Balochistan

[Petronas]

Academic claims 65 percent of Baloch favour armed struggle
Sunday, February 20, 2005

Washington: A Pakistani academic told a meeting here on Friday that according to a recent survey taken in Balochistan, 65 percent of those polled favoured “armed struggle” for the achievement of their objectives. Dr Ayesha Siddiqa, currently doing a fellowship at the Woodrow Wilson Centre, said this while reading a paper on Balochistan at the Johns Hopkins University. She said only 26.6 percent of the population was literate and civic facilities were lacking. Tracing the history of the province, she said Balochistan alone had resisted the acquisition of its land by the army. She described the present situation is one of “complete chaos and mayhem”. She was sceptical about the state claiming that it retained control of the situation. There were fears, she added, of the country’s break-up as happened in 1971. Pakistan, she said, is a “troubled state under siege” and hence there was greater use of authority being witnessed. She was quick to add that the Pakistani state had far more resilience today than it had in 1971 and was not “unravelling.” Nevertheless, what was happening in Balochistan today could not be ignored because it was going to define the future of Pakistan.

Dr Siddiqa, who is working on a book detailing the commercial and entrepreneurial side of the Pakistan army, warned that Balochistan would prove a “major catalyst” and if the state continued to pretend that all was well and under control, it would be faced with a few surprises. It was her view that because of what was taking place in Balochistan, federal-provincial relations would have to change. The situation could also change the “dynamics of key organisations such as the army”. How the top management of the Pakistan army handles the situation, she added, would determine the course of events. How the crisis was managed would affect the future of the federation. The main grouse of the people of Balochistan is, she explained, that their resources are bringing disproportionate benefit to others not to them. There are “multiple faultlines,” she said, in Balochistan, some of them real, some of them “created” ones. The Balochis fear that they are going to be turned into a minority. She said secession was a “lesser possibility”. She was of the opinion that the “divide and rule” policy followed by the federal government can no longer work. She said the situation had become more complicated because of the induction of religious and extremist elements. Another factor was the Baloch-Pushtun divide. There were also accusations of foreign intervention and India and Iran had been named as being responsible for that.

The Pakistani academic stressed that Balochistan today was a “high-stake area” and quite different from what it was in the 1970s. The development of the Gwadar port and the intended establishment of two cantonments at Sui and the new port were highly divisive issues. The Balochis were distrustful of the intentions of the government and saw the cantonments as intended to militarise the province. The government argued back that the cantonments were necessary for security and the protection of Sui installations and the Gwadar port. Real estate values had shot up steeply, and that had become another cause of local grievance. The federal government viewed Gwadar as a “future Dubai”. She added that Balochistan is too precious for Pakistan to be allowed to go away. She called Pakistan a “masculine state” which had used force in the past, and which was likely to use it in the future. She said it should be appreciated that the Balochi nationalists were asking for their share and it should be given to them on a fair basis. They were not about to opt out of the country but there was need today to change the structure of the basic institutions of the state. She said Balochis did not have proper representation in the army but provided no figures to prove the point.

Dr Siddiqa said the state was handling the situation in Balochistan in a “bureaucratic way” which would not work. Its offerings to the Balochis were “tactical rather than strategic”. A few development schemes were not the answer, nor was interaction with different actors at different times. There were three options before the government: to strike militarily, to negotiate with multiple actors, and to renegotiate the present relationship between the strategic establishment and the province. She was in favour of the last option.

During the question-answer session, it was pointed out by a journalist that Dr Siddiqa had held forth on Balochistan without even mentioning feudalism and the Sardari system. She was told, “How can you even begin to talk about Balochistan without mentioning the exploitative and outdated Sardari system that may lie at the heart of the problem.” She did not respond with an adequate or convincing response to the criticism.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_20-2-2005_pg7_46

[Casey]

Threat of Civil War grows in Pakistan province

BY JAMES RUPERT
STAFF CORRESPONDENT

DERA BUGTI, Pakistan -- In the center of this dusty town's only real intersection, Pakistani paramilitary troops peer out from a thick, round tower of sandbags, training machine guns on the main streets. Other government soldiers watch the town from fortified nests on the adjacent hilltops.

The men they monitor so warily are hundreds of ethnic Baluch militiamen of the Bugti tribe, who brandish automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades as they patrol the town and its surrounding mountain valley in columns of pickup trucks. Neighboring Baluch tribes also have taken up arms, and guerrillas have blown up electrical power lines and trains in recent weeks.

In the vast jumble of rocky deserts and mountains that dominate southwestern Pakistan, "the Baluch people are ready for a war," said Mohammed Din, an unemployed Bugti tribesman who kept an eye on an outpost of Pakistani troops here last week.

Diplomats and scholars in this country agree: President Pervez Musharraf, who for many analysts remains America's most critical ally in its global war against Muslim extremist groups, faces a threat of civil war in Baluchistan, Pakistan's biggest and poorest province. The Baluch uprising threatens to distract and politically weaken Musharraf as he pushes his army into a difficult offensive against al-Qaida, the Taliban and their allies in the districts just north of here.

Baluchistan's tribal nomads, most of whom live by raising goats or sheep in these dry lands, have rebelled repeatedly for more autonomy under Pakistani rule, the last time in the 1970s. In the past three years, as the government has begun building military bases, ports and highways in the province, Baluch have resisted, saying the development is stealing their land, handing valuable Arabian Sea coastline to newcomers from other parts of Pakistan and marginalizing the Baluch in their own province.

Baluch guerrillas have stepped up attacks on government targets in the past year, and the violence escalated last month after government officials appeared to be covering up a rape committed in Bugti tribal lands, allegedly by a Pakistani army captain.

Musharraf's military government has lost popularity in Pakistan with its offensives in the Waziristan region against al-Qaida and the Taliban, just north of here. Pakistani analysts and foreign diplomats say civil war in Baluchistan would further darken the government's image and distract a military already overburdened by its missions and governing a country of 160 million people.

Militant, anti-Western Islam has found little foothold among Pakistan's estimated 8 million Baluch -- so far. But as many as half of the province's people live in abject poverty, twice the rate of Pakistan's dominant province, Punjab, according to an independent research group, the Social Policy Development Center.

