حزب مردم بلوچستان Balochistan People’s Party بلوچستانءِ اُستمانءِ گــَل
Amir Mir
06-10-2006
Almost prophetically, writer and scholar Abul Maali Syed, evolving scenarios
for Pakistan in the year 2006 over 14 years ago, predicted, in his book The
Twin Era of Pakistan: Democracy and Dictatorship (New York: Vantage Press,
1992): “Who would have believed that Balochistan, once the least populated
and poorest province of unified Pakistan, would become independent and the
third richest oil-producing country after Saudi Arabia and
Kuwait?...Development in Balochistan was neglected and whenever a tribal
chief spoke about the plight of their people, the Pakistan government shoved
the barrel of a gun at him and silenced him. Today, having lost East
Pakistan, Balochistan, Sindh, and part of the Seraiki belt, Pakistan is
still entangled with Pakhtoon tribes on her northern border and is no more
in a strong position to hold on to the Pakhtoon area much longer.”
While this scenario is still far from realization, a cursory glance at
Balochistan in 2006 clearly shows that the situation in this strategically
important and largest province of Pakistan is following an ominous
trajectory, with Baloch nationalist violence escalating into what could soon
become a major insurgency. The law and order situation in Pakistan’s
resource-rich but poorest province continues to spin out of the government’s
control amidst a massive military operation being carried out against the
rebel nationalists who, as yet, are just demanding greater political
autonomy and a bigger share of revenues from their huge gas reserves and
other natural resources.
In a disturbing development that clearly demonstrates the growing alienation
of the Baloch people, especially after the brutal killing of veteran
nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti in a military operation, a grand
jirga has finally decided to move the International Court of Justice (ICJ)
over the violation of an agreement signed by the former State of Kalat, the
British Crown and the Government of Pakistan, in connection with the
sovereignty and the rights of the Baloch people, which were guaranteed at
the time of Balochistan’s accession to Pakistan.
The decision was taken at the second and conclusive round of the Grand Jirga
held in Quetta on October 1 and presided over by the Khan of Kalat. The
first jirga, held in Kalat on September 21 and attended by 85 tribal chiefs
and 300 elders, was convened after a gap of 126 years by Prince Suleman Daud,
the grandson of Ahmed Yar Khan, the last ruler of the Kalat Confederacy, in
consultation with other chiefs to support a unified action against the
government for their rights. The jirga participants unanimously declared
that their land was under the ‘colonial occupation’ of Punjab in violation
of the accession accord and thus the ICJ should be approached over the
59-year old breach of the agreement recognising Kalat State as an
independent unit. A few jirga participants even suggested that the ICJ
should be petitioned to review and revive the sovereign status of
Balochistan, as had been the case before its accession to Pakistan.
The jirga demanded an immediate end to the ongoing military operation,
describing it as state terrorism, and called for the release from prison of
all political activists. The participants rejected the decision by a tribal
jirga in Sui to abolish the sardari system in the Bugti area as a government
ploy and termed it an unwarranted interference in tribal affairs. The jirga
stressed that tribal matters should be resolved in accordance with tribal
customs and traditions. The participants demanded an inquiry by an
international human rights commission into Akbar Bugti’s killing; rejected
the mega development projects launched by the federal government and said
the Baloch would not recognise the development contracts signed by Islamabad
with international construction companies. And last but not least, the jirga
demanded the reunification of all divided Baloch lands.
Analysts view the convening of the jirga and making the demand for Baloch
sovereignty as a significant development because it shows a growing demand
within a federating unit for a new social contract. The geopolitical changes
on the international horizon in the post-Cold War period, together with the
devastating events related to 9/11, have already attached great importance
to the resource-rich province by dragging Pakistan into the new ‘Great
Game’, which is all about control of, and access to, the energy resources of
Central Asia. Besides gaining crucial importance for Pakistan because of its
vast reservoirs of natural gas and oil, Balochistan has become equally
important for the US, China, India, Central Asian Republics and Iran for
multiple reasons.
However, Pakistani military rulers have, since Independence, ignored the
fact that the country is multi-ethnic and multi-religious, and unitary
policies of an excessively centralised military order cannot work. The lack
of democracy since Musharraf’s 1999 coup has only increased the sense of
alienation among Sindhis, Pashtuns, Muhajirs and a host of smaller
nationalities. Successive khaki rulers, including Musharraf, have failed to
grasp the essentials of political management of the federal structure, and
have consistently preferred to deal with local issues through force, instead
of working out a fair relationship with the provinces. The repeated
intervention of the Army in national politics has created an unfortunate
situation where it has been held responsible for most if not all of the ills
of the country.
As things stand, Balochistan has been made the hub of illegal detentions and
mysterious disappearances of political activists and their family members.
According to unofficial estimates, around 5,000 political activists, the
relatives of political leaders and ordinary citizens of Balochistan are
being detained by the intelligence agencies on charges of having challenged
the writ of the state. The relatives of those detained usually have no
information regarding the whereabouts of their loved ones as most of them
have never been produced before any court of law.
In a related development, the International Crisis Group (ICG) has held
General Pervez Musharraf and the Pakistan Army responsible for the worsening
conflict in trouble-stricken Balochistan. The 2006 Asia report of the ICG
says that tensions between the government and its Baloch opposition have
grown because of Islamabad’s heavy-handed armed response to the Baloch
militancy and its refusal to negotiate demands for political and economic
autonomy. “The killing of Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti in August
2006 sparked riots and will likely lead to more confrontation. The conflict
could escalate if the government insists on seeking a military solution to
what is a political problem and the international community, especially the
US, fails to recognise the price that is involved for security in
neighbouring Afghanistan,” says the report.
The report further says that tensions with the central government are not
new to Balochistan, given the uneven distribution of power, which favours
the Centre at the cost of the federal units. “The Baloch people have long
demanded a restructured relationship that would transfer powers from what is
seen as an exploitative central government to the provinces. But Musharraf’s
authoritarian rule has deprived them of participatory, representative
avenues to articulate demands and to voice grievances. Politically and
economically marginalised, many Baloch are, therefore, compelled to see the
insurgency as a defensive response to the perceived colonisation of their
province by the Punjabi-dominated military establishment.”
The report says that while Baloch alienation is widespread, crossing tribal,
regional and class lines, the military government insists that only a
handful of tribal leaders are challenging the writ of the Centre, fearing
that their power base would be eroded by development. However, the report
adds, the military should recognise that it was facing conflict not with a
few sardars but with a broad-based movement for political, economic and
social empowerment. “The only way out is implement the recommendations of
the Parliamentary Committee on Balochistan in letter and spirit besides
amending the country’s constitution with a view to shift powers from an
overbearing Centre to the provinces,” the report recommends.
