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BALOCHISTAN REVIEW ISSUE: 03
Weekly Review: 18th May to 24th May
Sunday 18th Monday 19th
Wednesday 21st
Tuesday 20th Thursday 21st
Tuesday 20th
QUETTA: A dead body found
from Kochlak, identifed by the
name of Muhmmad Ameen.
SOUTH KOREA: Protest held
against the abduction of BSO-
Azad leader Zahid Baloch and
showed solidarity with Lateef
Johar in Susan City of South
Korea.
CANADA: A protest held
in Toronto City against the
abduction of BSO-Azad leader
and other missing Baloch
and showed solidarity with
Comrade Lateef Johar who
is on hunger strike unto
death. Protest was organized
by Baloch Human rights
council, Baloch community
Organization and World Sindhi
Congress.
QUETTA: one tortured body
found, shifted to hospital but
still couldnt identifed. Body is
burned after torture.
PANJGUR: Shutter down strike
observed against the threats to
schools for stop girls education.
And a rally was also held
which protest front of district
coordinator ofce.
MASHKAY: Master Baba killed
by fring of unknown man at
Nokjo Shadanzi.
KARACHI: 2 dead bodies
were found from Gul'Bahar.
Shifted to hospital still couldnt
identifed.
KECH: Hussan Baloch killed by
security forces in Hushab.
Mand : Mohd Hanif S/o Mohd
Sharif who is resident of Gayab
Mand missing since 11th May
2014. His family claimed he is
abducted by security forces.
AWARAN: Search operation
continued by security forces in
Dandar in which torture many
woman and children, looted
many things. Said by local
people.
MASHKEL: one man injured by
fring of unknown people and
they abduct one person named
Ustad Baari.
KECH: Shotter down
strike observed on call of
Baloch Republican Student
Organization against the killing
of Hassin. Hassin was killed by
security forces 2 days ago.
KALAT: Transporter Safar Khan
killed by fring of unknown
man. Since this once Safar Khan
was abducted by security forces
and released after 9 days of
torture.
DERA BUGTI: Hayat Khan
Bugti killed and many other
woman and children injured
in bombardment by security
forces at Pelawagh and Sanghar
Pati area.
BALOCHISTAN: Shutter down
and wheel jam strike observed
in many cities of Baluchistan
on call of Baloch Students
Organization against the
abduction of BSO-Azad leader
Zahid Baloch.
Balochistan Review is an
independent review designed
to keep people aware of the
situtation in Balochistan.
Given the ban on journalists
and attacks it is important
to present the world with
independent news from
Balochistan.
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Saturday 24th
MASTUNG: Jamal Uden killed
by fring of unknown people.
Quetta: 1 killed by fring of
unknown.
KARACHI: 4 tortured bodies
found, shifted to hospital. Still
not identifed.
WASHUK: 2 killed by fring of
unknown in Besima Washuk.
PUNJAB: 1 other tortured body
found from Chowk Bahdurpur
Rahim Yar Khan. This is the
6th tortured body found from
Rahim Yar Khan in this week.
Friday 23th
ISLAMABAD: A protest held
by Pakistan Youth Alliance in
front of press club Islamabad
against the abduction of BSO-
Azad leader Zahid Baloch and
solidarity with hunger strike of
Lateef Johar.
SIBI: 2 tortured dead bodies
of Iftikhar Marri and Riaz Marri
found dumped from Sibbi
bypass. They were abducted
from Heran.
PASHIN : 1 tortured body found
and shifted to hospital. Still
couldnt be identifed.Se Ek
Masak Shuda Laash Bramad..!!
PANJAB : 5 bullet riddled
bodies were found from Rahim
Yar Khan city. 3 of bodies
identifed as members of
Balochistan Republican Party,
named as Wadera Zabar Khan
Bugti, Beuragh Bugti and Badla
Mazari, they were abducted 2
month ago by security forces,
while other 2 dead bodies are
still not identifed.
QUETTA: 1 person killed by
fring of unknown people at
Pashtoon Abad.
Mand: Waheem S/O Bahram
abduct by security forces from
Soro Mand.
MASTUNG: security forces
abduct 3 person in operation of
Spelinji
Images above: In Sibi on the 23th of May the tortured dead bodies of Iftikhar Marri
and Riaz Marri found dumped from Sibbi bypass. They were abducted from Heran.
Cover image: Protest rally in Panjgur against the threats to educational institutions.
