COMMENT : The way forward? — Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur

There is a long history of state-fabricated excuses to deny the Baloch their rights, albeit like the wolf and lamb fable, they eventually do not need any excuse

The new prime minister (PM) has the age-old agenda of suppressing Baloch aspirations with brute force as his topmost priority and his statements are a dead giveaway of the impending crackdown that people in Balochistan may soon experience. At a two-day National Workshop on ‘Balochistan Situation: Perceptions and Realities — the Way Forward,’ at the military-run National Defence University (NDU) in Islamabad, he said — as was appropriate for the venue and the organisers — that if the ‘unrest in small pockets’ was not quelled immediately, it might spill over into other areas. He vowed to eliminate the ‘handful of elements’ who were destabilising Balochistan. His pronouncements are ominous portents of the intensification of the crackdown on the Baloch, who have been relentlessly pursued since 1948. Unsurprisingly, the attendees from Balochistan at the NDU were mostly those who have always openly or tacitly seconded, supported and lauded the atrocities against the Baloch. The way forward at the NDU, it seems, is the use of untrammeled force against the Baloch.

Stop Arbitrary Arrests, Unlawful Detentions, Torture, and Summary Executions of Baloch Civilians in Iran:

Toronto: Baloch Human Rights Council (Canada) has expressed serious concerns over the deteriorating human rights situation in Balochistan under the theocratic Iranian regime. The human rights body noted that the autocratic practices of the Iranian state and its ruling clergy are spiraling out of control in repressing the rights and freedoms of Baloch people and their cultural identity.

In a statement released by BHRC, the ongoing civil unrest and arbitrary detentions of civilians in the various towns of District Sarbaaz and Zahidan (Iranian Balochistan) were largely a result of the fascist regime’s continuous policy of discrimination toward Baloch people and the oppressed nationalities in Iran.

Two employees of Balochistan Education Department abducted near Quetta

Quetta : As the top judge of Pakistan’s Supreme Court tries to resolve the issue of forced disappearances, two more Baloch men have been abducted from Dasht area near Quetta, the capital of Balochistan.
According to details Master Ghous Baksh Bugti and Ali Nawaz Bugti were on the way from Quetta to their hometown Sui when the personnel of Pakistan’s intelligence agencies intercepted their vehicle and abducted them. The driver of the vehicle has been hospitalised because of brutal tortured inflicted on him by the security personnel.

Both abducted men are employees of Education Department in Balochistan. Master Ghous Baksh Bugti is a teacher by profession whereas Ali Nawaz Bugti also works in the educational department. The relatives of the men fear that their lives are in extreme danger as the intelligence agencies often inhumanely tortures abducted Baloch in their secret torture cells and subsequently kill and dump their dead bodies on desolated places.