The report suggests that to win back the lost confidence of the Baloch
people, the government should end all military action, withdraw the army,
dismantle the military check posts, halt construction of military
cantonments, end the political role of intelligence agencies, allow
political parties to function freely, release political prisoners, accept
provincial jurisdiction over law and order, respect constitutionally
guaranteed political freedoms, meet Baloch concerns about the Gwadar Port
[by placing it under the provincial government’s control], ensure in Sui and
other oil and gas extraction projects that the well head value and natural
gas rates are at par with other provinces, make the provincial government a
party to all investment and development projects, meet the job quota for
Baloch recruitment in the armed forces and last but not the least, end all
practices violative of international human rights standards, including
torture, arbitrary arrests, detentions and extra-judicial killings.
On the other hand, instead of regretting the murder of Akbar Bugti, General
Musharraf continues to insist that his government would establish the writ
of the state at all costs by crushing the insurgents. But he must understand
that making good on that claim requires far more than military might. By
targeting Baloch nationalists and other political leaders and using
indiscriminate military force against them, the General would merely
perpetuate the conflict. In the process, his legitimacy would be damaged
further and the writ of the state he wants to establish would emerge far
weaker.
If the insurgency in Balochistan is the product of resentment against
centralised authoritarian rule and the refusal of the Centre to respect
constitutionally guaranteed provincial autonomy and democratic freedoms, the
Musharraf-led Army’s heavy-handed response has made matters worse. Under
these circumstances, the military-dominated Pakistani establishment would
have done well to heed the warning that the nationalist parties, which still
adhere to the constitutionally sanctioned rules of the political game, could
be forced to move towards more hardline positions.
In January 2006, six months before his assassination in the Kohlu area,
Nawab Akbar Bugti had said: “The denial of democratic rights and economic
deprivation has already compelled the people of Balochistan to take up arms.
It is an open war now.” With Bugti’s heroic and equally tragic death, the
Baloch nationalists, the political leadership as well as the militant
groups, all have hardened their stance towards the present military regime.
The writer is the former editor of Weekly Independent, currently affiliated
with Reuters and the Gulf News.
http://www.thepost.com.pk/OpinionNews.aspx?dtlid=62526&catid=11
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|
Arrested in Afghanistan:
Abdullah, 25, an Iranian jihadist 'rejected by the Taliban'
Officials claim there is a new stream of support for the insurgency coming from Iran Declan Walsh in Ghazni Monday October 2, 2006 The Guardian  Would-be recruit Abdullah waits in the Ghazni intelligence services offices for his transfer to Kabul. Photograph: Declan Walsh
Knock-kneed with fear,
the young prisoner perched on the edge of his chair in the
windowless Afghan intelligence office. Eyes bloodshot and hands
trembling, he blurted out his story.
Abdullah had reached the end of a pitifully short career as a Taliban fighter. He had been arrested hours earlier, just 10 days after signing up to the insurgency. But the 25-year-old with a soft face and a neat beard had something unusual that aroused the intelligence agents' curiosity. "I come from Iran," he said in a quavering voice, wringing his hands nervously. "They told me the Americans had invaded Afghanistan and I should go and fight jihad. But I was cheated. Now I am very sorry that I ever left." As a hurricane of Taliban violence tears across Afghanistan - the latest suicide bombing killed 10 people in Kabul on Saturday - accusations of foreign support have centred on Pakistan, where fighters can shelter, organise and rearm. But recently Afghan and western officials have started to detect a second, albeit far smaller, stream of support from within Afghanistan's other powerful neighbour, Iran. Military and diplomatic sources said they had received numerous reports of Iranians meeting tribal elders in Taliban-influenced areas, bringing offers of military or more often financial support for the fight against foreign forces. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the meetings took place in Helmand province, where more than 3,000 British troops are based, and neighbouring Nimroz, a lawless desert province bordering eastern Iran. Although the reports are hard to confirm due to security fears, officials say the direction of flow is unmistakable. "There's definitely an Iranian hand," insisted one western official, who said the phenomenon was being quietly monitored by western intelligence and militaries. A top-ranking Afghan military official said he had received similar information. "The Iranians were offering money and weapons. This is a very sensitive issue," he said. Identifying the source of the clandestine support is difficult. One foreign official with long experience in Afghanistan singled out Baluch militants from eastern Iran. The Baluch nationalists are violently struggling against the Tehran government and are also believed to be involved in the drugs trade. Iranian Baluchistan is one of the prime smuggling routes for heroin, so instability in Afghanistan - where nearly the entire world supply is sourced - is in the smugglers' interest. They also have ideological ties with the Taliban, especially through Jundullah (Soldiers of God), a militant group with an extremist interpretation of Islam. Dirty tricks Far more controversial are possible links with the Iranian state. One official with long experience in southern Afghanistan said elders from Nad Ali district in Helmand told him they had been visited by an Iranian intelligence officer six weeks ago. "They say he stayed two nights, trying to indoctrinate them and offering support," he said. As tensions rise between Tehran and the US over the nuclear issue, such interference makes geo-strategic sense. Continued turmoil in Afghanistan keeps the 40,000 foreign soldiers stationed there, half of them American, very busy. But others discount Iranian dirty tricks as being highly unlikely. When in power during the late 1990s, the Sunni-dominated Taliban were at daggers drawn with Iran's Shia government, which funnelled aid to the Taliban's enemies. Since 2001, Tehran has closely allied itself with President Hamid Karzai, sending aid and cooperating closely on combating cross-border drug smuggling. Iran is one of Afghanistan's biggest trading partners and the border crossing near the western city of Herat is a major economic lifeline. Every day hundreds of visa applicants queue outside the Iranian embassy in Kabul, many of them economic migrants looking for work. The most striking thing about rumours of Iranian interference, one western official in Kabul said, "is how little we hear of them". If it wanted to, Iran could play havoc in Afghanistan, he continued, "but my impression is they are holding back, that they haven't played their cards". Attention is concentrated on Pakistan which, along with Afghanistan's weak police and corrupt government, is seen as a major driver of the insurgency. In London last week, President General Pervez Musharraf