In Dera Bugti, like most Baluch towns and villages, clean drinking water and paved roads are rarities. "A real sense of deprivation and destitution has built among our youth, our intelligentsia and our mullahs ... and these conditions make us vulnerable to Islamic radicalization," said Hakim Baluch, a retired head of the provincial administration who now edits a magazine on Baluch affairs.

In the 1800s, British armies fought repeated battles to colonize Baluchistan as a buffer zone to protect Britain's prized colony of India next door.

Since Pakistan's independence in 1947, it has ruled much as the British did, with a combination of armed force and payoffs to the region's autocratic tribal leaders to keep them loyal. "We have remained a colony of second-class citizens," said Kachkool Ali, a provincial legislator who, like many Baluch, demands autonomy for the province.

In the 1970s, Pakistan's army needed four years and helicopters lent by the Shah of Iran to subdue the Baluch guerrillas. Baluch analysts say any rebellion now would be wider and more bloody. "Despite our poverty, the Baluch have more information about the world than before," and the tribes "are more heavily armed and better trained in guerrilla warfare" than three decades ago, Hakim Baluch said.

But Musharraf and the military are confident. "Don't push us," Musharraf warned Baluch leaders in a TV appearance last month. "It isn't the 1970s, when you can hit and run and hide in the mountains. This time you won't even know what hit you."

Musharraf's tough talk alarms Pakistani editorial writers and foreign diplomats, who say it has tended to unite the Baluch. In what diplomats said was an effort to ease tensions, U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker met last Monday in Karachi with Baluch tribal and nationalist leaders.

The leader at the center of the fight -- the Bugti tribe's chief, Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti -- was not there. Bugti, 78, has not left his tribal headquarters here in nearly five years. From his mud-walled compound, the nawab meets each day with his tribesmen and argues the Baluch case in constant phone calls with politicians and reporters.

In past power struggles, Bugti often has sided with the central government, which pays rent -- millions of dollars a year, according to officials -- for the use of Bugti tribal lands at the country's main natural gas field.

But the government has lost the support of Bugti and other tribal leaders over its huge development plans for the Baluchistan coastline, including a port and a city to serve it at Gwadar, a naval base at Ormara, a coastal highway and other projects. "The government has not consulted the Baluch on these plans, but has simply declared that these 'mega-projects' will turn Baluchistan into a land of milk and honey," Bugti said in an interview.

Bugti and the chiefs of other powerful tribes -- the Mangals and Marris -- say land for the projects secretly has been shunted to senior military officers and powerful families from Punjab province and Karachi, Pakistan's biggest city. The contracts and jobs from the projects will go to these elites, rather than to Baluch, they say.

Worse, in Baluch eyes, is that the rush to develop the coast will draw in millions of Punjabis and Karachi residents who eventually would outnumber the Baluch in their own homeland.

"The sardars [tribal chiefs] are fighting this because they are not getting the cut" they expect from projects on Baluch land, said Hakim Baluch. "But the feeling of being exploited is shared by ordinary people."

The evidence of exploitation, Baluch people say, is the gas fields here in the Bugti tribal lands. For 50 years, they have supplied Pakistan with most of its natural gas, pumped in pipelines to the big cities and industries of Punjab and Karachi. But Baluchistan's capital, Quetta, was the last city to get access to gas, and most people in the province cannot afford it. Baluch anger erupted last month after a female doctor at the Sui gas field, in Bugti lands, was raped, allegedly by a Pakistani army captain. When authorities appeared to be covering up the case, Baluch guerrillas attacked the military units guarding the field. In a storm of rifle and rocket fire, 15 people were reported killed and the gas plant was damaged, forcing Pakistan to cut off supplies to many homes and businesses.

Since then, guerrillas have blown up electrical lines, railroads and army trucks. Pakistan officials have suggested some foreign actor -- India, Iran or even the United States -- must be backing the sudden uprising. "Actually, it might be tycoons from Dubai [the main port of the United Arab Emirates] who will lose out" if a competing port at Gwadar is developed, said Baluchistan's provincial prime minister, Jam Mohammed Yusuf.

But a Pakistani intelligence official who asked not to be named said the government had no evidence of foreign involvement. In a drive through Baluchistan last weekend, extra troops could be seen guarding roads, bridges and pipelines -- and the army has said it will accelerate plans to build more permanent military bases in Baluchistan.

"More bases?" demanded Mohammed Din, the jobless Bugti tribesman. "They are occupying us like a foreign country. We are waiting only for the order of our nawab to attack them." http://www.nynewsday.com/news/nationworld/world/ny-wopaki20,0,2427446.story?coll=ny-world-big-pix

[Petronas]

25 militants arrested: Two explosions rock Quetta
Wednesday, March 09, 2005

QUETTA: Assailants set off bombs near a gas well and a railway track in separate attacks in Balochistan, officials said on Tuesday. Neither the well nor the track were damaged and nobody was injured in either blast. A homemade bomb went off near the gas well Monday night in Jhal Magsi, a tribal region about 600 kilometres southeast of Quetta, local government administrator Aslam Raisani said. The bomb was planted in a toilet near offices for technicians at the gas field owned by the state-run Oil and Gas Development Corporation, Raisani said.

The explosion left a 3-feet (less-than-a-meter) crater at the site but did not damage the well or other facilities, he said.

Another bomb exploded the same night near the railroad in Mach, a town about 40 kilometres south of Quetta, local police official Jan Mohammed said. Mohammed said the blast did not damage the track or disrupt trains. No one claimed responsibility for either explosion but Raisani and the police official blamed “miscreants” — a byword for renegade tribesmen.

