systematic enforced disappearances, which have a long history, have affected a broad spectrum of Baloch society. This practice of enforced disappearance became more rampant when the state saw its policy of imposing uniformity by subtle means fail. With the passage of time, brutalities have intensified with more and more educated Baloch people falling victim. The state doesn’t realise that increased repression leads to more resistance from people who value and cherish their historical, political, and cultural legacies.

The state has allowed and empowered religious groups and madrassas to proliferate, hoping that religion will change or at least dilute the nationalist sentiments. Sadly, religion here has complemented repressive forces. A report stated there are more than 10,000 small and big madrassas in Balochistan, which roughly translates into the availability of one madrassa for every 1,200 to 1,300 people in the province. In Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, by contrast, there is one madrassah for about 45,000 to 50,000, and 10,000 to 12,000 inhabitants, respectively. This high number of madrassas in the province would not have been possible without active state patronage. 

Moreover, the state-sponsored ‘death squads’ in Balochistan have belonged to radical religious outfits. Religion was weaponised to coerce the Baloch people into submission and target the Hazaras.

In times of tragedies and disasters, people are psychologically, emotionally, and physically vulnerable, and those anxious to impose uniformity rush in to exploit this vulnerability. Pakistan has always used this opportunity along with its religious extremist backers to force uniformity and to break the will of the Baloch people by trying to undermine nationalistic sentiments.

The forced accession of Balochistan on March 27, 1948, followed concerted efforts by Pakistan to erase the Baloch identity by force. Pakistan has always tried to force “patriotism” by undermining nationalistic sentiments in the province.

On September 24, 2013, when Awaran was reeling from the shocks of the long-drawn army and Frontier Corps operations to contain the unflinching resistance of Dr Allah Nazar, it was hit by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake. The UN humanitarian envoy, Dr Abdullah Al-Matouq, offered assistance, but Pakistani authorities declined it. Independent sources confirmed the relief supplies being sent by individuals and NGOs were stopped by the Frontier Constabulary (FC), which said only it would distribute them. Shahzeb Jillani of BBC reported then that in Teertej village just outside Awaran, 95 percent of houses had collapsed, 22 people died and many survivors had suffered fractures, broken arms, ribs, and head injuries. The villagers told him that some 48 hours after the disaster caused by the earthquake, Pakistani soldiers arrived with a truckload of tents and food supplies, but the locals turned them away. A villager said, “We told them we did not want anything to do with them.” The people there and the army were two warring parties then – due to decades of irresolvable animosities nurtured by rampant injustices. Ironically, those who had terrorized people in this manner wanted to appear as benefactors. 

The State doesn’t realise that increased repression leads to more resistance from people who value and cherish their historical, political, and cultural legacies.

Mahvish Ahmad, then reporting for ‘Dawn’, was in Mashkay on 15th October 2013. She writes: “It was 6 O’clock on Monday morning as this correspondent suddenly woke to the loud sounds of explosion in the otherwise sleepy town of Mashky-Gajjar, as the army troops entered the town centre to take control where the Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF), a banned separatist militant group, had been quite active and in recent weeks many separatists organizations had remained involved in helping thousands of quake-affected residents”. 

The disaster was taken advantage of to secure its interest which the army had, otherwise, been unable to gain.

Regarding the attitude of state authorities towards the Baloch people in the aftermath of disasters, it seems the authorities do not want to provide them relief but rather punish the Baloch people for not submitting to the “imposed uniformity”. For instance,  on June 25, 2007, Cyclone Yemyin battered Balochistan, affecting at least 10 districts of Balochistan and four districts of Sindh, disrupting the lives of at least 1.5 million people and killing more than 2 million livestock, worth over 4 billion rupees. Despite the magnitude of the disaster, then prime minister Shaukat Aziz in July 2007, announced that “Pakistan will not take foreign aid from any country to overcome the losses and devastation caused by Cyclone Yemyin in Balochistan”.