angrily denied allegations his ISI spy agency is supporting the Taliban. Ten days ago Barnett Rubin, an academic and expert on Afghanistan, warned the US Senate that "anyone who tries to sell you intelligence reports that Iran is destabilising Afghanistan is misrepresenting the facts". Pakistan is the principal factor in the destabilisation of Afghanistan, he said, "regardless of the fact that President Musharraf speaks good English, wears a suit and says things that we like to hear". Whatever the truth about official support, it is clear the Taliban has ideological soul-mates in Iran. Abdullah's journey to jihad, from a quiet town in western Iran to the battlefield of Afghanistan, suggests the conflict has started to attract freshly indoctrinated foreigners and their shadowy mentors. In the dingy intelligence office in the central Ghazni province, the distraught young man told his story. Abdullah said he had left his home in Kamyaran in the western province of Kurdistan six weeks earlier, telling his family he was going to Tehran to work. Instead he continued hundreds of miles east until he reached the desert city of Zahedan and slipped across the Afghan border. All he carried was an address given him by a jihadi leader named Abdullah Shafi, he said. Secret training Shafi, a Kurdish militant from northern Iraq, is a former leader of Ansar al-Islam, a Taliban-like group with links to al-Qaida. After the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, Shafi became known for despatching suicide bombers to Baghdad. Although Shafi was subsequently expelled from Iran, Abdullah said his organisation is still recruiting fresh militants - like him. Abdullah was sent to a secret training camp near the Iraqi border that he believed was run by the Iranian government. "They gave us weapons, money and accommodation, and made sure we would not be arrested," he said. "Our government doesn't like America. It wants to install a Shia government in Iraq like in Iran. It is doing its best to achieve that." Most graduates at the camp were destined for Iraq or Lebanon, Abdullah said - 19 of his 20 classmates were subsequently sent to Iraq - but Abdullah Shafi told him to go to Afghanistan. Travelling alone, he claimed, he made his way to Ghazni, a once peaceful central province, by early September and knocked on the door of a Taliban organiser named Mansoor. After a brief interrogation, Mansoor confiscated his Iranian identity card and gave him a bed. But when a group of Taliban fighters turned up late that night, Abdullah said, they refused to take him with them. "They said I would be caught because I didn't have a gun," he said. But days later, while US bombers pounded the area, Abdullah and a Taliban fighter were arrested and brought to the NDS intelligence services offices. It was impossible to confirm his story, although he spoke in Iranian-accented Farsi and officials corroborated the details of his capture. If true, his account supports a report that argues Iraq is shaping "a new generation of terrorist leaders and operatives". Last week the National Intelligence Review, a group of 16 US intelligence agencies, said the Iraq conflict "would inspire more fighters to continue the struggle elsewhere". But in the dingy Ghazni office where Abdullah waited to be transferred to Kabul, there was little bravado or talk of jihad. "I am so sorry," he said, seeming on the verge of tears. "I regret ever leaving home. I just want to be released." Backstory Although dominated by Pashtun tribesmen from south Afghanistan, the Taliban draws on sponsors and influences from many countries. During a battle in Kandahar last month, Nato intelligence detected Arab, central Asian and Pakistani fighters among their ranks. The surge in suicide attacks and roadside bombs this year has been linked to the Iraq conflict. Westerners trying to track their funding see links with wealthy, religiously conservative businessmen in the Middle East, particularly Saudi Arabia. But the Taliban's greatest source of support comes from closer to home. Pakistan's ISI spy agency nurtured the Taliban in the 1990s and helped it seize power in 1996. After 9/11, President Musharraf severed the link but that didn't stop hundreds of Taliban fleeing into Pakistan's tribal belt. Many are still there, a fact Afghan and western military officials says has been critical to the insurgency's comeback this year. President Musharraf is less convinced. After admitting to cross-border infiltration during a recent trip to Kabul, he seemed to change his mind by the time he reached the US last week. Nato chief Gen James Jones' claim that the Taliban were headquartered in Quetta, west Pakistan, was "the most ridiculous statement", he said. |
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Tehran's secret war against its
own people
Peter Tatchell
October 10, 2006
The Times
The persecution of Ahwazi Arabs
and the takeover of their land has led to accusations of 'ethnic cleansing'
“NEVER AGAIN” is, I fear, a phrase that we may hear again all too soon — but
too late to warn people, let alone save lives. Under the cover of secrecy
the fundamentalist regime in Tehran is waging a sustained, bloody campaign
of intimidation and persecution against its Arab minority. These Arabs
believe that they are victims of “ethnic cleansing” by Iran’s Persian
majority.
Sixteen Arab rights activists have been sentenced to death, according to
reports in the Iranian media. They were found guilty of insurgency in secret
trials before revolutionary courts. But most of the defendants were
convicted solely on the basis of confessions extracted under torture. Ten
are expected to be hanged in a couple of weeks, after the end of Ramadan.
Amnesty International says that two of those sentenced to die, Abdolreza
Nawaseri and Nazem Bureihi, were in prison when they were alleged to have
been involved in bomb attacks. Three others — Hamza Sawa- eri, Jafar Sawari
and Reisan Sawari — say that they were nowhere near the Zergan oilfield the
day it was bombed.
The death sentences seem
designed to silence protests by Iran’s persecuted ethnic Arabs. They
comprise 70 per cent of the population of the south-west province of
Khuzestan, known locally as Ahwaz. Many Ahwazis believe that the 16 were
framed and that their real “crime” was campaigning against Tehran’s
repression and exploitation of their oil-rich homeland.
Further show trials are planned — 50 Ahwazi Arab activists have been charged
with insurgency since last year. They are accused of being mohareb or
enemies of God, which is a capital crime. Other allegations include sabotage
and possession of home-made bombs. No material evidence has been offered to
support the charges. All face possible execution.
Securing information about the impending hangings has been difficult. The authorities are notoriously secretive, often withholding information about charges, evidence and sentences. Foreign journalists are severely restricted and local reporters are intimidated with threats of imprisonment. Despite this official obfuscation, human rights groups confirm a new wave of repression against Ahwazi Arabs who accuse Tehran of “ethnic cleansing” and racism. Ali Afrawi, 17, and Mehdi Nawaseri, 20, were publicly hanged in March for allegedly participating in insurgency. Amnesty International condemned their trial as “unfair”. They were denied access to lawyers. The Ahwazi Human Rights Organisation (AHRO) says that seven other Arab political prisoners were secretly executed at around the same time.
