20 March 2009

Pakistan: Al-Qaida, Taliban are not in Baluchistan

REPORTED BY BALOCHONLINE.COM


WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pakistan government does not believe Taliban or al-Qaidaofficials have moved from the tribal border region to Pakistan'ssouthwestern-most province and would oppose expanding U.S. drone strikes there,a government official said Wednesday.The Pakistani reaction followed a New York Times report Tuesday that the Obamaadministration is considering proposals to expand air strikes into the provinceof Baluchistan to target al-Qaida and Taliban officials.U.S. intelligence officials believe some militant leaders have fled there toavoid the U.S. drone attacks in the lawless tribal region to the north. Theproposals are part of an ongoing larger review of U.S strategy in Pakistan andAfghanistan to counter terrorist organizations and help stabilize bothcountries, according to the Times."As far as we're concerned we do not think Taliban leadership or al-Qaida arepresent in Baluchistan or Quetta as some suggest," said a Pakistan embassyofficial, who asked for anonymity to discuss the sensitive intelligence issue."If there is any evidence of Taliban or al-Qaida, we are available forintelligence sharing and we will take immediate action," the official said."Pakistan has repeatedly objected to Predator drone strikes in the FederalAdministered Tribal Areas along Pakistan's northwest frontier with Afghanistan,believed by U.S. intelligence to be home to al-Qaida leaders. The Hellfiremissile strikes sometimes kill innocent bystanders and Pakistani officials saythey inflame anti-American sentiment.Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi declined to comment specificallyon the possibility of expanding the covert war into Baluchistan, but reiteratedWednesday that the U.S. had agreed to review the overall policy of dronestrikes."We have made them agree to think over it," he said. "In the next interaction,there is a chance to put this issue up for further discussion."Asked about reports that Pakistan has allowed the U.S. to use bases on its soilto land and launch the unmanned drones behind the missile strikes, Qureshi saidthe country "has not given uses of its bases for kinetic strikes."He declined to elaborate further, although the statement left open thepossibility that Pakistan hosts drones that simply conduct surveillance. Sen.Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, saidat a hearing last month that Pakistan allowed the aircraft to operate fromPakistani air bases.The White House's Afghan war strategy review is expected to place an onus onPakistan to contain extremism, according to defense and administration officialswho said it could be completed as early as this week.The in-house review coordinated by the White House National Security Councillays out objectives over three to five years, although that doesn't necessarilymean the U.S. military could leave in that time, defense officials said.The White House objectives were expected to roughly parallel 15 goals containedin a 20-page classified report to the White House from the Joint Chiefs ofStaff. Among them were getting rid of terrorist safe havens in Pakistan andadopting a regional approach to reducing the threat of terrorism and extremismin both countries.The U.S. goal in Afghanistan must be to protect Kabul's fragile government fromcollapsing under pressure from the Taliban, which can only be achieved bysecuring Pakistan's cooperation, increasing substantially the size ofAfghanistan's national security forces and boosting economic aid in the region,according to senior military and intelligence officials.

UN officials to meet Hyrbair Marri in London

Reported By Muhammad Baloch

London: UN has contacted Hyrbair Marri and appealed him to play his role tosecure the release of UN official Mr Solecki. The UN representatives areexpected to meet Mr Marri on Wednesday in London. Mr Marri has made it clearthat the pakistani govt or people in govt like IG FC Saleem Nawaz are directlyblaming Brahumdagh bugti and other Baloch leaders for Mr Solecki's abduction. Ifthe UN also blame Brahumdagh Bugti or any other Baloch leader for Jhon Solecki'sabduction, then in such circumstances he cannot mediate.UN officials assured Mr Marri that they do not believe in IG FC's statement anddo not blame Brahumdagh or any other Baloch leader. The UN is aware of thesituation in Balochistan. "UN has only contacted you (Hyrbair Marri) because weregard you as a Baloch leader and a representative of Baloch people exile". Thedemands of Baloch Organization (BLUF) have been passed on to Pakistaniauthorities and they have been asked to secure the release of Baloch politicalprisoners.UN representative said that they will discuss the list with Mr Marri as wellduring their expected meeting in London on Wednesday. Two weeks earlier TwoAmerican high-rank officials also visited Mr Marri and discussed the situationin Balochistan. They too request Mr Marri to play his role for the safe releaseof Mr Solecki.

And Now Drones For Balochistan?