Meanwhile, Balochistan Inspector General of Police Chaudhry Mohammed Yaqoob said 25 local tribesmen were arrested in connection with attacks in the province over the past three days. A large cache of weapons was also seized during raids in Quetta and Sibi, another town in Balochistan. Yaqoob said the men were members of Balochistan Liberation Army, a little known group that has claimed responsibility for many bombings in the restive province in recent weeks. “They have confessed that they were members of BLA, and some had trained in making bombs and firing rockets,” Yaqoob said.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_9-3-2005_pg1_5

[Petronas]

Thursday’s gunfights claim 10 FC men and 21 others
Saturday, March 19, 2005

QUETTA: Fierce gunbattles between tribesmen and the Frontier Corps in the troubled Balochistan province that ended early on Friday left up to 31 people dead, including 10 FC personnel, and more than 70 injured, an FC spokesman told Daily Times on Friday.

In fresh incidents in the province, bombs that exploded on two trains on Friday killed two people and wounded eight others, while law enforcement agencies killed a man and injured more than two dozens people who were protesting “the FC operation against tribal people” in Sui.

The FC spokesman said that at least 10 FC personnel were killed and 25 were injured during the Thursday’s gunbattle in Dera Bugti. He dispelled the reports that more then 50 people were killed, saying that about 21 tribal fighters were killed. Independent sources said that at least 40 people were killed from both sides, but the officials did not confirm the information.

Nawab Akbar Bugti, the chief of Jamhoori Watan Party, claimed that at least 60 tribal people, mostly Hindu women and children, were killed. Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Muhammad Yousaf said that the FC opened fire in defence. He said the government was finding out the real causalities and was making efforts to provide medical treatment to injured citizens. Replying to a question about attacks on general people, Jam Yousaf said: “When there’s a clash, it could hit innocent people, but the FC personnel did not attack general people intentionally”.

Train bombs: The two bombs that exploded in two trains on Friday were planted in toilets. They exploded about three hours apart. The first bomb was a homemade device that killed one soldier on a train at a station at Mach, a town about 35 kilometres southeast of Quetta, railway police official Naeem Kakar said. At least five other people were injured, two critically. Kakar said the train was coming to Quetta from Lahore, and the blast partially damaged one of its cars. He gave no other details.

The second bomb went off on a moving train travelling in the opposite direction on the same line near the Sibi Railway Station, about 100 kilometres southeast of Quetta. A railway police official said that one person was killed and three were wounded in the incident.

One killed in Sui rally: One protester was killed and 24 others were injured when law enforcement agencies shot at a demonstration in Sui on Friday. The protesters were demanding action against the army operation in Dera Bugti and adjacent areas. The government denied this saying only one protestor was injured while no one was killed. “More than 2,000 people organised a rally on Friday in Sui to mourn the death of innocent people killed in Thursday’s army operation, but law enforcement agencies shot at the demonstrators, killing Phong Bugti instantly and injuring 12 others,” Rauf Khan Sasoli, a spokesman for the Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP), told Daily Times. He said that law enforcement agencies did not allow them to take Phong’s body or the injured to hospital. Sasoli said that the protest rallies were organised in the entire Balochistan province on Friday and a seven-day mourning would continue till Thursday.

Baloch leaders Akhtar Khan Mengal, Tahir Bizenjo, Humayun Khan Marri and Rauf Khan Sasoli appealed to politicians, intellectuals, lawyers and human rights activists from Punjab to react to the “unjust” army operation immediately, otherwise hatred against Punjab could develop in the area.

Members of provincial assembly and leaders of Baloch and Pashtoon nationalist parties demonstrated in front of the Balochistan Assembly. Former chief minister Balochistan Sardar Akhtar Mengal said that the military had initiated the attack on the Baloch people and “now it is our turn to reply”.

Bugti: JWP leader Nawab Akbar Bugti claimed that government security forces wanted to kill him in the clash between the FC and his armed guards, NNI reported. He said that security forces fired at his guards and injured six of them. He claimed that the attack was premeditated and targeted him. In an interview with BBC, Bugti alleged that a bomb fell near him. “A person sitting near me was killed and two others were wounded,” he said. “I was talking on my satellite telephone when suddenly they started firing.” He maintained that his guards fired in retaliation.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_19-3-2005_pg1_4

[Petronas]

Akbar Bugti rejects MPs’ proposals
Wednesday, March 23, 2005

LAHORE: Baloch nationalist Nawab Akbar Bugti, chief of Jamhoori Watan Party, rejected proposals presented by the visiting parliamentary delegation that met him on Tuesday in Dera Bugti, BBC Radio reported.

The 15-member delegation including members from both the government and opposition, visited Balochistan to ascertain the cause of clashes between the Frontier Constabulary (FC) and Bugti’s guards on March 17, the report said. The delegation met Bugti in Dera Bugti and presented him proposals to normalise the situation, which Bugti rejected, saying the government should first improve the situation in Balochistan and arrest the FC men responsible for the March 17 incident, the report said. It added that Bugti was annoyed at the government and his behaviour towards the delegation was not positive. Bugti only talked to opposition representatives and refused to talk to treasury lawmakers, NNI reported.

Replying to Sherry Rehman, Bugti said the opposition could play an active role in the resolution of Balochistan’s problems. He refused to send any message or demand to the government. He ruled out any talks with the government until the arrest of Dr Shazia’s rapists. About meeting President Musharraf, Bugti said that he would not beg because “he isn’t weak”. He added that the parliamentary committee had failed. He said Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Mushahid Hussain Syed were sincere and wanted an early solution to the problems, but they were not in power. Unless the powerful people talk, the problems won’t be resolved, Bugti added.

Later, Senator Nisar Memon and others told reporters that Bugti was angry and it was not appropriate to talk with him at the time. Opposition members said they were not optimistic, so how could they submit recommendations to the government. The delegation was accorded a warm welcome according to the Baloch tradition when it reached Bugti’s residence. Earlier, the delegation visited the PPL office.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_23-3-2005_pg1_1

[Casey]

35 killed in Balochistan shrine blast

* Authorities suspect it might be sectarian violence

QUETTA: At least 35 people were killed and many were injured on Saturday when a powerful bomb ripped through a crowd gathered at a shrine in a remote town in Balochistan, officials said.

The explosion happened at around 10:30 pm (1730 GMT) in Fatahpur, around 300 kilometres from Quetta, officials said. “I can confirm that 35 bodies have been counted,” local district administrator Mahmood Mari told AFP. Scores of people were also injured in the blast, he said.