Tehran’s latest tactic is to
hold Ahwazi children as hostages. According to Amnesty International,
children as young as 2 have been jailed with their mothers to force their
fugitive, political-activist fathers to surrender to the police. Protests
against these abuses are brutally suppressed. Ahwazi political parties,
trade unions and student groups are illegal. In the past year, 25,000
Ahwazis have been arrested, 131 executed and 150 have disappeared, reports
AHRO. The bodies of many of those executed have been dumped in a place that
the Government calls lanat abad, the place of the damned. They are buried in
shallow graves; dogs dig up and eat the bodies.
Nearly 250,000 Arabs have been displaced from their villages after the
Iranian Government’s confiscation of more than 200,000 hectares of farmland
for a huge sugar-cane project. Dozens more towns and villages will be
erased, making a possible further 400,000 Ahwazis homeless, by the creation
of a military-industrial security zone, covering more than 3,000 sq km,
along the Shatt al-Arab waterway, which borders Iraq.
Ironically, the Hezbollah in
Lebanon — the supposed embodiment of Arab resistance in the Middle East — is
complicit in the displacement of Ahwazi Arabs. On confiscated Arab land
Tehran has set up training camps for Hezbollah and for the Badr Brigades,
the Iraqi fundamentalist militia. Badr death squads in Iraq are murdering
Sunnis, unveiled women, gay people, men wearing shorts, barbers, sellers of
alcohol and people listening to Western music.
Tehran has a grand plan to make the Ahwazi a minority in their own land
through “ethnic restructuring”. Financial incentives, such as zero- interest
loans, are given to ethnic Persians to settle in Ahwaz. New townships are
planned, which will house 500,000 non-Arabs. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of
displaced Ahwazis eke out a subsistence existence in shanty towns on the
outskirts of Ahwaz city. Others have been forcibly relocated to
poverty-stricken, far-flung northern regions of Iran.
Ahwaz produces 90 per cent of
Iran’s oil and Tehran expropriates all the revenues. An attempt by Ahwaz MPs
to secure the repatriation of 1.5 per cent of these earnings back to the
region for welfare projects was rejected this year. Yet it is the third
poorest region of Iran: 80 per cent of the children suffer from
malnutrition, and the unemployment rate of Arabs is more than five times
that of Persians.
Arab language newspapers and textbooks have been banned to crush Arab
identity further. In Ahwaz schools, all instruction is in Farsi (Persian),
resulting in a 30 per cent drop-out rate at primary level and 50 per cent at
secondary level. Illiteracy rates among Arabs are at least four times those
of non-Arabs.
Contrary to Tehran’s nationalist propaganda most Ahwazi Arabs just want a measure of self-government; they are not hellbent on independence or in league with the CIA or plotting for an American invasion. Quite the contrary, they fear that Western sabre-rattling will be used as a pretext by Tehran’s hardliners to crack down savagely on dissent. Which makes it all the more disturbing that one of the few bodies with diplomatic muscle — the Arab League, which professes pan-Arab solidarity — is so silent in the face of Iran’s persecution of Arabs.
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Balochistan, the land of a lesser god
10-10-2006
Naseer Memon
The unfortunate situation that has unfolded in Balochistan has far deeper
roots than the recent episode of Bugti's killing. The history of injustice
meted out to Balochistan is a long chain, which triggered the recent wave of
reaction during the past few years. Anyone interested in understanding
today's Balochistan needs to traverse through the terrible track of history.
At the time of partition Balochistan was administratively divided into three
major parts. The most significant part was the federation of Kalat State,
which comprised four states, viz. Kalat, Makran, Lasbela and Kharan. Kalat
was the most prominent among them, and the largest, spread over 78,000
square miles. The Khan of Kalat was the paramount ruler of the federation of
four states to varying degrees. However, the Sardars of the other three
states enjoyed autonomy and the Khan would not interfere much in their
internal matters. The Kalat State enjoyed substantial autonomy and British
rule was
restricted to the spheres of currency and defence, whereas internal affairs
were under the domain of the State, being run under the upper and lower
houses of Dar-ul-Umra and Dar-ul-Awam. At the time of partition,
representatives of the two houses were not inclined to join the new country.
They wanted to remain independent but have a friendly contract with
Pakistan. The Founder of Pakistan himself stated in July 1947 that the
states would have a free choice to join either of the two newly born
countries or stay independent. The Muslim League would respect this right
and had no intention to impose its will on any state. On June 2, 1947, the
Viceroy of India, Lord Mountbatten also said that the states would be free
to take
their own path. However, partition brought new realities to the surface. The
Khan of Kalat was aggressively pursued to accede to Pakistan. The Khan had
been insisting that he would not take any decision individually unless
endorsed by the Sardars who represent the people of their areas. A session
of Dar-ul-Awam was held on December 16, 1947. Members took a firm position
on maintaining the independence of the state. The Central government
continued pressure tactics to persuade the Khan. In March 1948 the Khan
faced a treason charge of contacting India to annex Kalat. Sensing the
threat of military action, the Khan succumbed and signed the accession
documents on March 30, 1948. The Khan's expectations of autonomy evaporated
when he was told by the Central government that a Political Agent is being
appointed for Kalat and the Prime Minister of the State would have to act on
his advice even on internal matters.
This friction went on till One Unit came and the country went under
political anarchy, which culminated in the first Martial Law. One of the
justifications mentioned for imposing Martial Law was the situation in Kalat,
which was termed as an attempted secession by the Khan. Considering it as an
act of treason, military action was launched in the first week of October
1958.
Reaction to this action was widespread and severe. Octogenarian Nawab
Nauroze Khan picked arms with his comrades and took to the hills. The
insurgency continued for a year and a half. The government approached the
guerillas for parleys. Nauroze Khan's nephew Sardar Doda Khan was sent with
a Holy Quran to offer peace. Nawab Nauroze honoured the Quran and the
guerillas descended. However, promises of amnesty were shattered when 11 of
them were caught and tried in a military court. All were hanged except the
old man, who was left to bear the pain of tragedy.
The next wave ensued in February 1973, when the Bhutto government dismissed
the NAP government in the province. This undemocratic act resulted in
serious resentment and Baloch youth again took to the hills. Once again
force was used to subdue them. Iran provided Cobra gunship helicopters,
which were used to target Marri and Mengal rebels. Repeated use of force
only rubbed salt into the wounds of the people of Balochistan, doing no
service to national integrity.