No one in Pakistan will support the reported plans in Washington to extend American drone attacks from the Tribal Areas to the already disturbed province of Balochistan. The Foreign Office in Islamabad has dismissed the news about the broadening of attacks published in the New York Times as speculation, and the Frontier Corps commander in Balochistan has rejected the allegation made in the report that the Taliban supporters were hiding in Quetta.
Incidentally, the NYT story was contradicted the next day by the Washington Post which said that the US military was reluctant to extend the area of operations of the drones. Even so, it does seem like some people in Washington are giving the option a thought.
No one in Pakistan will support the reported plans in Washington to extend American drone attacks from the Tribal Areas to the already disturbed province of Balochistan. The Foreign Office in Islamabad has dismissed the news about the broadening of attacks published in the New York Times as speculation, and the Frontier Corps commander in Balochistan has rejected the allegation made in the report that the Taliban supporters were hiding in Quetta. Incidentally, the NYT story was contradicted the next day by the Washington Post which said that the US military was reluctant to extend the area of operations of the drones. Even so, it does seem like some people in Washington are giving the option a thought.
The government has already taken a tough stand on the bombing of the Tribal Areas by the CIA drones. It is politically incorrect to support a signal to the people of Pakistan that its sovereignty is being violated with the consent of anyone in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Coping with drones in Balochistan will present Pakistan with another challenge, perhaps more dangerous than the one faced by the collateral damage already being caused in the Tribal Areas.
One can say that the drones now belong to the biggest area of disagreement between the US and Pakistan. The political fallout from this disagreement is not benefiting the government in Islamabad, more so when some quarters question the sincerity of the government in seeking to stop the drone attacks. Did Pakistan ever allow these attacks? General Musharraf (Retd) says he didn't, but if the drones land or take off from the landing facilities provided to the US by Pakistan, then the claim is hardly credible.
The "drone policy" couldn't be changed in January this year when President Zardari put the issue before the visiting US Central Command (CENTCOM) General David Petraeus. The expansion of this policy to Balochistan will hardly be changed if Pakistan protests afresh. There are problems on the Pakistani side that we must take seriously. In the tribal Areas and in Balochistan, Pakistan hardly has any writ of the state. It has got so bad that the government is not able to secure innocent people against the violence of external and internal actors whose existence we deny.
Just because the people of Pakistan don't mind the presence of Al Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban it doesn't mean that the world would stop feeling threatened by them. For instance, it is quite beside the point that the FC commander in Balochistan denies the presence of the Afghan Taliban in Quetta. The corpus of evidence to the contrary, both inside Quetta and just outside it, is too big at the international level to be ignored. Quetta's proximity to the troubled region of Kandahar in Afghanistan compels the cross-border squads of the Taliban to embed themselves in drone-free Balochistan.
While some quarters in Washington disapprove of the drone attacks if they alienate America's ally Pakistan, others are impressed by the targets the drones have succeeded in striking. That the drones have unsettled Al Qaeda in the Tribal Areas and forced it to go on the defensive rather than steal initiative of action against Pakistani authorities also impresses the world if it doesn't Pakistan. Some surveys, like the one done by The Aryana Institute for Regional Research and Advocacy, a think tank in Peshawar, show that the "victims" of the Taliban actually welcome the drone attacks.
But Balochistan is going to present Pakistan with bigger problems than the Tribal Areas if the drones start operating there. The Baloch insurgents there have taken to kidnapping officials of the international agencies as an instrument of pressure in their dialogue with the Pakistan government. The one important person they now have in custody is UNHCR's Johan Solecki, an American national. While the UN is trying its best to get him released it can't be ruled out that the CIA might choose to strike the Baloch insurgents in addition to their declared target, the Taliban.
Source: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009%5C03%5C20%5Cstory_20-3-2009_pg3_1

