www.dailyindia.com/show/86074.php/Pak-police-launches-crackdown-against-Baloch-leaders

Karachi, Nov 26 (ANI): The police launched a crackdown against Baloch nationalist leaders in the districts of Turbat, Gwadar and Mastung in



Balochistan, rounding up several activists and Baloch leaders.


This comes as the province-wide protest march of the Balochistan National Party (BNP) draws nearer.

According to the Daily Times, police in Turbat, Khuzdar and Gwadar arrested several BNP leaders and a few business representatives who were busy in arrangements for the upcoming march, called Lashkar-e-Balochistan, scheduled to kick off from Gwadar on November 30.

BNP Vice President Dr Jehanzeb Jamaldini while condemning the arrest said several BNP leaders had been detained to stop them from making arrangements for a "purely democratic march".

They said the march was aimed at protesting against "the ongoing military operation in Balochistan, the mega projects, the construction of cantonments, extra-judicial arrests and mysterious disappearance of thousands of Baloch youths".

Elsewhere, Mir Suleman Dawood, the Khan of Kalat, has announced that he would back the BNP protest march.

The Khan of Kalat had earlier convened a jirga of Baloch sardars to move the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against the alleged violation of an agreement signed by the State of Kalat and Pakistan in 1947 and the killing of Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti.

Later he had castigated President General Pervez Musharraf for his comments during his two day visit to Balochistan that the federal government would attack militants 10 times harder in retaliation for a single attack on the government.

He had such statements only strengthened the belief that Musharraf was engaged in a military campaign against the "unarmed" Baloch people. (ANI)

Over 350 BNP workers held, says Mengal

www.dawn.com/2006/11/27/top18.htm
By Amanullah Kasi

QUETTA, Nov 26: Balochistan National Party (Mengal) president Sardar Akhtar Mengal has said that law-enforcement agencies have arrested over 350 leaders and workers of the party from different parts of the province to stop long march planned by the BNP.

Speaking at a press conference in Hub town on Sunday, he said the government was scared of BNP-M’s ‘Lashkar-i-Balochistan’ long march from Gwadar to Quetta on Nov 30.

By arresting party leaders and workers, the government wants to sabotage the long march," Sardar Mengal said. However, he added, despite the arrests the march would start according to the programme.

He said the government was aware that thousands of people would take part in the march as they had participated in the long march of the BNP-M after the death of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti.

He said the government had failed to gather Baloch Sardars for the official jirga convened by the federal government.

Monitoring of Pak-Afghan border


UN inspectors ready to be sent to Balochistan

By our correspondent

WASHINGTON: UN inspectors, including weapons specialists, scientists, engineers and analysts, are ready to be despatched to Balochistan, if President Musharraf allows them to monitor the Pakistan-Afghanistan border areas, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) said in a commentary.

Referring to the conflicting claims by Pakistan and Afghanistan regarding presence and support to Taliban, the WSJ said an independent evaluation of the facts was necessary. “The only system in the world that can do this is the UN’s Monitoring, Verification, and Inspection Committee (Unmovic). With over 300 experts, it can conduct a comprehensive fact-finding mission in Balochistan immediately.”

Written by Miss Ashley Bommer, who worked at the US Mission to the UN during the Clinton administration, it said the UN inspectors can determine if the Taliban command hubs do exist. They will report back to the international community truthfully. Unmovic’s record of independence speaks for itself.

The article said: “Hamid Karzai and Pervez Musharraf are arguing about the Pakistani province of Balochistan. Intelligence sources — and President Karzai — say that the Taliban’s kingpin, Mulla Omar, is operating out of Quetta, Balochistan’s capital. And he is sending arms and fighters into south-west Afghanistan. No wonder President Karzai is upset. The frontline of the Taliban and al Qaeda insurgency has a backline in Pakistan. But US troops cannot go into Pakistan — precisely where al-Qaeda and the Taliban are. So there is a simple next step: Gen Musharraf should agree to UN inspectors.

“Pakistan continues to challenge the facts. Last month, Gen Musharraf said, “So, let’s nail these people, like President Karzai, who think they are coming from Pakistan. And I am suggesting we will mine the borders. Let anyone who’s going from here get into the mines. We will fence the borders. Let’s fence the borders.”

“An independent evaluation of the facts is necessary. The only system in the world that can do this is the UN’s Monitoring, Verification, and Inspection Committee (Unmovic). With over 300 experts, it can conduct a comprehensive fact-finding mission in Balochistan immediately. Their experts, ready to be despatched, include weapons specialists, scientists, engineers and analysts. They can determine if the Taliban command hubs do exist. They will report back to the international community truthfully. Unmovic’s record of independence speaks for itself. At no time, for instance, did it find WMD or the continuation of such programs in Iraq.

“Unmovic’s mission in Balochistan will be dangerous. But we cannot continue to sit by idly while al-Qaeda and the Taliban gain more control in Afghanistan. International observers will not only deter efforts by al-Qaeda and the Taliban, they will verify if Taliban hubs are providing military, financial and propaganda to operatives in Afghanistan. Gen Musharraf should prove he does not want terrorism to destroy Afghanistan. “To do this, he should invite UN inspectors to Balochistan immediately,” it concluded.