In March 2003, Colonel Ann Wright ended her twenty-nine year military and sixteen-year prolific diplomatic career in protest against George Bush’s invasion of Iraq. She played an instrumental role in reopening the US embassy in Kabul in 2001 soon after the collapse of the Taliban regime. A decade after the Afghan war, Wright admits that the war has now trickled down to Pakistan.

“We apologise very much to the people of Pakistan for the horrible, horrible things our government is doing in your country,” she told Dawn.com while referring to drone strikes as she joined several protesters at Washington DC’s Freedom Plaza on Sunday to mark the tenth anniversary of the beginning of the war in Afghanistan.

Like other protesters, Ann has established her camp just two blocks away from the Capitol Hill in a unique movement they have named as ‘Occupy DC’. Unlike the much hyped up ‘Occupy Wall Street’ protest, Occupy DC remains largely unreported in the mainstream American media, the swiftly popularising non-violent movement is calling for curbing the undue influence of corporations and ending America’s wars overseas.

In what some observers equate with 1960s Civil Rights Movement, the fresh wave of peaceful protests began in New York City with the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ demonstrations predominantly by disillusioned educated unemployed American young men and women.  While the protests in New York continue to gain momentum, more agitations are being reported from other principal cities.

In Washington DC, the protesters at McPherson Square are mainly seeking internal policy review while the second group at the Freedom Plaza is emphatically calling for an end to the war in Afghanistan.

The US Department of State had awarded Ms. Wright, 74, the Award of Heroism in 1997. After her resignation, she was arrested in April this year in front of a Syracuse air force base for protesting against drone attacks. Now she says she does not regret quitting an illustrated career as an army officer and a veteran diplomat to continue to publicly oppose America’s wars overseas.

“It is sad that in the United States we do not have a tradition of mass resignations over flawed government policies. In England, there were five times more resignations against [Tony] Blair’s complicity with [George] Bush in Iraq. Fifteen officers resigned in England while only three did so in the United States,” she recalled.

Ms. Wright, whose book Dissent Voices of Conscience narrates the story of officers who revolted against illegal government practices, says young American officers are weary of what she terms as ‘crimes’ her country is committing in the Muslim world.

“Our young men and women say they volunteered to join the army to serve their country not to commit crimes. There are at least 40 instances when men and women refused to go and serve in Iraq,” she said.

Concerning the mounting anti-Americanism inside Pakistan, she says drone attacks in tribal region are “rightfully infuriating” the population because thousands of innocent villagers are also being killed in these operations.

“American politicians are tragically war-mongers. It is horrible the United States continues to think wars are an answer.  It is sad that the our government decides who, in and outside the United States, has a right to live or to be killed with drones without being provided a chance to defend themselves in a court,” she added.

Jonny Kranz, a twenty-nine year old New Yorker who says he will continue to camp until the complete pullout of US forces from Afghanistan, bills drone attacks as “completely unethical”.

“The army considers human losses as collateral damage. Drone attacks are not just killing particular people but they are bombing entire villages and killing innocent civilians. It’s absolutely horrible that we even have that technology. It is ridiculous that I am against human killings but still my tax money is spent to buy drones without my consent,” he said.

Mark Vosburgh, a protester from Washington metropolitan area, said America’s wars overseas had deeply affected the Americans in terms of putting them in debt.

“I have a daughter who is growing up in heavy debt,” he pointed out, “The wars are bankrupting us. All our taxes are being used for wrong purposes to run the war machine against our brothers and sisters all over the world. In our movement, racism has no place. We care for our brothers and sisters anywhere in the world.”

Protestors at Occupy DC have an energetic presence at the Freedom Plaza where they play revolutionary music in mega loudspeakers, stage thought-provoking and often hilarious anti-war, anti-corporations dramas and display placards condemning the war in Afghanistan.

“Money for jobs and schools— not wars,” said one placard from Answer Coalition, an anti-war group, while a poster by another organisation, March Forward, read, “Afghanistan: Another war for the rich.”

The protesters circulated a free post card addressed to President Obama saying, “Dear President Obama, our military budget is nearly equal to the amount spent by all of the other countries of the world combined. How much do we really need to spend to defend ourselves?”

A graphical illustration of US expenditures on the same post card an organisation called Not My Priorities said Washington spent $574 Billion on the Pentagon and another $159 billion in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Michael Beer, the executive director of Nonviolence International, a global resource of peaceful movements, said America’s polices of war have been ‘absolutely detrimental” to the national security.

“The Afghan war is always been very poorly supported by the American public. A lot of us are outraged over our country for killing so many people even we don’t’ knowing why we are killing these people,” he said and reminded that 50 million Americans did not have health insurance while another 50 million remained unemployed.

“Despite this, our government’s foreign policy is making us unsafe because it is waging wars, particularly against the Muslim world, which means we are making enemies for generations to come.”

Beer termed the drone attacks as “appalling” and promised to fight to force the American government to stop employing violence against unarmed civilians.

“The drones are outside any international law. They are killing and injuring thousands of people. This kind of assassination war is outrageous,” he said.

The American uprising, some critics say, is too vague about its demands and lacks a road map.

The protesters, on their part, say they know their movement will require some time to mature and accomplish its goals.

“Love is too big to fail”, read a placard a young student from Pennsylvania, Thomas Morgan, tightly held in his hands.

“It will take a long time as it has already taken a long time,” he said. “There have been times when love has been tired and there have been times like now when love was frustrated but love has never failed. Love is too big to fail.” (Courtesy: Dawn.com)

By Moign Khawaja

I was woken up by the bumps on the road. In the wee hours, we entered Gwadar after a tiring 9 hour-long journey on a coach from Karachi. I elbowed my friend in the next seat to confirm if this was really Gwadar city or somebody hijacked the bus and was taking it elsewhere.

“Yes mate, welcome to Gwadar. We’re on the Airport Road,” he whispered half-asleep. It was too dark outside to see from the window, however, I could make out from the driving how badly damaged the road was. There must be many more bumps ahead, I imagined…

Balochistan seems to be like a forgotten land despite its vast area and vital strategic location. The policy makers sitting in air-conditioned offices in Islamabad have never borne the blistering desert winds of Dasht. Unlike rural Baloch people who travel miles to fetch a pale of water, the ruling elite does not even leave their desks to fetch water from nearby water dispensers as they’ve an army of peons to help them quench their thirst. So who cares…

After a catnap, I woke up and got ready for the hectic day ahead. My friends made an arrangement to meet the teaching staff at Gwadar’s only government degree college. The common stereotype about Baloch people is that they’re mostly illiterate and don’t want to read. The statistics do little to dispel this impression as only ¼ of the entire Balochistan population can read or write and have completed their 10 years of education at a school. So I was curious to know the reasons behind the misfortune…

EDUCATION IN TATTERS

As I arrived, I found Professor Mohammad Khurshid the principal of the college, sitting in his office along with other distinguished professors who teach there as well. The college principal told me he is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Karachi and specialising in crustaceans found along the Makran coast.

He started the conversation by telling me how his research team discovered 11 new species of crabs on the Makran coast. “I also authored two research papers that got published in Japanese academic journals,” the bright academic described and hoped his doctorate programme ends soon.

The shine in his eyes soon started to fade when I asked him about his tenure as the principal of the college. “I became the college principal last year but I’m associated with this place since 1991,” Mr. Khurshid said in a soft tone while rocking his chair. Originally from Panjgur, a town some 400km northeast of Gwadar, the zoology professor, who was in his early forties, praised his students who took deep interest in studies in an environment that is hardly conducive.

