Meet three-year old Beurag Baloch. He is the son of Jalil Reki, the central secretary information of the Baloch Republican Party (BRP), who went missing since the early days of 2009. Beurag tells us that he believes his father was picked up by the agencies. He does not exactly know what “agencies” mean and what their job is. Yet, he says he misses his “missing father” very much.
His dad is among thousands of Balochs who are currently “missing” after being whisked away by the country’s intelligence agencies. They say some 4000 Balochs have “disappeared” at the moment.
Beurag held my hand and asked me to take his picture pretending to be behind bars in order to convey his willingness to go behind bars in return of his missing father’s release.
“Uncle, can you do me this favor,” he asked this afternoon.
I could not promise but assured to convey his message with his own photograph to everyone that this young child is volunteering to go to Pakistan’s torture cells in return of his father’s release from the custody of the intelligence agencies.
This is a beautiful Balochi song written by Waja Ghulam Mohammad Shaeed and sung by Arif Baloch. Ghulam Mohammad was arrested and subsequently killed allegedly by the Pakistani state intelligence agencies along with two of his politcal friends, Lala Munir Ahmed Baloch Shaeed and Sher Mohammad Baloch Shaeed.
TEHRAN — (AFP): The deputy head of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards charged on Friday that Pakistan arrested and then released the leader of Jundallah a few days before a suicide bombing claimed by the Sunni rebel group.
“We have precise information about the movement and places where terrorists are hiding,” the Fars news agency quoted Brigadier General Hossein Salami as saying.
“On September 26, Abdolmalek Rigi was arrested in one of the streets of Quetta but after one hour he was released following the intervention of the intelligence service of our neighbouring country,” Salami said.
Quetta is the capital of Pakistan’s Baluchistan province, which borders Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan province where Jundallah is active. Ethnic Baluchis, the community the rebel group says it is fighting for, straddle the border.
Some 42 people, including 15 Revolutionary Guards members, died in the October 18 bombing in the Sistan-Baluchestan town of Pisheen.
“How is it possible that this guy can move freely (unless he is) under the protection of the intelligence services?” the Guards number two said, according to Fars.
Iran has said those responsible for the bombing were based in Pakistan and has demanded that Islamabad hand Rigi over.
Islamabad has strongly denied that Jundallah (Soldiers of God) launched the attack from its territory.
On Thursday, Pakistani police said three Iranians arrested for illegally entering Pakistan may have been linked to the Pisheen bombing.
Malik Siraj Akbar is a journalist based in Quetta, Pakistan. He is working as the Balochistan Bureau Chief of Pakistan’s leading English language newspaper, Daily Times and a regular contributor to the Lahore-based Urdu language weekly magazine Hum Shehri.
Malik has written, mainly about the politics and society of Balochistan, in ... Continue reading »