The recent rise of violence in the mountains of Balochistan is nothing but
an extension of the past. Having this historical context of atrocities with
Balochistan, very little was done by the preceding governments to address
the "cause" which brings
bloody "results" after a silence of every few years. The ongoing wave of
violence in Balochistan has deep roots in the institutional decay of
politics in the country. Political, social and economic inequalities and
injustice have surpassed all peaks and the smaller provinces have turned
into fierce volcanoes. It is very unfortunate that Balochistan was
misdiagnosed as ever, the Baloch were once again termed as rebels and
terrorists and treated like an enemy army. Economic exploitation of
Balochistan is vivid and merits sensible solutions rather than ruthless
exercise of arms and killings.
Balochistan never got the deserved return for what it contributed to the
economic development of the country. Richness of mineral resources of
Balochistan can be gauged from the following facts.
Balochistan has 49 percent of the total livestock in the country.In 2003 it
produced 1.4 million tons of fruit.
In 2002, 121,212 metric tons of fish was caught. Only 11,575 metric tons
were consumed locally whereas 109,655 metric tons were available as
exportable surplus.
Asian Development document "Balochistan Economic Report (Project Number
39003-Dec 2005)" says, "39 minerals, of the recorded 50, are now being mined
in the province. In FY2003 this sector yielded revenues of almost Rs 1
billion. The discovery of large copper deposits in the Chagai district,
coupled with the coal and iron ore production in the province, can generate
significant additional income for the provincial government."
A newspaper report of April 4, 2005 says, "Mineral deposits usually occur
within minerogenic zones (of non-metallic minerals) and metallogenic zones
(of metallic minerals). Of nine such zones in Pakistan, five are located in
Balochistan. Base metal deposits, such as copper, lead and zinc, are found
in Chagai, Khuzdar and Lasbela Districts. Silver and gold in association
with Saindak copper ore has recently been re-assessed. Balochistan also
hosts several sizeable sub-bituminous coalfields in the Quetta-Harnai- Duki
region."
According to Pakistan Energy Book 2005, 1.5 million tons of coal was mined
from Balochistan, which is 40 percent of national production. These are only
a few glimpses of the rich mineral resources of Balochistan. The most
important one is the treasure of natural gas deposits, which turned the fate
of the country in the early 1950s, benefiting the whole country except
Balochistan. The 10,000 feet deep gas reserve was estimated as 10.78
trillion cubic feet. Over the past 55 years the country has consumed 8.14
TCF leaving 2.63 TCF behind, sufficient for another two decades. In 2004-05
it produced
about 920 million TCF per day, yielding annually 336,493 million TCF.
Providing fuel to the national economy for years, gas reached Balochistan
after 25 years when Quetta first received LPG in 1976. Six decades are gone,
but even today Balochistan has only 3.4 percent of gas consumers as compared
to 51 percent from Punjab alone, which contributes only 4.75 percent gas.
The province contributes Rs 85 billion per year through gas revenues but
receives only Rs 7 billion from the federal government. What Dera Bugti
received in return for the wealth it generated is evident from the UNDP
Human Development Report 2003, which ranked Dera Bugti last among the 91
districts of the country on the Human Development
Index. The eye-opening report reveals that among the top 31 districts on the
HDI, only three belonged to Balochistan whereas the province shared 12 among
the lowest 30 districts on the HDI.
The province has 26.6 percent literacy against the national average of 47
percent and the corresponding figures of female literacy are 15 percent and
33 percent. The country provides sanitation facilities to 18 percent of the
population against only 7 percent in Balochistan. The infant mortality rate
in the country is 100 (per 1,000 live births), whereas Balochistan has 108.
The national mother mortality rate is 350 (per 100,000) and the province has
a frighteningly high 600. 75 percent of the villages of the country are
electrified but only 25 percent in Balochistan.
According to the Pakistan Integrated Household Survey 2001-02, Balochistan
has the highest poor population with 48 percent and the worst in rural areas
with 51 percent living below the poverty line. There are only 32 Utility
Stores throughout the province whereas Islamabad alone has 34 Utility
Stores. Local people strongly feel that the great development showpieces of
the Coastal Highway and Mirani Dam came only when a mega port city of Gwadar
is needed by
the government. The way property in Gwadar is being projected in the media
tells in plain words that hardly any Baloch population would survive there
and the results are bound to be the same as happened with the indigenous
people of Karachi.
This level of injustice indicates that the Baloch have very genuine
complaints, which need to be redressed through some sensible interventions
rather than using state power to crush the voice for genuine rights of the
people and land which always bestowed prosperity on the country.
http://www.thepost. com.pk/
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A bully in military uniform
October 2, 2006
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A sophisticated armed fight for a province’s autonomy
Serious troubles have erupted in the
Pakistan province of Baluchistan since the assassination of an opposition
leader in August. Pressure for independence is growing in this region
bordering Iran and Afghanistan, which challenges Pakistan’s authority.
By Selig S Harrison
October 2006
Le Monde diplomatique http://mondediplo.com/2006/10/05baluchistan
THE slow-motion genocide being inflicted on Baluch tribesmen in the
mountains and deserts of southwestern Pakistan does not yet qualify as a
major humanitarian catastrophe compared with the slaughter in Darfur or
Chechnya. “Only” 2,260 Baluch fled their villages in August to escape
bombing and strafing by the US-supplied F-16 fighter jets and Cobra
helicopter gunships of the Pakistan air force, but as casualty figures
mount, it will be harder to ignore the human costs of the Baluch
independence (1) struggle and its political repercussions in other restive
minority regions of multi-ethnic Pakistan (2).
Already, in neighboring Sindh, separatists who share Baluch opposition to
the Punjabi-dominated military regime of General Pervez Musharraf are
reviving their long-simmering movement for a sovereign Sindhi state, or a
Sindhi-Baluch federation, that would stretch along the Arabian Sea from Iran
in the west to the Indian border. Many Sindhi leaders openly express their
hope that instability in Pakistan will tempt India to help them, militarily
and economically, to secede from Pakistan as Bangladesh did with Indian help
in 1971.
Some 6 million Baluch were forcibly incorporated into Pakistan when it was
created in 1947. This is the fourth insurgency they have fought to protest
against economic and political discrimination. In the most bitter
insurgency, from 1973 to 1977, some 80,000 Pakistani troops and 55,000
Baluch were involved in the fighting.