“The problem starts right from the grass roots level,” he affirmed. “The primary schools run by the government have no facilities whatsoever. Imagine students bringing chalk from neighbouring schools that are miles apart from each other. They have no proper toilets, running water or a building that can shelter them from scorching heat,” Mr. Khurshid revealed adding the kids still come to school despite the acute shortage of teachers.

Turning his attention to the college, he lamented the shortage of funds and bureaucratic negligence. “We’ve four buses here but just one driver. The fuel allowance for all these vehicles is Rs. 30,000 ($350) for the whole year. How can we fetch our students, both boys and girls, living far away from here?” he asked me while I was doing the sums. “As a result, we have to contribute towards the fuel costs. The professors along with students chip in money to keep the things moving. Otherwise, things will collapse immediately.” An eerie silence prevailed…

Himself breaking the silence, the Zoology expert revealed something that I found hard to fathom. “You’ll not believe this! This whole educational complex along with the land has been bought by the Pakistan Customs for a sum of Rs.8.5 crores ($990,000) some time ago. The good news is that a new building is under construction where we’ll be moved. The bad news is that we didn’t get a single penny from the proceeds of the sale,” he said with irony in his tone. “We have the money but we have no idea where it is and when we’ll get it.” Everyone looked at each other with a big surprise…

Soon after having a word with the college principal, two senior professors approached me and asked if they can show me their residence. Hardly two hundred meters from the principal’s office were the rooms where the teaching staff lived. “When we were studying at the university, we had a room to ourselves. Here two or three professors live in each room,” Prof. Baloch Khan, a journalism graduate and English teacher at the college disclosed while showing me around the quarters.

The underground water storage facility there seemed nothing less than a sewage tank. Every single roof of the rooms was cracked and the walls were in dilapidated condition. I left the place wondering if this was a facility for the academics or prisoners…

SHALLOW DREAMS OF THE DEEP SEA PORT

We now headed in another direction. Our destination is the Gwadar port. The roads going to the port facilities are surprisingly poor especially the one going from the city centre. Once we enter the port area, we see massive cranes jutting out from the ground pointing their hooks towards the sky. Ambitious it may seem, the activity going on here is anything but encouraging…

Gwadar is located at the confluence of three very important regions – the oil rich Middle East, resource rich Central Asia and densely populated South Asia. Being a stone’s throw from the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the seaport could serve as an economic and trade transit point for Pakistan and Afghanistan, as well as Central Asia, Middle East and western China.

The work on the construction of the deep-sea port commenced in 2002 with a vision to reduce dependency on Pakistan’s existing ports and capitalise on trade opportunities in the region. Analysts say US$264 million, mostly in shape of Chinese investment and assistance, have been poured into the project to construct a three multi-purpose berths with a capacity to handle ships up to 50,000 deadweight tonnage (DWT).

Former Pakistani dictator General Musharraf inaugurated the port on 21 March, 2007 with a promise to transform the destiny of Balochistan region. Various announcements, including the construction of an airport as well as oil refineries and a petrochemical city, were made. The pledge to link the city with a railway was the cherry on the icing of the promises cake. Since the inauguration of the port facilities, nothing else has materialized so far.

As I stood at the fish harbour overseeing the cargo handling cranes in port area with awe and admiration, my friend Jalil Dashti poked a question. “Are you looking at sitting ducks, Moign?” he asked with a wry smile. After my nod, he remarked that during the last three years, they came in use perhaps as many times. “The last time there came a container carrying fertilizer and that was ages ago. Since then, these cranes lay as idle as a painted ship,” the young Gwadar local gibed.

“Some of these launches that you see over there bring smuggled oil from Iran. They’re a threat to the livelihood of thousands of fishermen in Gwadar as they pollute the fishing waters,” another friend Fida Ali told me. He said the smugglers prefer the naval route as they only have to bribe the Coast Guards in contrast with the land route where there are many stake holders. “Levies, constabulary forces, police etc. line up for bribes on the land routes and that proves to be very expensive for smugglers,” he added.

“An economic as well as environmental catastrophe is in the making my friend,” both Jalil and Fida said in unity as we got back into our car. From what I saw, I couldn’t agree more…

Gwadar has become the hub of oil smuggling where launches arrive from Iran loaded with cheap petrol and diesel. In the absence of regulated petroleum products in the city, the cheap Iranian oil serves as the lifeline and provides livelihood to thousands of people who fetch the shipments from nearby Iranian border and ship it to other parts of Pakistan.

Despite its inferior quality compared to the oil available at petrol pumps in Pakistan, the popularity of the smuggled Iranian fuel is soaring day by day thanks to the increasing petroleum prices in the country.

BUILDING DREAMS ON GRABBED LAND

They now wanted to take me to the city’s prime real estate, the Sangar Housing Project, where the powerful Pakistani elite, including generals, politicians and bureaucrats, bought chunks of land at knocks off prices long before the Gwadar property boom. But before that, I was taken to the city’s only football and cricket stadiums. Both the places lay in absolute shambles. There was no playing turf in either of the playgrounds and the whole arena was covered with nothing more than beach sand and pebbles.

Making our way through the security check posts that dot the road to the Sangar hill, we saw vast tracts of land that were yet to be developed. The only notable structure was the Pearl Continental luxury hotel that enjoys the magnificent views from the hilltop. Driving across the well-built roads in the VIP area, I found out that at least the Pakistan Navy has claimed 25% of the prime land. The eastern tip of the peninsula is closed to the public with visible Navy demarcation signs warding off any trespassers.

My friends then took me to the most beautiful beach on Sangar Hill, Kapissi, where we enjoyed some breath-taking scenery. After setting my handycam on the rocks to capture the beautiful sunset, we frolicked on the cliffs, and took plenty of photographs. Jumping from one rock to the other, we visited the spot where turtles used to lay their eggs long ago. “This place used to be a pristine spot once. Not anymore. Ever since people started arriving in droves to see the turtles laying eggs, the shy visitors have deserted us,” a regretful Fida told me.

Jalil had other worries on his mind. “Wait till this spot becomes a beach resort. Then you’ll be paying loads just to see the sunset from this beach. Perhaps in dollars,” he grumped. “Hashwani family, the owners of Pearl Continental chains in Pakistan, have bought this beach as they enjoyed close relationship with former dictator Gen. Musharraf. So there you go. This is how you get rewarded in Pakistan,” the 21 year old added while we stared at the waves. The circles we made in sand vanished as the waves swept. It reminded me of how the dictator was forced to resign amid street protests and public displeasure over his acts of tyranny. Nothing stays the same forever…

SALVATION LIES IN EDUCATION

The common impression about Baloch youth is that they’re lazy and laid back and are not interested in learning and education. But Hassan Ali’s venture in Gwadar tells us another story. He visited Karachi in 2006 to attend the World Social Forum (WSF). During his visit, he realised the importance of communication through computers and how English language has become the most powerful tool of channelling voices. He rented a shop and asked a friend to help him learn English.

“I invested Rs. 6,000 ($70) from my own pocket to bring books and decorate the place and we got started. Things were not so easy in the beginning,” Hassan described as I continued to dig deep. He comes from a very humble background of fishermen and invited other people including schoolchildren to join him. Soon there was a crowd that wanted to learn English and computers in order to improve their lives.

“You won’t believe but then Fisheries minister, Mir Amal Kalmati, donated Rs. 18,000 from his purse to bring some improvement to the place and urged me to come back to him if more funds were needed,” he disclosed graciously. Ali’s efforts soon yielded results and the city mayor joined him in expanding the learning facility. “Majid Sohrabi is the guy who told us to find a new place and assured he’ll help build new premises,” the Gwadar educational activist continued. He added that the place where the centre is located is one of the poorest neighbourhoods of the city. “The language plus the computer centre have helped hundreds of young people including girls who hail from the fisherfolk community.”