“It was a very big explosion,” local police official Rawat Khan said on the telephone. “People’s limbs are scattered everywhere.” “It was a powerful bomb. There was blood and body parts everywhere,” Mehrab Khan, another police official, told The Associated Press. “Right now people are angry. They are wailing and crying. Some of them have blocked roads in the town and we are trying to control the situation.”

Khan said the dead and injured, some in critical condition, were transported to a nearby hospital. He said he expected the death toll to rise.

Provincial Home Secretary Humayun Khan said it was too early to say who was to blame, but added: “It is an act of terrorism.”

Hospital officials said they had received 12 bodies.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, and police said they were investigating.

Between 10,000 and 20,000 had gathered for an annual pilgrimage at the shrine and many were having their evening meals when the bomb went off, said Syed Kami Shah, the brother of the shrine’s custodian.

There was no indication if the blast was linked either to longstanding sectarian tension between the rival Sunni and Shia sects or to an escalating tribal rebellion that has hit Balochistan in the last year.

Other apparently sectarian attacks in recent months in Pakistan have included a suicide bombing at a Shia mosque in October that killed 31 people in the eastern city of Sialkot. Six days later, a car bombing at a gathering of Sunni radicals in the central city of Multan killed 40 people.

Saturday’s attack comes two weeks after the arrest of a suspected Sunni militant accused of killing as many as 130 Shias in attacks in recent years.

Ramzan Mengal, a member of the outlawed Lashkar-e-Jhangvi militant group, was arrested March 4 in the provincial capital, Quetta, as he was going to a mosque for evening prayers. Police said Mengal was believed to be involved in a March 2004 attack on a procession of Shiites in Quetta that left 45 people dead.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is an Al Qaeda-linked group, one of several outlawed by President Pervez Musharraf in 2001 and 2002 in an effort to purge extremism from the country. agencies

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/print.asp?page=story_20-3-2005_pg1_5&ndate=3/30/2005%209:42:12%20AM

[Casey]

Simple facts about Balochistan's state of unrest


http://jang.com.pk/thenews/mar2005-daily/30-03-2005/oped/image/_New-M-B-Naqvi.gif


M B Naqvi

The writer is a well-known journalist

and freelance columnist.

Many explanations are being offered for the Balochistan situation, some of them commendable. Most such efforts are, however, partisan and not free from their own spin. A simple political geography of Balochistan, seen objectively, should provide a balanced perspective.

Let's begin with what has been grabbing the headlines first: trouble in Sui and Dera Bugti. The March 17 clash in which 10 soldiers and allegedly as many as 60 civilians died and many more injured was a major tragedy. Damage to property in Dera Bugti was, in view of general poverty of its populace, considerable. That was supposedly the retaliation to what the Bugtis had done in menacingly surrounding the Frontier Constabulary's camp -- housing some 300 soldiers who were being supplied by air. This action and an ambush of LEAs were in retaliation to what the FC had done to protesting tribesmen, angered by the gang rape inside the hospital run by the gas company in its Sui installations.

In addition, there is a regular campaign of sabotage and ambush while bomb blasts continue in many places. A shoddy Balochistan Liberation Army is claiming credit for the attacks on infrastructure -- railway tracks, gas pipelines and governmental symbols. Trouble in Sui and Dera Bugti is not an isolated event, sparked either by the rape incident or by the revolt of Sardar Akbar Bugti. The situation on the whole is one of a slow burning of the fuse of a Baloch nationalist revolt, with occasional spectacular flare-ups like the Dera Bugti one. Such incidents are symptomatic. The central reality of a nationalist struggle, at the end of its tether, must be grasped.

To continue with the map of Balochistan politics, the second major force is extreme Islamicist forces; they comprise, in addition to many militant Islamic outfits, various jihadists who participated in the two Afghan jihads, viz. of 1980s. After 1992, various jihadi organisations that waged jihad in the Indian controlled Kashmir. There are, of course, Taliban and their protectors. These forces include religiously oriented political parties, now constituting MMA, especially JUI with its splinters that provide a broad-spectrum political cover to all these jihadists. Contrary to the normal view of Pakistan politics that Islamicist parties were no more than of marginal importance, they now control one third of the parliament and two out of four provincial governments. They have to be taken seriously, more so for the future because of the 2002 poll results.

The obvious significance of this force is the presence of Taliban in fairly large numbers that led the American ambassador to Afghanistan and the top US general there to complain publicly that President Musharraf is not showing equal diligence in arresting or killing Taliban, mainly in Balochistan. And that he is displaying regard to al-Qaeda fugitives. But for Pakistanis, there are more worrying facets of this force.

The first, and hopefully temporary facet, is the interpenetration of these Islamicists with the Pakistan Army, especially its intelligence agencies; anyone can make the connection. If there are so many Taliban in Pakistan and the Army has not done to them what it has done to al Qaeda, an obvious conclusion follows. Either it has strong sympathies with Taliban or it is afraid of the reaction of their friends and protectors. The controllers of Pakistan's policy may wish to retain the option to reactivate the jihad in Kashmir when necessary, but they would scarcely want to decimate their old and would-be recruits.

The jihadists' ideological physiognomy is relevant. They may have originated in the Deobandi seminaries (being an offspring of JUI) but have sharply veered from the historical legacy of Deoband's Darul Uloom: in pre-independence India Shia-Sunni riots never involved Deobandi Sunnis. In Pakistan one face of all these jihadis is their intense hatred of Shias. The same person can in one phase be a Taliban and in another be a freedom fighter in Kashmir and in yet another phase be a sectarian terrorist. Also, the post-Zia Army's and Jamaat-e-Islami's ideological contributions have gone into the making of their current political philosophy.

Some point out the strange phenomenon of the current riches of Islamicist parties; to all appearances money is no problem for any religious party or leader. Earlier there was an easy explanation: ample funding from American CIA and Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Iran, Libya etc. But that phase ended by about 1990, though some may still be coming from the Arab sources. After 2001 the Americans have not, for some odd reason, focused on the funding of MMA parties' and their spiritual offsprings who have escaped all serious scrutiny. That is strange and needs study. One big rally today costs two to three crore rupees. Where are their billions coming from? From the measly contributions of their members?

