Author: faizbaluch

Editor of Balochwarna New. Baloch human rights activist associated with Free Balochistan Movement and International Voice for Baloch Missing Persons.

Human Rights Violations in Balochistan

It was in March 1948 that the last of the erstwhile Balochistan Agency acceded from British India into the newly formed State of Pakistan. However, the assimilation and acceptance of the Baloch people into Pakistani society and Pakistan as a whole has been characterized by both active and passive resistance. The denial by the Pakistani State in providing mere provincial status and rights to Balochistan till 1970 was also accompanied by a policy of systematic oppression of the Baloch people that has continued till the present – the most recent phase of which was set in motion when General Pervez Musharraf assumed power after conducting the 1999 coup d’état replacing the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. In January 2000, under his orders as the Chief Executive of Pakistan, his army ravaged the New Kahan area to the south of Quetta – the capital of Balochistan, in a joint military operation involving the police and paramilitary, the latter of which included the Pakistan Rangers. In one day alone, 125 people were arrested, others disappeared forever (Television, 2010).

Pakistani forces not only arrested the locals of New Kahan but also vandalized their residences, of which the semi-permanent settlements were destroyed completely.  The arrested included almost all of the adult men, while only women, elderly and children were left. These arrests however would soon turn out to be state-abductions, without any respite to the relatives, who approached the authorities for the whereabouts of their loved ones to no reciprocation – the regional authorities had no answers.

New Kahan (News) is an area to the south of Quetta populated by the Marri Baloch Tribe. The Marri Baloch had migrated to Afghanistan during the 70s military offensive and lived in Afghanistan as refugees until the Taliban took over, after which they were forced to return to Balochistan in the early 90s. New Kahan and surrounding area has always been, and remains, one of the primary regions of retaliatory offensives whenever there is an attack on Pakistani forces and government installations in Quetta. The latest raid in New Kahan was conducted on the night of 14 August 2020, ten residents were reportedly arrested and soon after they disappeared.

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The Ahed Tamimis of Balochistan 

By Faiz M Baluch

Stop_Genocide
Baloch female protesters carrying a ‘stop Baloch Genocide’ placard during a protest in Karachi

In December 2017 Ahed Tamimi, a Palestinian teenager heard the news that Israeli soldiers shot her 15-year-old cousin Mohammad with a rubber-coated steel bullet. So, raged with anger Tamimi and her mother came out in the street to confront the Israeli soldiers. In the course of the protest, she slapped and hit an armed soldier who in return did not shot her or even slap her back but maintain professional calmness throughout.

The video of slapping an Israeli soldier went viral and in most Muslim countries she was hailed as a hero. Obviously, this ‘heroism of her’ has incited other Palestinian children to act in similar ways or even worse. Tamimi and her mother were, however, later arrested and sentenced to eight-month imprisonment according to the law of the land.  Continue reading “The Ahed Tamimis of Balochistan “

Zahra Baloch – an unsung hero of Balochistan

On 14 May 2018, a daughter of Balochistan and brother took a taxi home not knowing that it would be their last ride. She had just finished her final year exams and was going to visit her brother in Iranian occupied Balochistan when a Land Cruiser overtook their taxi and brake sharply leaving no time for the taxi to stop. Hence, the taxi collided with the back bumpers of the Land Cruiser killing all three persons on board – Zahra Baloch, her brother Attaullah Baloch and the taxi driver.

It is not clear yet what caused the Land Cruiser’s driver to brake sharply or whether it was a deliberate attempt to cause this accident with intent to kill Zahra and her brother. Iran and Pakistan are two dangerous states for Baloch people and they avail every opportunity to harm the most learned and educated youth of Balochistan. Since Zahra Baloch was politically active and had previously received threats from Pakistani security forces, it is highly likely that her death was not just an accident.

Continue reading “Zahra Baloch – an unsung hero of Balochistan”

Faiz Muhammad Baluch: “Since 2010, more than 18.000 Baloch people are under custody of Pakistan”

This time we have interviewed Faiz Muhammad Baluch, member of “International Voice For Baloch Missing Persons”. He explains the reality of the Baloch people under the repression of the Pakistani government, and how they are fighting to highlight their situation in front of the western media, the human rights organizations and the UN.

FAIZ MUHAMMAD BALUTX: ‘2010AZ GEROZTIK 18.000 BALUTXE BAHITU ETA 2.000 HIL DITU PAKISTANEK’

Balutxistan estatu gabeko nazio bat da. Iran, Afganistan eta Pakistan artean banatuta dago, eta errepresio gogorrari egin behar izaten diote aurre. Desagertutako balutxeen nazioarteko ahotsa elkarteko kidea Faiz Muhammad Baloch. Bere herrikideek bizi dutena azaldu digu. Mendebaldeko hedabide eta erakundeek euren egoerari erreparatzeko egiten ari diren protestak ere kontatu dizkigu.

