Balochistan observes ‘black day’ to mark Musharraf’s visit

www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp

QUETTA: Balochistan observed a black day and went on a complete shutter-down strike on Thursday as President General Pervez Musharraf paid his first visit to the volatile southwestern province since the killing of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti.

Police simultaneously rounded up more than 100 political activists, including National Party (NP) Secretary General Mir Hasil Khan Bezanjo. Business activities came to a complete standstill throughout Balochistan as a peaceful but organised black day and shutter-down strike was observed in the Baloch capital of Quetta and almost all districts of the province on the behest of the Baloch nationalist group, the National Party.

The Pashtoon nationalist outfit, the Pashtoonkhawa Milli Awami Party as well as the Pakistan Peoples Party, backed the call for the strike and black day.

Most shops and business centres in Quetta remained closed from dawn till dusk. This included shops in the busy business centres along Jinnah Road, Prince Road, Liaquat Bazar, Sariab Road, Zargoon Road and Abdul Sattar Market.

“The call for the strike was meant to protest General Musharraf’s visit. His hands are red with Baloch blood. We can’t welcome him amid relentless military operations against our innocent people,” said one National Party leader.

Sources said that all three districts of the Mekran Division – Turbat, Panjgur and Gwadar – also observed a complete shutter-down strike and a black day as President Musharraf arrived in Turbat to inaugurate the Mirani Dam mega project. The province-wide strike was observed by opposition parties in the wake of the president’s first visit to the province since the death of former Balochistan Governor and Chief Minister Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti who was killed mysteriously on August 26. staff report


Strike paralyses life in Balochistan

www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp

QUETTA: A shutter-down strike was observed in Quetta and other parts of Balochistan on Thursday on the call of the National Party (NP) to protest against the killing of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti and the military action in Kohlu.

Police arrested Central Secretary-General NP Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo along with 150 other party workers during the protest.

Nearly all important business centres and markets of Quetta remained closed throughout the day. The centre of emporiums, i.e. Liaqat Bazaar, Prince Road, Mecongy Road, Jinnah Road, Masjid Road and Shahrah-e-Iqbal, also closed. However, the business community of Sirki Road did not pay any heed to the strike call.

According to reports from Baloch-dominated areas - Mastung, Kalat, Khuzdar, Turbat, Kharan, Panjgur, Chaghai, Naushki and Gwadar - the shutter-down strike was also observed there and the business community halted their business activities. However, the business community of Pashtoon- dominated areas - Loralai, Zhob, Chaman, Pishin, Qillah Abdullah, Qillah Saifullah and Ziarat ñ paid no heed to the strike call.

Heavy contingents of police and other law- enforcement agencies had been deployed at all important and sensitive places of Quetta to maintain the law and order, as activists of the NP kept on patrolling roads to ensure that the strike call remained successful. Police arrested over 150 activists of the party on the charges of forcibly closing shops. Reports from Gwadar said the police arrested Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo and Mullah Barkat of the NP.

Meanwhile, addressing a press conference in the provincial capital, NP chief Dr Abdul Haye Baloch condemned the policies of the government and blamed rulers for the unrest in Balochistan. He said it was high time the members of the assemblies came forward and tendered resignations in protest, as the assemblies had failed to protect the rights of people.

Baloch thanked the businessmen and traders who kept their businesses closed on the NPís call.

He urged that the political and nationalists parties should launch a joint struggle to get rid of the rulers, who had put the country on the verge of disaster.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Three injured in bomb blast in Mach

Daily Times Monitor

www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp

LAHORE: A woman and two girls were injured when a bomb exploded in Railway Colony in Mach, Balochistan, on Thursday, Geo television reported. Police have arrested four suspects, the channel said.

Another explosion damaged a railway track in Harak near Mach, the channel quoted railway officials as saying.

Traffic cop shot dead: Unidentified assailants gunned down a traffic police head constable on Saryab Road on Thursday, Online reported. Two motorcyclists opened fire on Nazar Hayat, killing him instantly, and fled. His body was taken to Quetta Civil Hospital for an autopsy.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The bubble of power

www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp

The writer is a former member of parliament and a freelance columnist based in Lahore

Power not only corrupts but also creates alternate realities. While George W. Bush and his loyalists tallied up successes in the Iraq war, everyone else thought it was a disaster. It took a resounding defeat in the midterm election for Bush's bubble of make believe to shatter. Now he has the dazed look of someone who has just been through a car crash.

