Tens of thousands of protesters, including women and children, blocked an expressway leading to Gwadar port on Sunday after what they said was the government’s failure to meet a Nov 20 deadline to implement their demands.
The rally participants — fishermen, students and labourers led by Gwadar Haq Do Tehreek’s leader Maulana Hidayatur Rehman — marched towards Gwadar port and raised slogans against the government.
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Faced with mounting challenges, it remains unclear whether Islamabad and Beijing will reassess their policies and intentions.
by Divyanshu Jindal
Due to years of policymaking blunders, sponsorship of terrorism, suppressing ethnic minorities’ human rights, and asymmetrical political-military relations, Pakistan is facing more challenges today than it can handle.
Pakistan’s woes are multi-fold. First, just six months after massive protests against China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in Balochistan, the region is again brimming with discontent. On the economic front, Islamabad is desperately courting friendly countries and looking to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to rescue the country from a debt default. Meanwhile, recent attacks on Chinese workers and concerns over the slow progress of BRI-related projects have put foreign investment issues back in the news.
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Gwadar with deeper Chinese involvement will become the new battleground of Baloch nationalism versus the Pakistani establishment and Chinese interests
Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur
When a person, in his opening lines, terms the May 28, 1998 Chaghai nuclear explosion as historic, it creates misgivings about the purpose of that write up. Mr Usama Nizamani in his article “Gwadar: an emerging paradigm for Pakistan and the region” (Daily Times, March 19, 2013) did just that. Celebrating any nuclear explosion as historic is a downright insult to the memory of Hiroshima and Nagasaki’s victims. It is analogous to celebrating ‘small pox’ and ‘Black Death’ as a blessing for mankind. A nuclear explosion that killed a mountain and adversely affects those living there can only be trumpeted as historic by those bent on destroying the world.
Continue readingFiled under Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur
تحریر: میر محمد علی ٹالپر
ترجمہ : لطیف بلیدی
مجھے ہمیشہ تعجب ہوتا ہے کہ بلوچ کو یہ بتانا کیوں ضروری ہے کہ وہ محب وطن اور پاکستان کے وفادار ہیں
چند روزقبل اسلام آباد کے نصب کیے ہوئے بلوچستان کے مبینہ طور پر مڈل کلاس سے تعلق رکھنے والے قومپرست وزیر اعلیٰ ڈاکٹر عبدالمالک نے ایک اجلاس میں کہا کہ انہوں نے مقامی لوگوں کو ان کی احساس محرومی دور کرنے کیلئے بڑے منصوبوں، بشمول چین پاکستان اقتصادی راہداری (سی پی ای سی) کے، میں شامل کرنے کا فیصلہ کیا ہے۔ انہوں نے اور کمانڈر سدرن کمانڈ لیفٹیننٹ جنرل عامر ریاض نے اس بات کا اعادہ کیا کہ سی پی ای سی خطے میں اقتصادی سرگرمیوں کو فروغ دیگی اور ایک بڑی تعداد میں روزگار کے مواقع پیدا کریگی۔ جنرل نے یہ بھی کہا کہ بلوچستان کے عوام محب وطن اور پاکستان کے وفادار ہیں۔ مجھے ہمیشہ تعجب ہوتا ہے کہ بلوچ کو یہ بتانا کیوں ضروری ہے کہ وہ محب وطن اور پاکستان کے وفادار ہیں؛ شاید اسٹابلشمنٹ یہ سوچتی ہے کہ اگر اس منتر کو مسلسل دہرایا جائے تو آخرکار بلوچ اپنے حقوق سے دستبردار ہوجائینگے اور راولپنڈی اور اسلام آباد کی ٹیبلوں سے بطور صدقہ جو کچھ بھی ان کی طرف پھینکا جائے وہ اسے قبول کرلیں گے۔
Filed under Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur
I always wonder why the Baloch have to be told that they are patriots and loyal to Pakistan
A few days back, Dr. Abdul Malik, the Islamabad-installed, allegedly middle-class nationalist Chief Minister (CM) of Balochistan, in a meeting said they had decided to engage the local people in major projects, including the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), to remove their sense of deprivation. He and the Commander Southern Command, Lieutenant General Aamir Riaz, reiterated that the CPEC would boost economic activity and create a large number of jobs in the region. The General also said that the people of Balochistan were patriots and loyal to Pakistan. I always wonder why the Baloch have to be told that they are patriots and loyal to Pakistan; perhaps the establishment thinks that if this mantra is constantly repeated, eventually the Baloch will forsake their rights and accept whatever is thrown to them in charity from the tables in Rawalpindi and Islamabad.
Filed under Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur
Collateral Damage magazine had the honour of interviewing Khalil Baloch, the Chairman of the Baloch National Movement, Balochistan’s largest nationalist party. The interview was conducted by Jahanzeb Hussain, the editor of Collateral Damage
Why is there widespread resentment in Balochistan against the mega projects such as the Gawadar port project?
First of all, I would like to clarify that Balochistan is a colony of Pakistan. Our exploitation began the day when our land was conquered and turned into a colony. From plundering our resources to denying us our cultural rights, the colonial state posses all the tools of exploitation. The mega projects that you have mentioned are also part of the colonial exploitation. On one hand, the Pakistani state wants to capture rent by letting China access global markets through the warm-water port of Gawadar and, on the other hand, the state wants to alter the demographic balance of Balochistan in order to turn us into strangers in our own lands.
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گوادرچین کی گہری وابستگی کے سبب، پاکستانی اسٹابلشمنٹ اور چینی مفادات کے درمیان، بلوچ قومپرستی کا نیا میدان جنگ بن جائے گا
Filed under Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur, Write-up
Gwadar with deeper Chinese involvement will become the new battleground of Baloch nationalism versus the Pakistani establishment and Chinese interests
When a person, in his opening lines, terms the May 28, 1998 Chaghai nuclear explosion as historic, it creates misgivings about the purpose of that write up. Mr Usama Nizamani in his article “Gwadar: an emerging paradigm for Pakistan and the region” (Daily Times, March 19, 2013) did just that. Celebrating any nuclear explosion as historic is a downright insult to the memory of Hiroshima and Nagasaki’s victims. It is analogous to celebrating ‘small pox’ and ‘Black Death’ as a blessing for mankind. A nuclear explosion that killed a mountain and adversely affects those living there can only be trumpeted as historic by those bent on destroying the world.
Filed under Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur, Write-up
With militarisation of Gwadar Port not only Baloch will suffer but also the region and the world peace will face threats too: Mehran Baloch
GENEVA: China has asserted that Gwadar Port project is not only in the best interest of Pakistan and China but also in the best interest of the region’s development.
The Chinese representative spoke in favour of Pakistan-China friendship after nationalist leader Mehran Baloch, the Baloch Representative to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), used his speech to the United Nation’s 22nd general debate session of HRC to allege that Balochistan’s natural resources are being exploited by Pakistan with help from China.
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Geneva: Mehran Baluch, Baloch Representative to the United Nations Human Rights Council, speaks at UN’s 22nd Session of HRC on 10 March 2013. Item 4 (General Debate) Human rights situations that require the Council’s attention.
Chinese delegation asks point of order and tries to justify China-Pakistan exploitation of Balochistan specially Gwardar Port
Baluch Sarmachar 