Quetta Police Serve-Up Eleven Young Patsies

 source

Recovered or arrested?: Minors paraded before media

AS the security situation worsens, the law-enforcement agencies have come under tremendous pressure to not just bring matters under control but also to make arrests. The triumph displayed by the Balochistan police on Wednesday, therefore, was understandable. The pride with which 11 individuals, who, the police say, confessed that they had been involved in planting bombs and triggering blasts, were paraded before news crews and cameras was obvious. According to the Quetta police chief, the enforcers of the law received a tip-off about a militant outfit, the United Baloch Army. Resultantly, a raid was conducted and when the bullets stopped flying, it was found that the militants had escaped, leaving these individuals behind. The police arrested them, and obtained from them accounts of being used to plant and trigger explosives at various locations.

What’s missing from this stellar tale is what the police already know, but that has been given no consideration by either them or the media: these are children, aged between 10 and 17 years and come from poor backgrounds. They are “used by members of the outlawed organisation for their nefarious designs”. And, this being so, they deserved to be treated as children. In these circumstances, they should be seen as having been recovered by the police from the militants’ clutches. It seems these minors have been treated as cannon fodder by militants and law enforcers alike. Where one lured them towards a life of crime, the other clapped them in chains to stand in the media spotlight.

It is a measure of how state and society have themselves been brutalised in the face of brutality. Branded as murderers before a trial has been conducted, the hanging heads of these 11 children constitute a reminder of how callous a place Pakistan has become.

 

Editorial: The Bomber Boys of Quetta

Little known for its outstanding performance, the Balochistan Police stunned the world on Wednesday by bringing in front of the media at least 11 young members of a ‘terrorist gang’ that allegedly uses children to carry out bomb blasts in Quetta city. In an impromptu press conference in Quetta, Capital City Police Officer (C.C.P.O.), Zubair Mehmood, said the arrested boys, aged 11 to 18 years, have confessed their involvement in the Mizan Chowk bomb blast on January 1o, 2013 that killed 12 people.

According to the police, a relatively unknown group called the United Baloch Army (U.B.A.), which claimed responsibility for the January bombing in Quetta which ultimately led to the imposition of the governor’s rule in the province, had exploited the poverty and innocence of these children at the time of recruitment.

While this report is deeply shocking and requires the immediate attention, what remains at stake is its authenticity. The Balochistan Police is hardly known for its credibility and professional integrity. It has had a long history of making false and exaggerated claims to divert attention from its actual failures. The police carries out phony encounters and extract confessions by applying torturous methods. In the past, the Pakistani security forces had time and again made similar sensational claims about recovering huge cache of weapons from Baloch tribal and political leaders. How can we be sure that the arrested boys did not make their confessions after facing brutal torture and government intimidation. In other cases, the police have also claimed that so-called commanders of the Baloch armed groups had surrendered their weapons and joined the government. Each time, these cases were dug deeper, they turned out to be ridiculously shallow.

On a positive note, this exposé should pave the way for the international community, particularly for groups like the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), to visit Balochistan to independently investigate the true impact of the decade-long conflict on women and children. There is a wealth of information that needs to be collected and distributed with the world how Pakistan’s war on Balochistan has actually plunged children in a state of fear and trauma.

Baloch children have seen rough displacement and harsh military operations in all these years. Hundreds of them have been marching in the streets of Quetta or staging set-ins in front of various press clubs, officials buildings to agitate against the enforced disappearance of their parents and siblings. All these sufferings of the children have been criminally ignored by the Pakistani government and these voices were never heard by the world because government functionaries also kept these children away from the international humanitarian groups and the media.

The C.C.P.O.’s dramatic account of child bombers is also disputed because of some factual inaccuracies.

For instance, the top police officer said Baloch nationalists exploited the poverty of these children. Those who fight in the name of nationalism have hardly cited their material poverty as the major motivation for fighting against Pakistan. Most armed groups and political parties, such as the Baloch National Movement and the Baloch Republican Party, have always said that mineral wealth of Balochistan is a secondary issue. The Baloch nationalists have been fighting for a separate homeland where they become the master of their own decisions, including the owners of their mineral wealth.

There is little material gain involved in encouraging people to become a part of a nationalistic movement. One such example is the group of women and children who have given up everything by sitting in hunger strike camps against enforced disappearances. People like Nasrullah Baloch and Abdul Qadeer Baloch, the chairman and the vice chairman of the Voice for Missing Baloch Persons respectively, could have easily given up their strike camps and gone out to eek out a living instead of fighting for justice. On the contrary, repeated threats and offers of bribe were also made to them by the Pakistani authorities and if they were ever interested, the government would be the first to buy them off.

Also, the  Capital Police Chief said some of the boys who were involved in the child bombings actually worked as garbage collectors. Those who live and work in Quetta know that children who collect garbage in the city are the Afghan refugee boys not Baloch kids. Different non-governmental organizations in Quetta have conducted surveys about the state of the garbage collectors and they agree that very few Baloch children collect garbage in Quetta. If garbage collecting children were easy to recruit then the Taliban would surely benefit from their availability  The truth of the matter is that both Baloch nationalists and Taliban draw  the bulk of their recruits from people who are actually motivated on ideological grounds and firsthand experience of facing injustice or undergoing instead of mere financial attraction.

We do not endorse the use of children for terrorist activities. If the assertions by the Quetta police are correct, Baloch nationalists must immediately abandon such despicable practices no matter how legitimate their political demands are. The mystery of child bombers should be resolved with the help of third party organizations like UNICEF, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. Because Pakistan has had a long history, dating back to the infamous 1970s episode of the recovery of huge cache of weapons from the Iraqi Embassy that Pakistan misleadingly insisted was meant to help the Baloch nationalists. Based on that event, Islamabad dismissed Balochistan’s first ever elected government and unleashed a massive military operation against the Baloch people who have endured a long history of Islamabad’s lies and fabrications.

MALIK SIRAJ AKBAR

Editor-in-Chief 

The Baloch Hal 

Published in The Baloch Hal on March 14, 2013

Allegedly “Unbiased” US Congressman Pushes Break-up of “Vicious, Murderous, Gangster Regime In Pakistan”

[SEE: Congressman Rohrabacher’s Balochistan Hearing/Political Stunt–(reposted after disappearing) ; Rohrabacher: Obama Administration Favors Taliban Over Allies ;  US Congressman Pushing Another Terrorist Army In Another Plan To Cause Another Civil War  ;  Pentagon Calls for Free Balochistan–ChallengesPakistani Sovereignty with Baloch Symposium ]

US Congressman Rohrabacher demands referendum in Balochistan

UNPO convened an international conference at The Royal Society, London entitled ‘Global and Regional Security Challenges in South Asia: What Future for Balochistan?’. -Press Release Photo

BRUSSELS: In an effort to shed light on the key role Balochistan plays in South Asia, the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) convened a conference entitled “Global and Regional Security Challenges in South Asia: What Future for Balochistan”, which took place at The Royal Society, London on 24 February 2013.

Key speaker at this conference, US Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, gave a poignant speech urging the right to self-determination for the Baloch people.

The Congressman requested a referendum to be held in Balochistan on the question of independence, which would challenge the claims by Islamabad that the Baloch want to be part of Pakistan.

“As you may know, I have a resolution I submitted following hearings last year. This resolution basically says that the people of Balochistan have a right to control their destinies through the ballot box and we support a referendum for them to decide whether they stay part of Pakistan or not,” he said.

“Unfortunately, it has been American money and American support for a vicious, murderous, gangster regime in Pakistan that has kept this violence and horrendous reality as part of the lives of so many millions of people who live in South Asia,” Rohrabacher said in his speech.

He called for Pakistani officials to be tried for war crimes.

“First and foremost, we have to quit giving any military aid, and I would suggest we should quit giving any aid, to Pakistan who then uses our aid to murder and suppress people like the Baloch people, who are longing to have basic freedoms.

“We have to make sure that the evidence of this is clear to everybody and that the monstrous violence that is being laid upon the people of Balochistan is horrendous, he said.

Congressman Brian Higgins (D-NY) was also present.

The conference was opened by Marino Busdachin, General Secretary of UNPO, and Paulo Casaca, former MEP and Director of the South Asia Democratic Forum, who denounced above all the Pakistani government’s use of a ferocious ‘kill and dump’ policy in Balochistan.

The first panel, chaired by Noordin Mengal, discussed Balochistan’s role in the world power game.

Athar Hussain, Director of the Asia Research Centre at LSE, Dr. Naseer Dashti, Baloch writer, and Mohammad Ali Talpur, columnist at the Daily Times, addressed issues such as Pakistan’s inability as a state to protect its citizen and the brutality with which it has addressed tensions with Balochistan.

The second panel brought together Burzine Waghmar from the Centre for the Study of Pakistan at SOAS, journalist Anna Reitman, Nasser Boladai, President of the Baluchistan People’s Party, and Hammal Haider Baloch, spokesperson of the Baloch National Movement.

This panel addressed the talibanisation of Balochistan, the rise of islamic radicalism in South Asia, security in Iranian Balochistan, the key role energy and mining resources play in Balochistan, and the influence of Iran, Pakistan, India and China in the region.

The third panel concentrated on Balochistan’s future and the different ways forward, a subject strongly backed by US Congressman Dana Rohrabacher.

The Congressman stated that Pakistan is not a friend of the United States and of those who believe in peace, prosperity and freedom for the people of the world.

The Khan of Kalat, Mir Suleman Daud called for a united Baloch front in the struggle against the horrors imposed on the Baloch people by Islamabad.

Tarek Fatah gave a vigorous speech, pointing at the curse of colonialism and the lack of international support to Balochistan, while Pakistan keeps on betraying its international allies.

Prof Joshua Castellino of Middlesex University, spoke about the right to self determination of peoples, and Abubakar Siddique of RFE/RL, addressed issues of enforced disappearances and human rights in Balochistan.

The conference was concluded by Peter Tatchell, political activist and spokesperson for human rights of the Green Party (UK), who outlined his proposals for a way forward for Balochistan, stressing on the importance of forming a united Baloch front capable of convincing the international community.

Noordin Mengal concluded the conference by stating that a sovereign state of Balochistan would not only benefit the Baloch people, but the entire region.

This day-long conference produced the “Conference Declaration on the Restoration of the Rights of the Baloch People in light of Regional and Global Security”.

Hazara Militia Being Formed To Defend Quetta

( Jafria Alliance urges Swat-like operation in Quetta )

Pakistan’s Hazaras to take up arms over attacks

AFP

In this Friday, Feb. 22, 2013 photo, Pakistanis gather at the rubble of a market which was destroyed by a bomb blast on Saturday, February 16, 2013, in Quetta, Pakistan.  — Photo by AP

QUETTA: Ismatullah holds an AK-47 and checks vehicles on the road. “Enough is enough. We have no trust in the security forces any more and we’ll protect our community ourselves,” says the teenage Shia student.

Extremist bombers killed nearly 200 people in Pakistan’s southwestern city of Quetta in the two worst bomb attacks to strike Shia Muslims from the minority Hazara community, just weeks apart on January 10 and February 16.

After each attack, thousands of Hazaras, including women and children, camped out in the bitter cold demanding that the army step in to protect them.

The government brokered an end to the protests, but refused to mobilise the troops.

Outlawed extremist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) claimed responsibility and has threatened to exterminate all Shias. Few believe that dozens of men rounded up after the bomb attacks will ever be brought to justice.

Pakistan’s Supreme Court and rights groups accuse the authorities of failing to protect Hazaras and now young men like 18-year-old Ismatullah are taking up arms to defend themselves and their families.

Ismatullah’s best friend was shot dead last June near Hazara Town. He lost more friends when suicide bombers flattened a snooker hall on January 10 and a massive bomb hidden in a water tanker destroyed a market on February 16.

“I couldn’t control myself when I saw scattered pieces of so many children and women of our community,” said the first year college student.

“Our community is only interested in education and business, but terrorists have forced us to take up whatever arms we have and take to the streets for our own security.”

At the moment they operate as volunteers under the name, Syed-ul-Shohada Scouts, registered as part of the Baluchistan Scouts Association, an affiliate of the worldwide scouting movement.

For years, young men like Ismatullah have volunteered to protect sensitive events, such as religious processions during the holy month of Muharram.

But their chairman says the threat is now so great that they should be paid full time as an auxiliary to government security forces.

“We have around 200 young men who perform security duties on specific occasions, but most of them are students and workers, and can’t work full-time,” said Syed Zaman, chairman of the Hazara Scouts.

“We are trying to make a system to start their salaries for permanent deployment and also coordinate with the security agencies. Hopefully, we will be able to form a regular force… and salaries in a month,” he said.

Scouts president Ghulam Haider said it was a mistake to rely on government security when the first of two suicide bombers struck at the snooker hall in the Alamdar Road neighbourhood.

“It resulted in another bomb blast minutes after the first one and we lost many more people,” Haider told AFP.

“We didn’t want that to happen again, so immediately after the blast on February 16, we armed our youth to man the streets and entry points, which helped to prevent the chances of a second attack,” he claimed.

Hazara Town, where the market was bombed, is very exposed, in the shadow of the Chiltan mountains and near the bypass which links the Afghan border town of Chaman to Pakistan’s financial capital Karachi.

While paramilitary Frontier Corps and police patrol the main approaches, they are not visible inside the neighbourhood.