CPEC: The Corridor to Baloch genocide

By Sobdar Baluch

Baluchistan
Baluchistan

I was watching the inauguration ceremony of Gawadar corridor route passing through occupied Balochistan territory.

The puppet and toothless ministers from Balochistan and other parts were also present to confirm their attendance and obedience to Punjabi domination on Baloch land.

Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif repeated the same rhetoric and showed lollipops of the past to Baloch nation.

We still remember the tall claims of Zulfiqar Bhutto, Zia-ul-Haq, General Ayyub Khan, Benazir Bhutto, General Musharraf, Asif Ali Zadar and now again Nawaz Sharif of turning Balochistan into paradise but the reality in today different.When you visit Balochistan today after six decades you will witness the increased number of graveyards and mass graves instead of School, Collages, Universities, health care centres, technical centres.

Only three days ago the ‘Dawn Newspaper’ reported quoting the Home Secretary of Balochistan that “More than 9,000 ‘suspected militants and criminals’ were apprehended by police, levies, frontier corps and intelligence agencies in Balochistan as a part of the national action plan in the year 2015.But neither Dawn nor the Home Secretary has said anything about the whereabouts of those arrested 9000 ‘suspected militants’. Have they all been killed and dumped or are they being tortured in secret dungeon of Pakistan army?

Continue reading “CPEC: The Corridor to Baloch genocide”

International Women’s Day and state violence against Baloch women

By Faiz M Baluch

vbmplongmarch-hyderabadThe world is celebrating the International Women’s Day (IWD) to pay their homage to working women and to renew their pledge to continue striving for gender equality and women’s empowerment. The women in Balochistan are not only out in streets (in front of Press Clubs) demanding the release of their loved ones but they also continue to be targeted by Pakistani state and its military backed religious extremists.

Baloch women tolerate the greatest hardships in Balochistan. The pain of losing their children, brothers, fathers and husbands at the hand of Pakistani security forces is couple with the religious extremism against women. Illegal occupation of Balochistan by the fundamentalist states of Iran and Pakistan has created a perpetual sense of insecurity for Baloch society as a whole but women and children are primary casualties of this insecurity. Continue reading “International Women’s Day and state violence against Baloch women”

Is Britain complicit in human rights violations in Balochistan?

by Faiz M Baluch

Kalat_StateBalochistan, bordering Iran to the West and Afghanistan to the North, was an independent country before the British attacked and invaded it in 1839. The Baloch ruler, at the time, Mir Mehrab Khan along with hundreds of Baloch fighters died while defending Balochistan.

Later the British draw two artificial lines (borders), the Goldsmith Line (1871) and the Durand Line (1895), dividing Balochistan into three pieces. Northern Balochistan and Western Balochistan were given to Persia and Afghanistan respectively, and Eastern Balochistan (Pakistan occupied Balochistan) remained independent and maintained treaty relations with the British.

One of the treaties the British government signed with Balochistan in 1854 and later amended in 1876 reads as follows: Article 3: “Whilst on his part, Meer Khodadad Khan, Khan of Kalat, binds himself, his heirs, successors and sardars to observe faithfully the provisions of Article 3 of the treaty of 1854, the British Government on its part engages to respect the independence of Kalat, and to aid the Khan, in case of need, in the maintenance of a just authority and the protection of his territories from external attack, by such means as the British Government may at the moment deem expedient.”

The British remained in Eastern part of Balochistan until 1947 and at the time of their departure they recognised Balochistan as an independent state. Three days prior to Pakistan’s separation from India, a tripartite agreement was signed between the British, the ruler of Balochistan and the upcoming Pakistan administration accepting the sovereignty of the Baloch people. On 11 August, 1947, Eastern Balochistan declared full independence. Continue reading “Is Britain complicit in human rights violations in Balochistan?”

Baloch activists to run a twitter campaign against China’s interference in Balochistan

NexusChina is the world’s third predatory country that is engaged in heinous crime of exploiting Baloch national resources after Pakistan and Iran. It is also the country that has virtually encircled Balochistan’s strategic geography into its so called String of Pearls Strategy – under the sphere of its influence Gwadar Deep sea port has already been turned into a major Chinese outpost to consolidate and expand its vital interests in the region.

Moreover, China is one of the major weapon supplier to Pakistan and Iran for suppressing the secular Baloch freedom movement in occupied Balochistan at a time when world peace is in the grip of Islamic extremist forces.

Baloch people as a suppressed nation at the hand of Pakistan and Iran have no option but to defend their national resources and struggle to restore the lost sovereignty.

Continue reading “Baloch activists to run a twitter campaign against China’s interference in Balochistan”