I was really impressed after speaking to the teachers who taught English and computer to the pupils of an institute named Dhoria on a volunteer basis. They asked me to say a few words to the students of an English language class and I couldn’t help but appreciate their thirst for learning and improving their lives.

GODFORSAKEN GWADAR

Overwhelmed by my experiences so far, I wanted to update my status on Facebook and post a few pictures of my first day in Gwadar. “Is there a café or something where I can check my emails?” I asked my hosts. They shook their heads. “The optic fibre cables have been laid long ago but there is no Internet facility in Gwadar at the moment. The only way you can log onto the web is via the GPRS on mobile phones which is a very costly and extremely frustrating type of connection,” the young man replied with remorse. I was astonished to discover how Gwadar stays cut off from the information highway and felt deprived.

Soon it was time for dinner and we headed to a restaurant. While placing our orders, another friend of Jalil Dashti arrived. Introducing himself as Qambar Nisar, the man in his early thirties, said he worked for the local fisheries and made sure that the maritime waters of Gwadar are protected from illegal fishing and poaching.

“The state of local fishermen is in a dire strait, as illegal foreign launches trawl in our water and snatch livelihood. We’re no more than sitting ducks as we don’t have the means to defend our coast. At times we have fake weapons and limited fuel to ward off the attacks of well-equipped invaders. We fear for our ass,” Nisar said in a jolly tone despite the seriousness of the issue. But out of the sense of humour I understood how difficult it is for his men to risk their lives while carrying out their jobs. “They grease the palms of the higher ups and get away with all the big fish in our waters. We sit on our ass and watch this happen everyday” he swore up and down. Our food arrived…

While having our dinner we chatted about almost everything. From issues related to Balochistan’s exploitation to insurgency to human rights abuses of Balochs, the table talk turned out to be as hot and spicy as the food itself.

“This meal that you’re having, know that it is not cooked on your Sui gas,” my hosts told me. “We use the gas cylinders here that arrive from neighbouring Iran, just like petrol or diesel. We’re not good enough for the gas supplies from Pakistan,” my friend Nisar sneered. When asked why, he said I should seek the answer from the policy makers in Islamabad who have piped gas supplies from Balochistan region to places as far as Peshawar and Lahore but not to Baloch towns and cities.

“I’m not a politician, bureaucrat, technocrat, military man, mullah etc. I’m not part of the elite but just an ordinary man and I’m not telling you half-baked stories. Go out and check for yourself if you like my friend,” the Baloch civil servant was forthcoming. I could feel the bitterness in his tone but could sense the injustice too. Jalil also occasionally contributed to the chat that was peppered with references to the history, politics and society of Balochistan. We feasted on some very delicious food but our appetite for a dialogue remained unfulfilled. “We’ll meet again tomorrow, my friend,” Qambar Nisar, also a Balochi film enthusiast, vowed as we parted.

On our way back home, I was surprised to see the deserted streets in an otherwise friendly town. “This city has seen a lot of political violence in the last few months. Scores of local political activists have disappeared. Later their bullet-riddled bodies were found in isolated places,” Jalil revealed adding that the people of Gwadar have denounced the atrocities by staging protests and holding strikes.

“People don’t leave their homes after dark for their safety. The situation in this port city is not peaceful anymore,” the young Gwadar native explained. I could see a heavy presence of law enforcement agencies on the streets of Gwadar with check posts established at all important spots of the city. “Many non-natives have also suffered the brunt of the injustices meted out to the local people so please be a bit cautious,” Jalil requested as I walked to my hotel room. Dreams replaced my fears as I got into my bed…

DEVELOPMENT IN BOTTLENECKS

A bright new day in Gwadar and more people to meet. Soon after breakfast, I visited the Gwadar Development Authority office. It is the government agency that spearheaded the transformation plans of this fishing town to a 21^st century mega port city. Founded in October 2003, GDA was tasked with implementing the city’s master plan as well as overseeing the construction of roads, hospitals, schools, parks, sports complex and the city’s non-existent sewerage system. While the city has seen some improvement in terms of its infrastructure and civic amenities, many people criticize GDA for concentrating too much on long-term plans while neglecting the immediate needs of the city.

On my arrival, Shey Mansoor, a top-ranking official tasked with town planning at GDA, greeted me. I shared my observations with the town planning officer and asked why the short term planning of Gwadar was not properly taken into account. “The GDA became operational in January, 2004 and the immediate task given was to move the people living in the city’s port area to the outskirts,” Mansoor said while criticizing the policy makers in Islamabad of not taking into account the difficulties of relocating a densely populated area of the city to a newly built housing society.

“Instead of developing the dilapidated facilities of the city e.g. roads, hospitals, schools, cold storage facilities for fisherfolk, jetties etc. the planners sought to move the old natives and settle them in places far away from their livelihood i.e. the port,” the Baloch civil servant remarked. He added that too much attention was paid on developing the port and shaping the city according to the master plan but the basic concerns of the locals were ignored.

“The people living in Gwadar are genuinely concerned about the change in demographics after the development of the port. They fear the massive growth of the port city will sideline them and as a result they’ll lose their houses, lands and livelihood,” Shey Mansoor explained. He added that instead of addressing these concerns, some influential people politicised the issue and gave it a wrong colour.

“The military operation in Balochistan worsened the matters. The foreign direct investment completely stopped and investors fled the market. Today, the situation has gone to the extent that GDA stands as a cash-strapped agency with no federal grants available and all development projects put on hold,” the town planning officer continued.

Despite the doom and gloom surrounding the development scene in Gwadar, he had something positive to disclose as well. “Anywhere you go in Pakistan, you’ll find corruption but here we’ve done a remarkable job sans corruption. During the last five years, we’ve spent just around Rs. 4 billion ($205 million) and completed several mega projects in a very cost-effective manner,” the GDA official emphasized.

However, when I quizzed him about the state of roads in the city, especially the main Airport Road, he admitted that it was not on the priority list. The GDA official blamed paucity of funds as well as congestion in the city centre for the lack of proper roads. In the end, the bureaucratic system was blamed for the lack of development in the city.

Before leaving the GDA office, I was lead into the office of one of the directors of GDA. Rafiq Ahmed is a very kind man with a vision of the future. “Despite all the successes and the failures of the past and present, Gwadar has the potential to become a great city of the future, thanks to the great deposits of gold, copper, coal and rare earth metals found in Balochistan,” he said in an optimistic tone. He also hoped that his region becomes the hub of exploration activities that truly benefit the indigenous population and help them establish a 21^st century welfare society with all the basic amenities available to each and every citizen.

I couldn’t agree less. The recent dearth of rare earth metals after China’s announcement that it will restrict the exports of the all-important elements needed in the manufacturing of cars, electronics and hi-tech machines has forced the US, Japan and other industrial giants to seek them elsewhere. The strategic location of Balochistan and its proximity to Asia, Africa and the Middle East makes it the ideal destination to mine, and to process and export the rare earth metals that lie at the bottom end of the periodic table.

It was towards the end of another hectic day but there were still a few people on the list that I had to meet. I went to see two local retired teachers who ran a private school in the city. I asked about the state of private schools in Gwadar. Imam Bukhsh Imam, a retired government school principal, expressed his satisfaction over the progress of the private schools and was confident that they’re doing a very good job if compared to the government schools.

“The kids have many facilities at hand and teachers work hard to give them quality education. There is accountability as it is a private venture,” the elderly Baloch principal affirmed. He did admit though that many poor families couldn’t afford the fees regardless of being meagre. “There are some really poor families who can’t afford fees at all. We try to accommodate children from such backgrounds but sometimes the parents prefer to send their school to a government school or make them work,” he admitted.