In the Balochistan context, it is necessary to note two or three circumstances. Balochistan is an arid desert with a sparse, extraordinarily poor population. But there are also some extraordinarily rich individuals. The mainstay of the province's economy is patches of agriculture and fruit growing, some minerals -- sparsely exploited, except of course the natural gas. But smuggling, narcotics and gun running trades, with Afghanistan and NWFP connections, have flourished and generated a lot of money. The profits from heroin and cannabis trades are massive: western estimates are $3 to 4 billion, pocketed largely by a small number of the politically important individuals. Could it be that these super-rich buy respectability here as well as the prospect of lenient treatment from the Almighty on the Day of Judgement, if they fund Islamicists?

The third major force in Balochistan is of course the Pakistan state that operates largely through the army and paramilitary forces. It has both money and overwhelming force. From the viewpoint of an ordinary Baloch, this state takes from him too many (indirect) taxes but delivers -- what? Its record in establishing schools, hospitals and providing jobs in Balochistan is worse than that in any other province. It just shows a stern face. It has left large swathes of territories to be governed at the tribal Sardars' will; the human rights of these people are not equal to those in Punjab or Sindh.

This state has never bothered to develop the area despite its resources; if the poor have no realistic prospect of finding a job, who should take the rap? Authority has deliberately neglected and occasionally it propagates against the Sardars, while the fact is that this pre-independence arrangement has been carefully preserved as a matter of policy. Why? Is it because bureaucracy has more opportunities to do, as it will without any accountability?

One fact needs underlining: the province has been neglected while some improvements are visible elsewhere. Given its clear-cut ethnic identities, different from a non-democratic Centre where all power, money and authority resides, is it strange that nationalism, conscious of injustices done to it, has arisen?

Once this is grasped, what is to be expected is the working out of the dynamic of a deprived nationality's struggle -- with its ups and downs -- for attaining power for itself. How much power do they want to reorder their lives, much will depend on how central authorities handle the issue now. Watching Islamabad's past and current mindset -- reliance on a clever half tactic of stern military action followed by sweet talk with some money to go on buying time for the status quo -- is profoundly distressing.

http://jang.com.pk/thenews/mar2005-daily/30-03-2005/oped/o6.htm (mbnaqvi@cyber.net.pk)

[Casey]

Terrorism bid foiled, Two terrorists nabbed in Balochistan: Sheikh

ISLAMABAD, April 10 (SANA): Federal Minister for Information and Media Development Sheikh Rashid Ahmad has said that the security forces in Balochistan have foiled a bid of terrorism and arrested two suspected terrorists recovering hige cache of arms and ammunition from their possession.

Addressing a press conference here on Sunday, the minister said the security forces raided a house in a village of Dera Bugti where the terrorists were hiding. During the raid the security personnel arrested two of the suspects and recovered about 100 hand grenades, 204 explosive rods which could be used for making 800 bombs, he said and added the other weapons recovered from the house included 97 rockets fuses, 110 time detonators, 102 electric detonators besides other gadgets used in terrorism. All the arms and ammunition recovered during the raid were foreign made, he added.

He identified those arrested, to be Abdul KArim Bugti and Warian Bugti.

The minister said that the government wanted to resolve all issue through political and peaceful means and a dialogue was underway in this regard but no one will be allowed to indulge in acts of terrorism.

He expressed disappointment over disowning of a joint statement on the situation in Dera Bugti by Shir Mazari which was revealed by Pakistan Muslim League Secretary General Mushahid Hussain Syed yesterday. He said Pathans and other tribes were also living in Balochistan besides Balochs and Bugtis.

Referring to the talks with Pakistan Peoples’ Party, Sheikh Rashid said that when emotions are involved in a dialogue process then talks broke. Although the government wanted the process to continue but it will not let any one to force its conditions on others. He made it clear that the Swiss case will never be taken back whether the dialogue process continues or not.
http://www.kashar.net/technews/compleat.asp?id=1573

[Petronas]

Four power pylons blown up in Barkhan
Thursday, April 21, 2005

BARKHAN: Unidentified men blew up four 37 KV electricity pylons in Barkhan district, Balochistan, on Wednesday morning. Police said the men rigged the pylons with explosives and blew them up, which resulted in a cut in power to Kohlu and surrounding areas. Water and Power Development Authority personnel are at the scene repairing the damage. The incident is being investigated.

Earlier on Tuesday night, unidentified men caused five explosions in Quetta and Kalat, officials said on Wednesday. An electricity pylon was also destroyed on the same day, which lead to the suspension of power to several areas of Kalat. The five blasts caused by crude homemade devices, did not cause any major damage or casualties, police said.

“Three explosions occurred in Kalat, one outside the old court building, another outside administrator officials office and the third went off near a boys school,” Kalat police official Saleem Lehri said. Lehri said the blast outside the court slightly damaged the building and slightly injured a 14-year-old boy. One blast in Quetta damaged the boundary wall of a local journalist’s house while the other did not cause any damage, police said.

Also, police seized rockets hidden in a residential area in Quetta. Quetta Police raided a house near Kali Geo and found the rockets. Nobody was arrested. Police registered a case against unidentified men and is investigating.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_21-4-2005_pg7_3

[Petronas]

Balochistan to have more troops
Thursday, 17 November 2005, 17:55 GMT

The Pakistan government says it will deploy more troops in the province of Balochistan to improve security. Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao said a new force would tighten security at national installations in the province. Security in Balochistan has deteriorated since last year. A militant group calling itself the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) has claimed responsibility for many attacks on government targets.

Mr Sherpao said nearly 6,000 locals would be recruited and deployed in border areas with Afghanistan. He was speaking after chairing a high-level meeting in Quetta on the law and order situation in the province. He said no one would be allowed to carry weapons near major national installations. Baloch nationalists accuse the central government of exploiting the province's natural resources without benefiting local people.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4447106.stm

[Casey]

Sanaullah Baloch refutes Senate body report

Says he never favoured establishment of ‘cantonments’ in Balochistan

Yousaf Ali

PESHAWAR: Refuting the report that he had favoured establishment of military cantonments in Balochistan, Senator Sanaullah Baloch of Balochistan National Party (BNP) said he had never favoured cantonments in any part of the province and that the Senate sub-committee’s report was a fabricated one.

