What Have the Balochi Done to Deserve Such Treatment?

The Balochistan population (Baloch, Pashtun, Brahvi, Hazarra and settlers) are not adequately represented in the Federal decision and policy making, economic exploitation which is akin to the circumstances surrounding the 1971 East Pakistan debacle. The fact is that the 1973 Constitution is contradictory in its articles and fundamental rights enshrined in it. Articles 1, 246, [...]

Defending Establishment of Cantonments in Balochistan

The Punjab Forum has said that construction of cantonments should not be abandoned in restive Balochistan province as it will encourage elements destabilising Pakistan. Putting Balochistan cantonment plan on hold will help America, Afghanistan and India to play their dirty game on Pakistani soil, it said. In a statement, the Punjab Forum said that limiting [...]

Is Kharotabad in Quetta a Taliban Base?

Kharotabad: A Taliban safe haven By Qaiser Butt October 17, 2011 People in Kharotabad are living in constant fear of possible drone attacks in their neighbourhood, considering that over the past six months, the Afghan and local Taliban seemed to covet this part of Quetta as a veritable ‘vacation spot’. Every four months, Taliban fighters [...]

Miners in Balochistan Miserable Despite Peoples’ Government

Last week, five miners died  http://www.dawn.com/2011/10/14/five-die-in-mastung-coal-mine-explosion.html ] after an underground explosion at a coalmine in the Zarkhu area of Balochistan’s Mastung District, some 50km south of Quetta. It was a methane gas explosion, there were many workers about 500m below the surface when the explosion occurred and a fire broke out, preventing escape. Such accidents [...]

Balochistan is an Active Volcano

By Huzaima Bukhari & Dr Ikramul Haq February 22, 2012 The great poet, Faiz Ahmad Faiz, on his return from a visit to Dhaka in the wake of dismemberment of Pakistan composed ‘Dhaka say wapsi par’ (On returning from Dhaka) depicting the agony and pain of the separation between the two wings of the country [...]

Balochistan Being Treated as East Pakistan in 1971

The situation of Balochistan is no different to that of the former East Pakistan (Bangladesh) when the military carried out operations and killed more than 300,000 people in the guise of protecting ideological boundaries. The government does not consider extrajudicial killings anything out of the ordinary and one of the reasons for this is that [...]

The Disappeared in Balochistan: HRW Report Summary

“Even if the president or chief justice tells us to release you, we won’t. We can torture you, or kill you, or keep you for years at our will. It is only the Army chief and the intelligence chief that we obey.”   – Pakistani official to Bashir Azeem, the 76-year-old secretary-general of the Baloch [...]

Dirty war from Bangladesh to Balochistan

By Ali Baloch The Pakistani state is violating the international laws since her creation on 14th august 1947. The Pakistan first started violating the international norms by the military aggression and forceful occupation of the sovereign state of the Balochistan on 27th march 1948.The Baloch nation is fighting the illegal Pakistani occupation of the Balochistan [...]

Does the Judiciary ve the Power to Take Action against the Intelligence Agencies?

“We cannot eat, we cannot sleep — we can only hope and that hope is fast dwindling so we pray that our loved ones will be returned to us.” On April 13, 2011 the three member bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan led by Justice Javaid Iqbal heard the cases of the missing persons. [...]

Constant Bodies Surfacing in Balochistan

by Declan Welsh/ Guardian The bodies surface quietly, like corks bobbing up in the dark. They come in twos and threes, a few times a week, dumped on desolate mountains or empty city roads, bearing the scars of great cruelty. Arms and legs are snapped; faces are bruised and swollen. Flesh is sliced with knives [...]