Similarly,  Cyclone Phet wreaked havoc in Gwadar, Pasni, and other coastal towns on 6 June 2010. Hundreds of fishing boats went missing, thousands were displaced, innumerable properties were damaged and some 19,303 families were affected – all of this in spite of previous warnings of a cyclone by the United Nations which were ignored. Relief was slow and sketchy. 

The Baloch people have to bear the worst of both worlds as Pakistan has unrelentingly tried to obliterate the Baloch identity in the name of religion and ‘one nation’ while disregarding Balochistan’s old history and culture. Meanwhile, the State does that with the connivance of self-interested Baloch politicians, who it seems are more loyal to the king than the king himself.  They have tried to achieve this “uniformity” through brutal means. 

Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur

The writer has been associated with the Baloch movement since 1971. He tweets @mmatalpur and can be reached at mmatalpur@gmail.com.

The post How Pakistan Systematically Tried To Wipe Out The Baloch Identity appeared first on Dissent Today.

His government was cut short due to a number of challenges created by the Zulfikar Ali Bhutto-led central government in Islamabad.

Khan Abdul Wali Khan’s National Awami Party (NAP) and Mufti Mahmood’s Jamiat e Ulema e Islam (JUI) had swept the elections in 1970 in Balochistan and Northwest Frontier Province (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), respectively.

However, many factors contributed to them forming provincial governments after a delay of two years. One of the factors was the separation of East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, from West Pakistan as the popular Awami League was denied their right to form a government there. Meanwhile, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) won by a majority in Sindh and Punjab while the NAP and JUI won by a majority in Balochistan and NWFP, respectively. But Zulfikar Ali Bhutto as President wanted stakes in the remaining two provinces as well.

Meanwhile, external influence also led to a late takeover of the provincial government by NAP since Iran’s Reza Pahlavi, who had friendly ties with Pakistan, feared that if the Baloch in a neighbouring country got the democratic right to rule, then they would demand the same on the Iranian side. When the Baloch resentment at the unjust dismissal of the Ataullah Mengal government and other injustices committed against the Baloch people resulted in the third insurgency that began on May 18, 1973 — with the killings of a ‘Sibi Scouts’ patrol of 8 men near Tandoori — Iran provided its helicopter gunships and pilots to Pakistan to help suppress the insurgency.

Finally, when NAP’s Ataullah Mengal formed a government in Balochistan, Punjab Governor Ghulam Mustafa Khar had ordered all the Punjabi officers serving in Balochistan to return to their province, subsequently crippling administration machinery in Balochistan.

The failure of administration machinery created a law and order situation in the province as evident from a December 3, 1972, Dawn report that states “an official spokesman said armed bands of Bugti tribesmen, reported to be moving towards Quetta… Some lawlessness is reported from Quetta also by some Bugti tribesmen in a bid to intimidate and harass the Provincial Government”.

Moreover, another provincial leader, Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, had developed differences with the Mengal-led provincial government. Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti became the Balochistan governor after Ataullah Mengal’s government was dismissed nine months later.

Simultaneously, there were some minor incidents of confrontations between the Marri tribesmen and settlers (Punjabi). However, these incidents were falsely portrayed to be grave threats to the security of Punjabis residing in Balochistan by the central government, and Frontier Corps personnel were deployed in the province under the garb of security provisions.

When this unrest fizzled out, the central government entrusted their longtime ally Jam Ghulam Qadir of Lasbela to create a situation that would prompt NAP’s dismissal.

A January 27, 1973, Dawn report states, “An armed rebellion has started in the Lasbela district, about 60 miles from Karachi across the Hub river, since yesterday [Jan 25], by 400 to 500 riflemen and fighting is going on between them and the men of the District Levies and the Militia”.

Subsequently, the central government had taken over the law enforcement agencies which refused to act against the miscreants. This led the Ataullah government to form a Levies force to counter the miscreants. However, the Centre termed the Levies force a “Lashkar” and eventually, the army was sent to the province to curtail the ‘violent situation’.