“Security agencies can’t protect us. They don’t know the area because most of them come from outside Quetta. So we’re planning to set up our own permanent posts inside our areas,” said Haider.

The police, however, have their doubts.

“If we start private policing by arming one particular community, it will set the wrong precedent,” said Fiaz Ahmed Sunbal, head of Quetta police operations.

He claimed police were planning to close entrances to Hazara Town, and would recruit 200 young Hazaras to patrol their own areas.

Haider says closing off roads will isolate the community but welcomed the recruitment of Hazara Scouts as a long-term solution.

Others warn that time is running out.

“If they don’t do anything and something happens again, we will take up guns and go out and kill our opponents. There will be open war,” said 26-year-old shopkeeper Zahid Ali.

Lahore High Court Sets Bail for Shaitan–To Hell With Hazara

[What greater proof could you need that this latest so-called "operation against Lashkar-e-Jhangvi" is just more Pak Army lies (SEE:  Pakistan targets militants, Shiites end protest).   In reality, LeJ, and by extension, all of the "Punjabi-Taliban", work for Kayani and friends, so why would the govt. of Pakistan seriously interfere with their terroristic plans?  If LeJ is behind all the genocide of Hazara in Pakistan (and everyone knows that it is), then it is actually the Army's proxy terrorists who are killing all the Shia.   The Hazara of Quetta must not understand or believe this fact, since they have demanded that the Army takeover Quetta.  Until the armies of Sunni murderers of the Saudi/Qatari/CIA terror alliance are stopped, then there will be no safe ground in either Pakistan or Afghanistan for the Shia Hazara.]

Extremist leader Malik Ishaq freed from jail

AFP

The Chief Monster of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Malik Ishaq was released from prison today. -File Photo

LAHORE: Pakistan on Tuesday released the head of a banned extremist group after a court granted him bail, following his arrest on suspicion of inciting sectarian hatred, his lawyer said.

Malik Ishaq, the leader of the feared Lashkar-e-Jhangvi organisation, which is said to have al Qaeda links, was held for making a “provocative” speech earlier this month.

Ishaq has been implicated in dozens of cases, mostly murder, and was accused of masterminding a 2009 attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore, which wounded seven players and an assistant coach and killed eight Pakistanis.

“The court has accepted his bail application and later he was freed from jail,” Arif Mehmood Rana, his lawyer told AFP.

Ijaz Shafi Dogar, a senior police officer confirmed to AFP that he was being freed as he was not wanted in any other case.

“He was set free this evening from Kot Lakhpat jail,” Dogar said.

Ishaq was detained over a speech he made at a religious school on August 19 in the wake of a rise in sectarian violence between majority Sunni and minority Shia Muslims.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is regarded as the most extreme Sunni terror group in Pakistan and is accused of killing hundreds of Shias after its emergence in the early 1990s. -AFP

Hazara killers — supported from Punjab to the Middle East

[SEE:  The Stunning Investigative Story on the Birth of Balochistan Liberation Army]

Zofeen Ebrahim

 

The February 16 bombing that killed over 90 people and injured more than 160, many of them critically, was the second major attack on Pakistan’s minority Shia Hazaras this year. — AP/File Photo

In the aftermath of the Quetta massacre, the arrests of a few Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) militants have been looked upon warily as nothing more than a ploy to placate an angry nation.

If there was sincerity and strategic considerations behind this move, however, the headquarters of the Sunni extremist group in Punjab would have been dismantled much earlier.

But with elections approaching, a full-fledged and whole-hearted operation against such militant groups seems highly unlikely, especially in the Punjab, the breeding ground of sectarian militants. This has much to do with the fact that in Punjab, extremist and militant groups have a strong electoral presence.

“I doubt that there will be a real crackdown,” says author and journalist, Zahid Hussain, talking to Dawn.com: “The Punjab government has been looking the other way for too long and pursues the policy of appeasement.” He added that it had even made a covert deal for the release of LeJ leader Malik Ishaq.

Seconding Hussain, defence analyst Hasan Askari Rizvi added: “The Punjab Government is known for patronising the LeJ and (its predecessor) Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP).”

But it’s not only the Punjab government complicit in the inaction against extremist sectarian outfits. The centre hasn’t appeared earnest about the issue either.

Hussain has serious reservations about Pakistan’s National Counter Terrorism Authority, for example. The authority was created in 2009 under an executive order. “It remains dormant and a toothless body because the bill has yet to be passed in the National Assembly. There is also the unresolved matter of whether it should fall under the umbrella of the interior ministry when in the original charter, it was to be under the prime minister,” he explains.

And so the scourge of extremism will continue, as was seen last week when terror revisited the Shia Hazaras on Kirani Road in the south-western Pakistani city Quetta. The attack was also a grim reminder that without a national consensus in Pakistan on how to deal with domestic terrorism, the next attack is not far behind.

The bomb that killed over 90 people and injured more than 160, many of them critically, was the second major attack on Pakistan’s minority Shia Hazaras this year. A twin-suicide attack at a snooker club on January 10 had killed 92 and wounded 121. With the Hazara community living huddled together in certain localities, they have become an even easier prey and large numbers can be annihilated in minutes.

Hazara Democratic Party (HDP) Chairperson Abdul Khaliq Hazara told Dawn.com that the terror and fear had reached such a crescendo that the Hazaras had stopped venturing out of their locales. “There is no place left in Quetta that remains safe for Hazaras, be it an educational institution, school, bus stops, government offices or a marketplace. Public space is increasingly shrinking for us,” he said.

Where the LeJ derives power from

The LeJ, which claimed responsibility for these attacks, is born out of SSP. It also has ties with the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). In fact, some of the top TTP leaders, like the current spokesperson, Ehsanullah Ehsan, were all members of LeJ in Punjab, before they became part of the TTP.

“These groups morph and gel and even support each other,” says Rizvi, who fears that “unless the government adopts a tough position and keeps up the pressure over an extended period of time” these attacks will continue.

Equally, if the government decides to pull the rug from under them, and has some successes to show to the people, it will gain legitimacy. “Nothing succeeds like success, and we saw that in Swat once the government decided to go all out; their efforts were lauded not criticized,” he points out.

The HDP chairperson agreed that “The state is more powerful than the militants. We believe the state knows who the culprits are and if it wants it can round up the militants, cleanse the city off them, even kill them, in just three days.” But, he adds, “They don’t want to.”

According to Rizvi, “Organisations like the LeJ, the SSP and the Ahle Sunnat Wal Jammat (ASWJ) are politically convenient, especially for all the Punjab-based political parties and even the present Punjab government – and they will not go beyond a certain point to enrage them.”

“So while they will condemn acts of sectarian attacks and militancy, they will never muster the courage to condemn a particular group,” he explains.

In addition, says Rizvi, these groups have embedded themselves in society by setting up schools, hospitals, mosques and other welfare organisations and created a strong support base, including those in the lower ranks of the police and the intelligence agencies.”

“There is no place left in Quetta that remains safe for Hazaras, be it an educational institution, school, bus stops, government offices or a marketplace. Public space is increasingly shrinking for us.”

It is very easy for the LeJ, a predominantly Punjabi group to thrive in Balochistan, he further explains. “With a non-existent provincial government and the support of the Taliban, the place became a safe haven.”

The LeJ made inroads in Balochistan and had steadily spread its wings (since 2004-05), where the ethnic Hazara community has been their main target. Talking to Dawn.com, senior journalist Rahimullah Yusufzai said: “Call it infiltration, or what you will, but the LeJ has succeeded in recruiting many Baloch, once considered quite secular.”

According to Hussain, the Baloch have “been indoctrinated into hating the Hazara community.”

Khaliq points out that the whereabouts of the militant camps was common knowledge. According to reliable sources, the training camps are run in Mastung and Khuzdar, from where earlier attacks on Shia pilgrims going to Iran have taken place. Those who are apprehended, meanwhile, are released for want of enough evidence – and if the evidence is there, it’s not produced in the courts.

The desire to eliminate Shias altogether is also constantly fed from the outside. “A proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia is being waged in Balochistan.” says Khaliq. It is widely held that these anti-Shia militants receive funding from the Sunni-Wahabi sheikhdoms of the Arab world. The Shias, on the other hand are perceived to be supporting Iran.

Hussain, meanwhile, expresses surprise over the mushrooming of madressas in Balochistan, which lacks “even the most basic facilities for locals”. The senior journalist adds that it’s common knowledge such ‘nurseries’ of extremism were being financed by Sunni-Wahabi leaning Middle Eastern countries.

So where do the agencies come in?

Some experts are also of the view that these assaults are carried out to deflect international attention from the ongoing separatist movement in Balochistan.

The HDP spokesperson insists that such acts of terrorism are carried out in collusion with the security and intelligence agencies.

Yusufzai, however, does not believe in this commonly held viewpoint. “These agencies would never allow their own country to get destabilised and they would never want to eliminate the Shia community. After all there are many Shias within these organisations too,” he points out.

According to Yusufzai, the intelligence agencies’ ‘incompetence’ can be attributed to “overwork”.

“Their hands are full with the ongoing separatist movement in one province, and the attacks by the TTP in others – and then these other militants fanning sectarianism. And if that were not all; these agencies are also being used for political purposes!” says Yusufzai.

Hussain plays down the involvement of the agencies, but adds, “They have the knowledge of who the culprits are but they are not focused on fighting these groups. So while they may not be in direct collusion; by their inaction they are helping these extremists gets stronger.”

Govt. Paramilitary Forces Begin Major Operation Against LeJ In Balochistan, Hazara End Protest, Bury Their Martyred

A Pakistani Shiite girl takes part in a sit-in protest with others to condemn the Saturday bombing which killed scores of people, in Quetta, Pakistan on Monday, Feb. 18, 2013. The families of the bombing victims have refused to bury their loved ones until authorities take action against the militants who were responsible. Mispelled and partially shown writing reads, “don’t kill me. I am Shia.” Arshad Butt / AP Photo

Pakistan targets militants, Shiites end protest

BY ABDUL SATTAR

ASSOCIATED PRESS

QUETTA, Pakistan – Thousands of Shiite Muslims ended three days of protests in southwestern Pakistan on Tuesday after the government launched a paramilitary operation against militants responsible for a weekend bombing targeting the minority sect that killed 89 people.

The protesters in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, began preparations to bury the bombing victims after Shiite leaders announced an end to the demonstration. Relatives had refused to bury their loved ones until the army took control of Quetta and launched a targeted operation against Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, the group that claimed responsibility for Saturday’s bombing.

Shiites have criticized police and paramilitary forces under control of the Interior Ministry in Quetta for failing to protect the minority sect, which comprises up to 20 percent of the country’s population of 180 million.

There was no indication the army would take control of the city. But the government announced that paramilitary forces began an operation against Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and other militant groups Monday night.

Four members of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, including a senior commander, were killed in a shootout Tuesday, and over 170 other suspected militants were arrested, said Baluchistan’s home secretary, Akbar Hussain Durrani.

The government also replaced the top police officer in Baluchistan on Tuesday, said Fayaz Sumbal, deputy police chief in Quetta. Sumbal has also been ordered to replace the chief of police operations in Quetta, he said.

“Our demands have been accepted,” a top Shiite leader in Quetta, Amin Shaheedi, told reporters after holding talks with a government delegation sent from Islamabad. “We appeal to our people to go to their homes in a peaceful manner.”

It remains to be seen what impact the government’s actions will have on the problem of sectarian violence in Quetta. Suspected militants are notoriously difficult to prosecute in Pakistan, and it’s unclear if the operation against Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and others will be sustained.

Radical Sunni militants have stepped up attacks against Shiites over the past year because they do not consider them to be real Muslims. Violence has been especially bad in Baluchistan province, which has the highest concentration of Shiites in the country. A double bombing at a billiards hall in January in Quetta killed 86 people.

Pakistan has launched numerous military operations against militants in recent years, but the focus has been on the Pakistani Taliban, who have been waging a bloody insurgency against the state that has killed thousands of people.

Rights organizations have criticized the government for not doing enough to target militant groups attacking Shiites. They explain this apathy by pointing to past connections between the country’s military and anti-Shiite militants, and also allege the sectarian groups are seen as less of a threat than the Taliban because they are not targeting the state. Political parties have also relied on banned sectarian groups to deliver votes in elections.

The four Lashkar-e-Jhangvi militants killed Tuesday in a suburb of Quetta included Shah Wali, a senior commander involved in attacking Shiites and police officials, said Durrani, the home secretary. Others included Abdul Wahab, a key planner and recruiter; Naeem Khan, a logistics expert who provided explosives; and Anwar Khan, a rank and file militant, said Durrani.

Seven other Lashkar-e-Jhangvi militants were arrested in the operation Tuesday, said Durrani. The more than 170 suspected militants arrested earlier included Haji Mohammed Rafiq, a prominent member of another Sunni extremist organization, Ahle Sunnat Waljamaat, said the home secretary.

Pakistani Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf first announced the operation in a statement issued by his office Tuesday that said it “aimed at eliminating those responsible for playing with lives of innocent civilians and restoring peace and security in Quetta.”

Last year was the bloodiest in history for Pakistan’s Shiites, according to Human Rights Watch. Over 400 were killed in targeted attacks across the country, at least 125 of whom were died in Baluchistan.