19 March 2009

Appeal for UNHCR chief in Baluchestan

REPORTED BY BALOCHMEDIA.COM



The United Nations once again appeals to kidnappers as they are "extremelyconcerned" about the health of their employee John Solecki. The UN is callingfor the immediate release of Solecki "without harm", and called on the captorsto "contact us, if not directly, then through a trusted intermediary so that thesituation can be resolved in a peaceful dialogue," our Press TV correspondentreported on Friday.Solecki, 49, the head of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees inQuetta Baluchestan, was kidnapped on Feb. 2 after gunmen ambushed his car andkilled his driver in Quetta, the provincial capital of southwestern Baluchistanprovince.The UN said it had been told by the abductors that Solecki's health wasdeteriorating, and expressed concern that his health could become lifethreatening. Solecki, a former Demarest resident, requires medication for acondition that has not been identified, the UN said.The Baluchistan Liberation United Front (BLUF), a little known armed groupbehind the abduction, has threatened to kill Solecki, unless the UN acts on itsdemand.The BLUF spokesman, Mir Shahiq Baluch, has rejected a plea for directnegotiations and has said that the UN should look into the cases of 141 womenallegedly held by Pakistani authorities and wok to have them released.They have also demanded assistance in the recovery of 6,000 missing persons andthe resolution of the issue of Baluch independence aspirations, ourcorrespondent reported."We have extended the deadline to give more time to the United Nations so thatit could meet our demands," our correspondent quoted Baluch as saying.

Two FC men missing in Dera Bugti


QUEETA—Frontier Corps Balochistan personnel on Wednesday started hectic efforts for recovery of the two FC men who had gone missing on Tuesday night, an FC press release issued here said. It said that the two FC men went missing when they were on patrolling duty for security of gas pipeline in Kachhi canal area of Sui tehsil in Dera Bugti district. The militants might be involved behind the abduction of the FC personnel, press release added.It said that FC personnel had been deployed in the area and its surroundings for safe recovery of the two missing FC men in the district..
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16 March 2009