"I opposed the very nature and work of the sub-committee, therefore, I resigned from it. I deny the report. Balochistan doesn’t need any cantonments. We are all against those (cantonments). Our provincial assembly has passed a unanimous resolution against cantonments," the BNP central information secretary told media men here Monday.

The Baloch nationalist leader was in Peshawar to attend a meeting of the Senate standing committee on less developed areas. He said the setting up of cantonments in Balochistan would require billions of rupees, which should be converted to rehabilitation of earthquake-hit people in NWFP and Balochistan.

"The government has started an undeclared military operation in Balochistan on the pretext of establishing cantonments there today and tomorrow it can start a similar operation to start construction work on controversial Kalabagh Dam project," Sanaullah said.

He added that the people of Frontier province must join Balochs in their struggle against establishment of cantonments, as the people of Balochistan were standing with their Pakhtun and Sindhi brothers in their anti-KBD efforts.

He said that people of Balochistan would continue political and moral support to the people of NWFP on Kalabagh dam.

"Kalabagh dam is not an issue of our direct concern even then we have always raised our voice against it, as it is a problem pertaining to the smaller provinces of the country. Our provincial assembly has passed a unanimous resolution against this project," he remarked.

The BNP leader said the federal government took up the dam issue at a time when the people of "Pakhtunkhwa" were passing through a traumatic period due to the catastrophic October 8 earthquake.

Sanaullah criticised President’s statement in which he said that the people would have to accept Kalabagh dam whether there was consensus or not over it and any provincial government that opposed the dam would not be allowed to rule.

Senator Sanaullah also rejected the military operation in the tribal belt adjacent to the NWFP and demanded of the government to halt it at once, as according to him it would shed further negative impacts. About terror suspects he said: "Whether they are from Al-Qaeda, Islamabad Qaeda or any other Qaeda, they should be tried in a court of law and not sent to Washington", Snaullah Baloch said.

http://jang.com.pk/thenews/dec2005-daily/13-12-2005/metro/p11.htm

[Petronas]

Police arrest over 250 suspects in Balochistan
December 17, 2005

QUETTA: Balochistan Police took more than 250 suspects into custody in last couple of days in connection with the soaring rate of sectarian violence in the province, police officials said on Friday. Quetta Range Deputy Inspector General of Police Salman Syed told Daily Times that about 221 suspects were arrested in Quetta only. Another police official said that a total of 250 people were taken into custody during the last couple of days. Syed said that police was interrogating them and would release innocents.

Unidentified people started target killing in Balochistan after an attack on a mourning procession in Quetta last year. Around 12 incidents of targeted killing have been reported this year in which 10 people were killed and two were injured. Three people have been killed in separate incidents in this month so far.

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl Deputy General Secretary Maulana Abdul Qadir Looni said that they had contacted the officials against the arrest of innocents. He said the JUI would launch a protest movement if the people were not released. Asked about increasing sectarian violence in Balochistan, Looni, hinted at a group involved in such incidents. He, however, would not name the group.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2005\12\17\story_17-12-2005_pg7_3

[Petronas]

Army on offensive in Balochistan
Monday, 19 December 2005, 14:39 GMT

Pakistani security forces backed by helicopter gunships have launched an operation against tribal rebels in the troubled province of Balochistan. Army spokesman Gen Shaukat Sultan told journalists the operation was targeted exclusively at "miscreant hideouts". There are unconfirmed reports of casualties from Kohlu, a town 220km (135 miles) south-east of Quetta.

The operation follows rocket attacks last week on military camps and army officers in the area. Gas-rich Balochistan has seen months of violence as tribal groups push for greater political and economic rights.

Balach Marri, a provincial MP for the Kohlu area, said he had reports that a number of people had been killed in the raids - although he could not confirm the exact number. "The army has arrested hundreds of innocent people in the operation, which is still going on, and in which jet fighters and helicopter gunships are participating," he told the Associated Press news agency. Local residents say security forces carried out aerial attacks on targets in the Jindran, Tilli and Pir Mahmood areas of Kohlu district.

Gen Shaukat Sultan denied there had been raids on villages, and said he had no details of any casualties. "It is only their [militant's] camps that are being targeted," he said.

Meanwhile, the BBC's Aziz Khan in Quetta says the atmosphere is also reported to be tense in Dera Bugti, which adjoins Kohlu and is a major gas producing area in Pakistan. The town of Sui, which houses major oil and gas installations, has been sealed off. Paramilitary forces have set up roadblocks between Sui and Dera Bugti.

The head of Pakistan's Frontier Corps and his deputy were wounded after shots were fired at their helicopter in Balochistan province last week. They had been inspecting an area where separatists had earlier fired rockets during a visit by President Musharraf.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4542300.stm

[Casey]

Why Baluchistan Matters


January 29, 2006: Not all the violence in Pakistan is related to Islamic terrorism. Not all the angry tribesmen are motivated by religious beliefs to commit terrorist acts. There are several million Baluchi tribesmen in southwest Pakistan who are upset over stingy outsiders. As a result of this anger, the Baluchis have supported drug gangs, terrorist organizations, and a generally bad attitude towards the Pakistani government.


Baluchistan has 36 percent of the countries natural gas, and only four percent of the population (spread thinly over 180,000 square kilometers). Some 80 percent of this natural gas is exported, and the Baluchis only get about twelve percent of what that gas is sold for. On top of that, corrupt officials steal much of what they are supposed to get. Now the government wants to expand drilling and mining, and remove more of Baluchistan’s wealth. The tribes are, literally, up in arms over this. Since the Summer of 2004, there have been several dozen violent incidents each week, ranging from tribesmen shooting at government facilities, or employees, or blowing something up (electricity transmission towers, roads, gas pipelines and so on.)