His friend Khuda Bakhsh, also a retired education officer, was sitting next to him and decried the level of poverty in the region. While expressing his discontent over the mega development projects, he asked me: “What progress have you seen here?”

While I scrambled for an answer, he patted on my shoulders and continued: “I don’t mean to say that we have not progressed under 52 years of Pakistani rule. We have. Take our travel to Karachi for example,”

“It took 9 days for us to reach Karachi from here back in 1970s,” he claimed which shocked my friends as we all sat in the school garden.

The elderly retired principal added: “Not many years ago, it still took us a couple of days to cover the distance of 700 odd kilometres and reach Karachi. Thankfully, it’s 10 hours now if we’re not stopped at the numerous security checkpoints on the way.” The sense of humour of the elderly retired teachers seemed to transform into anger.

Sensing the change of mood, I fired up one final question about Gwadar’s decision to join Pakistan and if they’ve achieved something out of this secession.

“I was just a kid when Oman ceded Gwadar. People were out on the streets dancing and welcomed Pakistani rule,” he said with a gleeful chuckle. “We joined Pakistan with many hopes,” Khuda Bukhsh recounted. History books point out to the fact that a large sum of money was paid to the Omani sultan to acquire the port city from the Gulf state.

“Now they say we are traitors. Our youth and intellectuals are abducted routinely and what we discover later is their badly tortured bodies. Is this how you reward the patriotic people of the country whose only crime is asking for rights?” the elderly man asked me with a glare. The disgust on the faces of everyone sitting there was unbearable…

Soon it was dinnertime and Qambar Nisar, the fisheries officer, joined us. “What is it that the common people of Balochistan want now?” I asked very clearly. His answer was as forthcoming as my question.

“We simply want our rights. We want what belongs to us. We want an end to exploitation. We want our resources to be used on our welfare. We, the Baloch nation, want to rule ourselves and be the masters of our fate,” he replied eloquently and without any hesitation.

“So how does your nation aim to seek this? Is independence the ultimate solution?” I poked a more direct question buoyed by the frank atmosphere.

“I wish there was a clear answer to this question,” Qambar Nisar replied after he paused for a couple of seconds to ponder. “The trouble is…we ask for rights very peacefully and they reply with oppression. We protest peacefully and they disperse us violently. We criticize their policies and urge them to rethink but they brand us as foreign agents and start a military operation against us,” he briefed me about the situation in an animated tone.

“It is not for the first time that there is an insurgency going on in this province,” the Gwadar local pointed out adding that there were armed uprisings in 1948, 1958, 1962-63 and 1973-77 but fizzled out when the federation struck a deal with the Baloch tribal leaders. “This time the resentment is much deeper. We want our rights and this is the only reason that the whole region is getting enflamed.

“Our opinions might differ as some Baloch want independence from Pakistan and some want provincial autonomy under the 1973 constitution within the federation. But we all agree on one thing: A complete end to the exploitation of Balochistan and spending of mineral wealth on the welfare of Baloch nation. Nothing less, nothing more” the Gwadar local underlined before feasting on the meal.

We had the meal in a very good atmosphere with my hosts making sure that I eat properly. The hospitality was overwhelming. The people were so friendly that our smiles and pleasantries did a lot of the conversation. I was glad to have visited the place as a fact finder and to be welcomed warmly as a guest.

I went to Balochistan unsure, with many questions in my head, but came back convinced that no nation would cope with oppressors, tolerate them and let them get away with exploitation, aggression and corruption. The simple yet potent words of my friend and host, Jalil Baloch resonated in my thoughts: “Even animals do not let anyone mistreat them and know to defend themselves. We Baloch are humans after all and are more conscious of the realities than ever.” His plain words had the strength of a beast and wisdom of a philosopher in them… (Courtesy: Outernationalist.net)

Moign Khawaja is a UK-based journalist and specializes in politics, current affairs, world conflicts. He also takes deep interest in society especially religious and cultural festivals. Moign has MA degrees in Journalism and International Affairs. He is the editor of Outernationalist.net. Contact him at neomartian@hotmail.com. A similar exposé was published as the cover story of Express Tribune magazine.

Written by Wusat Ullah Khan of BBC Urdu Service

Translated by: Moign Khawaja

Whoever killed him was not in a hurry. The murderer lent him time to mend his ways. But just because Saba Dashtiyari was an emotional man and used his heart more than his brain thats why he could not figure out how to make use of this ultimatum and how to play within the rules. He kept on playing with fire through his firebrand speeches and rousing work for the rights of the Baloch nation.

It is true that universities are the havens of freedom of speech and freethinking but this is a western principle and is alien to our culture and traditions. We believe that freethinking and infidelity have little or no difference. They go hand in glove. So, if you had to become the icon of freethinking, you should have gone to a place where the society and state have the tolerance to put up with such ideas. Such a luxury cannot be bestowed upon you in a theocratic state. Here, you have to keep your pupils limited to the curriculum that has been well-defined by the state…

Saba Dashtiyari’s killers were generous enough to give him a chance to follow the code of conduct of the government service and let him secure his promotion, pension and other retirement benefits. If he was so hell bent upon fighting for the rights of his people, he should have quit the university first and then have his passion of speaking the frame of mind fulfilled.

Mr. Dashtiyari, it is beyond any doubt that you’ve played a vital role in promoting Balochi literature, history and philosophy according to the 21st century standards and we respect you for that. But bear in mind that at least two dozen of the books you wrote were published by the very state who you deem as the murderer of your nation’s rights and wishes.

We’re very pleased that you collected hundreds of thousands of books and documents in various languages of the world that featured Balochi literature, history and culture and preserved them as “Zahoor Shah Hashmi Reference Library” which is one of its kind in the world. How nice it would have been had you dedicated the rest of your life in this noble work…

Mr. Dashtiyari, you were a great man. At least you should have thought about your nobility. Does it suits, a man of your calibre, to sit with students in the canteen, chat with them, take part in politically-motivated hunger strikes, address public rallies, join demonstrations and chant slogans just like the common man?

Do you think that everything on your mind needs to be told and everything in your heart needs to be let out? You used to say that one should have the courage to say and face the truth. Does every truth need to be told? If this is such a great principle, why won’t your colleagues follow the suit? Do they not see the things that you do?

Mr. Dashtiyari, we know that you were the ocean of history and knowledge. But were you unaware of the treatment the Greeks meted out to Socrates? What the Nazis did to the scholars who opposed their ideology? How Soviet and Chinese Communists purged the so-called “liberal” teachers and philosophers? What pains the freethinkers went through during the McCarthy era in the USA?

Well, these might be far fetched examples to you. So let’s talk from our history shall we. Have you forgotten the fate of the professors and teachers of the Dhaka University who harboured “anti-state thoughts”? How they were eliminated from the face of the earth right after the initiation of “Operation Searchlight” on 25 March, 1971? We so wish you had visited the national museum of Dhaka to see the blood-stained carpet that serves as the relic to the cleansing of great Bengali icons of knowledge and wisdom.

You can’t fool us long by insisting on calling yourself as a knowledge-seeking man and that you’ve got nothing to do with the armed resistance. You’re more dangerous than them. You’re the kind of people who can arm the minds of the masses. In order to get rid of a snake, its head needs to be crushed. Likewise, it is only natural to stamp the people who become the brains of an awakening nation. Brain dead, thoughts vanished, man finished and problem solved…

Saba Dashtiyari, we really wish that you had understood all that we mentioned above. It is true that you were a great thinker and teacher but maybe you lacked common sense. But it is not your fault as every great man suffers from the same problem. And this deficiency leads to the inability of speaking the right thing at the right time.

