• 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.

In 1970, Pakistan’s former military dictator Zia-ul-Haq helped the Jordan king kill “more Palestinians in 11 days than Israel could kill in 20 years.” Zia-ul-Haq, who was then a Brigadier, led offensives alongside the Jordanian army that killed over 3,000 Palestinians in Jordan.

He was dispatched by Pakistan to assist the Jordanian army in 1967. In his fight against the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), King Hussein had ordered his troops to target Palestinians in refugee camps around Amman in 1970.

This 1970 conflict between the Jordan King and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), was called “Black September.”

Following the 1967 war, Jordan’s army and air force were severely damaged by Israel. In an effort to rebuild the military, the US and UK supplied equipment while Pakistan was sought out for training.

How it began

The attacks by Palestinian insurgent groups such as the PFLP on Israel from Jordan caused the Jewish state to retaliate. This caused concern for Jordan’s King Hussein, especially due to the presence of a significant Iraqi Army contingent in Jordan that was supposedly there to protect against Israel. Palestinian militant groups were also supported by both Iraq and Syria, which added to the tensions.

In 1970, King Hussein survived at least two assassination attempts, with one happening in June when his motorcade was attacked. Following this, the Jordanian Army began shelling Palestinian refugee camps in the vicinity of Amman.

From September 17th to September 27th, the Jordanian army and its supporters including Pakistani troops led by Brigadier Zia ul Haq fought Palestinians, including fighters from the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). About 4000 to 10,000 individuals were said to have died in the conflict, mainly innocent civilians involved in city combat.

On September 18, Syrian tanks entered Jordan in support of Palestinian fighters, which led to Zia-ul-Haq being sent to the scene for an assessment. According to a CIA official Jack O’Connell, Zia-ul-Haq personally led Jordanian troops during the battles.

Seven years after he helped kill Palestinian insurgents, Zia-ul-Haq would stage a coup in Pakistan as chief of the army staff by overthrowing the government of prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

The significance of Black September was noted by British-Pakistani writer Tariq Ali, who quoted Moshe Dayan, one of the founders of the State of Israel, as saying that King Hussein killed more Palestinians in 11 days than Israel could in 20 years. And Pakistan facilitated these killings of Palestinians, with Zia-ul-Haq playing a major role. Black September ended the influence of Palestinian fighters in Jordan and led to their expulsion from the country.

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In an article for Malala Fund, she opened up about the threats she and her sister faced after their brother’s brutal murder. Storiya iqbal wrote that she and her sister had to quit their education after Mashal Khan’s killing and were confined to their homes amid a hateful campaign against their brother, accusing him of blasphemy.

“Following my brother’s untimely demise, religious circles in Pakistan launched a vehement propaganda campaign against him, accusing him of blasphemy — a charge that holds no merit. As a result, my entire family faced numerous threats. When my father took a stand for justice and pursued legal action, our lives were further endangered. As Mashal Khan’s sister, I was deeply affected by this tragic incident. At the time, I was enrolled in a school, near where my brother was killed.

Due to the intimidation and threats from hardliners and religious groups, both my younger sister, who was in 9th grade at the time, and I were forced to stop our education,” she writes in the article.

She added that this continued for a year and her family was made prisoners at their homes. “I knew the only way to complete my college education was by studying abroad,” she said.

Storiya further wrote that by sharing her story and her determination to continue her education, she received a fully-funded scholarship at the University at Buffalo in New York. “This was a huge support from UB that encouraged me, as a girl, to travel alone, raise my voice, broaden my ideas, and continue my studies.”

Iqbal’s story of resilience in the face of extremism is inspiring, but it is also a reminder that Pakistan continues to fail its young people.

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On Monday morning, they were presented before the anti-terrorism court after being booked on charges of terrorism. Former MNA Ali Wazir’s face was covered with a cloth as he appeared before the court.

In his statement to the court, Wazir said that he did not say anything objectionable during his speech at the rally in Islamabad. “We simply wanted to get our voices heard in Islamabad,” he added.

Imaan Mazari’s legal team told the court that they were not allowed to hold a meeting with her and sought the court’s permission to meet her. The anti-terrorism court then announced its verdict, remanding Ali Wazir and Imaan Mazari to the police for three days.

