Posted by Malik Siraj Akbar in Malik Siraj Akbar.
I just checked in my Berlin hotel. I am staying at Citadines Apart Hotel. It is at Oliverplates. I am in Germany for the second time. It is really great to see a sunny Berlin. Last time, when I spent a month in this lovely city to attend a training program on Covering Elections and Political reporting, the whole month was dominated by continious rains, clody skies and snow, but only hours after our departure.
This time, there are three of us from Pakistan to attend a week long training program on Economic and Financial Reporting. My other colleagues are Mohammad Ali of Dawn newspaper in Peshawar and Mohammad Owais of Independent News of Pakistan (INP).
We were told that we were in fact the first participants to arrive in the city. The others would from different Asian and African countries would be in town tomorrow and we would meet them up.
I hope I will have a wonderful stay in Berlin.
Posted by Malik Siraj Akbar in Malik Siraj Akbar.
Tags: Ghulam Mohammad Baloch, Gwadar, killing of three Baloch leaders, Lala Munir Baloch, Panjgur, Sher Mohammad Baloch, Turbat
News Analysis By Malik Siraj Akbar
Violent and inexorable reactions seen all over Balochistan on the extra-judicial killing of three prominent Baloch nationalist leaders are being compared to what was seen in the country’s troubled province soon after the murder of late Nawab Akbar Bugti in August 2006. While the Pervez Musharraf regime continued to brazenly suppress the popular uprising by applying more violent means and killing another celebrated Baloch leader, Nawabzada Balach Marri, the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) is now confronted with the gigantic task of skillfully grappling the renewed conflagration that has taken Balochistan from all directions.
Many features of the fresh killings and subsequent reactions, however, distinguish the current disturbances from what was recorded after the killings of Nawab Bugti and Balach Marri. Since the mutilated dead bodies of Balochistan National Movement (BNM) central chairman Waja Ghulam Mohammad Baloch, BNM vice president Lala Munir Baloch and Baloch Republican Party (BRP) deputy secretary general Sher Mohammad Baloch were recovered from a deserted place in Turbat district, Balochistan’s Baloch, Pashtoon, Hazara populations, lawyers, transporters and traders have together and vociferously lodged an unprecedented strong protest. The reason, as mentioned by the local people, is that the killings were extremely brutal as each victim received hundreds of bullets on their faces with clear marks of inhuman torture.
Known for its numerous martyrs, the Baloch history has seen the first ever contributions of the middle class educated Baloch leaders to the anti-Islamabad national liberation movement. While majority of Baloch martyrs have been often looked down upon by cynical historians for their alleged struggle meant to guard their own tribal interests and grab maximum political, administrative and economic control of the province, the recently killed Baloch leaders, on the contrary, belong to Mekran, the most enlightened region in Balochistan where the Sardari system was abolished centuries ago. Hence, many political pundits in Quetta are utterly flabbergasted to see such an overwhelming outpouring against the killing of this type of leaders who had had no tribal roots, so-called private armies, private jails, capability to ‘blackmail’ the federal government and spunk to hinder the state-backed development agenda.
In the past Mekran was frequently pilloried by Marri, Bugti and Mengal tribes for its apathy towards the armed struggle. By killing three popular Baloch leaders, the state agencies, which are solely held responsible for the event even by the eyewitness accounts and family members of the slain leaders, have themselves pushed Mekran to formally subscribe to the club of martyrs. The Baloch insurgency is now probably going to break the tribal cocoon and make inroads among the middle class educated Balochs.
The widow of late Ghulam Mohammad Baloch and the younger brother of Lala Munir Baloch have reportedly asked the sympathizers not to mourn the killings but to take them as an opportunity to further the cause of Balochistan’s right to self-determination. The three killed leaders, who held Masters degrees in various subjects, were known as popular public figures in their respective areas and deeply revered even in their lifetime. Their tragic death and brutal murder has further added to their popularity.
The killings seem to have helped the Baloch political parties to sink all of their internal political and tribal vendettas in order to rise to the occasion. For instance, it was utterly unexpected to see federal minister for postal affairs and the president of the Balochistan National Party (BNP-Awami), Senator Israrullah Zehri, whose party has five ministries in the Balochistan Government, to publicly beg all the Baloch leaders to unite against their ‘common enemy.”
“I would request all the Baloch political parties to unite for God’s sake,” he said, “if we do not unite, the enemy is out to kill us one after the other. Firstly, Nawab Bugti was killed, then Nawabzada Balach Marri and now three more leaders have been ruthlessly assassinated.” Zehri went on to the extent of apologizing to all the Baloch tribal elders and political leaders for the past mistakes, including supporting the Pervez Musharraf regime that killed Nawab Bugti and carried out a military operation in the province. “I want them [the nationalist Baloch leaders] to forgive us and we have forgiven them.”
