Minority’s (and Dawn’s) Typical Hypocrisy: An Excellent Example

I saw the following headline — in daily Dawn of all the places — and was pleasantly surprised:

Not all deaths are mourned the same

I was surprised thinking it was about not mourning civilian deaths by drone attacks and was glad someone in the mainstream media had published something on it and that too Dawn (who usually call for MORE drone strikes and ask for bringing IDF-style check posts to Pakistan).

Boy, was I wrong! The crocodile tears Dawn and one Murtaza Haider (“Ph.D. is the Associate Dean of research and graduate programs at the Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University in Toronto”) are shedding are for the Hazara shia community in Balochistan 29 of whom died in back September.

Now how do they jump from NATO strike victims all the way to a sectarian thing far, far away is amazing. That at the same time they forget thousands of other victims of drone strikes — something that would be an automatic link — is beyond my comprehension. Another NATURAL link would be thousands of Balochis killed by security forces (read Pakistan Army), no matter what sect they belong to, reeks of hypocrisy of the extreme kind. One can only not forget about those intentionally and if one is following an agenda. This is not an oversight and is proven by the fact that they would not print any comment that mentions those killings (though they find every ridiculous comment agreeing with their bullshit story “Oh, poor Hazars…oh the humanity! Poor poor shias….”).

Hypocrisy Squared:

Here is an example. I tried to be as p.c. as I could be and thought about giving posting a comment a try. I wrote:

I am surprised no mention is made of the other victims of countless NATO strikes: the victims of drones. That would have been more RELEVANT. And using this incident to talk about sectarian/minority thing is dishonest at the very least and stinks of the author having an agenda.

Another interesting thing is that among all the killings going on in Balochistan, the author can only see those from the Haraza Shia community. He knows 435 Hazarans have been killed. Care to tell us how many thousands non-Hazarans were killed in the same period in Balochistan?

I guess “Not all deaths are same” after all 😉

After sitting in moderation for a while, the comment was disappeared like a Baloch in Dera Bugti 😉

Shame on you Murtaza Haider and Shame on you Dawn!!!

Aftermath of “Agaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan”

"You have the right to be kidnapped, bound, tortured, gagged, you heart and kidneys drilled, shot through the head, your body dumped for wild animals to feed on..."

Two articles….

A Balochistan Reader

[With so much bullshit out there and people sticking their heads up Rehman Malik’s rectum and speaking FC tongue, I just want to post a few articles from (mostly) mainstream press that I came across recently that do give a bit clearer picture about the situation in Balochistan….(And no — it is not the “Sardars” or “RAW” that is responsible for the mess) I am intentionally picking articles that in no way can be brushed aside as biased as none of these are by “Baloch Nationalists” (or even Baloch). In fact they are anything but…]

Balochistan: Pakistan’s broken mirror

Baloch children hold up nationalist posters. Photographs by Asim Hafeez for The National

Islamabad’s brutal attempts to crush ethnic Baloch nationalism have met with fierce, escalating resistance – and have laid bare the strains that threaten the founding idea of Pakistan. Madiha R Tahir reports from the rallies, homes and hospital rooms of the fifth Baloch rebellion.

A child is fiddling with a poster of a mustachioed man, a missing political worker who may be his father or his uncle, and who is in all likelihood, dead. He draws my immediate attention, this child, because out of the thousands seated around him in row upon neat row inside the open-air tent, he is the only one not focused on the stage, the blazing lights, the young man holding forth in angry punctuated bellows.

“I am not a friend of Pakistan!” Zahid Baloch bangs the podium to emphasise his point, his countenance flushed, severe. “I am not a friend of the People’s Party!” He bangs the podium again, and the evening air swells with the ferocious stillness of his audience, tense and alert like a taut muscle.

Why The Fake Photo?

If this Jang story is true, why accompany it with such a fake photo?

Every thing about this appears fake. The wall certainly has been (terribly) photoshoped clean, the FC guy is certainly posing, the body of the “terrorist” certainly has been placed there as has been the gun on the body.

P.S. Would a guy under attack be sitting so high — I mean, come on, a ditch is right there — and “aiming” his automatic weapon like that?

Is FC taking lessons from ISPR? 😛

Update: The Nation has the same story. Their description too leaves no doubt the story is a complete fabrication  — described as a typical fake-encounter:

In another incident, unidentified people hurled a hand grenade and opened indiscriminate firing on the patrolling vehicle of Frontier Corps (FC) at Brewery Road that exploded and wounded four personnel of security forces.

The security forces also returned fire, killing a suspected attacker on the spot, however, other attackers managed to escape from the site.

The attacker was identified Abdul Majeed Langav.

The sources said that security forces also raided a house and recovered rocket launchers, hand grenades and explosive materials.