Iran, like Pakistan, was then an ally of the United States. Shah Mohammed
Reza Pahlavi, who feared that the insurgency would spread across the border
to 1.2 million Baluch living in eastern Iran, sent 30 Cobra gunships with
Iranian pilots to help Islamabad. But this time Iran is not a US ally, and
Iran and Pakistan are at odds. Tehran charges that US Special Forces units
are using bases in Pakistan for undercover operations inside Iran designed
to foment Baluch opposition to the regime of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Much of the anger that now motivates the Baluch Liberation Army (BLA) is
driven by memories of Pakistani scorched earth tactics in past battles. In a
climactic battle in 1974, Pakistani forces, frustrated by their inability to
find Baluch guerrilla units hiding in the mountains, bombed, strafed and
burned the encampments of some 15,000 Baluch families who had taken their
livestock to graze in the fertile Chamalang Valley, forcing the guerrillas
to come out from their hideouts to defend their women and children.
‘Indiscrimate bombing’
In the current fighting, which started in January 2005, the independent
Pakistan Human Rights Commission has reported that “indiscriminate bombing
and strafing” by F-16s and Cobra gunships are again being used to draw the
guerrillas into the open. Six Pakistani army brigades, plus paramilitary
forces totalling some 25,000 men, are deployed in the Kohlu mountains and
surrounding areas where the fighting is most intense.
Musharraf is using new methods, more repressive than those of his
predecessors, to crush the insurgency. In the past Baluch activists were
generally arrested on formal charges and sentenced to fixed terms in prisons
known to their families. This time Baluch spokesmen have reported
large-scale kidnappings and disappearances, charging that Pakistani forces
have rounded up hundreds of Baluch youths on unspecified charges and taken
them to unknown locations.
The big difference between earlier phases of the Baluch struggle and the
present one is that Islamabad has so far not been able to play off feuding
tribes against each other. Equally importantly, it faces a unified
nationalist movement under younger leadership drawn not only from tribal
leaders but also from an emergent, literate Baluch middle class that did not
exist three decades ago. Another difference is that the Baluch have a better
armed, more disciplined fighting force in the BLA. Baluch leaders say that
rich compatriots and sympathisers in the Persian Gulf provide money needed
to buy weapons in the flourishing black market along the Afghan frontier.
President Musharraf has repeatedly accused India of supplying weapons to the
Baluch insurgents and funds to Sindhi separatist groups, but has provided no
evidence to back up these charges. India denies the accusations. At the same
time New Delhi has issued periodic statements expressing concern at the
fighting and calling for political dialogue.
India brushes aside suggestions that it might be tempted to help Sindhi and
Baluch insurgents if the situation in Pakistan continues to unravel. Indian
leaders say that. on the contrary, India wants a stable Pakistan that will
negotiate a peace settlement in Kashmir so that both sides can wind down
their costly arms race. But many India media commentators appear happy to
see Musharraf tied down in Baluchistan and hope that the crisis will force
him to reduce Pakistani support for extremist Islamic insurgents in Kashmir.
Unlike India, Iran has its own Baluch minority and fears Baluch nationalism.
The Baluchistan People’s party, one of the leading Baluch groups in Iran,
said on 5 August that a radical Shia cleric, Hojatol Ibrahim Nekoonam,
recently installed as the justice minister of Iran’s Baluchistan province,
has launched a campaign of military and police repression spearheaded by the
Mersad clerical secret police, in which hundreds of Baluch have been rounded
up and, in many cases, executed on charges of collaborating with the US.
Apart from being smaller in number, the Baluch in Iran are not as
politically conscious or as well organised as those in Pakistan, and their
principal leaders dismiss the idea of secession or of union with the Baluch
in Pakistan. The Baluchistan People’s party is part of a coalition with
groups representing other disaffected minorities in Iran — the Kurds, Azeri
Turks and Khuzestani Arabs — which is seeking a federal restructuring in
which Iran would retain control over foreign affairs, defence,
communications and foreign trade, but cede autonomy in other spheres to
three minority autonomous regions.
Goal of the insurgency
In Pakistan, where the Baluch have been radicalised by their periodic
military struggles with Islamabad, many Baluch leaders believe that the goal
of the insurgency should be an independent Baluchistan, unless the military
regime is willing to grant the provincial autonomy envisaged in the 1973
constitution, which successive military regimes, including the present one,
have nullified. What the Baluch, Sindhis, and a third, more assimilated
ethnic minority, the Pashtuns, want above all is an end to the blatant
economic discrimination by the dominant Punjabis.
Most of Pakistan’s natural resources are in Baluchistan, including natural
gas, uranium, copper and potentially rich oil reserves. Although 36% of the
gas produced in Pakistan comes from the province, Baluchistan consumes only
a fraction of production because it is the most impoverished area of the
country. For decades, Punjabi-dominated central governments have denied
Baluchistan a fair share of development funds and paid only 12% of the
royalties due to it for its gas. Similarly, the Sindhi and Pashtun areas
have consistently been denied fair access to the waters of the Indus River
by dam projects that channel the lion’s share of the water to the Punjab.
In a television speech on 20 July, devoted mostly to Baluchistan, Musharraf
dismissed Baluch charges of economic discrimination and announced a $49.8m
development programme for the province, half for roads and other
infrastructure projects. The “real exploiters” of the Baluch, he said, are
the tribal chieftains, known as sardars, who “have stolen development funds
for themselves”. He claimed that the armed forces have been sent into
Baluchistan to protect the Baluch from their leaders while development
proceeds. Musharraf blamed the insurgency on the sardars, principally Akbar
Bugti, who was killed on 26 August when the army blew up a cave where he was
hiding. But the current insurgency is not being led by the tribal elders but
by a new generation of politically conscious Baluch nationalists.
What makes negotiations on autonomy difficult are the economic issues
relating to taxation and to the terms for sharing the resulting revenues
from the development of oil, gas and other natural resources. In most
proposals for a devolution of power to the provinces, Baluch and Sindhi
leaders have argued that taxes collected by the central government should
not be allocated, as at present, solely on a population basis, which favours
the Punjab; instead, it has been suggested, half should be allocated on a
population basis, while the rest should be distributed in accordance with
the amount collected in each province. Since the provinces have equal
representation in the Senate, even under the 1973 constitution, the upper
chamber should be given greater powers, with the Senate, rather than the
president or prime minister, empowered to dissolve a provincial legislature
or to declare an emergency.
A more extreme demand is that Baluch, Pashtuns, Sindhis and Punjabis should
have complete parity in both chambers of the National Assembly as well as in
civil service and military recruitment, irrespective of population
disparities. All factions among the minorities give priority to radically
upgraded representation in the civil service and the armed forces, and all
want constitutional safeguards to prevent the central government from
arbitrarily removing an elected provincial government, as Prime Minister
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto did in 1973. The issue of safeguards against arbitrary
central intervention is likely to be a non-negotiable one for the
minorities, since they are seeking not only the substance, but also the
feeling, of autonomy.