With two massive bombings targeting Shiites in as many months this year already, 2013 looks like it could be even worse.

The government promised to take action against sectarian militants following protests in January against the billiards hall bombing. Shiites brought the bodies of the victims into the street at the time and refused to bury them unless the government took steps to protect them.

After four days, Islamabad decided to dissolve the provincial government and put a federally-appointed governor in charge. The government said paramilitary forces would receive police powers and launch an operation against the militants behind the billiards hall attack. But officials refused to put the army in control of the city, as they have done this time around.

Around 15,000 Shiites took to the streets to protest near the site of the recent attack Tuesday, before their leaders called an end to the demonstration. Others stayed beside the bodies of the bombing victims inside a nearby mosque. Some chanted “God is great.” Others held placards that said “Stop killing Shiites.”

Shiite leaders made speeches to the crowd saying their demands had been accepted and urged them to disperse peacefully after the talks with the government delegation. They also urged Shiites in other parts of the country, such as Karachi and Islamabad, to end smaller protests held over the past few days.

Associated Press writers Munir Ahmed, Zarar Khan, Asif Shahzad and Sebastian Abbot contributed to this report from Islamabad.

Prime Minister Ashraf Orders Targeted Operation Against Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) In Quetta

PM orders targeted operation in Quetta

Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf.—File Photo

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf has ordered on Tuesday the security forces to begin targeted operations in Quetta, DawnNews reported.

According to a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s spokesperson, Prime Minister Raja ordered for the initiation of targeted operations in Quetta adding that those responsible for the Quetta carnage should be targeted.

The statement further said that immediate action should be taken in those areas where information indicates presence of terrorist elements and that security forces should conduct targeted operations.

The spokesman further said that the prime minister would monitor the Quetta operation.

Moreover Prime Minister also ordered for the removal of Balochistan’s Inspector General of Police, Tariq Umer Khatab, and replaced him with Mushtaq Sukhera media channels reported. The prime minister also ordered the transfer of various other police officials posted in Balochistan.

Meanwhile, thousands of Shia protested for a third day in Quetta, demanding the army take control of the city and launch a targeted operation against sectarian militant groups like Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ).

The group claimed responsibility for the bombing Saturday that killed 87 people and one in January that killed at least 93.

US-Saudi funded terrorists sowing chaos in Pakistan

Pakistani Shia Muslims gather around the coffins of bomb attack victims as they demonstrate in Quetta on February 18, 2013.

Quetta, the capital of Pakistan’s southwest Baluchistan province, bordering both US-occupied Afghanistan as well as Iran, was the site of a grisly market bombing that has killed over 80 people.

According to reports, the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has claimed responsibility for the attack. Billed as a “Sunni extremist group,” it instead fits the pattern of global terrorism sponsored by the US, Israel, and their Arab partners Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

The terrorist Lashkar-e-Jhangvi group was in fact created, according to the BBC, to counter Iran’s Islamic Revolution in the 1980′s, and is still active today. Considering the openly admitted US-Israeli-Saudi plot to use Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups across the Middle East to counter Iran’s influence, it begs the question whether these same interests are funding terrorism in Pakistan to not only counter Iranian-sympathetic Pakistani communities, but to undermine and destabilize Pakistan itself.

The US-Saudi Global Terror Network

While the United States is close allies with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, it is well established that the chief financier of extremist militant groups for the past 3 decades, including al-Qaeda, are in fact Saudi Arabia and Qatar. While Qatari state-owned propaganda like Al Jazeera apply a veneer of progressive pro-democracy to its narratives, Qatar itself is involved in arming, funding, and even providing direct military support for sectarian extremists from northern Mali, to Libya, to Syria and beyond.

France 24′s report “Is Qatar fuelling the crisis in north Mali?” provides a useful vignette of Saudi-Qatari terror sponsorship, stating:

“The MNLA [secular Tuareg separatists], al Qaeda-linked Ansar Dine and MUJAO [movement for unity and Jihad in West Africa] have all received cash from Doha.”

A month later Sadou Diallo, the mayor of the north Malian city of Gao [which had fallen to the Islamists] told RTL radio: “The French government knows perfectly well who is supporting these terrorists. Qatar, for example, continues to send so-called aid and food every day to the airports of Gao and Timbuktu.”

The report also stated:

“Qatar has an established a network of institutions it funds in Mali, including madrassas, schools and charities that it has been funding from the 1980s,” he wrote, adding that Qatar would be expecting a return on this investment.

“Mali has huge oil and gas potential and it needs help developing its infrastructure,” he said. “Qatar is well placed to help, and could also, on the back of good relations with an Islamist-ruled north Mali, exploit rich gold and uranium deposits in the country.”

These institutions are present not only in Mali, but around the world, and provide a nearly inexhaustible supply of militants for both the Persian Gulf monarchies and their Western allies to use both as a perpetual casus belli to invade and occupy foreign nations such as Mali and Afghanistan, as well as a sizable, persistent mercenary force, as seen in Libya and Syria. Such institutions jointly run by Western intelligence agencies across Europe and in America, fuel domestic fear-mongering and the resulting security state that allows Western governments to more closely control their populations as they pursue reckless, unpopular policies at home and abroad.

Since Saudi-Qatari geopolitical interests are entwined with Anglo-American interests, both the “investment” and “return on this investment” are clearly part of a joint venture. France’s involvement in Mali has demonstrably failed to curb such extremists, has instead, predictably left the nation occupied by Western interests while driving terrorists further north into the real target, Algeria.

Additionally, it should be noted, that France in particular, played a leading role along side Qatar and Saudi Arabia in handing Libya over to these very same extremists. French politicians were in Benghazi shaking hands with militants they would be “fighting” in the near future in northern Mali.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is Part of US-Saudi Terror Network

In terms of Pakistan’s Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, as well as the infamous Lashkar-e-Taiba that carried out the 2008 Mumbai, India attack killing over 160, both are affiliates of Al Qaeda, and both have been linked financially, directly to Saudi Arabia. In the Guardian’s article, “WikiLeaks cables portray Saudi Arabia as a cash machine for terrorists,” the US State Department even acknowledges that Saudi Arabia is indeed funding terrorism in Pakistan:

Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest source of funds for Islamist militant groups such as the Afghan Taliban and Lashkar-e-Taiba – but the Saudi government is reluctant to stem the flow of money, according to Hillary Clinton.

“More needs to be done since Saudi Arabia remains a critical financial support base for al-Qaida, the Taliban, LeT and other terrorist groups,” says a secret December 2009 paper signed by the US secretary of state. Her memo urged US diplomats to redouble their efforts to stop Gulf money reaching extremists in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

“Donors in Saudi Arabia constitute the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide,” she said.

Three other Arab countries are listed as sources of militant money: Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has also been financially linked to the Persian Gulf monarchies. Stanford University’s “Mapping Militant Organizations: Lashkar-e-Jhangvi,” states under “External Influences:”

LeJ has received money from several Persian Gulf countries including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates[25] These countries funded LeJ and other Sunni militant groups primarily to counter the rising influence of Iran’s revolutionary Shiism.

Astonishingly, despite these admission, the US works politically, financially, economically, and even militarily in tandem with these very same state-sponsors of rampant, global terrorism. In Libya and Syria, the US has even assisted in the funding and arming of Al Qaeda and affiliated terrorist groups, and had conspired with Saudi Arabia since at least 2007 to overthrow both Syria and Iran with these terrorist groups. And while Saudi Arabia funds terrorism in Pakistan, the US is well documented to be funding political subversion in the very areas where the most heinous attacks are being carried out.

US Political Subversion in Baluchistan, Pakistan

The US State Department’s National Endowment for Democracy (NED) has been directly funding and supporting the work of the “Balochistan Institute for Development” (BIFD) which claims to be “the leading resource on democracy, development and human rights in Balochistan, Pakistan.” In addition to organizing the annual NED-BFID “Workshop on Media, Democracy & Human Rights” BFID reports that USAID had provided funding for a “media-center” for the Baluchistan Assembly to “provide better facilities to reporters who cover the proceedings of the Balochistan Assembly.” We must assume BFID meant reporters “trained” at NED-BFID workshops.

There is also Voice of Balochistan whose every top-story is US-funded propaganda drawn from foundation-funded Reporters Without Borders, Soros-funded Human Rights Watch, and even a direct message from the US State Department itself. Like other US State Department funded propaganda outfits around the world – such as Thailand’s Prachatai – funding is generally obfuscated in order to maintain “credibility” even when the front’s constant torrent of obvious propaganda more than exposes them.

Perhaps the most absurd operations being run to undermine Pakistan through the “Free Baluchistan” movement are the US and London-based organizations. The “Baloch Society of North America” almost appears to be a parody at first, but nonetheless serves as a useful aggregate and bellwether regarding US meddling in Pakistan’s Baluchistan province. The group’s founder, Dr. Wahid. Baloch, openly admits he has met with US politicians in regards to Baluchistan independence. This includes Neo-Con warmonger, PNAC signatory, corporate-lobbyist, and National Endowment for Democracy director Zalmay Khalilzad.

Dr. Wahid Baloch considers Baluchistan province “occupied” by both the Iranian and Pakistani governments – he and his movement’s humanitarian hand-wringing gives Washington the perfect pretext to create an armed conflagration against either Iran or Pakistan, or both, as planned in detail by various US policy think-tanks.

There is also the Baloch Students Organisation-Azad, or BSO. While it maintains a presence in Pakistan, it has coordinators based in London. London-based BSO members include “information secretaries” that propagate their message via social media, just as US and British-funded youth organizations did during the West’s operations against other targeted nations during the US-engineered “Arab Spring.”

And while the US does not openly admit to funding and arming terrorists in Pakistan yet, many across established Western policy think-tanks have called for it.

Selig Harrison of the convicted criminal, George Soros-funded Center for International Policy, has published two pieces regarding the armed “liberation” of Baluchistan.

Harrison’s February 2011 piece, “Free Baluchistan,” calls to “aid the 6 million Baluch insurgents fighting for independence from Pakistan in the face of growing ISI repression.” He continues by explaining the various merits of such meddling by stating:

“Pakistan has given China a base at Gwadar in the heart of Baluch territory. So an independent Baluchistan would serve U.S. strategic interests in addition to the immediate goal of countering Islamist forces.”

Harrison would follow up his frank call to carve up Pakistan by addressing the issue of Chinese-Pakistani relations in a March 2011 piece titled, “The Chinese Cozy Up to the Pakistanis.” He states:

“China’s expanding reach is a natural and acceptable accompaniment of its growing power-but only up to a point. ”

He continues:

“To counter what China is doing in Pakistan, the United States should play hardball by supporting the movement for an independent Baluchistan along the Arabian Sea and working with Baluch insurgents to oust the Chinese from their budding naval base at Gwadar. Beijing wants its inroads into Gilgit and Baltistan to be the first step on its way to an Arabian Sea outlet at Gwadar.”

While aspirations of freedom and independence are used to sell Western meddling in Pakistan, the geopolitical interests couched behind this rhetoric is openly admitted to. The prophetic words of Harrison should ring loud in one’s ears today. It is in fact this month, that Pakistan officially hands over the port in Gwadar to China, and Harrison’s armed militants are creating bloodshed and chaos, attempting to trigger a destructive sectarian war that will indeed threaten to “oust the Chinese from their budding naval base at Gwadar.”

Like in Syria, we have a documented conspiracy years in the making being carried out before our very eyes. The people of Pakistan must not fall into the trap laid by the West who seeks to engulf Baluchistan in sectarian bloodshed with the aid of Saudi and Qatari-laundered cash and weapons. For the rest of the world, we must continue to uncover the corporate-financier special interests driving these insidious plots, boycott and permanently replace them on a local level.

The US-Saudi terror racket has spilled blood from New York City, across Northern Africa, throughout the Middle East, and as far as Pakistan and beyond. If we do not undermine and ultimately excise these special interests, their plans and double games will only get bolder and the inevitability of their engineered chaos effecting us individually will only grow.

TC/JR

Tony Cartalucci is a Bangkok-based geopolitical researcher and writer. He has been published on many alternative media websites, including Alternative Thai News Network and LocalOrg. His writings deal with world events from a Southeast Asian perspective as well as promoting self-sufficiency as one of the keys to true freedom. His website is Land Destroyer Report. More articles by Tony Cartalucci

Time for Shias to leave Pakistan?

Murtaza Haider

It is a massacre alright. Sunni extremists, aligned with Al-Qaeda and the Taliban, are killing Shias by the dozens in Pakistan.

I was yet to compile the list of the 106 (mostly Shias) killed in the twin bomb blasts in Quetta last month, that the news of another bomb blast killing yet another 84 (mostly Shias) in Quetta came over the wire. As the Shia massacres in Pakistan gain momentum, the State, including the Superior Courts, appear completely impotent.

In such troubling times some Shias may have a choice. They may sit and wait for a messiah or relocate to a Shia-exclusive enclave elsewhere, or to escape from Pakistan altogether. It may sound harsh, but it is an inescapable truth that Pakistan has been run over by the extremists and life is going to be even tougher for the minorities and moderate Sunnis in the near future.

In the two consecutive months this year, bomb blasts have killed hundreds of Shia Hazaras in Quetta, a Garrison town where each and every street is manned by intelligence operatives. Still, the militants operate with impunity. Saturday’s bomb blast, which has killed over 80 and injured hundreds, occurred almost within a month of the last bomb blast that delivered even a higher death toll.