Police shifted the body to hospital for autopsy and started further investigations.

I am yet to figure out when these “terrorists” go for an attack — which they probably will not survive — they leave most of their more lethal and more effective weaponry at home? I mean, if you are going to attack FC, WHY would you leave your rocker launcher at home???

How Not To Win Baloch Hearts…UPDATED

…By empowering a so-called “Baloch jirga” to settle PPP-PML-N row.

First of all, the people of Balochistan don’t give a damn about either party, let alone the “row” between these 69-ing nitwits.

Second, the Baloch must have laughed their asses off when they heard the “Baloch Jirga” is to be headed by Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani and the chief of Jhalawan Sardar Sanaullah Zehri.

Sanaullah Zehri is of course the Sardar of Zehri tribe and elder brother of Israrullah Zehri whose support of women’s rights is world famous (Israrullah is also the head of the ISI-created President of Balochistan National Party-Awami and both have allegedly killed scores of their political opponents with ISI’s blessings) and Raisani has really endeared himself to the Baloch by his recent declaration — echoing arguably the most hated man in Balochistan, Musharraf — and later repeated by Rehman Malik — that most of the missing persons had “deliberately gone underground to malign the country’s intelligence agencies”. Baloch Hal rigthly stated:

If former military dictator General Pervez Musharraf’s infamous quote, “it is not the 70s that you will hit and run…We will hit you in a way that you don’t know what hit you”, has become one of the most widely quoted statements of a man who devastated Balochistan, one can assertively predict that this statement of Chief Minister Raisani will go down in the history as the most disgraceful proclamation ever made by a Baloch chief minister.

The chief minister repeated what was once said by former dictator General Pervez Musharraf and subsequently by Rehman Malik, the current interior minister, that the missing persons had willingly gone abroad. Gone abroad? For what? He said the elements responsible for target killings were also responsible for hiding their associates and then showing them as “disappeared people”. In his words, the missing persons have deliberately gone underground and now the issue is being raised to embarrass the country’s intelligence agencies. Raisani, the fist chief minister in the history of Balochistan to be elected unopposed, is of the view that it is unreasonable on the part of the missing persons’ families to hold the agencies responsible for the whole mess.

Expectedly, a very emotional reaction has come from the families of the missing persons in response to the chief minister’s statement. If the government cannot deliver justice to the families of the missing persons due to its inefficiency and powerlessness to check the influence of the secrete services then it should not at least hurt the sentiments of the mothers, sisters, wives, daughters and sons of the missing persons.

Nawaz by his choice certainly appears to be endorsing the views of Zehri and Raisani and committing political suicide in Balochistan. One wonders if this is by design or Nawaz is just too dumb to realize it?

That Raisani was blatant liar (and a man with no honor) is proven by the statements of his own party bosses in Islamabad who had finally admitted days earlier “some missing Baloch activists have been released under the ‘Aghaz-e-Huqooq-e- Balochistan’ (Balochistan package)” and further confirmed the existence of more by saying “more activists are likely be released under the process”.

"Get lost kids, your loved ones have “deliberately gone underground to malign the country’s intelligence agencies”: Raisani

Related:
Missing people’s list rejected by Baloch organisations

UPDATE: Sanaullah Zehri has joined PML-N. I guess Nawaz needed another murdered of the Baloch and ISI- / MI-collaborator to win the confidence of the Baloch

Understanding Balochistan

As tensions flare in Balochistan and the government alleges foreign involvement in the nationalist movement there, Dawn.com talks to Sanaullah Baloch, the Central Secretary Information of the Balochistan National Party – Mengal.

Your name was placed on the Exit Control List (ECL) and your brothers were reportedly abducted by the agencies during the Musharraf government. Have you considered filing charges now that the judges have been reinstated?

My entire family, including my parents, was placed on the ECL. Our assets were frozen, my brother was abducted and kept in an illegal detention centre for six months, and I was physically attacked by Musharraf’s agents during a conference in London. My website and 36 other Baloch websites were blocked by Pakistan Telecommunications Authority.

As for filing charges, several Baloch political parties tried to file charges against Musharraf, but the country’s institutions lack the will or courage to accept our plea against him.

If I compromise on Baloch movement, my followers will kill, replace and forget me, says Bramdagh Bugti

EXCLUSIVE:

By Malik Siraj Akbar

A confident Baloch guerrilla commander Nawabzada Bramdagh Bugti, 28, believes it is now “impossible” for Islamabad to get him extradited even if he is hiding somewhere in Afghanistan, as claimed by Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik, or elsewhere in the wake of increasing “international moral support” the “ Baloch national liberation movement” is attracting because of its “legitimacy”.