The government doesn’t want to go to war with the tribes, partly because the Baluchis are good at fighting. For centuries, the Baluchis have been in demand as mercenaries all over the region. Many (no one is quite sure how many) troops in the Pakistani armed forces are Baluchis. The region has never believed itself a part of Pakistan, but has not been able to break away. Large scale insurrections every few decades, yes, but the Baluchis have never gotten close to separating themselves. That may be changing, with the help of al Qaeda. The Baluchis are Sunni Moslems, and their tribal culture encourages a conservative form of the religion. Al Qaeda is a terrorist organization propelled by a very conservative version of Islam.


Iran, a Shia nation, is a deadly enemy of al Qaeda (conservative Sunni Moslems believe Shia Moslems are heretics), and has always opposed Baluchi independence. Iran has a million Baluchis of its own, and any Baluchistan lays claim to a chunk of southeast Iran.


Baluchistan is not all Baluchi. About 40 percent of the seven million inhabitants of the region are (30 percent) Pushtun tribes, and (10 percent) other groups. Most of Pakistan’s coastline is in Baluchistan, as are two of the navy’s three bases, inhabited by many of the non tribal people. The tribes may control the back country, but the Pakistani government has a better position when it comes to the coastal communities, and cities in general.



The independent attitudes of the tribes, and their Islamic conservatism, has made the tribal territories a hospitable place for al Qaeda. Moreover, there’s nothing for al Qaeda to attack in Baluchistan, so no al Qaeda bombs killing innocent civilians, and turning the locals against the terrorists. The Baluchi tribes already know how to do bombs, and regularly use them against government targets. For al Qaeda, Baluchistan is a place to hide and recruit. The more heated the current situation in Baluchistan becomes, the more dedicated the Baluchis are to protecting al Qaeda, and volunteering for that organization. The Pakistani government does not want to fight another major campaign against the Baluchi tribes, like it did in the 1970s. But the government will not surrender the province to the tribes, and give up the natural resources, and coastline. A peace deal with the tribes is likely to include giving the tribes more autonomy, and authority to host whoever they want, including al Qaeda. The next al Qaeda base could be Baluchistan, a side effect of a Pakistani peace deal with the tribes.


http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htterr/articles/20060129.aspx

[NYer]

Perv proceeds to "Dance with the Devil in the Pale Moonlight."

[Petronas]

Pakistani gas pipeline blown up
Saturday, 4 February 2006, 11:18 GMT

Tribesmen have blown up a gas pipeline in Pakistan's troubled southern province of Balochistan, officials say. Armed militants also fired more than 200 rockets at a major base belonging to the Pakistani security forces in the area, they said. Both attacks took place in the district of Dera Bugti, about 350km (250 miles) from the provincial capital, Quetta.

The situation in Balochistan has deteriorated with increasing violence between rebels and security forces. Dera Bugti is Pakistan's main gas producing area.

The district co-ordination officer, Abdul Samad Lasi, said a gas well and a 60-foot gas pipeline were damaged in the attack. "These people have also planted landmines on major roads in Dera Bugti, and we are advising people to avoid travel until we clear the landmines," the Associated Press news agency quoted him as saying. One security personnel was injured in the rocket attack on the base of the paramilitary Frontier Corps which also damaged nearby government buildings, Mr Lasi said.

Tribal militants in Balochistan, the source of Pakistan's main gas reserves, are demanding greater control over natural resources. They are said to be led by Nawab Akbar Bugti, the leader of one of the most powerful tribes in the area.

The army launched a major crackdown last month after rockets were fired during a visit by President Pervez Musharraf.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4680414.stm

[Petronas]

I have the feeling things are heating up in Balochistan.

Pakistan bus explosion kills 13
Sunday, 5 February 2006, 20:14 GMT

At least 13 people have been killed in a bomb explosion on a passenger bus in Pakistan's troubled south-western province of Balochistan, officials say. About 20 others were injured in the blast which happened as the bus was travelling through Kolpur town. Balochistan, the source of Pakistan's main gas reserves, has been the scene of rising violence between rebels and security forces. The rebels are demanding greater control over natural resources.

Government officials said they were investigating whether a bomb had been deliberately left on the bus, or if an explosive device being carried by militants had gone off prematurely. The bus had been travelling from the provincial capital, Quetta, to the eastern city of Lahore. Interior minister Aftab Sherpao said the bus was carrying 50 passengers.

Last week, tribesmen blew up a gas pipeline and fired more than 200 rockets at a major base belonging to the Pakistani security forces in the district of Dera Bugti, about 350km (250 miles) from Quetta. The army launched a major crackdown in Balochistan last month after rockets were fired during a visit by President Pervez Musharraf.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4683362.stm

[The 801]

PAKISTAN: MAJOR MILITARY OPERATION IN BALUCHISTAN

Karachi, 7 Feb. (AKI) - (by Syed Saleem Shahzad) - Pakistani security forces mounted a major operation on Tuesday morning in the troubled southern province of Baluchistan with the aim of destroying the sanctuaries of the Baluch nationalist leaders, highly placed sources told Adnkronos International (AKI). Local television reports have said that loud explosions were heard at the home of Nawab Akbar Bugti, the leader of one of the most powerful tribes in Baluchistan. Eye witnesses say that the fort of Nawab Akbar Bugti in the town of Dera Bugti was surrounded by flames.

Baluchistan is the source of Pakistan's main gas reserves and has been the scene of increased violence between rebels and security forces. The rebels are demanding greater control over the natural resources. The Pakistan army launched a major crackdown in the province last month after rockets were fired during a visit by president Pervez Musharraf.

Local television reports say that the home of Nawab Akbar Bugti, 85, the man believed to be the leader of a fierce armed resistance by Baluch tribesmen against the Pakistan army, was engulfed in fire after massive explosions were heard in the area.

However the district coordination officer in Dera Bugti, Abdus Samad Lasi, maintained that neither Nawab Bugti, nor his family members were present in the fort. However, there were indications that heavy arms and ammunition were stored in the building.