Space is fast running out in Shia graveyards in Quetta. It may be the time for Shias to relocate to protect their next generation.

Many naively believe that peace will prevail in Pakistan and Afghanistan after the scheduled withdrawal of Nato troops from Afghanistan in 2014. While I vehemently oppose prolonging the stay of the Nato forces in the region, still I believe this would spell even a bigger disaster for the minorities in Pakistan. The battle-hardened veterans of the Afghan war will return to Pakistan to target Shias, Ahmadis, and other religious minorities. Even Barelvis may not escape the wrath of the mostly Deobandi-led militancy.

There are reasons for my pessimism. I saw the same happen in the late nineties when the Afghan war veterans were pushed into Indian-administered Kashmir. The resulting militancy left over 70,000 dead in Kashmir but failed to make any tangible progress towards the resolution of the dispute that has pitched India, Pakistan, and Kashmiris in a deadly decades old conflict.

What looked like a gory beginning of a new millennium in Indian-administered Kashmir, the security landscape however suddenly transformed in 2002 when the militants started to relocate to Pakistan and Afghanistan to join the Pashtun Taliban. The result was a decline in militancy which is evident from the graph below that shows the drop in the number of news reports about militancy in Srinagar starting after 2002.

Source: Tabulations by the author using the Factiva (2013) database.

A spike in militancy in Pakistan however is observed at the same time when militancy subsided in Indian-administered Kashmir. See the graph below that documents the number of civilians and security force personnel who became victims of terrorist violence in Pakistan. Since 2003, Pakistan has been the target of terrorism orchestrated by the very agents who once afforded the state its strategic depth.

Source: http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/pakistan/database/casualties.htm (Feb. 15, 2013).

Shias and other religious minorities are the most targeted in Pakistan. No city is safe anymore. The past few weeks saw the targeted killing of Shia lawyers, doctors, and other professionals in Peshawar. Shia legislators were shot dead in Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi. While the State is struggling to suppress violence against Shias, the deep-rooted support for militants in society and the inadequate judicial system in Pakistan has created the situation where hardly any terrorist has been convicted of sectarian or other terrorism in Pakistan. In the past few years, several known militants have been set free by the courts because of the archaic judicial system that is incapable of convicting those involved in the modern-day guerilla warfare.

Some, not all, Shias have a choice. They can abandon the death traps in Quetta and Peshawar by relocating to the Shia majority areas in Karachi, Lahore, and other cities. A better option is to plead with the embassies in Islamabad for asylum for the Shia, especially the Hazara, youth.

Seeking asylum abroad may not win the approval of Pakistan’s superior courts, who have recently mocked those who held dual citizenship. However, it is better to be alive in exile than to be splattered on a wall in Pakistan.

---

Murtaza Haider, Ph.D. is the Associate Dean of research and graduate programs at the Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University in Toronto. He can be reached by email at murtaza.haider@ryerson.ca

Chief Minister Raisani Dismissed, Frontier Corps Given “Free Hand” To Crack Down On Terrorism

Balochistan law and order: FC given ‘free hand’ to launch crackdown

Decisions taken in the meeting include a ban on publicly displaying weapons across the province. PHOTO: EXPRESS/FILE

QUETTA: Balochistan Governor Zulfiqar Ali Magsi has decided to give police and Frontier Corps (FC) personnel ‘a free hand’ to crack down on elements responsible for the deteriorating law and order situation in the province.

According to an official handout, the decision was taken in a high-level meeting held at the Governor House on Wednesday to solve issues plaguing Balochistan.

Decisions taken in the meeting include a ban on publicly displaying weapons across the province. All law enforcement agencies and provincial administration departments were directed to ensure compliance with the ban.

The governor also directed concerned quarters to compensate the family members of those who lost their lives or were injured as a result of violence in the province till January 31, 2013. He also announced a Rs10,000 stipend for rebels who decide to quit armed resistance in the province.

The meeting was attended by Lt Gen Mohammad Alam Katak, Balochistan Chief Secretary Babar Yaqoob Fateh Mohammad, FC Inspector General (IG) Maj Gen Ubaidullah Khan, Balochistan police IG Tariq Umar Khatab and provincial secretary of interior Akbar Hussain Durrani among other officials.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 17^th, 2013.

Baloch Liberation Army Proves Indian Sponsorship By Speaking-Out for Hindus In Balochistan

[SEE:  The Stunning Investigative Story on the Birth of Balochistan Liberation Army–Mar 1, 2005] This composite report was done by News Central Asia, a private news agency of Turkmenistan. Balochistan constabulary officials released unharmed, Irking Hindu community against Baloch conducts: BLA

Quetta : A spokesperson of the Baloch Liberation Army, has said on Sunday, that those who trouble the minority Hindu community will be regarded as criminals and will be punished with accordingly. He also said that three officials of Balochistan Constabulary, who were in the custody of BLA have now been released unharmed. According Balochistan local media the BLA spokesperson, Meerak Baloch, said that the Balochistan Constabulary (BC) officials have been released after they pledged not to be part of state’s anti Baloch and Balochistan crimes. He said during the investigation no evidence against them was found to prove their involvement in any wrongdoing in Balochistan. The BLA’s spokesperson’s statement further read that consultations were in process on how to deal with those who take employment with [Pakistani state institutions]. He warned that abduction of members of minority Hindu community for ransom and grabbing of their properties are against the Baloch code of conduct. “Those who trouble the Hindu community on Baloch soil, they will be treated as national enemies and such grave crimes are against the principles of BLA,” said the spokesperson of the organisation. He further said that the Organisation was investigating the murder of a spiritual leader of Hindu community in Mastung town of Balochistan, and anyone found guilty of this heinous crime would not be pardoned. Spokesperson said the BLA expects that along with the defence of their private properties the Hindu community without any intimidation will be ready for the defence of their motherland Balochistan. He said sacrifices of those Hindu Balochs should not be forgotten, who stood with Mir Mehrab Khan against British aggression on Baloch land. “Those who laid their lives for motherland in Dera Bugti should also not be forgotten,” the BLA spokesperson said.

Govt. Agrees To Protect Hazara Shias, 83 Victims of Quetta Terror Bombings Finally Buried

Hazara Shias bury victims four days after deadly Quetta bombings

People chant slogans next to the bodies of their relatives awaiting burial, who were killed in Thursday’s deadly bombings in Quetta. — Photo by AP

QUETTA: After braving three nights Quetta’s in freezing temperatures next to their slain loved ones, the families of dozens of bombing victims ended their protest and buried the bodies amid strict security measurers in a Hazara graveyard on Monday.

Relatives, friends and members of Hazara community had camped out at major intersections of the provincial capital for last four days to protest killings of more than 100 persons in twin suicide attacks.

A total of 83 dead bodies were buried on Monday. A large number of people participated in the funeral while strict security measures were adopted during the burial. Protesters also chanted slogans against law enforcement agencies for their failure to provide protection to them.

The community ended their almost four-day demonstration Monday after the federal government accepted their demands for protection by sacking the provincial government.

Following talks by the Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf with Shia leaders in the wee hours of Sunday, President Asif Ali Zardari invoked Article 234 of the Constitution, dismissing the provincial assembly and instating Governor Zulfikar Ali Magsi as the Chief Executive of the province.

“After holding consultations with all the stakeholders, we have decided to invoke Article 234 of the Constitution. Governor’s rule is being imposed in the province and the provincial government is being dismissed,” the premier had announced in front of the Hazara representatives.

A leader of the Qaumi Yakjehti Council (QYC) told DawnNews that since the government had agreed to accept the demands, the council had decided to end the sit-in.

“The protest has been called off, burials will be after Zuhr (afternoon) prayers,” Shia leader Sadat Ali Khan had earlier announced at the protest.

Furthermore, the Hazara Democratic Party (HDP) also ended its hunger strike which it had been holding in front of the office of Inspector General (IG) Balochistan Police in Quetta.

The minority Hazara Shia community has been targeted several times by banned extremist militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, with the organisation also claiming Thursday’s deadly blasts.

The Hazaras have repeatedly asked the government and security agencies for more protection.

Although Balochistan is the largest province in Pakistan geographically, analysts and locals have criticised the federal government for neglecting it, leading to its instability. Oil and gas rich Balochistan suffers from a separatist Baloch insurgency, while religious extremism is also said to be on the rise in the troubled province.

(Additional reporting by Syed Ali Shah from Quetta)

It Is High Time for the Elimination of Hafiz Saeed

[It doesn''t matter whether Hafiz Saeed actually visited the Line of Control or not, since he had already met face-to-face with militant leaders from the Kashmiri Hurriyat delegation, along with his militant counterpart, Syed Salahuddin (SEE:  Lashkar e-Taiba Leader Hopes To Revive Jihad In Kashmir After US Leaves Afghanistan).  Whatever plans he made with them went back to Jammu and Kashmir with them.  He had just completed his trip to Lahore to share his militant wisdom with Talal Bugti, where deadly anti-Shia blasts exploded in his wake.  Hafiz Saeed is a terrorist and if he is allowed to pull Pakistan into another war with India, then the whole world will surely blame Pakistan for all of the grief that will follow.]

Saeed denies visiting areas near LoC

PTI

APA file photo of Jamaat-ud-Dawah chief Hafiz Saeed

 

Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Mohammad Saeed on claimed he had not visited areas along the Line of Control shortly before a recent spurt in violations of a ceasefire put in place in 2003.

“I did not visit the LoC where the Indian soldiers were killed,” Mr. Saeed, who now heads the Jamaat-ud-Dawah, said in a statement.

Expressing “surprise” at Indian Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde’s remarks that he had visited the LoC, Saeed claimed: “India has no proof about my presence there. The Indian claim is totally baseless.

“If India proves my presence at the LoC, then I am ready to accept its other allegations (against) me,” he said.

Saeed, blamed by New Delhi for masterminding the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks that killed 166 people, said those in favour of granting Most Favoured Nation-status to India should “see the real face of India”.

Sit-in continues in Quetta; HDP says provincial govt has failed

People chant slogans next to the bodies of their relatives awaiting burial, who were killed in Thursday’s deadly bombings in Quetta. — Photo by AP

QUETTA: The sit-in at Quetta’s Alamdar Road staged by hundreds of people from theHazara Shia community was ongoing on Saturday after the passing of nearly 24 hourssince it started, DawnNews reported.

The participants of the sit-in have refused to bury the dead until the army takes control of the provincial capital.

Police in Quetta had earlier said that the protest had ended, but Shia leader Ibrahim Hazara said Saturday that it would continue until the city was handed over to the army and the provincial government dismissed.

Some 50 coffins remain on the provincial capital’s Alamdar Road, the Associated Press reported.

Moreover, the Qaumi Yakjehti Council has announced that it would expand the perimeter of its protest to the cantonment check post.

Also on Saturday, the Hazara Democratic Party (HDP) took out a protest rally in Quetta against terrorist attacks in the city.

Participants of the rally held banners and placards condemning the recent unrest in Balochistan, including incidents of targeted killings, bomb blasts and other unrest.

The rally took various roads and routes and concluded near the office of Inspector General Balochistan Police.

The protesters said the provincial government had failed in establishing peace and law and order in the city and demanded that Quetta be handed over to the army.

The sit-in and protest comes in the wake of multiple bomb blasts in Quetta which claimed at least 104 lives. Eighty-six of those killed in the attacks were from the Hazara Shia community.

Policing powers delegated to FC

Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf on Saturday issued directives to delegate policing powers to the Frontier Corps in Quetta.

The premier issued the directives after a meeting with Interior Minister Rehman Malik.

The FC has been directed to assist the Balochistan government in maintaining peace and controlling the law and order situation in the province in the wake of the multiple bombings that have claimed the lives of over 100 people.

PM phones Governor Magsi

Prime Minister Ashraf telephoned Governor Balochistan Zulfikar Magsi and the two discussed the situation in Quetta in the wake of the multiple blasts.

The premier, in his call, directed the provincial governor to take all steps necessary to ensure the protection of the citizens’ lives and properties.

He added that the federal government was ready to assist the provincial government to ensure the citizen’s security.

Prime Minister Ashraf moreover said that those wounded in the wake of the attacks should be treated with maximum care.

PM directs CM Balochistan to return to Quetta

Prime Minister Ashraf on Saturday directed Chief Minister Balochistan Aslam Raisani, who is reportedly abroad, to return to Pakistan immediately.

The prime minister also directed Federal Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira to travel to Quetta without delay.

Massacre In Quetta More Proof That There Is No Justice for Minorities In Pakistan

[Over the years, Pakistan has dealt with Sunni terrorist outfits massacring Shia and other Pakistani minorities by "outlawing" the groups under their original names, only to allow the same individuals to adopt new names and then carry-on with the business of Sectarian slaughter as usual.  Pakistan only bans names of outfits, without taking any police actions against the criminal members of  the terrorist organizations.  The Pak govt., the Frontier Corps. and the Army all know exactly who is behind the many Hazara murders, Lashkar e-Jhangvi, the latest incarnation of the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba, yet, LeJ criminals remain free to kill at the next opportunity.  This single fact implicates the Pak Army and FC authorities as co-conspirators in every unprosecuted slaughter of Hazara.  Previous and ongoing ties between the Army/ISI and the Sunni militants who have been waging this sectarian war, mostly against Shia "KAFIR" (infidels), helps to prove the case of Pakistan's guilt in acts of genocide against  its own citizens.  If the authorities really wanted to end the terrorist bombings in Shia enclaves, then they would arrest every Sipah or Lashkar member (current or former member), as well as every militant leader such as Hafiz Saeed or Syed Salauddin, and begin filling prisons and "death rows" with the evil men who masquerade as religious "authorities," who are behind this slaughter.  The next step would be to put an end to the Saudi-financed war upon Shiites by closing all Saudi/Arab-funded madrassas and religious institutions.  Without these steps, the unchecked stream of Wahhabi terrorism will help Pakistan to destroy itself with its own self-hatred within a couple of years, at most.]