Saba, we are really sorry for your death. But this sorrow is quite less than the pain of seeing you alive. However, consider your death as our compulsion. After all, we have to run the state…

Note: Wusat Ullah Khan is the author of this article which was written in Urdu and published on BBCUrdu.com. The translation into English is done by  after seeking permission from the author. Please credit both the author and translator while republishing it.

By Moign Khawaja

My trip to the ‘dream city’ of Gwadar is preceded by a reality check: “The situation here is volatile,” warns my friend, “Baloch political activists routinely disappear and are killed.”

But that does nothing to deter me. Balochistan is a province with rich deposits of oil, gas, gold, copper and rare earth metals and Gwadar, one of its largest cities, is the hub that crystallises its potential. Despite the constant barrage of bad news from the province — “militants blow up gas pipeline” is now a staple news item — Gwadar still conjures up images of pristine beaches and rugged mountains and evokes the same mood of optimism that was generated eight years ago when the development of the port city first begun.

The Gwadar deep-sea port project was announced in 2002, when former Pakistani president General Pervez Musharraf promised to transform Balochistan’s destiny by an equitable distribution of resources. Inaugurating it in March 2007, the autocratic leader not only ensured the timely completion of the mega project, he also got the Chinese government to finance and execute the development of the port’s facilities. So far, an estimated Rs5 billion ($264 million) have been poured into the project for the construction of three multi-purpose berths with a capacity to handle ships of up to 50,000 deadweight tonnage (DWT).

But when I visit the port, I see the cranes lying idle and deserted. A port official informs me that the cargo handling cranes received a large fertiliser shipment some five months. Nothing much has moved since.

Instead, the harbour has become a hub of oil smuggling thanks to the absence of regulated petroleum products in the city. Launches from Iran arrive at the harbour loaded with cheap petrol and diesel. The cheap Iranian oil provides livelihoods to thousands of people who fetch the shipments from the Iranian border and dispatch it to other parts of Balochistan.

This inferior oil’s popularity is soaring thanks to increasing petroleum prices in Pakistan. According to Wasim (not his real name), an oil smuggler, the Pakistani Coast Guard, Pakistan Customs, Levies and other border control agencies are in on the game. “All a smuggler needs to do is to grease the palms of the ‘law-enforcement’ officers to get their shipments smuggled anywhere without hassle,” he claimed, pointing out large yellow petroleum cans that were being off-loaded from a launch.

Most of the locals in the area are fishermen, but they face a two-pronged challenge: first, they have to deal with the smugglers who pollute the water by plying oil in their launches, and secondly they have to deal with poachers who trawl illegally in Pakistan’s maritime waters, denying local fishermen their catch. “Local fishermen are suffering terribly… illegal foreign launches trawl in our water and snatch away their livelihood,” says Qambar Nisar, a fisheries department officer.  “We don’t have the means to defend our coast. Sometimes we carry fake weapons and limited fuel to ward off attacks by well-equipped invaders. We fear for our lives.”

The mega development of Gwadar offered mega dreams on sale. Not long after the deep-sea port project was announced, the property market boomed with Gwadar’s prime land up for grabs. Locals sold their land at throwaway prices to real estate developers who rebranded the estates and sold them to investors from other provinces at many times the original price. The elite lined up to purchase acres of residential and commercial land in what was touted as ‘Pakistan’s future Dubai’.

The property bubble burst when Baloch leader Akbar Bugti was killed in his hideout in the hills of Dera Bugti in 2006. Strikes erupted across the region, and law and order (the writ of the state) in the province collapsed, with enraged political activists joining the insurgents and staging attacks on the security apparatus in the province.

“I used to have a booming property business but it is all gone now. Investors withdrew their capital and fled the market,” says Qambar Nisar who now works for Gwadar Fisheries. “Every other day we hear about the disappearance of young Baloch activists. Their mutilated bodies are later discovered in isolated places,” he laments the worsening situation. “Sometimes Baloch towns and cities remain closed for three days in mourning. How can we do business in this situation?”

In New Town and Sangar — the city’s prime housing estates —land lay idle with little or no construction going on. Some government projects were being worked on at a snail’s pace. Wealthy buyers keep this land as an investment while many of the mid-level buyers have sold it cheaply in order to recover their money. Everyone, it seems, lacks trust in the government.

Gwadar does have a -star hotel for those who fancy a luxury vacation but it closed recently because of deteriorating law and order. Brand new dual carriageways, a hospital, a college, courts, and residential complexes have been built but are yet to be operational. The Gwadar Development Authority has overseen the development of the new city since 2003, but has not touched the old city since it had not been given the mandate to uplift old Gwadar. As a result, the city’s main Airport Road lies in ruins. The Federal Government in Islamabad decides the city’s fate and releases the funds ‘when and where needed’.

Meanwhile, locals no longer trust policy makers. After selling their land cheaply, they are concerned that the changing demographics will make them an ethnic minority in their own province. The port construction projects did not generate employment for the local Balochs who, despite lacking the technical skills and experience, were determined to become the backbone of development.

However, the contractors preferred the cheaper and better-trained labour from other parts of the country. The denial of jobs to the locals, as a result, generated frustration and fanned the flames of ethnic conflict.

“The people living in Gwadar are genuinely concerned about the demographic shift after the development of the port. They fear the port city’s massive growth will sideline them and they’ll lose their houses, lands and livelihood,” says Shey Mansoor, an official at the Gwadar Development Authority.

It wasn’t always so. When Gwadar was incorporated into Pakistan in September 1958, with the Sultan of Oman ceding control to General Ayub Khan, the local population welcomed the change. “I was a child at the time but I remember how Gwadar’s people celebrated when the peninsula joined the rest of Balochistan and Pakistan,” says Khuda Bukhsh, a former local government officer. “Back then we were happy to be part of Pakistan and believed things would change. Not a lot has changed for the better though. Yesterday we were happy to be part of you and today we’re unhappy. Something must have gone wrong in between, don’t you think?” he quizzes.

This resentment is born of a feeling of exploitation that resonates from the shores of Arabian Sea in the south to the Chagai Hills in the north. Most Baloch people are of the view that the province has almost become a colony for the rest of Pakistan providing gas, oil, copper, uranium, gold, coal and other minerals but receiving next to nothing in return. Sui gas field accounts for at least a third of Pakistan’s total gas production but many of Balochistan’s own towns and cities, including Gwadar, lack gas supply through pipelines. In contrast, most cities in Punjab, Sindh and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa receive gas through pipelines that power industries and houses. “I don’t care if there is a gas shortage in parts of Pakistan, because we produce the gas and yet we do not have it,” says Jalil Dashti, a young business studies graduate.

Not a single day passes without news of bullet-riddled bodies of Baloch activists found in isolated places of Balochistan or a gas-pipeline blown up by so-called ‘miscreants’. Rag-tag Baloch rebels claim responsibility for the attacks and blame the Pakistani government for exploiting the region’s resources and enriching other parts of the country, especially Punjab, at Balochistan’s expense. Islamabad, in response, says these people are Indian-sponsored agents bent on undermining the writ of the Islamic Republic.

Gwadar has become a hub of political activities for many Baloch nationalist parties which advocate the idea of an ‘independent Balochistan’ that develops its own resources and spends the income generated only on its citizens. Some political parties also demand provincial autonomy under the 1973 constitution, which ensures complete rights over the resources of the region. Activists from Baloch nationalist parties face abductions, imprisonment, torture and extra-judicial killings on a routine basis. Nor are the insurgents forgiving of those who defy their dictates, routinely shooting down those who oppose their agenda. Caught between the insurgents and the state, the Baloch people seem to be running out of options.