Similarly, Senator Hasil Khan Bizenjo of the National Party (NP) has endangered his own life by publicly holding the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Military Intelligence (MI) responsible for the kidnapping and killing of the Baloch leaders despite the fact that two of the slain leaders –Ghulam Mohammad and Lala Munir – had developed differences with Bizenjo’s National Party in 2002 and parted ways due to differences in their political strategies for the Baloch rights.
A senior Quetta-based political analyst told this blogger that the Turbat episode had self-evidently warned the moderate and pro-Islamabad leaders such as Zehri and Bizenjo to review their approach towards the Center and its intelligence agencies. “These leaders have been left in limbo. They cannot defend Islamabad’s policies anymore. If they keep insisting for repaying state oppression with reconciliation, their own Baloch population would dislodge them from the society. It is this reason that these pro-establishment politicians have emerged as the first ones in Balochistan to protest the killings,” he pointed out.
The way forward entails daunting challenges. Everyone in Balochistan is raising fingers at the state secret services for their direct involvement in the murders. The sole eyewitness, Kachkol Baloch, a former leader of the opposition in the Balochistan Assembly, now fears for his own life. His National Party has officially complained in the media that the agencies are now out to kill Kachkol or pressurize him to mince words regarding his eyewitness account.
Meanwhile the families of the other missing nationalist leaders – Balochistan Republican Party (BRP) central information Secretary Jalil Rekhi, BRP central committee member Chakar Qambrani and Baloch Students’ Organization (BSO) Shahzaib Baloch – have been appalled by the killings. They are scared that now the intelligence agencies would also kill these missing leaders who have been kept into incommunicado for months.
While the officially formulated judicial tribunal headed by the Balochistan High Court judge Justice Nadir Durrani is starting its fact-finding mission today (Tuesday), the Baloch nationalists have already spurned the tribunal by expressing lack of trust in the tribunal. The Baloch Republican Party (BRP), whose deputy secretary general Sher Mohammad Baloch was among the killed leaders, insists that the United Nations (UN), which has for the first time condemned the killings in Balochistan, should probe the matter while Kachkol Ali Baloch, the eyewitness, says he would suffice with a Supreme Court tribunal comprising of non-PCO judges. This dilemma has already made the existing judicial tribunal ineffective and irrelevant.
Instead of forming a hasty tribunal, President Asif Ali Zardari, political observers recommend, should personally intervene in the matter and constitute a judicial commission acceptable to all Baloch political parties. A commission devoid of Baloch trust is going to add to the Baloch suspicions rather than soothing the disgruntled Baloch.
Posted by Malik Siraj Akbar in Malik Siraj Akbar.
After the callous murder of three prominent Baloch nationalist leaders –Balochistan National Movement (BNM) president Waja Ghulam Mohammad Baloch, BNM Vice President Waja Lala Munir Baloch and Baloch Republican Party (BRP) central deputy secretary general Sher Mhohammad Baloch – the life of another leading Baloch leader Mir Kachkol Ali Advocate Baloch is in danger. Mr. Baloch, a former leader of the opposition in the Balochistan Assembly and the lawyer of the three slain Baloch leaders, is the sole eyewitness to the kidnapping of the Baloch leaders by the the official functionaries from his Turbat office.
His party, the National Party, has officially stated that the State apparatus is out to kill Kachkol Ali Baloch in order to submerge the truth of the whole episode. I wish to appeal to the international human rights organizations, world governments, political groups and the media to come to protection of a key educated, middle class Baloch nationalist leader whose life is currently endangered.
I visited Kachkol Baloch the one day after the gruesome murder of three prominent Baloch leaders and asked him to tell me in detail as to what had actually happened. Despite all pressure, a brave Kachkol agreed to speak to me. I summarized his account in the following write-up.
Kachkol Ali Baloch, Balochistan’s former leader of the opposition and a High Court lawyer, saw it under his nose how three of his clients were whisked away by what he now describes as the personnel of the intelligence agencies. Last Friday, on April 3rd, his clients and old political friends Ghulam Mohammad Baloch, Lala Munir Ahmed and Sher Mohammad had been taken into official custody in a dramatic move by the government functionaries soon after ransacking Kachkol’s office and asking them all to put their hands up. In less than a week period, now all the three missing leaders are pronounced dead.
“It was a hectic day and everyone was delighted as we got free from the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Turbat where all the three Baloch leaders had come to appear before the court to face some previous charges,” he told Daily Times. According to him, as soon as the leaders got free from the court proceedings at around 12:00pm, Sher Mohammad, the central deputy secretary general of the Baloch Republic Party (BRP) agreed to walk with Kachkol to his chamber while the other two leaders promised to see them in Kachkol’s chamber after going to bazaar for some shopping.
