The Baloch struggle

Quetta: 27 March, 2012 was spent commemorating the 27 March, 1948. That was the day Pakistan Army occupied Balochistan. In the Baloch prism this occupation is termed illegal, inhuman, and unlawful. But for the Pakistani narrative Balochistan’s demand for independence was out of question. At the time of partition states and provinces could either secede to Pakistan or India. The prospect of a third entity ‘Balochistan’ was incomprehensible. Then is it illegal to demand what goes against the laws by which states are governed? Or is it unlawful for the state to use force against a people it views as digressing? Does a state not have monopoly over aggression (if need be)? Can any local leaders or populations unite and make demands for separation? These are questions that need to be understood. What are the laws that govern states as a whole? Can coercion bring these freedom fighters under the state’s thumb? 

Today the Baloch claim that their rights are being neglected/ violated, their natural resources are being exploited by the other three provinces, and Islamabad’s ‘colonial’ mindset on the Baloch table has gotten even more suffocating with the decades. The recent American Congress intervention by the ‘Special Committee on Oversight and Investigations’ could be considered a new type of drone attack on Pakistani sovereignty. The Congress invited in Ali Dayan, a social activist apparently and drafted an entire resolution on ‘Pakistan’s other war: Balochistan’ based on one man’s word. Within two weeks the Congress was told he was exaggerating, and how can a province’s fate be based on one man’s testimony? More importantly the Secretary of State Hilary Clinton assured our flustered political establishment that US respects Pakistan’s sovereignty. Whether it was a genuine apology, or just our media/ Prime Minister hallucinating we can perhaps not know.

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Can anything be done about Pakistan’s economy?

Pakistan is struggling. Struggling to keep afloat in a sea of political, economic and social issues. It suffers internally from inflation, power shortages and fear of losing our jobs, homes and families. Its people are divided along ethnic, racial and religious lines. Injustice and corruption rule the night and the day. All this is being reined by leaders who purport to represent the people but fail to mention who exactly is included in “the people”.

While the county’s political scenario has been interpreted as productive or destructive, depending on which house you belong to, its economic productivity is relatively easy to determine. Measures like the balance of payments, imports and exports, taxes and revenue can give a good picture of where the economy stands. The current picture is, unfortunately, quite miserable.

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Bangladesh won our hearts

Although he is not my first Bangladeshi friend,Rohaan is definitely the first diehard Bangladeshi cricket fan I have ever met. He reminds me of how I used to be about cricket:crazy,emotional,passionate and frustrated. This March,the Bangladesh cricket team went all out to give their millions of fans,including Rohaan, a reason to cheer;something they have been longing for for a very long time.

At the Asia Cup 2012,the Bangladeshi team crossed all sorts of hurdles to make it to their first big final. On the final ball of a nerve bursting over,they were just two runs short of making their heroic performance a historic one. Pakistan,although more due to their luck than experience,was awarded the privilege to lift the cup,but it was Bangladesh who made an impression that day.

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Singh interested in visiting Pakistan provided concrete developments are made

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani met on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul.

Manmohan Singh thanked Gilani for conferring the Most Favoured Nation trading status to India. He also expressed willingness to visit Pakistan but only if 'strong and concrete' developments could be guaranteed.

"I had a good meeting with him. I thanked him for the trade concessions that they have announced," the Prime Minister said on board his special aircraft while returning from a four-day visit to South Korea.

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NATO’s presence in Central Asia

Advocating democracy is neither a “remedy” to Central Asia’s political ills nor a sound “strategic option” for NATO.

London, United Kingdom - Dubbed as the “pivot region” of world politics, the five Central Asian nations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan have collectively gained an immense strategic importance over the last two decades, thanks to their geography and vast deposits of natural resources including gold, gas, oil and uranium.

Today, China has its eyes on Central Asia as a source of energy and raw materials for its expanding economy, as well as a “critical frontier” for its trade expansion and ethnic stability. Chinese state-owned enterprises have penetrated deep into the infrastructure and energy sectors across the region, especially in Turkmenistan, while the government has sought to increase its soft power by sponsoring a large network of Confucius Institutes in the region’s capitals.

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The Enigma of the CIA Chief of Counter terrorism Center

WASHINGTON - For every cloud of smoke that follows a CIA drone strike in Pakistan, dozens of smaller plumes can be traced to a gaunt figure standing in a courtyard near the centre of the agency’s Langley campus in Virginia.