The situation at home is no different. Musharraf lives in a bubble of his own where all is well bar a few minor hiccups. In his world, Balochistan is doing fine and its people deeply grateful for the development bestowed on them by a munificent federal government. Yes, says he, there are a few disgruntled elements but there always are. The Bugti killing has created the right atmosphere to take care of the remaining miscreants etc etc.

While this is the world within the power bubble, in the real world people talk of deep anger among every segment of Baloch society. The youth feel particularly alienated and not just from the army or the federal government but from the state. In a recent ARD public meeting in Quetta, which incidentally was heavily attended, a section of the audience kept shouting slogans against Pakistan. This led to a minor skirmish between some speakers and the embittered youth but is indicative of how bad the situation really is on the ground.

The Baloch tribal jirga which met in Kalat included almost all the Baloch sardars and is of great symbolic importance. A similar Jirga voted in 1947 for the province's accession to Pakistan. This time the sentiments were quite the opposite. Besides incendiary speeches, the jirga resolved to take the Balochistan case to the International Court of Justice at the Hague. While this may appear unrealistic, it just shows the depth of feeling among the Baloch elite.

The situation in the tribal areas is also seen differently in the power corridors from the reality on the ground. If it is presumed that the ISPR's spokesman speaks the mind of his superiors, apparently they do not see anything in the border region that should cause any great concern. When a particular killing or a blast becomes a headline, it is acknowledged but its importance is downplayed or inverted into a success. The Bajaur bombing is an example of this. Whatever its origin it has been peddled as a grand achievement against militants and foreigners.

The only good thing to happen in the tribal areas recently was the Waziristan peace accord and one had hoped that this would be replicated in other agencies. It was correctly claimed as a positive step forward and was the only whiff of new thinking after years of log jam. It was by all accounts about to be replicated in Bajaur before the bombs struck. The perpetrators of the attack have shown what they thought of these political moves.

This has been a huge setback. It not only forestalled any possibility of further political steps in this agency it also tore to shreds the Waziristan peace accord. Since then, not a day passes when government supporters or supposed American spies are not brutally murdered somewhere in the tribal areas. We have lost the initiative although the government spokesmen insist that the agreement is still operative. This is either a deliberate falsehood or another of those bubble realities that only the rulers live in.

We have effectively lost control of events in the tribal areas. Even before Bajaur, the Pakistani versions of the Taliban had taken control of large parts of this territory. We had acquiesced because they had promised to stop Taliban/Al Qaeda incursions into Afghanistan. Now whatever trust existed between the two sides has been lost. It would be fair to say that the so-called writ of the state in these parts is less today than it was before the military operations began some years ago. Instead of gaining something, we have taken a step back.

What is worse for the Musharraf administration is that the Americans are less satisfied with its performance today than they were some time ago. The military has lost over seven hundred soldiers and a great deal of goodwill, yet our allies make no bones about their unhappiness with our effort. The situation is likely to become even more complicated because as Shaheen Sehbai said in this paper on Wednesday, a democratic-controlled Congress is likely to up the pressure on Pakistan to do more.

Where this 'more' will land us is not difficult to imagine. If we go the extra mile to please the Americans, there will be more bloodshed and greater alienation not only in the tribal areas but also in the country as a whole. If Musharraf resists this pressure and refuses to wage war against his own people, the Americans will up the ante by taking unilateral actions, such as Bajaur. This puts him in the most awkward of positions. It is for this reason that writers are running out of metaphors to describe his predicament. Phrases such as between two evils, between a rock and a hard place, or in a thick soup etc. are being bandied about freely but he has given no sign that he is bothered.

It is in the backdrop of these events that the current phase of the India-Pakistan composite dialogue has started. Many western observers think that since Pakistan is in a weak position because of Balochistan and the tribal areas, the Indians are likely to be more intransigent. The fact is that our establishment does not think that it is in a weak position and therefore it is not likely to be any more flexible than it has been in the past. If the Indians indeed misread the situation, this phase of the talks will also end in failure.

We are at a critical point in our history because the dangers we face are not just from our adversaries but from within. Not only are our borders unsettled but also an important segment of our people are losing faith in the state and looking for solutions outside it. The people who control our destinies have to come out of their bubbles of make believe and take hard decisions that correct our course and lead us away from dangers.

Two aspects immediately stand out for me. Only real democracy has the potential to heal the wounds of the nation. This is not possible unless General Musharraf takes the necessary decision to relinquish power for the sake of the nation.

Secondly, we must at least normalise one border so that we can concentrate on problems on the other side. To me the answer is clear. We must go the extra mile to seek peace with India. Only this will give us the space and the benefits to begin constructing a modern nation.


Email: shafqatmd-AT-gmail.com