Despite all the damage and destruction, there remains a glimmer of hope: if this exploitation is stopped, peace and reconciliation are still possible. Otherwise, we just need to open our history book, turn a few pages and read what happened 40 years ago when Pakistan faced a similar situation in its eastern wing. (Courtesy: Express Tribune)

Media plays a humongous role in enlightening people about the problems or injustices taking place around the globe. Today, when everything has become fast and rapid, in the meanwhile,  electronic and online media bring forward the problems which need instant consideration. Balochistan has always received a cold shoulder by the national media and most events of Balochistan go unnoticed throughout Pakistan and rest of the world. Journalists from the larger cities have failed to decipher the real issue of Balochistan for ages now.

Initially, Balochs seemed to be in a dilemma, but now it seems as though they have started finding their own ways of putting forward their issues. Launching of first Balochi news channel, first Baloch online English newspaper and so on, these seem to be initiatives taken to make the people who are outside Balochistan aware of the hardships which Balochs and Balochistan are facing currently. Even though there is a deficiency of platforms where Balochs should express their
thoughts, now the youth are trying to use all the platforms which they have at their disposal in order to make their presence felt and to lift up their voices for the rights of their nation. Over the last few years, media situated in Balochistan has played a constructive role to educate the Baloch nation and has always raised voice in opposition to
any injustice which has taken place out here.

In order to educate the Baloch people, a source other than media which has started becoming very effective, is the Balochi film production. A few of the readers might get astounded that what I am talking about. If Pakistan lacks a proper film industry then how come Balochs will have a proper one, you may wonder. Lake of facilities and conveniences doesn’t become a hurdle in the way of those who are willing to bring a change in their surroundings. The same is the case out here. Baloch movie producers and actors do not get any revenue from their movies but the desire to work for Baloch nation, Balochi language and Balochistan is praise-worthy.

It’s true that movies made in Balochi language are still not of very high standards but they do represent the Baloch social issues. Few years back, most of the Balochi movies made, didn’t use to contain a theme. Weird humor was the only thing which could be sensed in them. By seeing the movies of that time we could say that they were assimilating the Baloch culture instead of promoting it. To be honest, we can say that those movies were nothing more than riddles for the common Baloch people who watched them.

After the changes in the political situation of Balochistan, a change in the stories of the movies has been observed as well. The movies released after the Martyrdom of Nawab Akbar Khan Bughti and other Baloch leaders, have had an entire different taste. Before, many complaints were received that the movies weren’t showing the real Balochi culture and pure Balochi language wasn’t being used but these days, keeping all the old complaints in mind, the emphasis of the
movies is mostly to drag the attention towards the cane of worms which Pakistani government has opened in Balochistan.

The recent movies in the last four to five years have been imbued with a real sense of patriotism. The most prominent movies Zindan, Ganjain Gawadar, manzil, Balach, Sawad, Balochistan Hotel, Suhrain Dapthar (The red file), Siyah maar and many more are such movies which have been able to convey their real message to the Baloch (as per the message these all movies gave).

Dr Hanif Sharif, a Baloch writer and director of movies like Balach and Balochistan Hotel movies,says these movies are  an easy source to convey the message to every single Baloch.

It can’t be claimed that all the mistakes of the Balochi movies have been eradicated, but the improvement which is being noticed, is a hopeful sign that in the near future, we will be able to see good Balochi movies. It is the responsibility of the society to support and encourage the Balochi filmmakers to promote the Baloch culture.

By Shehzad Baloch

QUETTA: Enforced disappearances in Balochistan continue unabated as the situation worsens and the recovery of the number of bullet-riddled bodies in the province is at an all-time high.

Twenty-one bullet-riddled bodies of missing persons, including two lawyers, have so far been found from different areas of Balochistan including Quetta, Mastung and Khuzdar since July 4, 2010. Invariably, all victims were Baloch and were killed in a similar manner.

The victims were shot in the forehead and a bullet passed through the skull besides signs of torture on their faces, hands and other parts of their bodies. Their hands were also tied to the back of their body with ropes. “I have attended several bodies. All of them were killed similarly,” said Dr Baqer Shah from the Bolan Medical College Teaching Hospital.

Taking hostage the Baloch political activists and students espousing nationalistic ideas started during the government of General (retd) Pervez Musharraf, but the body of no missing person was recovered in such a way, journalist Mohammad Kazim said.

“We know who killed Zaman Marri therefore we neither made an appeal to the government not to the lawyers’ community,” said a cousin of Marri, one of the lawyers whose body has been found.

An organisation with the name of Sipah-i-Shuhada-i-Balochistan (SSB) has claimed responsibility for killing some of these people. “This is an organisation of relatives of people who were killed in incidents of target killings in Balochistan,” said Abdullah, who introduced himself as the SSB spokesperson in a statement published in local newspapers.

He warned that his organisation will target the activists of the defunct Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), Baloch Liberation Front, Baloch Republican Army, Lashkar-e-Balochistan, Baloch National Front and Balochistan National Party (Mengal).

Voice for Missing Baloch Persons (VMBP), an organisation striving for the recovery of missing persons, accuses security forces and intelligence agencies of killing missing persons in illegal detention.

“Our apprehensions are coming true regarding the lives of missing persons. All such persons will be killed in this way by government agencies,” alleged Nasrullah Baloch, chairman of VMBP. He said it was a humanitarian issue and the government, judiciary and other institutions have failed to recover a single missing person.

Baloch added that people have been witnesses to how security forces picked up someone from their family or friends. He claimed that so far 31 bullet-riddled bodies had been recovered, while 10 bodies remain unidentified.

“Petitions were also filed in the Supreme Court and the Balochistan High Court, but the relatives of missing persons have not been helped,” he said.

Baloch said that some women have been on a hunger strike for five months to draw the attention of humanitarian organisations, but in vain. “Now we want international human rights organisations to intervene,” he said.

Inspector General Frontier Corps (IGFC), Major Gen Salim Nawaz dispelled the impression that the FC has detained people. “It is baseless and Frontier Corps personnel never resort to such things,” he added.

On August 14, 17 people belonging to Punjab were killed in Quetta and Bolan by armed men. The BLA had taken responsibility for the killings and said it was a reaction to the killing of Baloch missing persons.  Security forces deny such allegations and call them baseless.

Journalist Kazim said that people expected normalcy to return to Balochistan after the political government came to power, but unfortunately all hopes of improvement have faded away and hatred has increased with the passage of time. (Courtesy: Express Tribune)

By Shehzad Baloch

QUETTA: An anti-smuggling resolution passed by the Balochistan Assembly has failed to curb the illicit transport of livestock and cattle across Pakistan’s borders with Iran and Afghanistan.

Every day thousands of cattle cross the border into both Iran and Afghanistan, with the connivance of civilians and officials.  Trucks bearing cows, sheep, buffaloes and goats, queue up in Chaman Township, an area bordering Afghanistan, and Taftan town, which shares a border with Iran. According to the media, more than a million animals are smuggled annually to Afghanistan and Iran from the provinces of Balochistan and Khyber-Pakthunkhwa.

The customs collector of Quetta, Hafiz Matiullah, said: “We lack manpower, so it is impossible to seal the entire 1,700-kilometre long border with Afghanistan and Iran. Customs staff only checks legal export in Taftan and Chaman townships and is already working beyond their capacity.” There is no way for the small staff of 200 to cover the entire border, even with the assistance of the Frontier Corps (FC), he added. The export of commodities is usually pegged to domestic consumption. “If production outstrips domestic consumption, we allow exports and when the commodity is scarce, we ban exports,” explained Sarwar Brohi, director-general of the Trade and Development Authority. Those looking to export any commodity must apply for regular permits issued by the Trade and Development Authority. Nowadays, the government allows export of livestock to companies paying income tax, he added.