“As we trudged towards my office, Sher Mohammad grumbled over being constantly chased by the personnel of the intelligence agencies,” he recollected. “Will they ever let us live in peace,” asked Mr. Baloch while quoting Sher Mohammad having Jokingly remarked. Before Kachkol could utter a response to what Sher Mohammad had said, a bearded man silently walked into the law chamber and asked if he could sit there for a while. “He said he had given his shoes to a cobbler for polishing. So we did not object his plea for permission to sit and wait inside the office.”
As the stranger sat, Sher Mohammad reminded his lawyer that the suspected that the stranger in fact belonged to the intelligence agencies and was among the people who had been previously following them secretly for many days. In the meanwhile, Ghulam Mohammad, who chairs the Balochistan National Movement (BNM) and his vice president Lala Munir also arrived.
Kachkol continues that they started debating with each other in Balochi if the stranger pretending to be waiting for his shoes to be polished was a member of the intelligence agencies or just ‘another non-local citizen’. “Thus, we decided that two of us would walk outside the office. I the stranger, it was decided among the four fellows, also walked with the Baloch leaders then we would rightly assume that the latter worked for the intelligence agencies,” he remembered the gruesome episode, adding that they had already seen a gray van of the functionaries stationed outside his office.
“As Ghulam Mohammad and Lala Munir began to walk outside, they man suddenly shouted and called for some other friends of his from outside. Around five to six other officials dressed in plainclothes walked inside my office. They were carrying guns in their hands; spoke Urdu; overpowered the Baloch leaders and tied their hands from the backside. Masks were also put on their faces and they were driven to an unknown place,” said Kachkol Ali.
Subsequently, Kachkol and his lawyer friends went to the local police station to lodge a case against the colonels of the Inter- Services Intelligence (ISI), the Military Intelligence (MI), Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the commandant of the Frontier Corps (FC). “We were certain that our men had been whisked away by the intelligence agencies. The courts should have taken notice of the incident and asked the officials of these agencies to explain their position regarding the whereabouts of the Baloch leaders,” he said.
On its part, the police said it could not register a case against the intelligence agencies. However, it agreed to jot down the details of the case in its daily diary. Later on, Kachkol Baloch also wrote an application to the Balochistan High Court and appealed for immediate intervention. As luck would have it, there was no action taken by the court as well.
Four days after the disappearance of the three Baloch leaders, their dead bodies were recovered in Turbat district.
“Had the judiciary acted swiftly, our important leaders would never get killed,” says Kachkol Baloch who directly holds the intelligence agencies responsible for the unprecedented murders.
Kachkol Baloch demands a judicial investigation in the case. “This investigation should, nonetheless, be held by the Supreme Court Judges, not those who took oath under the PCO,” he appealed.
Posted by Malik Siraj Akbar in Malik Siraj Akbar.
Tags: Baloch, Balochistan National Movement, Chitkan, Ghulam Mohammad Baloch, John Solecki, Lala Munir Baloch, Malik Siraj Akbar, Panjgur, Quetta, Sher Mohammad Baloch, three leaders killed in Balochistan
I have not been blogging for some days because I do not have an internet connection these days. I am ashamed of not having blogged during the days when our three wajas have been brutally murdered.
Since the abduction of John Solecki, this blog has attracted a considerable number of foreign, mainly American, readers. So this small note is for them.
Ghulam Mohammad Baloch was one man who worked tirelessly to get John Solecki released. My fears that I had expressed in a previous post John Solecki v/s Qambar Baloch have finally proved correct.
John is back home. What about Ghulam Mohammad Baloch? Waja Ghulam Mohammad has been killed finally only for his democratic credentials and active role in getting Solecki recovered.
I could not meet Waja Ghulam Mohammad when he was here in Quetta for the last time. But promised on the phone to meet me during his next visit to Quetta. Both of us had agreed to have a detailed interview.
Sher Mohammad, I will miss you. Can you remember when you called me for the first time and started speaking to me in Urdu because you thought I was perhaps a Punjbai. I can understand how disappointed you were when Daily Aaj Kal printed the old interview of Nawabzada Bramdagh Bugti. I thought you were angry. But you were not. Instead I fully remember how you generously offered to arrange the next interview with Nawabzada Bramdagh. You were so kind to say that you did not care for which media outlet I conducted that interview: “I am arranging you this interview because you are my dear Baloch journalist brother,” you had commented. I was deeply touched.
I am sure you also remember that that interview could not happen soon after the John Solecki episode. You called me that morning and politely apologized for the inconvenience but offered me to send you the questions on your Yahoo ID. I did. Then we were to meet on your return from Turbat. And you never came back. How would you? After all you had bathed like a ‘Saloonk’ and embarked on your eternal journey while attired in the impressive flag of independent Balochistan.
Lala…. we share the same town of Chitkan in Panjgur. In your fiery speeches you rightly said you were the lala of brothers, you were the lala of sisters. Now you are everyone’s Lala. You made us all proud. You give Panjgur it’s first martyr.
Won’t take much of your time, Wajahan…. You have embarked upon a journey that many would be following soon….