On January 31, 1973, the Centre issued a communique that army units were being sent to Balochistan at Governor Bizenjo’s request. However, on February 1, 1973, Bizenjo denied that he had ever requested army units, saying “the law and order situation in Lasbela district is totally under control”.

A February 7, 1973, Dawn report exposed the intentions of the central government, as the report said “units of the Armed Forces have been moved into Balochistan to help the provincial government maintain law and order, Interior Minister Khan Abdul Qayyum Khan disclosed to newsmen..” The units, he said, had been sent to prevent clashes between the armed Lashkars of Mengal, Bizenjo, Brohi, and some other tribes of Balochistan and the people of Lasbela”.

These series of events were a prelude to the impending ‘Iraqi Arms Find Saga’ which was being meticulously plotted out to ensure the Ataullah Mengal government’s dismissal.

Finally, on February 10, 1973, with a host of foreign and local journalists, a raid was conducted on the residence of the Iraqi military attaché Nasir Al-Saud, who had conveniently left Pakistan three days earlier. The cache of 300 Soviet submachine guns and 48,000 rounds of ammunition was unearthed and interestingly a shipment of some more arms in diplomatic baggage arrived from Karachi that evening and that too was, naturally, nabbed.

Selig Harrison, in his book “In Afghanistan’s Shadow: Baluch Nationalism and Soviet Temptations”, has claimed these arms were detected in Karachi but were allowed to go to Islamabad to maximize the sensational impact and provide grounds for dismissal of the Ataullah government which was already being accused by Bhutto of repeatedly exceeding constitutional authority.

After the recovery of a large amount of ammunition, Bhutto also accused the Ataullah government of colluding with Iraq and the Soviet Union in a bid to dismember Pakistan and Iran.

Rafi Raza, who was a minister in the Bhutto cabinet at that time, told me in 2015 that the government knew about the arms arriving in Karachi and waited until they were delivered to Islamabad. He said when he came to know that the raid was conducted with “fanfare”, he had felt that the government had bungled the job by trying to sensationalise it.

Another interesting outcome of this saga was the resignation of my paternal uncle Mir Rasool Bakhsh Talpur as the Sindh Governor.

He resigned because Jam Sadiq Ali, a Sindh minister, alleged that my father Mir Ali Ahmed Talpur was involved in this Iraqi arms saga because I “was in Balochistan Hills training as a guerrilla”. I was indeed in the Marri Hills at that time along with other members of the “London Group” namely Mohammad Bhabha, Asad Rahman, Ahmed Rashid, Duleep Dass – while Najam Sethi and Rashed Rahman were liaising in the cities.

Mir Sahib resigned at a press conference where someone asked whether he was mindful of the consequences of opposing Bhutto. He replied: “We have seen many others. I am not worried.”

The above is the story of the series of events that led to the ‘Iraqi Arms Find’ saga and how the entire saga unfolded.

It’s Pakistan’s security apparatus alone that has been deciding what happens in Balochistan since 1948, much to the detriment of the Baloch men – and now women too – who keep getting abducted and killed at a whiff of suspicion.

The main question remains: how could the Baloch have transported these arms from Islamabad to the hills of Balochistan? It would have been risky for anyone to do it. The three days prior departure of Nasir Al-Saud is further proof that this episode was staged to oust the Ataullah Mengal government.

Amid the entire saga, all the stakeholders involved failed to understand that an opportunity for mainstream Baloch nationalist leadership was forever lost, and not to mention this dismissal created an unbridgeable chasm of mistrust between the Baloch people and the State.

Unfortunately, it’s Pakistan’s security apparatus alone that has been deciding what happens in Balochistan since 1948, much to the detriment of the Baloch men – and now women too – who keep getting abducted and killed at a whiff of suspicion.