Massacre in Quetta provides damning indictment of authorities: HRW

Pakistani police officers and local residents gather on January 10, 2013at the site of a bomb blast that targeted paramilitary soldiers in a commercial area in Quetta, Pakistan. A series of bombings in different parts of Pakistan killed 115 people on Thursday in one of the deadliest days in the country in recent years. — Photo by AP

NEW YORK: The Pakistani government’s persistent failure to protect the minority Shia Muslim community in Pakistan from sectarian attacks by Sunni militant groups, is reprehensible and amounts to complicity in the barbaric slaughter of Pakistani citizens, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday. The government should immediately hold accountable those responsible for ordering and participating in deadly attacks targeting the Shia across Pakistan and particularly the Hazara Shia in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province.

On January 10, at least 4 bomb attacks took place in Quetta killing over 93 and injuring well over 150 people. Those killed included at least 8 police personnel and one journalist.

“2012 was the bloodiest year for Pakistan’s Shia community in living memory and if this latest attack is any indication, 2013 has started on an even more dismal note,” said Ali Dayan Hasan, Pakistan director at Human Rights Watch. “As Shia community members continue to be slaughtered in cold blood, the callousness and indifference of authorities offers a damning indictment of the state, its military and security agencies.

While sectarian violence is a longstanding problem in Pakistan, attacks against ordinary Shia have increased dramatically in recent years, Human Rights Watch said. In 2012, well over 400 members of the Shia population were killed in targeted attacks. Over 120 of these were killed in Balochistan province, the vast majority from the Hazara Shia community.

Similar attacks targeting the Shia population have taken place repeatedly over the last year in Balochistan, the port city of Karachi, predominantly Shia populated areas of Gilgit Baltistan in the northern areas, and in Pakistan’s tribal areas, Human Rights Watch said.

Sunni militant groups such as the ostensibly banned Lashkar-e Jhangvi have operated with widespread impunity across Pakistan while law enforcement officials have effectively turned a blind eye on attacks against Shia communities. Some Sunni extremist groups are known to be allies of the Pakistani military, its intelligence agencies, and affiliated paramilitaries, such as the Frontier Corps, Human Rights Watch said.

While authorities claim to have arrested dozens of suspects in attacks against Shia since 2008, only a handful have been charged, and no one has been held accountable for these attacks.

“Pakistan’s tolerance for religious extremists is not just destroying lives and alienating entire communities, it is destroying Pakistani society across the board,” said Hasan. “Sectarian violence won’t end until those responsible are brought to trial and justice.”

Human Rights Watch urged Pakistan’s federal government and relevant provincial governments to make all possible efforts to promptly apprehend and prosecute those responsible for recent attacks and other crimes targeting the Shia population. The government should direct civilian agencies and the military responsible for security to actively protect those facing attack from extremist groups, and to address the growing perception, particularly in Balochistan and Pakistan’s tribal areas, that state authorities look the other way when Shia are attacked. It should increase the number of security personnel in Shia majority areas and enclaves at high risk of attack, particularly the Hazara community in Quetta. The government should also actively investigate allegations of collusion between Sunni militant groups and military intelligence and paramilitary forces and hold accountable personnel found to be involved in criminal acts.

“The Pakistani authorities’ are just indifferent bystanders to slaughter at best or callously supportive of those perpetrating these massacres at worst,” Hasan said. “By their inaction in the face of massacre after massacre and killing after killing, Pakistan’s political leaders, law enforcement agencies, judiciary and military are presiding over a collective failure to address the growing perception that they are either in sympathy with Sunni extremists or utterly incompetent and unable to provide basic security. Either way, this is a crisis that neither Pakistanis nor the world can afford to ignore any more.”

India/Pakistani Detente’ Went Into the Ground with Mullah Nazir

Peter Chamberlin

The military-dominated politics pushed by Mr. Saeed are identical to those of  the actual “Taliban,” who were nice enough to provide America with a convenient excuse to wage experimental techno-warfare in Afghanistan (SEE:  Rightwing alliance is revived  ;  Pushing Pakistan’s Buttons–or, Shit Rolls Downhill).  Saeed likes to try to capitalize on the hot-button right-wing politics of Pakistan, attempting to turn his Defense of Pakistan Council into a multi-issue political force.  His recent jumping into the Indian “water wars” issue and his attempt to light an anti-NATO fire on Pakistan’s streets, and now this, looking for a back door for bringing his “Islamists” into Balochistan’s turmoil.  The fact that he has implied that all of the trouble in Baloch Province is India’s fault, the “foreign “meddling,” that Reyman Malik is always whining about, without ever actually naming anyone directly (India, USA and Israel, a.k.a.,  the “Zionist coalition”), is an indicator that he is speaking for the ISI.  

Pakistan had seemed to be getting a handle on the covert war that the Pentagon and the CIA had thrust upon them, before this Nazir killing.  Since then, renewed military action along the Line of Control in Kashmir, and motion of Lashkar i-Taiba ISI puppets like Hafiz Saeed, suggest that Pakistan’s “Plan B” is a regression to its historic focus upon India.  Look for Ilyas Kashmiri to suddenly show-up alive again, leading some new charge against India.  A new Pakistan/India war is exactly what the American agencies have been striving to ignite, no matter what American apologists may say to the contrary.  Look at Syria today to understand American plans for Pakistan and Iran tomorrow.

[EDITOR's NOTE:  Since penning these lines late last night, news has emerged concerning the ongoing exchange of hostilities at the LoC,  that two of the recently killed Indian Jawans were beheaded, with one of the heads being taken back to Pakistan, in a reprise of the bloody terrorist attack where Ilyas Kashmiri rose to fame in Pakistan and notoriety in India for seizing the head of an Indian colonel and offering it to Musharraf.  I had to point-out that Kashmiri or a new incarnation of him has already shown-up in Jammu and Kashmir.]

Lashkar-e-Taiba is not at all what we have been led to believe.  The ongoing Mumbai trial in New York (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. ILYAS KASHMIRI, ET AL), has caused the US Govt. to intervene on behalf of the Pakistani Govt., indirectly helping Lashkar-i-Taiba, due to the testimony obtained from a different Chicago trial, that of American/Pakistani double-agent David Headley (UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. ILYAS KASHMIRI, ET. AL.).   Between the two Mumbai trials, the ISI has been given immunity in US Courts for terrorist attacks upon Americans.  The same blanket immunity actually also helps to cover Hafiz Saeed, who is also named in the criminal complaint, by virtue of a potential verdict of  ”not guilty.”  

LeT has history with the CIA, as well as its current connections to ISI.  

“The Lashkar-e-Taiba was from the outset clearly a U.S. enterprise.”

David Headley’s co-conspirator, named in the New York trial is Hafiz Saeed.  Saeed’s pilgrammage to Balochistan stands-out as an ISI ploy to negotiate a sort of  ”peace” in Balochistan, in an effort  to enlist the aid of Talat Bugti to end the war of “disappeared” persons.  This is a “no-starter” ploy to blame all the troubles in Balochistan upon India, in exchange for an end to ISI murder in Balochistan.  Mr. Bugti is unlikely to support Saeed’s gambit without promises of an end to Frontier Corps retribution and murder, since he puts all the blame for nearly all of Balochistan’s violence upon Pakistani “agencies.”   But there is one point of agreement between the LeT operative and the Baloch nationalist Bugti, that the CIA and friends are responsible for controlling the  BLA and BRA.  It is not yet known what has transpired in that Lahore meeting between the Kashmiri activist and the one from Balochistan, but we have Saeed saying that:

“Balochistan should not be made to undergo a military operation.”  

If he can ever be taken at his word, then the Pak Army has softened its stance there, as it  has already shown restraint in its Baloch operations, starting no major military operations in recent memory,  indicating that they too have no desire for open warfare with local separatists and terrorists.  If peace is what they are truly after in Balochistan, then all issues could become negotiable.  The secret wars in Balochistan could end overnight if both sides were suddenly to become reasonable.  

The Army’s attempts to find peace through multiple tribal treaties had been starting to show promise in South Waziristan, after many years of trial and error.  A model program for Quick Impact Projects was being implemented there, after it had been formulated and funded by the United States, to employ a strategy that had been mapped-out to create incentive for peace there, by exchanging aid and development for the renunciation of militancy, or at least for belligerents to holster their guns, just as Mullah Nazir had done against the Army in Wana.  The Army was leading the development program there as a strategic move, using money provided by USAID and UAE investors, to promote peace or dialogue between warring factions by building and opening new thoroughfares between contested areas.  Despite the participation in the program of the Ahmadzai Wazirs, movement continued in this direction in Wana, money kept flowing into the program, with donations nearly doubling in the last year.  It was a blatant attempt to buy-off tribal loyalties by the American side, even though Pakistan was using the aid to bring peace to the Waziristan tribes, the exact opposite of American intent.  The Pentagon planners who came up with the idea expected the bribery to decrease cross-border anti-American hostilities.  In exchange for the government effort, Mullah Nazir had ordered the militant Mehsuds out of South Waziristan.  It was expected that other pro-Pakistan militants like Gul Bahadar in North Waziristan (along with the Haqqani boys) would follow the South Waziristan lead.  America kept the bribery coming but killed Nazir, its primary benefactor, it seemed.  The killing of Nazir was a major boost to the tyranny of Hakeemullah Mehsud.  Expect outlandish terror attacks to return to South Waziristan very shortly.  

With the sabotaging of Pakistani efforts in Waziristan, CIA planners could once again focus their attention upon the further destabilization of Balochistan, in particular its long border with Iran.  We know for certain that Mr. Saeed has some anti-Indian plans in mind when he speaks of calling an “all parties conference on Balochistan.”  With Saeed, his meeting with  Talal Bugti signals a further “Islamization” of Pakistani politics, intended, no doubt as a recruitment drive for new Islamist fighters, to be used when and where the agency-controlled LeT handlers choose to send them.  Bugti must be extra careful of endorsing anything from this devious crowd.  He will not likely associate with any political rally where he expects to hear calls for “Jihad!”  The most that can come out of any Defense of Pakistan Council sponsored all party conference is the providing of a political boost to radical Islamists and Baloch separatists.  What Bugti must decide beforehand, before risking his own neck, is which side will receive the lion’s share and which the beggar’s lot in any deal with Lashkar-i-Taiba and ultimately the spy agencies that are behind them.  Between this ploy and the one now playing-out in Kashmir, India should understand the new reality being handed them by the ISI as retribution for Imperial sabotage.

therearenosunglasses.hotmail.com

Hafiz Saeed meets Talal Bugti, urges solution to Balochistan crisis

Hafiz Mohammad Saeed. — Photo by Reuters

LAHORE: Jamaatud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed on Tuesday said the government should take steps to resolve the issues confronting Balochistan on an emergency basis, DawnNews reported.

Speaking to media representatives after meeting with Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP) chief Talal Akbar Bugti in Lahore, the JuD chief said the government no longer had the room to further delay on addressing the issues.

During the meeting, the two discussed Balochistan’s security situation as well as the country’s political situation.

Saeed told reporters that the government should take immediate steps to resolve the issues confronting Balochistan, adding that difficulties would increase in case the province’s issues remain unsolved.

Saeed further said that Balochistan should not be made to undergo a military operation.

He moreover questioned as to who would put a stop to “Indian interference” in the province.

The JuD chief added that his party would host an all parties’ conference on Balochistan.

On the occasion, Bugti said he would not support any artificially installed leadership in Balochistan, adding that an all parties’ conference would soon be called to discuss the province’s issues.

["The emergence of the ”Defense of Pakistan Council” movement has raised suspicions that the group has approval from elements in the powerful military and security establishment, aiming to bolster public support for a hardline position."]

”We demand Pakistani rulers quit the alliance with America,” said Saeed,

”Wake up, countrymen, break the shackles of American slavery.”

”Jihad! Jihad!” the crowd roared.]

Talal advises to form grand alliance

ISLAMABAD: Jamhoori Watan Party Chief Talal Akbar Bugti has advised to form a grand alliance before general elections, adding that if all the demands of Baloch people were met then he himself will persuade the Baloch leaders residing abroad.

Addressing the ‘Meet The Press’ programme here at Islamabad Press Club, Talal Bugti said that he would not take part in the elections until FC, ISI and MI leave the province.

The JWP chief claimed that FC and secret agencies are involved in smuggling in Pakistan and Afghanistan. He also claimed that Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and Lashkar e Jhangvi in their part are not involved in the insurgency.

Talal said that the current situation of Balochistan is worse than that of West Pakistan in 1971. He said that if the situation in the province remained same then UN or any army of Islamic country should be asked to save Pakistan.

