Phoenix turns Quetta!
Posted by Malik Siraj Akbar on December 31, 2010 · Leave a Comment
Phoenix today is very cold, just like Quetta. I am out of my apartment and traveling in the light rail to go to Walmart. It is a very cold —maybe the coldest—day I have ever experienced in this city known for its sizzling heat. Like many American cities, Phoenix also has a wonderful public transportation … Read more
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The year when we stopped talking
Posted by Malik Siraj Akbar on December 31, 2010 · Leave a Comment
You may be surprised as to what has just happened to me. Now I blog three to four times a day. Don’t get surprised at all. It’s just the omnipresent technology that makes things happen. I got a BlackBerry last month and installed the WordPress application only yesterday which has enabled me to blog from … Read more
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Goodbye Twenty Ten
Posted by Malik Siraj Akbar on December 31, 2010 · Leave a Comment
This is what you call a tumultuous year. Twenty Ten was a long long painful year. If I were not a journalist, perhaps I would never read newspapers or watch the news. What else would I do? You may ask. Well, honestly I would then love to lock myself into a room and read a … Read more
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Good News from Washington, Finally
Posted by Malik Siraj Akbar on December 31, 2010 · Leave a Comment
The New York Times report about the missing Baloch persons— saying that it could jeopardize US-Pakistan relations— is a significant breakthrough for the under-reported Baloch nationalist movement. It has confirmed that President Obama’s government is expressing “alarm” over the issue of the missing persons, majority of whom belong to Balochistan which is currently undergoing the … Read more
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NY Times Report about Disappearances
Posted by Malik Siraj Akbar on December 30, 2010 · 2 Comments
It is the first time that The New York Times has reported about”enforced disappearances”in Pakistan with reference to Balochistan. The report has also implicated the government of Pakistan in this grave violation of human rights with special citation of the fact that weapons provided to Islamabad to fight against terrorism were reportedly used against the … Read more
A Vision Lost in Balochistan
Posted by Malik Siraj Akbar on December 27, 2010 · Leave a Comment
The entire country as well as the supporters of democracy across the world mourn today on the third death anniversary of Benazir Bhutto, the first ever elected female prime minister of the Islamic world. On December 27th, 2007, the former twice elected prime minister was assassinated in Pakistan’s garrison city of Rawalpindi soon after addressing … Read more
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Drivers of the Conflict
Posted by Malik Siraj Akbar on December 26, 2010 · Leave a Comment
If the thirty-four drivers, who were killed in Balochistan in 2010 while carrying supplies to NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan, did not ever get an explanation for the causes of their murder, the answer is very simple: No one cared for them. According to a report published in this newspaper, 2010 was a very violent … Read more
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Spare HRCP, At Least
Posted by Malik Siraj Akbar on December 25, 2010 · Leave a Comment
The “kidnapping” of Siddiq Eido, a senior journalist and an activist of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) and his friend Mohammad Yousaf from Pasni is very disturbing. It simply shows a new depressing dimension of the worsening conflict in Balochistan under which the media and human rights activists are being systematically targeted presumably … Read more
Filed under Malik Siraj Akbar · Tagged with Baloch, Balochistan, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Malik Siraj Akbar, Pasni Press Club, Siddiq Eido
The Minority Report
Posted by Malik Siraj Akbar on December 24, 2010 · Leave a Comment
Balochistan’s peaceful Hindu community has every reason to feel incensed and insecure. A highly respected Hindu spiritual leader, eighty-two year old Maharaj Gosaheen Luckmigir, was kidnapped on the RCD Highway while traveling from Kalat to Khuzdar district. While initially the maharaj was kidnapped along with four other people who accompanied him, the kidnappers subsequently released … Read more
Filed under Malik Siraj Akbar · Tagged with Baloch Hal, Malik Siraj Akbar, The Baloch Hal, The Minority Report
An Imposed Hero
Posted by Malik Siraj Akbar on December 22, 2010 · Leave a Comment
In a fresh development which may contribute to chaos and disorder in some parts of Balochistan, the Frontier Corps (FC) arrested the provincial president of Jamori Watan Party (JWP) Shahzain Bugti. The FC says it received information from its “reliable sources” about the jounior Bugti coming from Pak- Afghan border district Chaman with a large … Read more
Filed under Malik Siraj Akbar · Tagged with DIG Hamid Nawaz, Frontier Corps Balochistan, Jamori Watan Party, Major General FC Ubaidullah, Malik Siraj Akbar, Shahzain Bugti