The state must understand that its policy in Balochistan for the past 75 years has failed, and future policies would be met with the same failure. There will always be enough conscionable Baloch committed to the rights of the Baloch in Balochistan. These defenders of the Baloch people’s rights will remain a thorn, not only on the side of the Pakistani state but also China, which too, wants to benefit from the Baloch resources.

Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur

The writer has been associated with the Baloch movement since 1971. He tweets @mmatalpur and can be reached at mmatalpur@gmail.com.

The post How The 1973 Dislodging Of Elected Govt In Balochistan Sowed The Seeds Of Discontent appeared first on Dissent Today.

This saga began in 1993 when Balochistan government signed an agreement with Australian mining company BHP Billiton on preposterous terms, with BHP holding 75 percent and the government 25 percent share on a joint-investment basis, with 2 percent royalty.

However, in April 2000, another Australian company called Mincor Resources took over BHP’s operations, which was then acquired by Tethyan Copper Company’ (TCC) in 2006. Interestingly, the TCC shares were bought by a consortium of a Canadian mining company Barrick Gold Corporation and Chilean company Antofagasta in 2006.

In February 2011, the Balochistan government demanded the agreement be revised, thereby denying TCC the mining rights. TCC filed an appeal before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), seeking a compensation of $11.43bn. And in January 2013, Pakistan’s Supreme Court annulled the agreement. The ICSID awarded TCC $5.976bn (Rs950 billion) in damages and at the same time Pakistan was fined $4 billion in July 2019 by the London Court of Arbitration.

The Pakistan government, desperate to escape the penalty which it did not have the means to pay, signed a new agreement with Barrick in March 2022, under which the penalty stood lapsed and Barrick promised a $10 billion investment. Chilean firm, Antofagasta, was sidelined with a payment of $945 million. It was decided that this sum would be paid by the three State Owned Enterprises: Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDCL), Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL), and Government Holdings Pakistan (GHPL) – and for that they would get 25 percent share of the project.

Barrick wanted a legal and parliamentary cover to the deal and the Pakistani government was happy to oblige. The Supreme Court okayed the deal last month, and the present government bulldozed the law on foreign investment through the Parliament, giving overriding authority to the Centre to decide what to do with provincial resources. After protests from Balochistan, however, the federal government reluctantly amended the bill to limit it to Reko Diq alone, but there is no guarantee that they would abide by it. Balochistan’s resources remain under threat.

There is not just gold and copper in Reko Diq, but rare earth metals too which are equally precious. Pakistan wanted Barrick to start the project immediately, which is why the Supreme Court of Pakistan, during hearing of the case on November 23rd, accepted the Barrick counsel’s claim that Reko Diq has no rare earth elements. There has been no independent survey of the area to find out the truth.

Barrick Gold’s history of misdemeanors

Barrick Gold has a history of misdemeanors in the mining industry, but I will mention only a couple of them. On September 17th, 2020, the First Environmental Court of Antofagasta, Chile, ruled that Barrick Gold’s controversial Pascua Lama project be “definitively and totally closed”. Barrick was fined 7 billion Chilean pesos. It was held guilty of destroying glaciers and contaminating water resources there.

In April 2020, Barrick had to stop operations at the Porgera mine in Papua New Guinea (PNG) because the then government declined permit renewal. Since acquiring that mine in 2006, Barrick had garnered a notorious reputation regarding environmental degradation. In 2009, Norway’s sovereign wealth fund divested its roughly US$184-million position in Barrick because of the environmental problems there. In the new deal signed in April 2021, PNG’s stake was increased from five percent to 51 percent and Barrick had to give guarantees for social responsibility. Given this track record, one can only imagine how it will handle the Reko Diq project.

In the old agreement between Pakistan and Barrick, the terms providing airport land free of cost and a 400 km Reko Diq-Gwadar road were accepted. The new deal is so opaque that no one seems to know what exactly has been agreed. It appears that politicians and bureaucrats of all hues – and Barrick itself – will benefit, while the people of Balochistan will eternally wait for the trickle-down effect.