“But in the case of livestock, special permits were issued to political figures, with a lone person from the government responsible for issuing all permits and therefore giving smuggling a legitimate face,” claims Brohi. “He must mint millions every day,” spat out a furious butcher. “The smuggling has depleted stocks so much that the prices of beef and mutton have skyrocketed beyond the reach of ordinary people,” he said.

Mahmood Khan, another butcher, told The Express Tribune that the price of mutton per kilogramme had risen to Rs460, while beef had risen to Rs300, due to smuggling. Since influential personalities are involved, there is no hope of the situation changing, he added.

Last year, the government allowed only export of animals for meat purposes and prohibited exports of productive female species, but that did not prevent the smuggling of female livestock, an official said.

A senior journalist of the province, Saleem Shahid, said Afghanistan used to export livestock to Pakistan, but changes in demand have resulted in cattle being smuggled, in large numbers, to Iran and Afghanistan. He suggested that the government should take concrete steps to stop the smuggling, otherwise livestock would deplete to an alarming level, worsening the situation.

However, the livestock department secretary, Zafarullah Baloch, denied the depletion of livestock in Balochistan, saying instead that it is increasing. He also refused to accept responsibility for curbing smuggling. “Smuggling of animals is not our area of responsibility. It should be controlled by the federal government that issues permits of exports,” he said.

Brohi expressed serious concern regarding smuggling. “When the subject was under the purview of the commerce ministry, we had a complete record of imports and exports, but now no one knows how many animals are being exported and how many remain in the country.”

“There is a dire need for hide, skin and certain internal organs of animals. The prices of beef and meat have also climbed up,” he said, adding that it was leaving a negative impact on the provincial economy as well. (Courtesy: The Express Tribune)

By Jill McGivering BBC News, Sukkur

When covering disasters, reporters can face the ethical question of whether they should help, or remain detached. When is it right for a journalist to help a weak and possibly dying baby?

Sometimes the scale of a tragedy is so vast, it is hard to comprehend.

It was a difficult birth, by the roadside, with no-one to help

Eight million people in Pakistan are homeless and hungry. Sometimes it takes just one to make it all seem real.

That is how I felt in Sukkur 10 days ago. Overwhelmed.

People were flowing into the city at a ferocious pace, a ragged river of humanity, with shocked faces and frightened eyes.

They were fleeing on trucks, donkey carts, bicycles and on foot, clutching whatever was precious – electric fans, bedding, pots and pans, chickens and goats. Behind them, a great sinister mass of floodwater was pouring in.

Tiny scrap

Sukkur itself was overflowing with families, along the roadside, on river banks, on every patch of open ground.

The heat was unbearable but they had no shelter.

When our car pulled up, they ran to it, flattened their faces against the windows, begged for food, for water, for help.

When I got out and started to record interviews, people pressed round.

Then, in all the noise and heat and smell, someone told me about a baby, born by the roadside, and led me off to see.

She was a tiny scrap, silent and still amid the clamour.

She was lying motionless on her back, on a small mat under a tree. Flies were thick round her face. The passing traffic was just feet away.

I see my job as to bear witness in a tragedy and to report – but not to interfere

Her skin was almost translucent, her head smaller than my palm, balanced in a faded china saucer, propped up against a stone. Her eyes were closed and lifeless.

I thought at first that she was dead. Her young mother seemed vacant with shock. She had had a difficult birth, there on the road, with no-one to help.

Now she sat beside her baby, looking dazed. The baby was not feeding, she said. She had not seen a doctor. She did not know where to find one.

I went down the road to a chaotic emergency clinic and interviewed a doctor there who promised to go and help. Then I went back to the hotel to work on a different report.

Metaphor for suffering

The following day, I was busy chasing more stories, but on the way back to the hotel in the early evening, I stopped off at the roadside, with some trepidation.

It seemed very likely that the baby would not have survived. But she had.

She was weak, but whimpering now and trying to move.

As the flood crisis continues, millions face an uncertain future

The doctor had visited and whatever he had done seemed to have made all the difference. Her mother had just named her Samina. Suddenly she had a name and a hold on life.

That evening I was elated. In all that misery and heat and exhaustion, I felt boosted by the thought I had helped someone, perhaps even played a part in saving a life. It eased my sense of guilt and helplessness.

The report I filed on baby Samina met with a tremendous response. Suddenly she seemed to be a metaphor for the general suffering.

I was contacted by friends and colleagues and complete strangers.

An international agency got in touch, offering to help the family. Baby Samina was becoming, unwittingly, a poster girl for the floods.

In some ways, that is wonderful. But it also made me feel very uncomfortable.

I see my job as to bear witness in a tragedy and to report – but not to interfere. I had urged that doctor to treat baby Samina.

He may have saved her, but was it at the expense of another patient? Is it unethical to attract resources to one family, when millions of others may be equally deserving?

Hope and disappointment

This week I went back to Sukkur to do a second report on Samina.

Her family has a tent inside a camp now – tent number 59 – with a supply of food and clean water.

Samina seems stronger. She is lying on a pile of embroidered cushions, instead of the ground, wriggling and yawning.

Her mother’s health, too, seems much better. The family’s future is still uncertain, but the immediate crisis is past.

Maybe I should stop there, with a happy ending that makes us all feel hopeful, but as I walked away from Samina’s family, someone tugged at my sleeve.

She led me to a tent nearby where another young woman had just given birth, a day or two earlier.

Her relatives lifted a cover to show a tiny, wrinkled newborn.

The women turned to me, eager and expectant, as if they were thinking now this foreigner will help our child too.

They looked disappointed when all I could do was to say thank you, congratulate them and then turn to leave. (Courtesy: BBC South Asia)

By Shahzad Baloch

QUETTA: Ironically, many in Balochistan are more familiar with the reporters and anchors of BBC Urdu radio and All India Radio than Pakistan Radio. They know their names and when to tune in for which programme. Even those who don’t understand Urdu or Hindi listen to these two stations, relying on people in their family or villages to translate.

For the overwhelming majority of people living in Balochistan’s far-flung areas, radio is the sole source of information. Unfortunately, the reach of this medium has shrunk somewhat over the last few days.

Two of the province’s most backward districts,  Awaran and Washuk, do not have power supply, while in other districts electricity is restricted to the main cities. As for newspapers, most people either have no access due to the poor road network or they can’t read. In this scenario, radio is the natural option for news and entertainment. Or at least it was till its infrastructure became so old and outdated that people stopped catching signals in the more remote regions.

Things have changed for the worse since 1956 when the Quetta station of Radio Pakistan was established, says Rashid Baloch, a producer and broadcaster. In those days, “everybody remained glued to the radio,” says Baloch.

And in 1961, the government installed the short wave transmitter extending transmission throughout the province. “The transmission could be received in some Gulf countries as well,” says Rashid.

Until three years ago, Radio Pakistan Quetta had a short-wave transmitter which covered the entire province and received a good response from the listeners. When the short waves were removed and just the medium wave transmitters were retained, radio signals became too weak to be heard in remote places. The transmitters have completed their life and even the companies which developed them have closed down.

“The transmitters merely cover Quetta now,” says Rashid, who has to work as producer in several programmes owing to the lack of manpower at the radio station. Though representatives of the radio are present in every tehsil, they cannot create awareness until strong transmitters are installed, he points out.

Meanwhile, the listeners send letters asking for the resumption of radio channels. “A few years back, we used to receive around 30,000 letters about our programmes,” says Rashid, adding that now they cannot even inform villagers about any expected natural disaster.

A producer of Brahvi language, Akhtar Baloch says there used to be three radio channels, two of which were closed down. And the only remaining channel is functioning with a very weak signal. The Quetta station was also the first to present news bulletins in six languages, Balochi, Urdu, Persian, Brahvi, Pashtu and Hazargi, says Akhtar.