From Pakistan To Cardiff: The King Of Kalat

REPORTED BY BALOCHONLINE.COM


A royal asylum-seeker wants to stop the Taliban and win independence for hisBaluch people ... if only he could escape from South Wales. In an anonymouspebble-dashed semi-detached house on the outskirts of Cardiff, a powerfullybuilt, bearded man with a green prayer cap looks through a folio of 19th-centuryletters sent by the British Government to his kingdom . Jerome Taylor reportsStashed in overflowing plastic bags and a tattered brown suitcase, some are evenwritten on pieces of animal skin. Rummaging through the case, he pulls out alarge piece of parchment, stained yellow with time and covered with lines ofelegant Persian script."This is the first treaty that was signed between my people and the British in1841," he says. "It was the first piece of paper signed by the British thatrecognised the state of Kalat."Welcome to the humble Welsh abode of His Royal Highness Khan Suleman Daud, the35th Khan of Kalat.Until three years ago, Khan Suleman's house was a sumptuous desert palace on awindswept ridge in Baluchistan – the mountainous and mineral-rich Pakistaniprovince where separatists have waged an insurgency to carve out their ownindependent state for much of the past 60 years.Whenever the Khan left his palace in his two armour-plated, gold Humvees, hewould be accompanied by dozens of armed bodyguards. One of western Pakistan'smost influential tribal leaders, he commanded the loyalty and respect ofthousands of Baluch tribesmen and had long angered Pakistan's militaryestablishment by campaigning for independence, though he opposes armedresistance.The Khan was forced to flee after being targeted for speaking out against thePakistani military's well-documented human rights abuses. He now whiles away hisdays as an anonymous asylum-seeker in south Wales, separated from his people by4,000 miles and trapped in the seemingly everlasting limbo of Britain'simmigration system.He left Pakistan after the military assassination of Akbar Khan Bugti, 79, thesoft-spoken, Oxford-educated, separatist leader accused by the Pakistanis ofco-ordinating the shadowy Baluchistan Liberation Army (BLA)."I want more than anything to return to my homeland, but I cannot at themoment," said the Khan. "If I returned to Pakistan, my life would be in dangerbecause the military regard me as a threat. And yet, everything I have is backin Kalat. Back home, I have palaces, vast amounts of land, the respect and loveof my people. Here I am in limbo, living in a three bedroom house in Cardiff."That someone as influential as the Khan has ended up as an asylum-seeker inBritain – a country that he says "betrayed" the Baluch people – offers a21st-century snapshot of colonial fall-out.Locating Khan Suleman's kingdom on a map of the world is difficult but, lessthan a century ago, the Khanate of Kalat was a thriving confederacy of tribesspread across much of what is now western Pakistan, southern Afghanistan andsouth-eastern Iran.Populated by fiercely independent Baluch warriors, Kalat retained much of itsindependence from the British as the Raj's political agents spread throughoutthe sub-continent, toppling, bribing and replacing its regional leaders as theywent.Regarded as too wild to tame but a useful buffer against Russians, the Baluchwere allowed to keep their sovereignty. Although successive treaties chippedaway at their territory, the Khans of Kalat remained the region's most powerfulindependent rulers.As the Partition of India loomed, Khan Suleman's grandfather, Ahmad Yar Khan,was assured that the Baluch would be allowed to keep their independence. A dealwas struck whereby Kalat and the new state of Pakistan would be independent ofeach other but would share currency, foreign policy and defence equally.Yet, after just six months of independence, the Pakistani military stormed inand forced Ahmed Yar Khan to cede his khanate to Pakistan. Forgotten by theWest, Baluchi separatists have since fought five insurgencies to try to clawback their independence from Pakistan's central government, which has respondedwith massacres, large scale disappearances and torture."The British treated us treacherously and pushed us into a union withPakistan," said the Khan as he prepared a traditional Baluchi dish of roastchicken and spicy meat cutlets. "We had no desire to be part of Pakistan but wewere ignored and the agreement was eventually forced down our throats. Till thevery last moment, they kept us in the dark. All the time we were assured thatthe Baluch would keep their independent state but instead we were sold down theriver."Yet Britain's historical behaviour in his homeland is not the only thingbothering this tribal leader."I applied for asylum on 14 July 2007," he said. "I even put myself forward forthe fast-track scheme, yet here we are, nearly two years later, still waitingfor a response. I have been stonewalled by virtually every official we have comeacross." When the Khan went to register as an asylum-seeker in Croydon, he wassurrounded by buzzing immigration officials, keen to see his passport which says"His Highness". "It is very different to how other Pakistani leaders have beentreated."The Government welcomed other exiled Pakistani politicians such as Nawaz Sharifand Benazir Bhutto during their own spells in the wilderness. Both former primeministers spent years in London during their spats with the then-militarydictator, Pervez Musharraf, but never had to apply for asylum.The Khan had never intended to remain in Britain. At a loya jirga (tribalgathering) called after Bugti's assassination, he vowed to take the plight ofhis people to the International Court of Justice in The Hague in a bid to applyinternational pressure on the Pakistanis over their treatment of the Baluch.He was placed on a watch list by Mr Musharraf but managed to fly out undetectedfrom Karachi to perform the Hajj. When his British visa was rejected, he appliedfor asylum fearing deportation back to Pakistan. As a prospective asylum-seeker,he is unable to travel to The Hague and campaign for his people.The Khan believes the British have agreed to remain silent over Baluchistan andkeep him in limbo in return for Pakistan's co-operation in hunting down UK-bornIslamic radicals.Britain is the only country other than Pakistan to have proscribed the mainBaluchi separatist movements as terror groups. They only did so in 2005, afterMr Musharraf threatened to withdraw from talks aimed at securing the extraditionof Birmingham-born Rashid Rauf, the suspected ringleader of the transatlanticairliner bomb plot who was eventually killed by an unmanned US drone last year.The only Baluch nationals living in the UK to be charged under terrorlegislation were acquitted last month. Faiz Baluch, 27, and Hyrbyair Marri, 40,stood accused of being members of the BLA and encouraging terrorism overseas butthe jury found them not guilty. Their supporters claim the prosecution aimed tocurry favour with the Pakistanis.A devout Muslim, the Khan is critical of Islamic radicalism. But he worriesthat the continued repression of the Baluch, coupled with the de facto silencingof their tribal leaders, is forcing many formerly secular separatists into thearms of the Taliban instead.The Taliban have held little sway over the Baluchi tribes other than in andaround the provincial capital, Quetta. But Islamic radicalism appears to bespreading through the region. Two weeks ago, the Pakistani Taliban leadersannounced the creation of a new group, "Tehreek-e-Taliban Baluchistan".Marooned in his Cardiff semi, The Khan says he desperately wants to halt theradicalisation of the Baluch but no-one, it seems, is willing to listen to aking with no kingdom.Source:http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/from-pakistan-to-cardiff-the-king-of-kalat-1645740.html

15 March 2009

News : Firing on 2 trailers in Khuzdar

REPORTED BY JUMA BALOCH

Khuzdar: Unknown persons set a trailer on fire in Khuzdar yesterday. Driver wasinjured. According to details, unknown persons opened indiscriminate fire on twotrailers in Jeeva area near Khuzdar yesterday. One driver Naeem was injured inthe firing. later the attackers set a trailer on fire. The attackers and policealso exchanged fire in which no loss was reported. The unknown attackers thenfled form the scene.According to daily Asaap a prevously unheard organization Lashker-e-Balochistanclaimed responsibility for the firing on Trailers in Khuzdar.