A tiny minority
The Baluch are only 3.57% of Pakistan’s 165.8 million people, and the three
minorities combined claim only 33%. Yet they identify themselves with ethnic
homelands that cover 72% of Pakistan’s territory. To the Punjabis, it is
galling that the minorities should advance proprietary claims over such
large areas. For this reason, the prospects for a restoration of the 1973
constitution appear bleak.
In the final analysis, the possibility of a constitutional compromise is
inseparably linked with the overall course of the struggle for
democratisation. With continued military rule, the Baluch insurgency and the
growing movement for Sindhi rights will be radicalised. But it is unlikely
that the Baluch could prevail militarily over Pakistani forces and establish
an independent state, even with Sindhi help, unless India intervenes as part
of a broader confrontation with Islamabad. The prospect in late 2006 is for
a continuing, inconclusive struggle by the Baluch and Sindhis against
Islamabad, that will debilitate Pakistan.
In the eyes of the Baluch and Sindhis, the US has a major share of the blame
for the present crisis because US military hardware is being used to repress
the Baluch insurgency, and a cornucopia of US economic aid to Islamabad
since 11 September 2001 has kept Musharraf afloat. Military aid to Musharraf
since 9/11, including the sale of 36 F-16s, recently approved by Congress,
has totalled $900m so far, and another $600m is promised by 2009. Economic
aid has not only included $3.6bn in US and US-sponsored multilateral aid but
also the US-orchestrated postponement of $13.5bn in overdue debt repayments
to aid donors.
Instead of pressing Musharraf for a political settlement with the
minorities, as some European Union officials have done, the Bush
administration has said that its ethnic tensions are an “internal matter”
for Pakistan itself to resolve. Human rights organisations have called for
international pressure on Musharraf to pursue a settlement, and critics in
the US argue that the diversion of US-equipped Pakistani forces from the
Afghan frontier to Baluchistan undermines even the limited operations
against al-Qaida and the Taliban that Musharraf is pursuing in response to
US pressure. Until Bush’s departure, however, the US commitment to Musharraf
is likely to remain firm, barring the outside possibility that he will step
down in the face of growing domestic pressure and permit former prime
ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif to participate in the presidential
elections scheduled for next year.
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AFB general secretary meets US
senators
Press release
Fri, 13 Oct 2006
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS--- The
secretary general of the newly-formed American Friends of Balochistan, Dr
Wahid Baloch, on Wednesday met three legendary members of the U.S. Senate in
Chicago and told them about the situation in Balochistan.
The U.S. Senators were Edward Kennedy (Massachussetts) , Charles Schumer
(New York) and Barack Obama (Illinois).
The meeting was arranged and sponsored by Dr A.W. Bhatti.
Dr Baloch told Senator Kennedy, "As second senior most senator, your voice
of reason at the Capitol echoes across the world. Let me at the very outset
say, we Baloch people share your resolve "To Defeat Terrorists and Stop the
Spread of Weapons of Mass Destruction," and your goal to "Eliminate Osama
Bin Laden, destroy terrorist networks like al Qaeda," to bring peace to
Afghanistan and end the Taliban menace from the world."
He said as victims of Pakistan's nuclear tests, the Baloch fully backed
Senator Kennedy's call to securing nuclear materials that terrorists could
use to build nuclear weapons or “dirty bombs.” This should be on the top of
the agenda for a safer world.
Dr Baloch told Senator Schumer, "You were a leader in the effort to create
the 1996 Anti-terrorism Act, wrote the money laundering provisions of the
new anti-terrorism bill passed after the September 11 terrorist attacks to
shut down the financial operations of terrorist networks."
He lauded Senator Schumer's efforts for peace and stability in the Middle
East.
Dr Baloch told Senator Obama, "You might be knowing about the happenings in
Balochistan, a Texas sized region divided among Pakistan, Iran and
Afghanistan . As a true citizen of the world, you know in depth about the
brutal repression let loose during Operation Anvil, the torture in the
"Pipeline" camps of Kenya."
He informed Senator Obama the Pakistan army has for decades operated similar
camps in Balochistan, called Qulli Camps. "The cries of anguish of the
Baloch who wanted their birth rights back and become masters of their own
destiny have went unheard in the wilderness called the "modern world" for
quite too long now," Dr Baloch said.
The complete text of Dr Baloch's letter
to the three senators is:
On behalf of the people of Balochistan, I would like to draw your attention
to the deteriorating human rights condition in Pakistani occupied
Balochistan and Sindh provinces where Pakistan's Islamic jihadist terrorist
army and its security forces are engaged in state terrorism and genocide of
innocent Baloch and Sindhi people, where arrests, kidnappings,
disappearances and illegal detention of moderate secular Baloch and Sindhi
students, political workers and leaders by Pakistani police and military
intelligence agencies, including the infamous Inter Services Intelligence (I.S.I.),
have become an every day occurrence.
Let me please draw your attention to some of the facts:
• As you know, Islamic Republic of Pakistan was created out of India in 1947 as a result of the famous “Lahore resolution”, adopted by the All India Muslim League to form an independent Islamic State for Indian Muslims, which stated that Pakistan would be a federation where all the federating units will have full provincial autonomy and equal rights. Pakistan never honored its own founding resolution.
• Balochistan was never a part of the Indian sub-continent, but was an independent sovereign state with its own Parliaments, House of Lords (Dar-ul-Umrah) and House of Common (Dar-ul-Awam) with His Highness Mir Ahmad Yar Khan as its ruler, with whom the British Government had signed bilateral treaties in 1854 and 1876. Pakistan herself, after its creation, recognized Balochistan as a sovereign state in 1947 and that status continued for seven and half months.
• The secular people of Balochistan did not participate in the creation of the fundamentalist Islamic entity called Pakistan, which in itself is not a very legitimate organization as subsequent army coups have proved. Balochistan wanted to remain an independent, secular state but on March 27, 1948 Pakistan annexed Balochistan by force.
• Since the forceful annexation of Balochistan in 1948, Baloch people have time and again fought against Islamabad and are still fighting against the Pakistani occupying forces to restore their independence and freedom, and in fac thgeir human dignity. Thousands people have died in this conflict and millions have been dislocated from their homes and families.