Both individuals have been booked after their participation in the PTM rally against enforced disappearances and terrorism held outside the Supreme Court on Friday. Ahead of the rally, workers and supporters of PTM were arrested on their way to Islamabad. The administration had also imposed Section 144 in the capital on the day of the rally.

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Not to mention General Zia ul Haq’s Islamization process which did undoable damage to the country. 

The history of this phenomenon dates back centuries. In 1857, when the Mughal Empire breathed its last and power transitioned from the Muslims to the British Raj, Muslims were humiliated by the Raj, whereas Hindus were quick to adapt to the methods of their new masters. But the demoralized and humiliated Muslim nation without power for the first time in centuries was not so quick in adapting to the changing circumstances. Instead of introspecting on their own failures, they were quick to bring in Islam and saw their loss as a divine punishment. They thought that Allah had inflicted his anger and displeasure on the Muslims because they didn’t follow the teachings of Islam and left the path of the Almighty, and for Muslims to reclaim their glory, they must return to Islam.

Eight years after the rebellion against the British, in 1866, Dar ul-Uloom Deoband was established by two renowned Muslim scholars, Muhammad Qasim Nanautavi and Rashid Ahmad Gangohi. The effort was first aimed at preaching Jihad against the British Raj; as viewed by Nanautavi, “European Christians were now masters of the land long ruled by Indian Muslims”. Similarly, for Khan, he is the only one who deserves to have the throne which was “stolen” from him by his political rivals.

He promised an Islamic utopia to his followers and sought their loyalty by promising to turn Pakistan into a “Riasat e Madina” (state of Medina), but failed. In October 2018, the Supreme Court of Pakistan announced its verdict in blasphemy-accused Christian woman Asia Bibi’s case and acquitted her. The verdict sparked fierce outrage from Islamic hardliners, whom Khan once sided with during the Faizabad protests against the then government of Pakistan Muslim League – N (PML-N) just a year ago. Workers and supporters of religious extremist group, Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) took to the streets and vandalized public property. Khan then addressed the nation and defended the Supreme Court’s verdict, only to take a u-turn later. Khan played the politics of appeasement and capitulated to the demands of the TLP. It was the first of many instances where his government sided with hardliners to appease them. In October 2021, a parliamentary committee rejected the Anti-Forced Conversion Bill, which criminalized forced conversions, terming the bill “anti-Islamic and against the Constitution of Pakistan.”

Imran Khan also formed the “Rehmatul-lil-Alameen Authority”, tasked with keeping the state structure in alignment with the teachings of Islam and Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Writing for The Express Tribune in January 2022, Imran Khan laid more emphasis on the purpose of Rehmatul-lil-Alameen authority, which would engage in “amr bil maroof” (doing good), with its primary duty being the moral, ethical, and spiritual development of youth at the school and university levels.

This is where Imran Khan was wrong. Religion is a private matter. No state should use its authority to intervene in it at any level, as it drifts the state away from its other obligations. The continuous use of religion in politics also shifts the focus of public debate away from real-world issues, such as law and order, poverty, inflation, governance, terrorism, etc., that weaker democracies like Pakistan face. But for Khan It appears that he has mastered the art of nationalism. The agitation we saw since April 2022, which peaked on May 9, was to create a political crisis to force the state to bow down before Khan directly, but he failed to make that happen.

Imran Khan thinks the country cannot survive without him. He does not believe in dialogue, and he is willing to hold negotiations with the Taliban but not with his political rivals. Since the vote of no confidence against him, Khan has played all his hands to force one political crisis after another. First, his party resigned from the National Assembly, 123 of his party members submitted their resignation en masse to the speaker of the National Assembly and walked out of the parliament. Then Khan dissolved the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assemblies; his party was majority in both provinces, yet he failed to get early elections.

The current position of Khan is like that of a lone warrior who burned all his boats long before entering the endgame. Now a challenge awaits him at the battlefront. To keep his warriors charged up to fight the battle, he needs something. With no governance performance to his credit to show to his supporters, he will be on a Religious Nationalism run. One cannot ask or expect Khan to stop using the religion card, because it pays dividends without any big investment.

Zubair Ahmad

The writer is a graduate of FAST National University.

The post How Imran Khan Mastered the Art of Manipulation 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.