Projects that deprive people of their resources and produce hazardous waste in return should be unequivocally condemned.

If the ore is pumped via pipeline to the port, no one will ever know how much was taken. Saindak, too, was not monitored and hence brutally depleted. If the ore is processed here then the environmental hazards have terrible consequences for the people. This is because a huge amount of waste is created while refining gold. The gold used to make a single gold ring produces 26 tons of mine waste. If a ring of a tola produces that much waste, imagine how much waste and arsenic emissions would result from use of cyanide during extraction of the expected 41.5 million ounces of gold (1058 tons) at Reko Diq. A ton has 87111 tolas and 1058 tons are 92,163,438 tolas so the waste produced at Reko Diq would be 2,396,249,388 tons.

Sale and exploitation of precious resources of the people for a pittance by corrupt politicians and venal state functionaries and the resulting destruction carried out in the name of development ought to be opposed. Projects that deprive people of their resources and produce hazardous waste in return should be unequivocally condemned.

I anticipate this piece will prompt accusations of my being anti-development. However, the Sindhi adage, “Gold that begets grief is better forsaken.” may explain my perspective better. If such projects are not going to benefit the people, the natural resources are then better left untouched.

Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur

The writer has been associated with the Baloch movement since 1971. He tweets @mmatalpur and can be reached at mmatalpur@gmail.com.

The post Balochistan’s Resources Are Being Stolen By The Centre With Impunity appeared first on Dissent Today.

Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s use of force to make Khan accede forever forfeited civilians’ say in Balochistan’s matters and gave unchallenged dominance to the military. This injustice also resulted in the Baloch people’s eternal mistrust in Pakistan; prompting resistance which to date has not only continued but intensified in proportion to atrocities and injustices against the Baloch people.

FORCED UNIFORMITY

Oblivious to the different social ethea they were confronted with within physical boundaries of what became Pakistan, the extremely insecure Pakistani elite and establishment decided to impose uniformity in the name of religion and enforce conformity by force. For them, the universe itself was created on 14th August and histories of the nations that existed for eons before did not matter. Bengalis suffered immeasurably but luckily broke free in 1971 while in Balochistan the cost of this unnecessary tragedy in human, social and economic terms has been catastrophic and continues to rise.

The policy of repression in Balochistan has always been indiscriminate, but now it is the students who bear the brunt. Hafeez, Faheem, Sagheer Baloch among many others were abducted in broad daylight. Many have been tortured during illegal incarceration.

Disappearances have been rife in Balochistan since long with a few lucky ones returning alive, but their mental and physical health is shattered for good. Sadly, neither high courts nor the so-called nationalist politicians of Balochistan dare to challenge this culture of impunity surrounding enforced disappearances.

The policy of repression in Balochistan has always been indiscriminate, but now it is the students who bear the brunt.

A reign of terror prevailed in Balochistan during 2008-2013 when the Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) ruled at the centre and in Balochistan. Death squads operated with impunity and thousands of Baloch activists became victims of the ‘abduct, kill and dump’ policy. Many dumped bodies had ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ carved out on them. Professor Saba Dashtyari was killed on June 1st 2011 by assassins. The Tutak mass-grave was discovered in January 2014. The list is too long, and the situation hasn’t improved since then.

When Sangat Sana Baloch was found dead on 13th February 2012, there were 28 bullet wounds on his body. Jalil Reki, son of Mama Qadeer, the Vice Chairman of Voice of Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP), had received three bullets in his heart. Hearts they couldn’t subdue were vengefully shot multiple times.

Víctor Jara, the leftist Chilean poet-singer, was arrested when Pinochet overthrew Allende in 1973. His hands were crushed and was tauntingly asked to play the guitar. He definitely sang Venceremos (“We will prevail”). Beaten brutally again, he was then machine gunned and dumped in Santiago’ outskirts. His body had 44 bullet wounds. What songs Sangat Sana and Jalil Reki sang we may never know, but they with their unconquerable souls died defiantly unbowed to the very end, as did all those who never returned.