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REPORTS FROM THE GROUND
Wearing her traditional Balochi
dress, Rabia stood tall with
great poise and confdence, in
a hall flled with teachers and
students, at a local high school
in Richmond, Virginia.
This was her twelfth
presentation in one week
and, by now, she was visibly
confdent in speaking to a
foreign audience in her Balochi-
accented English.
Rabia spoke about her
hometown of Turbat and the
culture and life of the people
of Balochistan. Sixteen-year old
Rabia is an exchange student in
the US. In just one year, Rabia
has made a mark for herself and
her country; she has been on
the honour roll twice already.
Zeenat is a 19 year old female
student. After returning from a
one-year high school exchange
program in the US, she is now
working towards bringing
change in the lives of young
girls like her in her hometown
of Gwadar, Balochistan.
An excellent writer, who blogs
regularly, Zeenat dreams of
becoming a lawyer. In addition
to working towards her
undergraduate degree, Zeenat
is also helping the women
in her community learn the
English language and gain
some basic computer skills.
Both, Rabia and Zeenat, can
credit their achievements to
their early schooling experience
in Makran.
While the government wholly
ignored the education sector,
there were many young, often
self-driven and educated,
individuals from the region that
moved forward to fll-in the
gap.
The youth of the area has
remained actively involved in
community service and, most
impressively, established an
indigenous network of private
schools and English language
centers.
Although these schools are
run on nominal fees, they
provide the youth with their
only life-changing opportunity
to acquire basic education,
computer and modern
language skills.
Panjgur, a district of Makran
bordering Iran, is home to
beautiful palm trees and is an
exporter of the largest variety
of dates found in the region.
Panjgur has a reasonably
large network of small private
schools imparting education to
girls and boys.
The entire private education
network is run by local teachers
and administrators. The schools
generally cater to both girls
and boys, although in some
schools the genders are taught
separately in two shifts.
With the province of Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa afronted by
militant attacks on girls
education facilities, Balochistan,
until now, had been spared
the senseless violence that has
engulfed educational facilities
in the north.
Balochistans education-based
hardships have traditionally
been confned to a lack of
government support, access
and quality issues.
While the region of Panjgur has
remained at the center of the
Baloch nationalist insurgency
and serves as the battleground
for military ofensives, girls
education system and allied
facilities have never been
targeted by any group.
Tragically, it seems, all of that is
about to change forever.
Terror in a letter
Recently, all the private schools
of Panjgur received a letter
WELCOME TO THE WAR ON VULGAR, WESTERN EDUCATION IN
BALOCHISTAN
from a previously unheard
extremist group called
Tanzeem-ul-Islami-ul-Furqan.
The letter, addressed to the
owners and administrators
of all private schools, accuses
them of corrupting the minds
of young girls by exposing
them to a western education.
It goes on to state that
all private schools must
immediately disallow girls
from seeking an education
regardless of them being at
a co-education or an all-girls
facility.
It also includes a message
for van and taxi drivers in the
area, warning them of dire
consequences if they continue
to transport girls to schools.
The note goes onto warn
parents as well. It asks them to
keep their daughters away from
English language centers and
schools.
Not surprisingly, their threat
warns that the mujahedeen of
Al-Furqan are ready to brace
martyrdom to stop the spread
of vulgar, western, education in
Balochistan.
The letter ends with a list
featuring names of all
prominent owners of private
schools in Panjgur.
To assert their writ and spread
fear, the group carried an attack
on a school immediately after
sending out the letters.
Schools in Panjgur remained
closed for several days.
Soon after their reopening,
unidentifed gunmen set a
school van, transporting female
students and teachers, on fre
on 14 May 2014.
Although there were no
major casualties, the gunmen,
belonging to this newly
claimed extremist group,
ensured the owner of the
private school received their
message loud and clear.
The owner in this instance was
driving the van at the time
of the attack. According to
eye witnesses, to spread fear
and panic, the gunmen fred
multiple gunshots in the air
just meters away from a nearby
stationed Frontiers Corps (FC)
convoy that simply chose to
ignore the proceedings.
Image above: Protest rally in Panjgur against the threats to educational institutions.
BY HINA BALOCH
Cover image: Protest rally in Panjgur against the threats to educational institutions.
Interestingly enough, the entire
Makran region, particularly
Panjgur, is a heavily guarded and
militarily-fortifed area. Convoys
and check-posts of the FC can be
seen placed at all district entry
and exit points and on every
major road and intersection
across the locality.
