Article

2015-06-01 India-Pakistan

[DAWN] THE gruesome trend of killing people on the basis of their ethnic or religious affiliation in this country shows no sign of abating. The latest incident in this regard is the killing of over 20 individuals in Balochistan's

...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it...
Mastung district on Friday.

As reported, gunnies stopped two Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
-bound coaches and pulled out the passengers; after checking their CNICs to determine their identities, the victims were taken to the nearby mountains and massacred. The victims hailed from district Pishin and almost all of them were Pakhtun.

Such atrocities have occurred previously in Mastung; last year a bus carrying Shia pilgrims was bombed in the district while in 2011, Hazara passengers were pulled off buses and butchered in a similar manner.

Elsewhere, in April a number of non-Baloch labourers were shot as they slept in Turbat. There has also been an upsurge in the assassinations of Hazaras in Quetta over the past few days.

At the time these lines were being written, no group had grabbed credit for the carnage.
Usually it's Lashkar-e-Jhangvi or its false nose and mustache Jundullah.
Of course, in Balochistan there are multiple strands of violence: sectarian death squads have remained active; Baloch separatists have been censured for targeting 'settlers' while the security establishment has come down heavily on Baloch political activists in the name of crushing the insurgency. External actors have also been accused of fuelling unrest in the province.
Just general mayhem, not specifically targeting an ethnic group or sect, is usually the Baloch Liberation Army or one of its iterations.
The provincial home minister has pointed to the possible involvement of RAW in this incident,
Most violence in Pakistain is initially ascribed to RAW. Somehow it invariably turns out to be home-grown jihadis. I never even consider RAW as a possibility since we haven't seen them do anything in the past 14 years we've been watching.
while other politicians have voiced concern that the violence could be linked to destabilising the China-Pakistain Economic Corridor.
Probably back at RAW headquarters they're laughing so hard they're afraid their sides are going to split. They don't need to destabilize Pakistain--the Paks are doing well enough at it themselves.
What is clear is that the Mastung carnage is an effort to inflame ethnic discord in the province by pitting the Baloch and Pakhtun communities against each other. While non-Baloch have been killed in the past, this is perhaps the single biggest incident in which local Pakhtuns have been targeted. In this regard, Balochistan's politicians did well on Saturday by calling for calm and communal harmony.

The provincial chief minister has said a multiparty conference will be convened in the days to come to discuss the situation.
Oh, goody. Another multiparty conference. Maybe Samiul-Haq can be on this one, too.
In fact, the entire debate needs to be shifted to the national parliament in order to find long-lasting solutions to Balochistan's security and political problems.

Moreover, further investigations need to be carried out to determine who is responsible and if solid evidence of external involvement emerges, Islamabad must take up the issue through diplomatic channels. The perpetrators of this brutal crime must be brought to justice; but this latest carnage must not be used to justify a more intensified crackdown on Baloch political activity.

Balochistan needs a political solution, not a militarised one. While security concerns are key, the political alienation and sense of deprivation that is felt by significant portions of Balochistan's population must also be addressed by the state to prevent further violence.

Posted by Fred 2015-06-01 00:00|| || Front Page|| [3 views ] Top
File under: Govt of Pakistan

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