Nawab Bugti was killed by Balach Marri : Baluch Youth Council

ASALAM.CO 

Chairman Baluch Youth Council, Mir Hazar Khan Baluch has said “So Called” Baluch Separatist Leaders Balach Marri and his brother Herbyar Marri are involved in the killing of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti and Justice Muhammad Nawaz Marri, two most prominent Baluch personalities killed in recent years.

Is a statement Mir Hazar Khan Baluch announced that the Council would move a Petition in International Court of Justice against the Herbyar Marri for murder of Justice Muhammad Nawaz Marri and bloodshed of innocent Baluchis and Punjabis.

Addressing a meeting of the Central Council of Baluch Youth, Chairman Mir Hazar Khan Baluch further uncovered that “A Senior Indian Diplomat had recently facilitated a meeting between Herbyar Marri and Barahamdagh Bugti to remove their misunderstanding over the killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti and counter killing of Balach Marri“.

Baluch said during the meeting, Barahmdagh Bugti alleged that the person behind taking his Grand Father late Nawab Akbar Bugti to the cave was Balach Marri, brother of Herbyar Marri. He said the cave came down due to a Blast by Remote Control and Balach Marri was standing just outside the cave art the time.

Baluch said an Officer of Indian Intelligence Agency RAW was also present in the meeting between the two Rebel Leaders.

He said the Indian Diplomat and Intelligence Officers persuaded both Baluch Leaders to reach an understanding for a bigger cause and according to their information, Herbyar wanted “Full Independence to form a Government in Exile” to which Baramdagh did not agree, because he claimed that he was an International Leader.

Baluch added that the two Self-Styled Baluch Leaders, were RAW Agents and were Fighting the War for their survival at the cost of the Baluch Nation.

The Baluch Youth Council Chairman also lashed out at Sardar Akhtar Mengal and said his Militant Group Laskhar-e-Baluchistan was involved in the massacre of innocent people in Khuzdar District and looting of buses on National Highway.

He noted that Baluch People will never forget killing of twenty thousands (20,000) Innocent People during a personal clash of Attaullah Mengal and a Bugti Sardar.

He said that Baluch Sardars were fond of telling lies but they could not continue with it, adding that the Sardars were rubbing salt into the wounds of Baluch People.

“How come they bring change as they all are Usurpers,” he remarked and said thatthe Baluch Nation was aware of Sardars’ Character.

Related Posts: The Baluch Insurgency

Pakistani Police Ineptitude or Complicity Forces Shia To Marshal Their Own Self-Defense Forces

Secretary General SUCP Allama Arif Hussain Wahidi

Shia leaders devise own security plan: Army sought for sensitive areas

Kalbe Ali

 

RAWALPINDI, Nov 22: While a large number of people attended the funeral prayers of those killed in the Wednesday attack on a procession here, the leadership of Shia community has decided to chalk out a more effective security plan for the remaining religious gatherings.

As the criticism on the police grew, the Shia Ulema Council demanded deployment of the army in sensitive areas.

The Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen (MWM) said it had chalked out its own security plan. “Now it is clear that relying on the police for safety is an exercise in futility,” said Allama Amin Shaheedi, the secretary general of the MWM. “We have decided to mobilise our volunteers and give them enhanced responsibilities for the Muharram security.”

A member of the management committee at Jamia Sadiq Imambargah at G-9/4 added: “We have followed all the precautions and directives as suggested by the police.”

From outside, the imambargah looked encircled by a maze of iron bars and barbed wires. The management committee official acknowledged that last year many people, including women, had rejected a similar security plan for the worship place.

The heightened insecurity has also brought three main rival Shia parties closer. These are: the Shia Ulema Council, which is the reincarnation of the banned Tehrik-i-Jaferia led by Allama Sajid Naqvi; the MWM, mainly the breakaway faction of the old TJP, and its archrival TNFJ led by Allama Moosavi.

The senior leaders of all these three groups have agreed to cooperate on security matters and establish a large contingent of volunteers to keep a vigil during the processions.

In a meeting with Raja Ashfaq Sarwar, an adviser to the chief minister, the religious leaders said the best way to deal with the situation was to remain peaceful and promote sectarian harmony. They said terrorists wanted to pitch the followers of different schools of thought against each other.

The meeting was attended by Commissioner Imdadullah Bosal, DCO Saqib Zafar, CPO Azhar Hameed Khokhar, Allama Pir Syed Izhar Bukhari, Syed Hassan Raza Naqvi, Syed Shahzad Shah, Syed Anwar Shah, Syed Abdul Aziz Shah, Mehmudul Hassan Balakoti, Mazhar Ali, Malik Umar, Maulana Abdul Wahid Farooqi and Syed Qasim Shah.

“We will continue preaching peace and tolerance and this is the best way to combat the nefarious designs of extremists,” Maulana Abdul Farooqi told the meeting.

Raja Ashfaq Sarwar vowed to provide security to the processions in Rawalpindi by involving the military.

He said the list of those killed and injured in the attack was being sent to the chief minister to announce financial assistance for the affected families.

In another development, Imamia Students Ogranisation Rawalpindi criticised a statement by Punjab home minister Rana Sanaullah that the Muharram activities be limited to any boundary area only.

It said the government was trying to find a lame excuse to cover up its failure in providing security to the people.

Meanwhile, people from both the Shia and Sunni communities attended the funeral prayers of the victims at Dhoke Syedan. Four people from the Sunni community also lost their lives while attending the Wednesday night procession.

Is Talal Bugti Heroic Enough To Lead Unified Pakistani Resistance Against State Terrorism?

 SOURCE

Talal urges democratic forces to make grand alliance

LAHORE: The Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP) chief on Tuesday said all political forces should be united on a one-point agenda of making a grand alliance for free and fair elections in the country.

Talal Bugti, son of late Nawab Akbar Bugti, called on Jamaat-e-Islami chief Munawar Hassan in Mansoora, where both leaders discussed the Balochistan issue and the current political situation in the country.

Talal said that the Balochistan issue should be taken seriously and joint efforts should be exerted to resolve problems of the people of Balochistan. He, however, said that peace in Balochistan could only be restored through conferring due rights to people.

He said that democratic people in Balochistan had either been killed or removed to field undemocratic forces. Talal said that mutilated bodies of Baloch youth were being dumped on roads to create panic among those who were voicing against atrocities.

Talal said he was sure that former president Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf would definitely meet an exemplary fate for undermining Pakistan’s solidarity, the Lal Masjid operation, handing over Dr Aafia Siddiqui to the US and for the murder of Nawab Akbar Bugti.

The Jamhoori Watan Party chief said that the undemocratic forces ruling the country under President Asif Zardari were planning to rig the elections. He hoped that the patriotic parties would join hands in a grand alliance to foil the conspiracies against the country’s ideology, solidarity and integrity failing which the establishment and the undemocratic forces would “play their dirty role” in the elections to maintain status quo.

Talal Bugti also invited the JI chief to visit Balochistan.

The JWP chief also asked media to come to take the lead without any fear in promoting the idea of a great alliance, which was the need of the hour, especially in Balochistan, where mutilated bodies were being found and democratic forces were being killed.

Addressing the joint press conference, JI chief Munawar Hassan said that India was meddling in Balochistan and US intentions were crystal clear. He said, “We all should demonstrate our unity.”

He also urged all political parties to get together on one agenda – for the recovery of the missing persons. Hassan said that the government was harbouring terrorists in the name of reconciliation for the last five years.

He said the government should evolve a consensus among all stakeholders of Balochistan to restore peace in the province.

He said that the accountability of Nawab Akbar Bugti’s killers was a must for foiling unholy US designs in the region. The JI chief saluted Talal’s services for the country’s solidarity and unity. Hassan announced that the JI would soon hold a public meeting at the Minar-e-Pakistan in support of Talal’s agenda for the country’s solidarity and national unity to ensure that his voice became the voice of the nation.

He said further justice must be done to the Baloch to pull them out of a sense of deprivation and for the solution of their problems. He said that the government had intentionally created conditions that promoted terrorism and sectarian hatred in the country, especially in Karachi and Balochistan, adding that it was patronising a gang of criminals trading in target killings and extortion.

JI deputy chiefs Muhammad Aslam Saleemi, Dr Muhammad Kamal, General Secretary Liaqat Baloch and other party leaders were also present on the occasion.

Later, The Jamhoori Watan Party chief also held meeting with Jamiat-e-Ahle-Hadith chief Ibtisam Elahi Zaheer and discussed with him Balochistan situation.

“Balochistan Assembly is a dummy and its members are corrupt.”

“The allegations of Mr Chan tantamount to breach of parliamentary privilege,”

[According to Mr. Achakzai, Chan abused a lawmaker's privilege by revealing a common understanding of the true nature of the dummy assemble.]

Balochistan lawmakers warn Chan to withdraw his statement

By: Bari Baloch

QUETTA – The legislators of Balochistan Assembly have strongly condemned the allegations of Public Accounts Committee’s Chairman Nadeem Afzal Chan that Balochistan Assembly is a dummy and its members are corrupt.They warned that if Mr Chan did not withdraw his remarks they would bring a condemnation resolution in Balochistan Assembly which would not convey a positive massage to PPP and centre. The session of the assembly started on Thursday with Speaker Muhammad Aslam Bhootani in chair.Soon after recitation of the Holy Quran, provincial Minister for Revenue Zamarak Khan Achakzai took the floor on a point of order and came down hard on Nadeem Afzal Chan, saying Mr Chan in a TV talk- show had accused that Balochistan Assembly was a dummy because the real parties had boycotted the elections and ministers were involved in embezzlement of funds. “The allegations of Mr Chan tantamount to breach of parliamentary privilege,” he added. He said representatives of almost all the parties were present in the assembly though some parties had apparently boycotted the elections, adding that chief minister and provincial government belonged to PPP and despite that leveling such allegations by PPP leader was regrettable.Minister for Environment Mir Asghar Rind said people sitting in Islamabad did not have proper knowledge of the area and population of Balochistan and were issuing statements sitting in luxurious hotels utilizing NGOs’ funds. He clarified that no party in Balochistan had boycotted elections, however, some of them fielded their candidates indirectly. “We are not hypocrite, therefore, we contested elections openly,” he added.Shahnawaz Marri, condemning PAC chairman’s statement, said same people would also sweep in upcoming elections, adding those who boycotted the elections were sitting in Dubai and London. “Who is funding these leaders to live abroad?” he asked, adding the PPP leader should not have leveled such allegations against Balochistan Assembly.MPA Nasreen Kethran said incumbent provincial government had carried out a lot of development work despite the fact that it got development funds after NFC-Award.Other lawmakers, including Ainullah Shams, Molvi Abdul Samad, Abdul Rehman Jamali and Younus Mullazai also denounced Chan’s statement, saying he was a senior leader and he should have not used such language against Balochistan Assembly and its members. “Anchor persons always strive to make people speak such words which could lead to confusion,” they added. They suggested that through a condemnation resolution this message should be conveyed that PPP leader had breached parliamentary privilege and as for as embezzlement of funds were concerned there should be an accountability of funds and they were ready for any punishment.Upon this, speaker directed legislators to contact concerned member and he should be told to explain the allegations or withdraw them otherwise Balochistan Assembly would bring a condemnation resolution and a positive message would not go to PPP and center. Sheikh Jaffar Khan Mandokhel, on a point of order, said establishment division should review its policy of deploying officials having Balochistan domicile forcefully in the province.He said Balochistan officials should remain in other provinces and as per rules officials of other provinces should come here and serve the people. Abdul Rehman Jamali, supporting MPA Shaikh Jaffar’s viewpoint, said Balochistan officials were performing well in other provinces and they should not be forced to return to province.He said there were other officials in Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that might be deployed in Balochistan.Ainullah Shams said establishment division should review its policy and deploy officials according to the rules.

 

Sectarian Violence Slipping Out of Control In Balochistan Is Essential To the Imperial Plan

PAKISTAN: Sectarian violence slipping out of control in Balochistan

Photo: Kamila Hyat/IRIN

Relatives of missing persons stage a protest in Balochistan

QUETTA, 14 September 2012 (IRIN) – Ethnic and religious minorities in Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan have faced increasing intimidation and violence since 2009, according to a recent fact-finding mission by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP).

“Settlers” i.e. people who have settled in the province and are not of Baloch ethnicity (a term used by Balochi nationalists even for people whose ancestors came to the region before the Pakistani state was created in 1947) are being targeted.

Heavy locks on two empty houses in a residential suburb of Quetta, the provincial capital, stand as a testimony to what is happening – in this case the occupants chose to vacate their properties quietly in the dead of night.

“These persons were `settlers’ in Balochistan, from the Punjab. They were good people; we had known them for years, but they had to leave because it is no longer safe for people from other provinces to live in Balochistan,” a neighbour who asked not to be named, told IRIN.

With violence increasing in 2010, the central government informed the country’s Senate that 100,000 people had fled Balochistan. According to HRCP, thousands more have fled since then. At least 2,000 “settler” children have been taken out of school by their parents since 2011, the HRCP report says.

About half of Balochistan’s 7.8 million people are non-Baloch; they live mainly in Quetta and Pakhtoon-dominated areas.

“My family has lived in Quetta since the 1930s. It is the only home I know. But things are getting too dangerous for anyone who is non-Baloch,” said Khawar Jhandro, an ethnic Sindhi.

