What Does it Mean to be a Baloch Suicide Bomber?
Posted by Malik Siraj Akbar on December 31, 2011 · 1 Comment
Friday’s suicide bombing outside the residence of Mir Shafiq Mengal, the son of a former interim chief minister, which killed at least fifteen people and injured thirty others, leaves us with absolutely murky prospects of peace in Balochistan in the upcoming year 2012. While for the rest of the country it was a routine bomb … Read more
Filed under The Baloch Hal Editorials · Tagged with bomb blast, Darwish Baloch, resistance movement, suicide bombings
War Against Baloch Doctors
Posted by Malik Siraj Akbar on December 30, 2011 · Leave a Comment
In less than two months, at least three prominent Baloch doctors have been target killed, including two in the provincial capital. As expected, the murderers in all three cases are at large. Thursday’s killing of police surgeon Dr. Baqir Shah in Quetta, however, is a classic example of official negligence. Besides Dr. Shah himself and … Read more
Rehman Malik Is Not a Foreign Agent
Posted by Malik Siraj Akbar on December 30, 2011 · 2 Comments
In scathing criticism directed at the federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik, a senior minister in the Balochistan government asked during a session of the Balochistan Assembly if the former was an agent of the foreign governments. Maulana Abdul Wasey, the senior minister from Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, while commenting on Mr. Malik’s consistent hostile and offensive statements … Read more
Filed under The Baloch Hal Editorials · Tagged with Malik Siraj Akbar, Rehman Malik Is Not a Foreign Agent
Balochistan – a tough pitch for PTI?
Posted by Malik Siraj Akbar on December 27, 2011 · 2 Comments
By Malik Siraj Akbar So, the “PTI revolution” is heading toward Balochistan. What is the pitch in Quetta going to look like on March 23? At this point, one hears mixed opinions. One thing is common in people’s responses: They represent two extremes. The pro-PTI section, backed by Imran’s recent apology to Balochistan during the … Read more
“We Don’t Have Much Time Left”
Posted by Malik Siraj Akbar on December 17, 2011 · Leave a Comment
By Malik Siraj Akbar Mark Twain once said “travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness.” Pakistan’s former high commissioner to United Kingdom and the current Ibn Khaldun Chair at the Washington DC-based American University, Professor Akbar S. Ahmed, truly fits in the category of people who believe in seeing and experiencing things to challenge … Read more
Who Killed Faisal Mengal?
Posted by Malik Siraj Akbar on December 15, 2011 · 2 Comments
Governor Balochistan Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Magsi and Chief Minister Nawab Mohammad Aslam Raisani must exhibit leadership and protest with the government of Sindh over the killing of Faisal Mengal, a renowned Baloch writer and civil rights activist, in Karachi last week. It is the top most responsibility of our elected government to make sure that … Read more
Guarding Minority Rights
Posted by Malik Siraj Akbar on December 15, 2011 · Leave a Comment
The recent killing of a kidnapped twenty-four year old Hindu trader Ravi Kumar is extremely outrageous. Mr. Kumar had been abducted on October 22 in broad daylight from Quetta’s Satellite Town by armed men. His kidnappers sought an exorbitant amount from Kumar’s family in return of his release. While the kidnappers had initially asked for … Read more
Obituary: F For Faisal
Posted by Malik Siraj Akbar on December 11, 2011 · 18 Comments
By Malik Siraj Akbar Faisal always called himself Faisal Baloch. People called him Faisal Mengal. We will value the personal wish of the departed soul and address him with the name of his choice. There were three impressions Faisal always left behind for people who met him for the first time. He was extremely handsome. … Read more
Filed under Obituary · Tagged with Faisal Baloch, Faisal Mengal, Faisl Mengal killed, Malik Siraj Akbar
Balochistan – a human rights free zone
Posted by Malik Siraj Akbar on December 10, 2011 · Leave a Comment
By Malik Siraj Akbar Every year on this momentous day, 60-year old retired bank employee Abdul Qadeer Baloch organises special events in Balochistan capital, Quetta, to mark the international human rights day. He has organised, for instance, hunger strike camps and convened press conferences to raise the voices of the families of the disappeared Baloch … Read more
2011: Pakistan’s Year of Infamy
Posted by Malik Siraj Akbar on December 10, 2011 · 1 Comment
By Malik Siraj Akbar Many Pakistanis will remember 2011 as the year of infamy. Those who supported Islamic terrorist groups, including elements in the military, the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound that killed him on May 2nd, was an embarrassing exposure of Islamabad’s double-game. Those who passionately insisted upon more time, rather employing diplomatic … Read more
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