• More than 6000 Baloch students and moderate Baloch political activists are languishing in Pakistani jails and prisons for the since last one year when Pakistani Army launched the 5th military operation in Balochistan. Many are missing and are being tortured in army-run detention camps in Balochistan, while Taliban and Al-Qaeda elements are roaming around in Quetta and other parts of Balochistan scot-free with support of Pakistani Inter Service Intelligence (I.S.I.) and the military.
• Taliban and Al-Qaeda’s top leaders Mullah Omar and Osama bin Laden are still hiding in Pakistan with full knowledge and we belive they under the protection of the I.S.I.
• Pakistan claims to be a U.S. ally but its recent “peace deal” with Taliban and Al-Qaeda terrorist in Waziristan proves otherwise. The fact is that Pakistan has never been and never was an ally against the war of its own created Taliban and Al-Qaeda terrorists. Small wonder even after five years, we have not been able to capture Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar.
• Pakistan Air Force fighter jets, army gunship helicopters and military hardware provided by our US Government to eliminate Al-Qaeda and Taliban elements, are being used against the Baloch people. More then 1600 hundred people, including women and children, have been reported killed in the war in the last one year.
• On August 26, 2006 Pakistan assassinated a secular, pro-American Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti and his bodyguards in a massive military raid on his hideout in the mountains of Balochistan using gunship helicopters and F-16 fighter jets. They dropped cluster bombs and other chemical weapons. They then buried his body secretly against the family's wishes. His mortal remains were never returned to the bereaved family. News of Nawab Bugti's death sent shock waves throughout Pakistan and paralyzed the whole of Balochistan.
• On May 28, 1998 Pakistan carried out its five nuclear tests in Balochistan, though the Baloch people said “NO” to all kind of nuclear testing in their homeland. Baloch Nation asks the United Nation, the International Community and the International court of Justice to investigate the effects of those nuclear tests and the Baloch losses including homelessness and dislocation. An independent, free Balochistan would not only be a big blow to the nuclear-armed Pakistan and Iran but would also help eradicate Islamic extremism and terrorism in entire South Asia. With the liberation of Kurdistan and Balochistan, the losers will be Taliban, Al-Qaeda and their Islamic supporter Pakistan and Iran. The winners will be Baloch, Kurd, U.S.A., Afghanistan, India and State of Israel. Therefore the U.S, must support and help liberate Balochistan and Kurdistan.
• The Gwadar port being built with the help of Chinaon the Mekran coast of Balochistan. The goal is to facilitate China install its listening devices to monitor the U.S. oil supplies and energy routes in the Persian Gulf and to bring millions of non-Baloch Punjabi to change Baloch demography and to turn the Baloch people into minority in their own homeland despite the strong Baloch opposition.
• We Baloch people like the Kurd of Iraq, are secular and pro-American and we share many American values. Baloch people want a check on Islamic extremism. We are the victims of militaristic ambitions of two Islamic terrorist states, Pakistan and Iran, who are occupying our land illegally in the name of Islam. We Baloch people are struggling for our freedom. An independent secular free Balochistan in south Asia is in everyone’s interest, including USA, India, Afghanistan, Iraq, Middle East, and Israel. In short, in the interest of the entire Free World.
• The United States future strategic requirements would be better served by emergence of an INDEPENDENT BALOCHISTAN as a strategic wedge between Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan. It would also help co-opt Pakistani blackmail of using its proximity to the Gulf and Straits of Hormuz as a bargaining chip against the United States.
Appeal
The acts of terror and
humiliation and a continuum of state terrorism will not only increase the
ever present tension and hatred between Baloch people and Pakistani police
state, but it could lead to a point where an even more bloody confrontation
between Baloch and the Pakistani state would become inevitable, resulting in
the loss of life and properties of defenseless Baloch people.
The Pakistan Army is continuously and contemptuously ignoring the appeals of
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Amnesty International and other human
right
groups for the release of illegal detainees. The Baloch people demand their
political, economic and social rights, guaranteed by the international human
rights laws, instruments and declarations. Immediate intervention by the
European Union and the Free World in general and by the U.S. Government in
particular. This will help save lives and prevent the kind of genocide of
the Baloch people by the Pakistani army that the world witnessed in East
Pakistan during 1971. We urge you to act, proactively, before its too late.
On behalf of the people of Balochistan, the American Friends of Balochistan
(AFB), Government of Balochistan (GOB) in Exile, Baloch Society of North
America (BSO-NA), World Baloch Jewish Alliance (WBJA) we appeals to the U.S.
government to please intervene to help to stop the genocide and human right
violations in Balochistan before it is too late. Your help to Balochistan
can be effective if the effort is made truly bipartisan.
"The people of Balochistan will highly appreciate your kind immediate
attention and positive intervention in this matter. Please help save
innocent lives, now," Dr Baloch's letter concluded.
Prominent Baloch activist Afzal Bugti was also present on the occassion.
American Friends of Balochistan
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Shaheed Nawab Bugti -- a poem by Gulam Hussein Showaaz
17-10-2006
Who Can Count the heavenly up
placed stars?
Who can feel the deeply planted inner pain?
No one will ever see those raining bullets
that rippled through my aged body
yesterday the old mountain " Peer Koh" was covered with dust
And my birth place "Dera" was darkened with awesome and pale clouds
I sat at the lap of lofty terrain
putting around my knees the "befriended shawl"
Giggled and laughed with smoothing sands in the wadi
unfolding the unfamiliar approaching evadingly noises
Looking over the vast and profound land of mother earth
pledging with fresh and cool breeze of Wadi beds
To convey my heartfelt divinely messages to my countrymen
The death was advancing like a wild elephant
bombs rattled and busted like killer waves
smashing over the stony ore of vicinity
The highflying jets hovered like invading eagles
I played with freshly woven "Peesh" palm leaves
pondering what would happen to land of forefathers
once I have gone
With my companions the braves
picketed at the gorges with no fear
setting with me the fearsome fighters of my own kind
the infidel enemy hadn't know that we are Baloch
death is our pride and we buy that honour
we the lion hearted and known martyrs
our bodies are made of stones and our chests are of steel
I had Bala'ch at one side
any young "BRAHANDAG ON THE OTHER"
the proud sons have circled me from all sides
like the ranges of suliaman and dasht bolan
the blood thrusting out from their blazing eyes
the hairs thronging out of their turbans
like wading snakes
their bushy dark beard were tender and well woven
and the moustaches were sprouting over lips
like the stinging scorpions
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