The teacher, 40, said he had already moved his family to Karachi, as “I was terrified about the safety of my children who were asked their ethnicity even at school.”

The problem, according to Tahir Hussain Khan, a Quetta-based lawyer and human rights activist, is tied to the nationalist struggle by Baloch groups, which began in the 1950s but intensified after the 2006 killing of a key Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Bugti.

Baloch Baloch, a spokesman for the nationalist Baloch Republican Army, an armed militia fighting for autonomy of the region, told IRIN over the telephone: “We believe Balochistan should be mainly for the Baloch people and not be taken over by those who have moved in from outside and settled here… Balochistan’s resources have been taken away by the Punjab, aided by the central government.”

HRCP says underdevelopment is one of the factors driving the grievances. According to official statistics, the province is the country’s poorest with the lowest literacy rate (30 percent).

According to the South Asian Terrorism Portal which bases its data on media reports and is run by the New Delhi-based Institute for Conflict Management, 711 persons, including civilians, nationalist militants and personnel from security forces were killed in Balochistan in 2011, and 347 the previous year. HRCP reported the discovery of 57 bodies of people who had gone missing from various parts of the province in 2012 alone.

Sectarian violence has also started to target the Hazara, a Shiite minority. Sardar Saadat Ali, chief of the Hazara community in Balochistan, told IRIN: “Our protests are ignored. The extremists targeting us on a sectarian basis just escape, scot-free.”

Balochs also targeted

Even the Balochi nationalists themselves have become a target and many have gone missing. “There are at least 500 or more missing persons in the province,” Baloch Baloch told IRIN. According to the HRCP report, the disappearance of 198 people has been officially recorded since 2000.

A 2010 report by Human Rights Watch said the Frontier Corps (FC), a paramilitary organization commanded by Pakistan’s military, was behind many of the disappearances.

The central government is concerned that it is losing control of the region. The country’s top court, hearing a case regarding law and order in Balochistan brought before it by NGOs and families of the missing, has repeatedly ordered the provincial government to take action. So has the prime minister. But these interventions, backed by the military muscle of the FC are seen by some as interfering in local affairs.

“Basically, the FC has seized all control, follows its own plans and does not allow us to function,” a senior police officer in Quetta, who asked not to be named, told IRIN.

“The military has intervened too often in the affairs of Balochistan, handicapping civilian rule,” said I.A. Rehman, secretary-general of the HRCP. Balochistan has a long history of military intervention against those fighting for more autonomy, dating back to the 1950s.

Fear

The result of this administrative disarray is fear. Tens of thousands across Balochistan are affected.

“It is unsafe to go out of the house after 4 or 5pm. I, in fact, try not to let my college-going sons leave the house at any time, except for their studies, because I am afraid they may be `picked up’ as nationalists or get caught up in some terrorist incident,” said Shaista Bibi, a mother of three – and an ethnic Baloch.

An ethnic Pakhtoon mother was just as fearful. “We will have to leave here soon. It is no longer safe for my four young children,” said Ameera Gul, 30, who had moved to Balochistan from Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa Province 10 years ago. The family is now planning to leave as soon as it can.

kh/kb/cb

Anti-Pakistan Baloch Death Squad Kills Terrorist from Pro-Pakistan Death Squad

 

[Baloch death squad kills member of anti-Baloch death squad, Musallah Defa Tanzeem.  You really need a score card to keep track of all the death squads in Balochistan.] BLA claimed to have killed a member of Govt backed death squad

Khuzdar : A spokesperson of the Baloch Liberation Army has informed the Online News that fighters from his Organisation have killed an active member of the Musallah Defa Tanzeem, a government back civilian death squad, headed of Shafiq Mengal. According details Jiand Baloch, a spokesperson of the BLA said, Mohammad Ali aka Parvez Painter was an active member of the Musallah Defa Tanzeem that is why fighters from his Organisation have killed him in Azad Chowk area of Khuzdar town in Balochistan. He further said on 30 August another spy of state forces, Abdul Khaliq Baranzai, was attacked and injured. He warned the members of civilian death squads working for state forces to mince their ways otherwise they will not be forgiven. Baloch activists on Facebook and Twitter have accused Parvez Painter of spying against Balach Waheed Baloch, a 13 year old member of Baloch Student Organisaiton –Azad who was abducted from Khuzdar and later killed under custody. The Musallah Defa Tanzeen had accepted responsibility for abducting the young student and his killing.

The War In Quetta Is A Carbon Copy of the War In Syria

[Quetta has really been under siege lately, or, more accurately, the Hazara (Shia) of Quetta are marked for death and anyone who is near them becomes a target, as well.  The panoramic photo below is what remains of the house of Dr Azam Mengal, located in the Faizabad area of Quetta, after 80 and 100 kg of explosives detonated on his doorstep.  According to the Baloch Hal report below, "Dr Azam Mengal was currently in Dubai, and had rented the house to some people belonging to Noshki."  Noshki has been the focal point for much of the target killings of Balochistan.

This reported attack is just the latest in a series of bombings directed at the Shia community in Quetta.  Now the Army claims to have foiled an even worse attack on some unspecified target, with the seizure of 12,000 kilos of explosives, 15 suicide vests, RPGs and detonators (SEE: Major terrorist plot foiled by security forces in Quetta).  These attacks are undoubtedly the handiwork of "America's Islamists" (although they could also be called "Saudi Islamists," or "Pakistan's Islamists"), since the Sunni terrorist armies they have trained are the single force that is striving to ignite "Holy War" against the Shiites in the Greater Middle East.  America's partners in this venture remain the same ones today, who have been killing Shias and other "infidels" in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq.]   

click on image for full view

Quetta Blast Kills Five, Injures 11

The Baloch Hal Monitoring Desk 

QUETTA: Five people, including two women and two children, were killed and 11 others were injured on Sunday after an 80kg explosive being driven around by a suspected militant accidentally went off before he could reach his intended target. “We have found a severed head, believed to be of a militant who was killed in the blast,” police officer Mukhtar Ahmed told reporters following the incident that ripped apart a house in the Faizabad area of the provincial capital. “The target was not clear. We have launched an investigation to identify the militant. Police are also interrogating the owner of the house,” he added.

Abdul Razzaq, in-charge of the bomb-disposal squad in Quetta, told reporters that the car was carrying between 80 and 100 kg (180-220 pounds) of explosives. According to police details, the explosion occurred outside the house of Dr Azam Mengal, located on Killi Faizabad, Sariab Road. Following the explosion, flames engulfed and eventually gutted the entire house. Three cars and two other houses in the vicinity were also badly damaged. The 11 victims were shifted to the Civil Hospital and Bolan Medical Complex (BMC) by Edhi ambulances and were identified as Hassan Nasir, Zahid, Bibi Samina, Bibi Abida, Laraib, Zehra, Nadra, Yasin and Shafiullah. According to hospital sources, their condition is said to be critical.

Following the explosion, police and the FC personnel reached the scene and cordoned off the area. DIG Operations Wazir Khan Nassar told reporters that an 80kg explosive in the car had caused the explosion and massive destruction. He added that Dr Azam Mengal was currently in Dubai, and had rented the house to some people belonging to Noshki.

Upon receiving news of the incident, President Asif Ali Zardari strongly condemned the blast and said that such dastardly acts of terrorism would not deter the people’s determination to root out terrorism from the country. The president expressed sorrow over the loss of lives and directed that the best medical care be provided to the casualties.Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira and Minister of State for Information Syed Samsam Bukhari also condemned the Quetta bomb blast.

Muhammad Ejaz Khan adds: The powerful bomb blast, which killed at least five persons, including children, on Sunday went off at around 11:50am. The thud of the explosion was heard several kilometres away in the provincial capital. Panic gripped the area soon after the blast, and frightened people could be seen running around after the powerful explosion.

Confirming the number of deaths, official sources said that five persons were killed in the powerful bomb explosion. The condition of some of the injured is stated to be precarious, hospital sources said.

Eyewitnesses told The News that the billowing smoke could be seen following the loud bang of the explosion. Due to the explosion, a portion of the house caved in as well. “I saw nothing but darkness. When I opened my eyes in the hospital, I was being treated,” said one of the injured while talking to reporters.

DIG Police Wazir Khan Nasar confirmed that the explosion had taken place inside a vehicle near the house, and added that police had launched an investigation into the incident. The names of the other deceased are yet to be confirmed because the deceased recently shifted to the house, said police officials. (Courtesy: The News International)

46 insurgent camps in Balochistan: Malik

RECORDER REPORT

ISLAMABAD: There are 46 insurgent camps in Balochistan in addition to 24 training camps in the vicinity of Kandahar in Afghanistan which are to foment unrest in that province, Interior Minister Rehman Malik informed the Senate on Friday.

Winding up a debate over the Balochistan situation, the minister claimed that Pakistan’s friends and foes, who had vested interest in the mineral-rich province, were equally involved in financing and backing militants in Balochistan .

According to Malik, evidence  suggested that as many as 36 of the training camps were “operating in small pockets” and they were being harboured by India, adding that the matter had been taken up with the Indian authorities without any success.

Terming farari camps as the root cause of the Balochistan unrest, Malik called for their elimination through “some monitoring mechanism, to nip the evil in the bud”.

Although no date was fixed, the House decided to have an in-camera briefing from the interior minister along with officials of Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and other law-enforcement agencies to ascertain facts. The date for the briefing would be finalised soon.

Assuring the upper house of parliament that he would inform the Senators about the “current security situation”, the minister said that lawlessness had made people’s lives miserable. “Give me an opportunity and I will tell you what our friends are up to…forget the enemies [and] let me share with you what our friends are doing to us,” he offered.

In his winding up speech, Malik discussed countless evidence on the Balochistan situation, detailing India and Afghanistan’s role in creating hatred among the Baloch people against Pakistan. Without naming “friendly countries”, Malil reiterated his request for an in-camera briefing on the issue.

Presenting proof of training camps inside Afghanistan, he gave a number of official letters written by none other than the Afghan government to its security agencies, calling for funding “dissidents to create Bangladesh-like situation in Balochistan”.

Accusing India and Afghanistan of facilitating the proscribed Balochistan Liberation Army’s (BLA) fugitive leader Brahamdagh Bugti, he said that both countries were helping his (Brahamdagh’s) men in Pakistan in connection with obtaining visas, passports, financing, including provision of arms and ammunition, to carryout terrorist acts in the province.

Malik also showed proof of camps where insurgents were being trained near Kandhar and elsewhere in Afghanistan. These terrorists, he said, were later sent to Pakistan “to carry out what they are trained”. The minister insisted that no compromise would be made on the national interest and all decisions regarding opening of North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (Nato) supply route had been made keeping in view the “dignity and sovereignty of Pakistan”.

Responding to a point of order raised by Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F)‚ Malik said that the memorandum of understanding signed for the restoration of Nato supply route “will be made public”.

“We’ve not budged from our stand to implement recommendations of joint resolutions made by parliament. We still stick to them [and] further decisions will be taken in the light of parliamentary resolutions,” he maintained.

To another point of order raised by Syed Tahir Hussain Mashhadi of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) over the law and order situation in Karachi‚ he said security arrangements in the Sindh metropolis had improved a lot by reducing sectarian and ethnic polarisation. Malik claimed that the total number of missing persons in Balochistan was 36, in Punjab it was 222 and 100 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. He said that the Chief Justice of Pakistan had made tireless efforts to recover these people. He went on saying that the government under the directions of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court would find a solution to the issue, adding that he would provide all details about missing persons to the apex court as directed.

The house was prorogued indefinitely.