Bramdagh, the fiercest face of the Baloch insurgency, is a grandson of late Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, a former chief minister and governor of Balochistan who was killed by the Pervez Musharraf regime in a military operation on August 26 2006. Since then, the young separatist has taken the command of the armed Baloch fighters who demand an independent Balochistan. While the senior Bugti only demanded provincial autonomy for the gas-rich Balochistan province, Bramdagh differently interprets his grandfather’s dream. He stands for a free and sovereign Balochistan.

Pakistan has been blaming India for supporting Bramdagh’s armed movement via Afghanistan where Islamabad believes this young fighter is currently hiding. The situation in Balochistan has now transformed into a pain in Islamabad’s nick. On his part, the Baloch leader says if he enjoyed international support, he would vanquish his enemy overnight.

In yet another excusive interview with this writer, the chief of Baloch Republican Party (BRP) and one of the most influential armed commanders of the ongoing Baloch movement once again denied hiding somewhere in Afghanistan. Excerpts:

MALIK SIRAJ AKBAR: How do you feel about possible efforts by Islamabad to pressurize the Afghan government to get you extradited from Afghanistan where you are believed to be currently hiding?

When Poets Are Forced To Pick Up Guns

Meer Jan Miral killed in clash with FC

Two FC men, attacker killed in Turbat

 

By Malik Siraj Akbar

 

QUETTA: Three people, including two Frontier Corps (FC) personnel, were killed on Thursday in an exchange of fire with gunmen from the Baloch Republican Army (BRA) in Turbat district’s Thump area, officials said.

They said an FC team was ambushed during a routine patrol.

The assailants opened fire on the FC vehicle on Zubeda Jalal Road, killing the two personnel. The FC retaliated and killed one of the attackers.

Murtaza Baig, a spokesman for the FC in Quetta, confirmed the attack and added that three FC men had also been injured in the clash.

However, unverified local accounts suggested that six FC men had been killed, but the figure could not be independently confirmed.

The BRA has accepted responsibility for the attack. The slain attacker was identified as Meer Jan Miral, a noted Balochi poet. [Please check the Youtube link to Meer Jan Miral’s poetry]

http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=200994story_4-9-2009_pg7_4

 

Related:

Banok Karima: the Baloch Leila Khaled

Qambar Jan tho kuja hey?

I am not anti-tribalism: Bramdagh Bugti

Blood ONCE AGAIN ignites fire in Balochistan

Qambar Jan tho kuja hey?

Cold shoulder for the Balochistan parliamentary committee

PML-Q File: How NOT to Win Over Balochistan

Not that the Baloch give a damn about an apology (nor are they looking for an “amnesty“), it is funny that the men responsible for Bugti’s murder and many other atrocities against the Baloch (see Jamil Bugti’s statements below) — so much for “pure intentions” — going there to win then over with an attitude “we refuse to apologize!”

What filth!

Shujaat refuses to apologise on Balochistan issue
Monday, August 31, 2009

By Muhammad Ejaz Khan

Ch Shuj

QUETTA: PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain on Sunday refused to tender an apology on incidents that had occurred in Balochistan during his party’s rule.

Flanked by PML-Q Secretary-General Mushahid Hussain Sayed while addressing a news conference here, Shujaat said whatever had been done at that time in the province was with pure intentions.

Mushahid

Replying to a question about the delay in registration of a case of Akbar Bugti’s murder, Shujaat said a case should be lodged against those responsible for the murder and there should be an open trial over the killing.

He said the situation in Balochistan was deteriorating rapidly. He said he would approach the prime minister for improvement in the situation and invite him to the province, requesting him to stay there till the situation came under control.

He added that he would request the prime minister to hold talks with all the stakeholders in the province. He said if the rulers found a solution to the problems, then the PML-Q was ready to cooperate in this regard. The national flag would always be hoisted with honour in the province, he said.

Responding to a question, he denied that there was a Jinnahpur conspiracy, saying it was just a fake story. There were certain maps but the ground reality was different, he added. On the occasion, Mushahid said that from January 2009 to date, terrorist activities had claimed the lives of 238 people in 201 incidents in the province in addition to 672 people, who had been injured in these activities.

He added that the province had an average of one person killed and two injured daily. He said resistance offered by the people was corresponding to their ordeal, adding that if it crossed the threshold and a common man became a victim, then it was terrorism. Acts of this sort were done to destabilise and divide the province, he said.

He suggested that in order to solve the Balochistan issue, all the missing persons should be recovered and cases registered on political grounds should be withdrawn.All the people in the mountains, Dubai and London should be brought back and made part of the mainstream, he suggested.

