Baluchistan is another story of terror and torture that seems to be perpetrated by the Punjab dominated Pakistan army. Dera Bugti district has always attracted adverse attention, as the Bugti family has been holding the flag of Baluch identity high.
THE PUNJAB dominated Pakistani Army places a lot of importance on the province of Punjab. On the other hand, the other three provinces – North West Frontier Province, Baluchistan and Sindh seem to be treated as colonies.
For all practical purposes, its the army that rules Pakistan and the political set up is just a part of it. With the advent of the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, their inglorious exit and the emergence of the Taliban followed by the western forces, the country became the bulwark of defence for the western world, against Islamic terrorism. Foreign aid flows began to the country's exchequer freely.Further, to convince the western powers that the army was coming down heavily on Islamic terrorists, the officers and soldiers perpetrated cruelty and ethnic suppression on people of Baluchistan, Swat valley and anti-Punjabi tribes of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border areas.
Before, Pakistan was dismembered with the moral and material support of India in 1971 and the East Pakistan became Bangladesh, the Bengali population was subjected to untold torture and cruelty by the officers and soldiers of the Pakistan Army. The game plan was to kidnap, abduct, rape and impregnate Bengali girls, both Hindu and Muslim.Baluchistan is another story of terror and torture that seems to be perpetrated by the Punjab dominated Pakistan army. They are above law of the land. Dera Bugti district has always attracted adverse attention of the central government of Pakistan. It is the Bugti family that has been holding the flag of Baluch identity high and their government seems to mistakenly think that the Baluch movement is supported by India.These people are fiercely independent and have been fighting against the establishment for long. It is said that when the time is ripe for Pakistan to break, Baluchistan and Sind would be in the forefront to drive the last nail in the coffin of Pakistan.Swat was under the Taliban terrorist rule for sometime recently. Called the Switzerland of Pakistan, the valley was an ideal place for the Islamic terrorists to hold sway as the modern means of transport and communication had not reached there.The West, asked the country to clear the Swat valley of terrorists. They took to this aggressively and raised aspersions of many human rights violations by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and Amnesty International.Why has Sindh been spared this time? It is because the President of Pakistan is from Sindh. The day the army chooses to run the country again, the province would suffer similarly like Baluchistan. As far as the Frontier province is concerned, it is in the interest of Pakistan’s central government to keep the Islamic terror alive.No wonder, on the quiet Pakistan permits the American drones to violate the air space but raises a lot of hue and cry for the consumption of the public at home. After all, it was an intelligence agency that tipped the Americans about the location of Baitullah Mehsud and the American drone came and put an end to his life.As of now there is no way out of the present impasse. The AFPAK policy of the NATO, propelled by the Americans has not yet taken off. The US commanding general has made a strong plea for a surge in the US forces in Afghanistan to prevent a recurrence of 9/11 in America. He wants the NATO to hold fort till 2013 and thereafter hand over to the American trained Afghan Army. President Obama has said that he would think in a cool manner and take time to decide. Until then Pakistan will have a good time with cash for torture policy against its own non-Punjabi citizens. As long as the Americans are on Pakistan’s side, the rulers care not on whose side Allah is on.
.AUM. Ramesh Ji is right that the people of Baluchistan have been tortured badly by the Pakistan Army. In my opinion the only solution to this problem lies in the good-natured Baluch people seceding from Pakistan. As of now, there is no other solution to the problem created by atrocities of the Pakistan Army on the Baluch people.
.Four Baloch prisoners have been burned alive in hot coal tar by the Pakistan army during military operations in annexed and occupied Balochistan, according to the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC).
Last week the AHRC received confirmation that Pakistani soldiers arrested four people on April 5 2008, in the Dera Bugti district of Balochistan, and subjected them to torture. They were asked to identify local supporters of the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA). After failing to get any names from them, the victims were immersed in scolding hot coal tar. Three of the men were literally boiled and burned to death. A fourth died later from his injuries.
Villagers in the area also claim the Pakistan army used a form of chemical gas against them and that some of the gassed survivors were later shot. Their bodies have not been handed over to relatives for burial.
These and many other crimes against humanity are still happening in Balochistan, despite the resignation of the dictator President, Pervez Musharraf, and despite Pakistan's ostensible transition to democratic government.
During July and August, over 100 Baloch persons were killed, 250 disappeared and more than 20,000 were displaced. They are victims of intensified military operations by the Pakistan army, which has occupied Balochistan since invading in 1948 and forcibly incorporating it into Pakistan.
Cobra attack helicopters that were provided (pdf) by the US to help defeat the Taliban and al-Qaida are instead being used to crush the Baloch people.
On May 1 this year, the new democratically elected prime minister of Pakistan, Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani, publicly apologised for the persecution of the Baloch people and pledged to halt military assaults in Balochistan:
It has been decided that no army action will be carried out in the province (of Balochistan) until a strategy is formulated in consultation with representatives of the provincial government to deal with the issue of law and order in the province.
Contradicting these assurances, Pakistan's war of aggression seems to be intensifying. The Daily Jang newspaper reported on August 21 that the armed forces of Pakistan had deployed more troops in the region, killing innocent civilians in repeated aerial bombardments.
Pakistan's minister of the interior visited the area on August 20 and announced that military operations would continue if Baloch nationalists and freedom fighters continued to be supported and protected by the people. The same newspaper also reported on August 24, that military operations have been expanded to new areas in Balochistan.
Over the last few years of Pakistani attacks on Balochistan, the AHRC reports that about 3,000 people have died, around 200,000 have been displaced, and more than 4,000 people have been arrested by the police, army and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
The AHRC is organising an urgent action appeal to the government of Pakistan, calling on it to investigate the killing of civilians and to halt military operations in Balochistan. Click here to send an automated letter to key Pakistani leaders.