Even till 2007, when floods lashed the Makran region, the radio was a good source of information. It was the same when Ziarat and adjoining areas were hit by an earthquake in 2008. Due to proximity to Quetta, in spite of weak signals, Rashid says “we informed the affected people where relief camps would be established and where they could go to get help.

Now, listeners like Nabi Bakhsh, who lives in Kharan district, are deprived of their sole source of information and entertainment. “I used to listen to the radio, because there were some interesting and informative programmes in Balochi but now the signals are too weak. For the past three years, I haven’t even been able to tune in to the news,” Baksh tells The Express Tribune.

Rashid points out that Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani addresses the nation weekly via radio but in Balochistan, due to weak transmitters, his voice cannot cross the boundaries of Quetta.

A Quetta-based senior journalist Mohammad Kazim feels that while the medium is still very effective, as is “evident from the BBC, Radio Pakistan has lost credibility because it is no longer a national institution but has become a tool for the promotion of the interests of the rulers.” In addition, he points out, the infrastructure has become old and faulty.

Kazim suggests that steps should be taken to restore radio’s credibility and update its technology. (Courtesy: Express Tribune)

By Cyril Almeida

ISLAMABAD: The killing of Habib Jalib Baloch on July 15 has sent a wave of concern across Balochistan and Islamabad that the insurgency in the province has entered a dangerous new phase.

Mr Jalib was the secretary general of the Balochistan National Party led by Akhtar Mengal, a moderate party considered to be secular, middle class and at a remove from the oppressive sardari system that dominates politics in the province.

While publicly Mr Jalib’s death has been blamed by Baloch leaders on the intelligence agencies, there is growing concern in the ranks of some nationalist groups that hard-line Baloch separatists may be eliminating those willing to work inside the Pakistani federation.

“We are in a very difficult position,” Senator Hasil Bizenjo of the NP said. “The message to us is that people talking about nationalist politics, about staying within the federation, will not be spared.”

According to Mr Bizenjo, the BNP-M and NP are viewed as collaborators by the separatist forces. “They (the hardliners) say, ‘We are being killed by the ISI and you people are working for them.’ ”

The killings — Mr Jalib was the third former BSO chairman and one of a dozen Baloch leaders killed in the last three years — raise a more fundamental question: why is the cycle of violence still continuing in Balochistan?

While the violence is down from the 2005-2008 peak period, the Pakistani state and parts of the Baloch population are undeniably still locked in conflict.

In a series of conversations with Dawn, senior government and army officials and Baloch representatives attempted to explain why, in their view, a conflict that has claimed between 500 and 1,500 lives since 2001 continues today.

Foremost is the issue of missing persons.

Estimates vary wildly: the Baloch claim thousands of fellow citizens are missing; rights groups like the HRCP suggest a figure in the low hundreds; the army acknowledges no more than a few dozen missing. Yet, it isn’t necessarily the detentions per se but the lack of information about the detainees that makes the missing-persons issue so incendiary.

“We asked them (the army) to do two things. One, produce all the missing persons in court and file charges against them. Two, allow the families to meet them,” according to Hasil Bizenjo.

A senior federal minister involved in discussions concerning Balochistan concurred: “We weren’t even asking to set them free. But they (the army) weren’t willing to listen because they considered them (the missing persons) to be treasonous. We said, they may have done things they need to be punished for, but they are still Pakistanis and we have to treat them as such.”

Army officers deny the charge. A high-ranking officer claimed that comprehensive internal investigations have been conducted: “We’ve looked and we haven’t found anything. It’s a myth, one of those unfortunate consequences of this situation.”

The army does admit nearly 30 suspects are in the custody of agencies such as the ISI, MI and Corps Intelligence and are being investigated by Joint Investigation Teams. In addition, senior officers admit some of the missing have been killed in encounters.

Beyond that, high-ranking officers claim they are ready to investigate any and every case of alleged disappearances brought to their attention.

That does not cut ice with rights groups.

Ali Dayan Hasan of the Human Rights Watch says, “It’s the state’s responsibility to protect its people. If the families are claiming people are missing, then the MI should prove that they aren’t. Find these people and show us where they are.”

Part of the problem, according to Hasil Bizenjo, is that the army does not understand the impact of missing persons. “Balochistan is a backward society. If you pick up a boy from a village, you make an enemy of the entire village.”

The depth of anger over the missing persons can be gauged from the fact that it has dislodged as the central complaint the decades-old grievance of the Baloch: that the province’s gas and mineral riches have been exploited by the Pakistani state.

No one, not even army officers, denies that reality.

Referring to the disparity in the gas price offered to Balochistan and the other provinces, Petroleum and Natural Resources Minister Naveed Qamar explained: “There was definitely an anomaly in pricing. Sui was discovered in the mid ’50s and the subsequent increases in the price were made using the original price as a benchmark. Qadirpur (in Sindh) was priced using the benchmark of international oil prices. That doesn’t justify it, though. It was wrong.”

However, Mr Qamar disputes the notion the centre is still exploiting Balochistan’s resources: “Over the last 18 months, significant change has come about. We’ve fixed the gas-price anomaly to a large extent. Rikodiq (where large reserves of gold and copper are reported to exist) has been handed over to the provincial government and Saindak will be soon.”

Even so, perceptions about the intentions of the army and ‘centrist’ bureaucrats in Islamabad linger.

“It’s about greed. They want Balochistan’s resources to create prosperity in the other provinces,” claimed Syeda Abida Hussain, co-founder with her husband, Fakhar Imam, of the Friends of Baloch and Balochistan.

“It’s no longer about the resource-sharing at present. It’s about the potential,” Naveed Qamar suggested. “Balochistan contributes 17 or 18 per cent of gas today to Pakistan’s needs, but the vast resources that are still untapped because of the security situation, that is the real prize.”

The Baloch look no further for modern-day proof of the Pakistani state’s intention to ‘colonise’ Balochistan than the port at Gwadar. “There are these beautiful, paved boulevards in the port area. And right outside the poverty of the Baloch is shocking,” said Sanaullah Baloch, a former BNP-M senator. “Gwadar has nothing to do with concern for the Baloch.”

If the Baloch, army and government do agree on one thing, it is that a great deal of the blame for the violence continuing must be shouldered by the Balochistan government.

The February 2008 provincial elections were boycotted by the moderate Baloch parties such as the BNP-M and NP, an “unintended consequence that we didn’t understand at the time”, according to a senior army official, and which “the province is paying for”.

The provincial government is widely perceived to be epically corrupt and monumentally inefficient. That has real consequences.

For one, it allows the army to deflect attention from the heavy-handedness of the Frontier Corps, which is still tasked with law and order duties. Practically speaking, it becomes difficult to debate the withdrawal of the FC, a major demand of the Baloch, when the police are incapable of establishing even a modicum of law and order.

The provincial government’s incompetence also impacts on the possibility of winning over disaffected Baloch. “They’ve got all this extra money,” Naveed Qamar said referring to the Rs12 billion of new resources-related payments to the province, “but will it make its way to the people? That’s a big question mark.”

Another commonality among the Baloch, government officials and army officers spoken to: none were optimistic the violence will abate soon.

In fact, many suggested the two extremes appear to be digging in their heels.

On the Baloch side, the armed radicals are bent on intimidating, perhaps even eliminating, moderate voices, making the possibility of a compromise with the state that much more distant.

On the army’s side, while it fiercely denies it has a ‘colonial’ approach towards Balochistan, there is a steely resolve to prevent any ‘mischief’ by outside powers in the province — an approach which severely diminishes the possibility of concessions towards the Baloch extremists.

“If the federation is to survive, the moderates need to be heard,” according to Raza Rabbani. The trouble is, no one seems to believe that is an imminent possibility. (Courtesy: Dawn)