"Yes, a big operation has been mounted on the fort of Nawab Bugti which shows the government's conviction to root out terrorism at all cost," said a top Pakistani official who commented on the condition of anonymity. "This is the beginning of an end of Nawab Bugti’s hegemony in his area," said the official.

Nawab Bugti is the head of the Jamhuri Watan Party (JWP) and is a former chief minister of the province of Baluchistan. He is said to be the main engine behind the turmoil between the local tribesmen and the Pakistan army. He was reported to have set up camp in the mountains surrounding Dera Bugti together with other tribesmen some weeks ago.


http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Security&loid=8.0.261687410&par=0

[NYer]

http://www.epilog.de/Person/R/Raf_Ral/_Bilder/Rains_Claude_1889_.jpg

Round up the usual suspects!

[Petronas]

Passenger train attacked by gunmen then derailed by explosion in Pakistan Mon Feb 27, 3:58 AM ET

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) - A bomb explosion on a railroad track derailed a passenger train Monday shortly after it was attacked by gunmen in southwestern Pakistan, police said. There were no immediate reports of injury. The blast blew up a portion of the track, sending the train's engine and two cars off the rails as it approached a railway station in the village of Hasipur, said Gul Khan Sasoli, a senior police official. Only 50 passengers were on the train, which can carry 550 people, when it derailed 15 minutes after gunmen attacked it with assault rifles in the mountainous region, Sasoli said.

Bullets hit the train but did not hit any of the people inside as it passed through the area of Aab-e-Gom, about 80 kilometres southeast of Quetta, the capital of southwestern Baluchistan province, said Ghulam Rasool, traffic controller at the state-run Pakistan Railways. Security forces were deployed in the rugged area to protect the railway line after the original attack. They returned fire and the gun battle was continuing more than an hour later, he said.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the train shooting and bombing. But renegade tribesmen have been blamed for small-scale bombings on railroads and rocket attacks on security forces in Baluchistan, a vast and impoverished province. The Tribesmen are demanding an increase in royalty for resources, such as natural gas, that are extracted in their territories.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/cpress/20060227/ca_pr_on_na/pakistan_train_attack;_ylt=Akkdri5LRR8hM4Z8iu1MjCh vaA8F;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--

[Petronas]

Pakistan Blasts Disrupt Power to Thousands
Thursday, March 16, 2006; 2:09 AM

QUETTA, Pakistan -- Seven homemade bombs toppled two high-power electricity transmission towers in southwestern Pakistan and disruptedmf323 power to thousands of homes for several hours, officials said. No one was hurt in the attacks that happened before dawn in a mountainous area about 25 miles southeast of Quetta, the capital of southwestern Baluchistan province, said local government official Mahmood Marri.

The blasts disrupted electricity to thousands of homes, agricultural and industrial consumers in Quetta and three nearby districts before being restored seven hours later, Marri said. Marri blamed ethnic Baluch tribesmen who are fighting for a greater share of wealth from resources extracted in their areas. They have been accused of numerous rocket attacks and small-scale bombings in Baluchistan.

On Wednesday, another bomb blast wounded eight people near a shop in Quetta.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/16/AR2006031600092.html

[Petronas]

Rebels blow up third Pakistani pipeline in a week
Wed Aug 9, 5:46 AM ET

Tribal insurgents blew up another gas pipeline in southwestern Pakistan's Baluchistan province, the third such attack in less than a week, officials said. Military officials meanwhile dismissed a claim that five soldiers had been captured by the rebels, who are fighting for greater autonomy and a share of profits from the desert province's natural resources.

The pipeline bringing gas from a well to a purification plant happened at Sui, a gas field close to the former stronghold of fugitive rebel chieftain Nawab Akbar Bugti. The blast has "partially affected" supplies to the main gas plant, local administration official Abdul Samad Lasi told AFP on Wednesday.

Suspected rebels blew up another pipe near Sui early on Tuesday while near-simultaneous twin blasts at the weekend hit two others supplying gas to Punjab, Pakistan's most populous province.

Separately a purported rebel spokesman, Wadera Alam Khan, said late Tuesday that rebels on Sunday captured five Pakistani troops following a clash in Baluchistan. "No such incident took place in the area," said Captain Mohammad Shahid, a spokesman for the paramilitary Frontier Corps, adding that the claim was "disinformation".

Baluchistan's governor last week said that Pakistani forces have nearly crushed the insurgency, which has seen nearly two years of attacks on pipelines, railway tracks and government installations. Officials say hundreds of people have died since the unrest erupted in late 2004.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060809/wl_sthasia_afp/pakistanunrestsouthwestgas;_ylt=Ap3sUI.Sr7p5jEjOid ty6P5vaA8F;_ylu=X3oDMTA0cDJlYmhvBHNlYwM-

[Petronas]

PAKISTAN: BOMB BLAST IN BALOCHISTAN CAPITAL
Syed Saleem Shahzad
Dec-20-06 17:10

At least eight people were seriously injured on Wednesday when a bomb went off in a crowded marked in Quetta, capital of Pakistan's region of Balochistan which lies near the country's border with Afghanistan. The explosion appears to have been caused by a home-made bomb hidden on a bicycle in Liaquat Market where most of the shopkeepers and their customers are ethnic Pushtun. Just over a month ago police averted a potential bloodbath at the market when they discovered and defused a 16 kiilogramme bomb.

Authorities have refused to comment on the attacks, but official sources have told Adnkronos International (AKI) they blame rising tensions between President Hamid Karzai's Afghan government and the Pakistani authorities. Kabul has accused Islamabad of not doing enough to curb Taliban cross-border activity, while Pakistani officials have called upon Karzai to take appropriate measures to tighten security in his country so as to prevent violence from spilling over into Pakistan. Both countries have been arresting each other's security officials, including one incident in which 10 members of a new Pakistani border force called Levies were captured on Tuesday. After negotiations between the two countries, the Levies were allowed to returned home on Wednesday.

Balochistan is an insurgency-stricken region where the banned separatist Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) has been blamed in the past for most acts of sabotage. However, the BLA has mostly targeted state owned property and not civilians in public places.

http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Terrorism&loid=8.0.370634066&par=0