Why this indifference towards Baloch?

Written by: Rahim Baloch

On August 4,1947, a conference was held in Delhi, presided over by Viceroy of the British India, Lord Mountbatten, and attended by the ruler of Balochistan, the Khan of Kalat, and representatives of the proposed state of Pakistan for determining the status of the Kalat state (Balochistan).

The three parties had agreed that Kalat was not a part of India, rather an independent state having treaty relations with Britain; therefore, not bound by the partition act to join either India or Pakistan.

CPEC Represents Colonization of Balochistan by China and Pakistan

A senior teaching fellow and a PhD candidate at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) has said that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) represents the colonization of Pakistan for the enrichment of China.

Speaking at the conference “Wall of Silence: Human rights in Balochistan“, Burzine Waghmar said Pakistan’s statehood is based on a fragile framework with no national basis in which Pakistani military acts with no legitimacy and with violence against local populations.

Baloch Political Parties Protest Worldwide on Human Rights Day

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Geneva : Observing International Human Rights Day on December 10, Baloch political activists around the world, including the UK, Canada, Australia, South Korea, Germany and many other European nations – held protests against the atrocities committed by the Pakistan establishment on their people back home.

Baloch National Movement (BNM), Baloch Republican Party (BRP), Baloch Students Organization-Azad (BSO-A) and Balcoh Republican Students Organization (BRSO) held protests in Australia, Canada, Germany, South Korea, Switzerland and the United Kingdom against Pakistani war crimes. The protests were attended by Baloch expatriates and local human rights and political activists.

Dec 10: International Human Rights Day

Pak Army Extra-Judicially Kills 18-year-old Latif Baloch in Custody

BALOCHISTAN: An unknown dead body was found in Absar Turbat, district Kech in the morning of 16th October, 2016. The body remained unknown for several hours and was later recognized as Babul Salman, perhaps a guess was made on the looks and the age which had some similarities to that of a Babul.

On the next day it was confirmed that the dead body found was not of any Babul, but of Latif Baloch, a shepherd who was abducted by Pakistani security forces during the military operation in Awaran on 5th of October. Same military operation caused Hasil (Qazi), a local leader of Baloch Students Organization – Azad (BSO-Azad), dead in the shelling of military helicopters in the region.

Baloch Prisoner Discloses Tortures Endured In Iran Prisons And Calls For Justice

NCRI – According to reports, Ajab Gol Nour Zehi, a Baluch prisoner and resident of Iranshahr in Sistan & Baluchistan province, in a report revealed a part of horrific and medieval tortures imposed on him by the government agents in prisons.

He writes in part of his report:

“They ruthlessly subjected me to beating with cables on the head and face and back such that after nearly one and half years the signs of the flogging with cables can be seen on my body.

After Modi’s remarks, Pak media has started mentioning Balochistan: Analysts

“There has been a deliberate attempt to keep the two issues separate,” he said. “One is seen as a humanitarian crisis while the other is our internal matter that is being blown up by India to embarrass us.”

By: Imtiaz Ahmad, Hindustan Times, Islamabad

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks on Balochistan may have achieved little on the ground but Baloch activists and independent analysts say they have brought the unrest in Pakistan’s largest province into focus once again.

But the Pakistani media has, by and large, stayed away from discussing the human rights situation in Balochistan, including the issues of thousands of “missing persons” or victims of enforced disappearances.

Human Right Violations: Latest reports of Pakistani state atrocities in Balochistan

BALOCHISTAN:  Pakistani forces continue their rampage and brutalities across Balochistan as the issue of long ignored Baloch conflict once again came to the limelight after Indian Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi has mentioned Balochistan in his Independence Day speech at Red Fort.

On 8^th  August, a suicide bomber killed more than 80 people including 40 Baloch and Pashtun lawyers in an attack at Civil Hospital Quetta where  the lawyers had gathered to pay their final respects to their colleague and the president of Balochistan Bar Council, shot dead earlier in the  same day. The Pakistan army chief declared the attack as ‘an attack on CPEC (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor)’ and order ‘combing operation’ in Balochistan.

Educationist, student, teacher abducted; four killed by Pak security forces

Akhtar Ashraf

BALOCHISTAN: Pakistani security forces conducted a house-to-house search operation in Kolwahi Bazar of Apsar in Balochistan’s Kech district, the home town of ex-chief minister Dr. Malik Baloch, on 12th of August 2016.

Seven persons were picked up by Pakistani security forces in this operation, locals say. One of the abductees is 25 years old Akhtar Ashraf, who is a fresh graduate, a Masters student for English Literature at the Balochistan University’s Turbat campus.

The Pakistani Army is using Baloch citizens as human shields. BNM

The Pakistani Army is using Baloch citizens as human shields by setting up military camps and detention centers inside Baloch populations by encroaching on schools, colleges and community centers. Pakistani military units deployed within Baloch populations often resort to indiscriminate revenge shelling on the surrounding population whenever they suffer losses at the hands of Baloch Resistance Fighters.

The Pakistani Army is also forcing Baloch civilians to act as cover for its military convoys by coercing Baloch civilians to travel with its convoys.