FAKE ‘ENCOUNTERS’

A new brutal method has been adopted wherein every time there is an attack by the Sarmachars anywhere, the so-called Counter Terrorism Department (CTD), in retaliation, kills abducted Baloch activists, declaring their murders to be ‘encounters’ –- the same way the Iranian state hanged prisoners in custody after 1988 Mujahideen-e-Khalq attacks. These brutal acts happen in public glare and at this injustice too, the courts and politicians remain silent spectators. What goes on in Marri, Bugti areas and Awaran away from the public eye is difficult to imagine.

Dissidents who go abroad for relative safety can now be targeted even in exile, as cases of Karima Baloch and Sajid Hussain amply prove.

Peaceful protests by the relatives of the victims of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings are either completely ignored or given a lukewarm response. In 2013-14, Baloch human rights defender Mama Qadeer marched from Quetta to Karachi and then on to Islamabad in 106 days, but only garnered harassment and threats for himself and those who accommodated and assisted him. Mama Qadeer’s protest outside press clubs since July 28th 2009, is now nearly 5000 days old, but remains unheeded.

In December 2021, relatives of Baloch missing persons held a protest camp out in the open in freezing cold at Islamabad’s D-Chowk for 10 days. A federal minister visited them, but could only offer halfhearted assurances. The then opposition which is now the ruling coalition showed sympathy, but they have also ignored the plight of the affectees after coming into power.

In mid-2022, the relatives of Baloch missing persons and victims of extrajudicial killings held a similar protest in Quetta that continued for nearly two months. It was after two months that a couple of ministers came to visit the protestors, again with false assurances, and the issues remained unresolved.
The Commission on Enforced Disappearance is toothless. After a missing person is released, the commission does not even bother to find out why they were abducted in the first place and who the abductors were. These commissions are simply a placebo treatment for a fatal disease.

Disenfranchisement and disempowerment of the Baloch go side by side. Politicians who are obedient to the military establishment are chosen to rule Balochistan. On their watch, gross human rights abuses and exploitation and loot of Baloch resources are carried out. Saindak copper and gold mines productive life is nearly over, and only China has benefited, because Balochistan’s share was just 2%. Balochistan and Chagai’s people didn’t benefit and now they are forced to cope with the environmentally hazardous cyanide laden sludge mountains, which contaminate air as well as ground water.

The contract for Reko Diq, which is much richer than Saindak, has been given to notoriously predatory Barrick Gold Corporation whose record of involvement in pollution and human rights abuses is disgraceful. The organisation was recently under fire from the UN over toxic spills from Veladero mine in Argentina and faces a lawsuit from Ontario, Canada, for alleged killings and abuses at Tanzania North Mara mine. Such a notorious company’s involvement means more suffering for people of Balochistan, but bounties for corporations, politicians and bureaucrats.

The repression, oppression and exploitation in Balochistan is multi-faceted and multi-layered. Conflicts occur and need resolution, but the Pakistan establishment considers conflict necessary in Balochistan for it believes that it will be able to impose its will on the people through force. Use of force by the state has continued for the last 75 years, but so has resistance against this injustice.

The Pakistan establishment has bombed, killed, disappeared, maimed, imprisoned and sanctioned Baloch people in a bid to break their spirit, but these attempts have always failed. And If 75 years of repression hasn’t deterred people from fighting for their rights, the struggle shall continue until the victims are served justice.

The views expressed here are the writer’s own and do not necessarily reflect Dissent Today’s editorial policy.

Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur

The writer has been associated with the Baloch movement since 1971. He tweets @mmatalpur and can be reached at mmatalpur@gmail.com.

The post Why The Baloch People Can Never Trust Pakistan’s Establishment appeared first on Dissent Today.