Supreme Court of Pakistan accused security forces for abductions in Balochistan

Quetta : The top judge of Pakistan’s highest court on Wednesday accused the paramilitary Frontier Corps of involvement in the disappearance of a third of all the missing persons in Balochistan. Pakistan’s Supreme Court is investigating cases of missing people in Balochistan, where the military has retorted to brutal killings, bombardment of villages, abductions and other human rights violations in its bid to put down the Baloch peoples’ struggle for freedom. Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, returned to Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, to hear cases of the families of abducted Baloch and those who have been killed by Pakistani security forces under their on-going policy of ‘kill and dump’ across Balochistan. The Voice for Baloch Missing Persons, an organisation striving for the save recovery of abducted Baloch, says that over 14,000 Baloch activists hailing from different spheres of life have been abducted by Pakistan FC and intelligence agencies. They say that over 450 people from the aforementioned number of abducted Baloch have been killed under custody and their brutally tortured and bullet riddled bodies were found dumped across Balochistan. VOA’s Deewa Radio on Wednesday quoted Nasrullah Baloch, the chairman of VMBP as saying, “every day Frontier Corps and secret agencies kidnap political workers in broad daylight and keep them in their illegal torture cells, then we receive their bullet-riddled, mutilated dead bodies.” “Enough evidences are available for involvement of the Frontier Corps in picking up of every third missing person” in Balochistan, Mr Chaudhry remarked during a hearing. The court also heard a case involving the abduction of 30 Baloch men and killing of two members of BSO-Azad in the Totak village of Khuzdar district of Balochistan in February last year. The FC officials have been ordered to produce people from the Totak incident which it had in custody. It is worth recalling that on 18 February 2011 the Pakistan FC and other security forces had attacked the Torak village near Khuzdar. Two members of BSO-Azad namely Naeem Qalandrani and Yahya Qalandarani were killed and arrested over two dozen members of Qalandarani Baloch tribe were abducted. The bullet ridden body ofMaqsood Qalandrani was found dumped in Quetta on 16 July 2011. The rest of the people abducted in February last year are still being illegally held by Pakistani intelligence agencies. Balochistan, which also straddles Iran and Afghanistan, is rich in in natural resources including Oil and Gas, but the Baloch people remains one of the most deprived in South East Asia. Rights activists have accused the military of mass arrests and extra-judicial executions in its bid to counter a national liberation struggle. International Human Rights Organisations including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Asian Human Rights Commission have extensively reported on Pakistani atrocities against Baloch people. These groups say that abductions are often carried out in broad day light in presence of multiple eye-witnesses – family members and fellow passengers. In June this year the UN human rights Chief Navi Pillay voiced concern about “very grave” rights violations during Pakistani military operations. She had said disappearances in Balochistan had become “a focus for national debate, international attention and local despair”

Chinese survey team attacked in Gwadar, one killed

 

Occupied Balochistan: A spokesperson of the Baloch Liberation Front (BLF), Mr Doda Baloch, has said that fighters from his Organisation have attacked a Chinese survey team few days back, as a result one person was killed and another has been wounded. While speaking to NNI on Sunday Mr Doda Baloch has accepted the responsibility for the attack on Chinese team. Doda Baloch warned that “no investors, be them national or International, will be allowed to invest in Balochistan without the consent of Baloch Nation.” The BLF spokesperson further said that the Baloch resistance organisation (we) have made it clear through their pamphlets and press releases that Baloch are struggling for their national liberation and national preservation, therefore no capitalist should invest on Baloch land and the common labourers should refrain working for the investors [to avoid any harm]. Courtesy: Daily Tawar

US Officials See No Conflict of Interests In Arming “Al-CIA-da” with Surface-to-Air Missiles To Get Assad

[In order to become a US Govt. official you have to possess absolutely no sense of morality whatsoever.  The latest example of government immorality comes via the phenomenon we affectionately refer to as "al-Qaeda."  Congress can pass resolutions which resemble declarations of war against "al-Qaeda"-inspired terrorism, giving us the completely scandalous "Global War On Terrorism" (GWOT), while simultaneously supporting known branches of all-Qaeda and arming them with the most feared of all terrorist weapons, the man-portable, hand-held, SAM (surface-to-air-missile).  We have to do everything conceivable to keep terrorists in Libya from getting their hands on several thousand of these nasty man-killers, except for the terrorists who plan to use them in support of NATO's war on Bashar Assad.  We start a global war against terrorism, yet we openly employ known terrorists to do our dirty work in Syria (unlike places like Pakistan, where we keep our hiring of Hakeemullah Mehsud's gang on the "Q.T.".  This is the kind of shit that will finish-off this country, before our leaders ever really cobble together their new world order.  

We are fucked...and deservedly so.]  

Saudi and Turkey get serious about supporting Syrian rebels

via SyndiGate.info

Members of the Free Syrian Army

Saudi Arabia is set to pay the salaries of the rebel Free Syrian Army to encourage mass defections from President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, Britain’s Guardian newspaper reported on Saturday.

The payments would be made in either U.S. dollars or euros — which would mean a rise in salaries as the Syrian pound has fallen sharply in value since the revolt started 16 months ago, the broadsheet said.

The idea was first proposed to Saudi Arabia by Arab officials in May, the Guardian reported, citing sources in three Arab states and adding that the plan has also been discussed with U.S. officials.

However a spokesman for the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs offered no comment to Al Arabiya on such claims, suggesting the topic is likely to be addressed at the joint GCC-EU council and ministerial meeting set to take place in Luxembourg on Monday.

The Guardian also claims that Turkey has allowed the establishment of a command center in Istanbul co-coordinating the supply of weapons to the rebel fighters in Syria, staffed by more than 20 mainly Syrian nationals.

The report comes amid a crisis between Turkey and Syria afterDamascus confirmed that it shot down a Turkish fighter jet that it said had violated Syrian airspace.

The Guardian said Turkey sees weapon supply lines as crucial to the defense of its border with its former close ally Syria, with Syrian forces edging closer in an attempt to stop guns crossing the border into the hands of rebel fighters.

The Guardian says its reporters witnessed weapons being transferred across border from Turkey into Syria in early June.

According to the report, Turkey has given the green-light to establish a command center in Istanbul, to coordinate with opposition leaders within Syria. It is alleged that 22 people have been recruited to run the center, most of them Syrian nationals.

On Friday, Ankara denied allegations in a New York Times report, citing U.S. officials and Arab intelligence sources, that Turkey was among a number of countries shipping weapons to Syrian rebels over the border.

The New York Times also reported that the CIA was on location in south Turkey assisting allies in the distribution of weapons amongst opposition fighters.

“Turkey does not ship weapons to any neighboring country, including Syria,” foreign ministry spokesman Selcuk Unal said.

The neighbors’ relations are already strained over outspoken condemnation by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Syria’s bloody crackdown on protests against Assad’s government.

Turkey is hosting more than 30,000 Syrian refugees living in camps near the border, according to foreign ministry figures, as well as army defectors including 12 generals.

Increasing concern

  I think it’s fair to say that we have a concern about the MANPADS coming out of Libya  

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta

Meanwhile as evidence mounts of Islamic militant forces among the Syrian opposition, senior U.S. and European officials are increasingly alarmed by the prospect of sophisticated weapons falling into the hands of rebel groups that may be dangerous to Western interests, including al-Qaeda.

In an interview with Reuters, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta articulated U.S. worries that shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles, also known as MANPADS, could find their way onto the Syrian battlefield.

Intelligence experts believe that hundreds, if not thousands, of such weapons were looted from arsenals accumulated by late Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, and are floating on the Middle East black market.

“I think it’s fair to say that we have a concern about the MANPADS coming out of Libya,” Panetta said in the Thursday interview. “We’ve had an ongoing view that it was important to try to determine where these MANPADS were going, not only the concern that some of them might wind up in Syria but elsewhere as well,” he said.

Panetta added that he had seen no direct intelligence yet that such missiles had made their way to Syria. He did not specifically cite the rebels as potential recipients.

But other U.S. and allied officials voiced that concern, while saying they had no evidence that Syrian rebels had yet acquired MANPADS.

Qaeda joining rebels

  It stands to reason that if any Middle Eastern nation is even considering giving arms to the Syrian opposition, it would take a measured approach and think twice about providing arms that could have unintended consequences  

U.S. official

The urgency of Western concerns stems as much from the recipients of the weapons as the weapons themselves. High-level sources at multiple national intelligence services report increasing evidence that Islamic militants, including Qaeda and its affiliates and other hard-line Sunni groups, had joined forces with opponents of the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

Bruce Riedel, a former CIA officer who has advised President Barack Obama on counter-terrorism policy, said that Qaeda and other militants were “deeply engaged” with anti-Assad forces. He cited public pronouncements by senior Qaeda figures, including the group’s leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, that urged Sunni rebels in Syria to kill members of Assad’s Alawite Muslim minority.

A western government source said that al-Nusrah, a “spinoff” from Qaeda’s Iraq-based affiliate, was responsible for at least some atrocities that have occurred in Syria. The source said the group publicly confirmed its role in killings.

Worries that sophisticated weapons could make their way to the wrong kind of Syrian rebels are one reason Washington remains wary of deeper U.S. involvement in the fighting.

“It stands to reason that if any Middle Eastern nation is even considering giving arms to the Syrian opposition, it would take a measured approach and think twice about providing arms that could have unintended consequences,” a U.S. official said.

Nonetheless, U.S. and allied officials say their Saudi and Qatari counterparts have discussed how MANPADS could be used by Assad opponents to bring down Russian-made helicopters the Syrian army is using to redeploy its troops rapidly between trouble spots.

But such missiles also could be used against other targets, including civilian airliners, one reason for the U.S. and allied concern.

After the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, the CIA, with Saudi backing, provided sophisticated shoulder-fired Stinger missiles to Islamic militants seeking to oust Soviet troops.

The missiles played a significant role in the Soviets’ ultimate defeat in Afghanistan. But they also became a major headache for U.S. and western counter-terrorism agencies when anti-Soviet militants morphed into anti-Western militant factions including Qaeda.

U.S. providing non-lethal support

Some prominent U.S. Republicans are urging a big step-up in U.S. aid for Assad’s opponents, including arms deliveries and even possible U.S. military involvement.

At a conference on Thursday hosted by the website Bloomberg Government, U.S. Senator John McCain suggested that the Obama administration’s cautious policy regarding the Syrian rebels was “shameful” and urged a major escalation in U.S. involvement.

“So what do we do? First of all, we stand up for them. Second of all, we get them weapons. Third of all, we establish a sanctuary with our allies – no boots on the ground, no boots on the ground – and use our and our allied air power to protect that zone and we help these people in a fair fight,” McCain said.

At the same conference, however, Representative Mike Rogers, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, warned: “We are just really not in a good position today to fully identify all of the groups, all of the factions, who’s winning that leadership fight,” he said.

The United States is understood to be supplying non-lethal support to Assad’s opponents, such as financing and communications gear, possibly including monitoring equipment. The Times said that the Obama administration has held back on providing rebels with intelligence information, such as satellite photographs, on the activities of Assad’s forces.

Riedel warned that Qatar authorities might not be too choosy about which Syrian rebels they are willing to supply with arms, though they would try to avoid giving them directly to Qaeda.

“I don’t think that Qatar and the Saudis are as concerned as we are about surface-to-air missiles,” Riedel added.

What do you think about Saudi paying the Syrian rebels? Tell us your thoughts below. 

© 2012 MBC Group

Balochistan Set To Go The Way of Syria and Libya, As Pampered Expatriats Jump for Joy In Safety of US Arms

Baloch likely to distribute sweets to welcome USS Enterprise

Ahmar Mustikhan

Baltimore Foreign Policy Examiner

Though Pakistan is fuming, Baloch all over the world are joyous that the USS Enterpise is close to the territorial waters of Balochistan near the port city of Gwadar.

These Baloch are appealing to Balochistan leaders to come out openly and publicly in support of the U.S. carrier.

Most Baloch accuse Pakistan of ethnic cleansing and loot and plunder and say if they remain with Pakistan they will be big time losers and live in poverty even though Balochistan is as rich as Switzerland, according to Pakistan writer Fatima Bhutto, grand daughter of slain premier Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

The USS Enterprise moved close to Balochistan’s territorial waters — which Islamabad claims belongs to Pakistan, but the Baloch reject this as false — exactly one week after Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said U.S. patience with Pakistan is running out.

A U.S. team negotiating the restoring of NATO supply routes was also abruptly called back few days ago.

Most Baloch leaders, including Geneva-based Sardar Brahumdagh Bugti of the Baloch Repulican Party, are miffed why the U.S. is talking to Pakistan on these routes in stead of the Baloch.

The premier American Friends of Balochistan called upon its members and supporters in the U.S. and abroad to distribute sweets over the development– a traditional way of showing mass gratitude and happiness.

Pentagon Calls for Free Balochistan–Challenges Pakistani Sovereignty with Baloch Symposium

[With the USS Enterprise anchored off Gawadar and the Baloch insurgency being gathered together in Washington, the United States is coming out of the closet in favor of the dissection of Pakistan.  Nothing could be more clear--all of the "conspiracy theories" about US/India meddling in Balochistan are true.  Pakistan is on a countdown to invasion.]

Pentagon calls symposium on Balochistan

By: Ashraf Javed

LAHORE – The US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), a subsidiary of the Pentagon, is all set to convene a controversial symposium on Balochistan issue at Washington DC next week, it was reliably learnt on Friday.

Well-informed sources said that a two-day conference titled ‘Pakistan Symposium: 2014 and Beyond Draft Agenda’ is being organised on 19th and 20th of this month at Washington DC under the auspices of Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) on Balochistan issue.

It will be the first time that a US Governmental organisation will be involved in projecting the point of view of dissident elements of Balochistan. Reportedly, the speakers also include Malik Siraj Akbar, Tareq Fatah and Waheed Baloch.

Pakistan had raised serious objections to hearing on ‘Balochistan’ by Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the United States House of Representative Committee on Foreign Affairs chaired by Congressman Dana Rohrabacher on February 8 and subsequent tabling of bill in US Congress. However the matter was somehow censored by timely diplomatic interventions.

The impending event reflects on growing American interest in Balochistan. It will raise serious concerns in Pakistan and is likely to be construed as interference by Americans in the internal affairs of the country.

According to independent observers, the event can seriously undermine the sinking negotiations process between Pakistan and US and will widen the distrust between the two countries.

This so-called symposium will definitely lead to the deferment of normalcy of relations to the disadvantage of both the countries, otherwise ally in the war on terror.

Baloch Leader Welcomed USS Enterprise and NATO To Balochistan

Baloch Leader welcomed USS Enterprise in Pakistani water near Balochistan

 

US moves USS Enterprise into Pakistani water near Balochistan

By Shahid Abbasi

Prominent Baloch leader in US Dr.Wahid Baloch welcomed the move and said ”We welcome US Enterprise and NATO forces in Balochistan. Baloch people in Occupied Balochistan have been asking the international community to intervene in Balochistan for long time, where Pakistani army is committing war crimes against the defenseless Baloch people”