The man with the nicotine habit is in his late 50s, with stubble on his face and the dark-suited wardrobe of an undertaker. As chief of the CIA’s Counterterrorism Centre for the past six years, he has functioned in a funereal capacity for al Qaeda.

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Sunni Tehrik decides to participate in elections

The Pakistan Sunni Tehreek (PST),hitherto a non-political religious party,has announced that it will participate in the upcoming elections.

Addressing some 15,000 supporters here at the ‘Azad Pakistan Conference’ at Minar-i-Pakistan,PST head Sarwat Ijaz Qadri requested the participants to vote for the Tehreek,or at least cooperate with the party. He labelled the Difa-i-Pakistan Council   formed by Ahle Hadith and Deobandi parties the “Fisad-i-Pakistan Council”,and accused it of causing terrorism in the country.

Sahibzada Fazle Karim,the head of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC),was not invited to the conference,though the Sunni Tehreek is an important component of the SIC. A PST official said that Karim had not been invited. “He used to take all the credit for SIC gatherings,even though most of the supporters at these gatherings were PST workers,” he said.

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THE KANDAHAR ATROCITY

Sergeant Bales is under custody in the Fort Leavenworth military prison in the US. This is where the perpetrator of the My Lai (VietNam) massacre was lodged after he had lined up innocent villagers and had them shot in cold blood. The perpetrators of the Haditha Massacre in Iraq walked free. Not much happened to those who tortured abused and humiliated Iraqis in Abu Gharaib prison. The US Marines who urinated on corpses of Afghan Taliban have yet to be punished as are the British soldiers who abused children and those who hunted Afghans for sport as a ‘kill team’ and also those who mutilated Afghan corpses to take away parts as trophies. The Koran burning in Baghram is still under investigation. So there was much to inspire Bales and even before the reality of the Kandahar atrocity sank in there were moves afoot to bail out the criminal Bales.

In a hard hitting article Robert Fisk has effectively trashed the ‘deranged’ soldier defense of Bales. The word being put out was that he was under stress from four tours---three in Iraq before the one in Afghanistan---and that the strain unhinged him. It is also being said that he was an ‘even tempered soldier’, a family man and not the stereo type of a killer. What about the others who have committed atrocities? Were they all deranged by stress? What about the chain of command---is it so malfunctional that it cannot detect deranged characters and prevent them from leaving fully armed securely guarded facilities without detection? General Karimi the Afghan Army Chief has debunked the lone madman theory and has clearly stated that this was a deliberate planned killing and many soldiers were involved. This was also Pakistan’s conclusion when its border post was attacked and 24 soldiers killed. Is there a ‘rogue’ segment in the US military in Afghanistan or are criminals and killers being recruited to do the killing because it is a volunteer force and serving in it would appeal to those who have nowhere else to go. This could explain the muted response to US deaths in wars that should never have been.

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CNIC: Collective National Identity Crisis

Pakistan- the great melting pot of cultures,ideas and gene pools;located smack in the middle of the cross roads leading to almost every great ancient civilization that sent its war lords our way,looting plundering and introducing new strains of genetic material to mix in our own. They were conquerors,robed priests and wandering ascetics who travelled this way to introduce their own brand of God to the sun worshiping natives who embraced them whole heartedly generation after generation. A people born into the beautiful idealism of the Vedas embraced ideology that appealed to their socio-economic circumstances and quest for a higher purpose,we were cast and recast into several forms,we built a nation claiming unity of one form yet today we are left with that gaping question:who are we?

When Dahir’s severed head was presented to Hajjaj,a courtier sang:“we have conquered Sindh after enormous trouble…. Betrayed is Dahir by Mohammed Bin Qasim’s masterly strategy. Rejoice,the evil doers are disgraced. Their wealth has been brought away . . . They are now solitary and brittle as eggs and their women,fair and fragrant as musk-deer,are now asleep in our harems.”

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Pakistani panelists stopped from cross questioning Indian officials

An eight-member panel  who was in India to record statements of the Indian officials who had interviewed Ajmal Kasab and conducted autopsy of the gunmen killed in the terror attack has complained that Indian authorities did not allow them to cross-question.

A member of the panel, while talking to The Express Tribune confirmed that the panel had completed recording statements of the Indian officials including the Chief investigative officer who had questioned Ajmal Kasab and two doctors who had conducted autopsy on eight of his accomplices.

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