Jamil Bugti accuses Shujaat of ‘misinformation’

Jamil Bugti

QUETTA: Jamil Bugti on Friday accused Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Secretary General Mushahid Hussain of spreading “misinforming” about their meetings with his father, Akbar Bugti.

Talking to reporters at Bugti Bolak on the outskirts of Quetta, Jamil said his father had asked both the PML-Q leaders not to visit Dera Bugti if they did not have the authority to resolve Balochistan’s issues. Nevertheless, they visited the tribe and spread “misinformation” on their return claiming that Akbar Bugti had no objection to a military cantonment in Sui.

“As a matter of fact, my father demanded the military cantonment from Sui and elsewhere in Balochistan be moved,” he said.

On the safe passage offer to Akbar Bugti, Jamil said his father never trusted the “Punjabi leadership” as it wanted to trap him in Karachi for the army to arrest him.

“Shujaat Hussain’s offer to my father was a ploy to trap him and move him from the Bugti tribal territory in the garb of medical treatment in Europe,” he claimed.

On the post-attack visit to Dera Bugti by Shujaat and Mushahid, he said they wanted to make a passage for the troops to launch a bigger ground attack on the tribe and demanded the Bugti tribesmen vacate their positions and in return the army would vacate its positions in the nearby hills.

Related:

Jamil Bugti Interview from 2007

Is Baluchistan becoming another East Pakistan?

Interview with BNP secretary general Habib Jalib

Baloch vs the Government or Government vs the Baloch

While Rehman ‘Nai’ Malik continues with his lies, claiming all missing persons from Balochistan are “actually getting training in terrorist camps in Balochistan”, and his bitches, the Frontier Corps (FC) try to show their ‘mettle’ by targeting young journalists and newspapers in Balochistan in their attempts to suppress the facts,  the struggle that can not be suppressed continues….

(The material below is reproduced from Balochwarna site that — like many others about Balochistan — are being blocked in Pakistan under the sorry excuse of “blasphemy”)

Owais Ghani — LIAR!

 I just watched the last part of Jawab Deyh (June 28, 2009) and was surprised by:

1. How blatantly Owais Ghani was lying, and
2. Iftikhar Ahmed’s failure to catch him

Here is the transcript of the last 5 minutes of the show. (My comments are between [ ]):

Iftikhar Ahmed (IA): Aap nay aik martaba kaha aadhi baat mat karo. Ab koi baat chupai nahi ja sakti. HamaiN khul ker baat kerni chahiyay. Don’t do shuf-shuffle, shaftalu…

Awais Ghani(AG): Yay aik pashto meiN misal hay. Shuf shuf mat karo nahi kerni chahiyay “Khul ker bat kerni chahiyay”

IA: Akbar Bugti ko kiss nay mara?

AG: Sir, acha. OK, Ab meiN explain ker dayta houN. Wohan bhi aik insurgency key kafiat THee jis kay khilaf military action hua. Again wo military action rad-e-aml meiN hua. Rocket – rocketing hui- Kohlu mein bhi and Quetta mein bhi aap ko yad ho ga – us kay rad-e-aml mein hua. Is meiN aksar yey mujh say poocha giya hay. Jawab meiN maiN nay kaha hay ‘DeykhaN jee, Aik citizen hota hay aik mulk ka. Us waqt tak us ko aaeen aur kanoon tahafuz dayta hay jab tak wo aaeen aur qanoon kay dairay mein rahay. Jub wo us dairay say bahir ho jai to us ko qanoon tahafooz nahi dayta.’ Unfortunately wohan per aaysay halat payda ho gaay kay us meiN aik khulam khula larai shuru ho gai halaN kay action … [Here he justifies the killing basically stating Bugti deserved it as he had stepped out from under the protection provided by law and the constitution. I of course disagree as he was still a citized]

Balochistan is the Ultimate Prize

(Part 2 of the series by Pepe Escobar titled “Rebranding the Long War”. Part 1: Obama does his Bush impression )

It’s a classic case of calm before the storm. The AfPak chapter of Obama’s brand new OCO (“Overseas Contingency Operations”), formerly GWOT (“global war on terror”) does not imply only a surge in the Pashtun Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). A surge in Balochistan as well may be virtually inevitable. 

Balochistan is totally under the radar of Western corporate media. But not the Pentagon’s. An immense desert comprising almost 48% of Pakistan’s area, rich in uranium and copper, potentially very rich in oil, and producing more than one-third of Pakistan’s natural gas, it accounts for less than 4% of Pakistan’s 173 million citizens. Balochs are the majority, followed by Pashtuns. Quetta, the provincial capital, is considered Taliban Central by the Pentagon, which for all its high-tech wizardry mysteriously has not been able to locate Quetta resident “The Shadow”, historic Taliban emir Mullah Omar himself.