The security forces, who carry
with them an abysmal human
rights record (they have
been accused by local and
international human rights
organisations of regularly
attacking political activists,
journalists and student workers),
have yet to arrest any individual
from an extremist group or a
banned organisation.
It is also worth noting that
just recently Atta Shad Degree
College in Turbat was raided
by FC personnel during a
book fair. Masterpieces, like
the autobiographies of Nelson
Mandela, Gandhi and Che
Guevera, were brandished by
the FC in front of the media the
works were labelled as anti-state
literature.
Surprisingly, the activities of
many religious madrassas,
suspected to be recruiting
centers and training grounds for
extremist forces, have never been
disturbed let alone investigated.
With religious intolerance
and sectarian violence an
unheard of phenomenon for the
secular Baloch populace now
mysteriously at an all-time high,
it is alleged that the state is
playing that dangerous game of
curbing nationalism by stoking
religious fanaticism once again.
And in doing so, re-asserting its
historic (and myopic) doctrine of
strategic depth by providing
tacit support to non-state actors
for short-term strategic gains.
The alleged strategy, or rather
the folly, has already wreaked
havoc in Kashmir and KPK and
resulted in Pakistans increased
international isolation and
condemnation.
Madrassas, madrassas
everywhere
While it is becoming increasingly
difcult for private schools to
function in Balochistan
government schools are either
non-existent or non-functional
in most parts), the numbers of
madrassas continue to increase
exponentially.
According to the latest fgures
there are 2,500 registered and
10,000 unregistered madrassas in
Balochistan.
It is pertinent to ask, if the
national economy is still nudging
at a sluggish rate and abject
poverty haunting the average
man, then where exactly are
these funds coming from?
Housed in impressively built
fortress-like structures and
ably providing lodging and
boarding facilities to hundreds
of thousands of students, how
exactly are these Madrassas
sustaining themselves
fnancially?
Where are the funds that are
leading to their mushroom
growth across Balochistan (a
historically secular and pluralist
society) fowing from?
These are some mysterious,
not to mention uncomfortable,
questions the answers to
which the government and
the establishment both appear
unwilling to divulge.
The Balochistan public education
scenario refects a grim picture
and the future outlook,
worryingly, remains equally
bleak. Years of administrative
negligence, insufcient
funding, systemic corruption,
dysfunctional curricula and
poor teaching conditions have
resulted in a collapsed provincial
education system.
According to the latest fgures,
the current literacy rate in the
province stands at 56 percent,
this also includes people who can
barely write their names.
The female literacy rate, at 23
percent, is one of the lowest in
the world.
According to the British Council
Pakistans Education Emergency
Report, with the existing pace of
growth, Balochistan will not be
able to reach the United Nations
Millennium Development Goals
for Education in even the next
one-hundred years.
It was just last year in June
when the Sardar Bahadur Khan
University was attacked by the
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi killing 14
female students.
With the culprits still at large,
and rising suspicion amongst
the local populace of the states
complicity in those attacks,
the peoples confdence in the
governments ability to deliver at
any level stands shattered.
Since the recent warning by
Tanzeem-ul-Islami-ul-Furqan,
parents of female students in
Panjgur have decided they have
had enough. They have marched
onto the streets and expressed
solidarity with the schools and
their owners, urging the local
administration to take immediate
action against the militants.
The district teachers association
has also asked the provincial and
federal government to intervene
in the matter. But for now, it
looks like female education is not
really on the priority list of the
provincial or federal government.
The prime minister, since taking
charge of his ofce, has been
busy signing deals with China
on siphoning Balochistans
natural resources to the rest of
the country and beyond. His
governments grand designs
include a $12 billion economic
corridor extending from
the Gwadar deep seaport in
Balochistan to the southern-belt
of China and parts of Central Asia
through spanking new road, rail,
air and fbre links.
Local development in
Balochistan, especially in Gwadar,
is heavily assisted and infuenced
by the security forces. It almost
always excludes locals under
the pretext of security concerns
and instead utilizes labor and
expertise from other parts of the
country.
The Baloch people and their
welfare is seldom discussed,
let alone ever addressed. The
functioning private education
system, one of the last straws of
hope for the girls of Makran, now
also stands to be plucked and
destroyed by extremist forces
and their benefactors.
With little trust in the
government or the law-
enforcement agencies to protect
their lives and property, the local
private schools association in the
area has decided to shut down
schools for an indefnite period.
If this current downward
spiral in womens education
continues across Balochistan,
disenfranchised and
impoverished districts like
Makran will not be able to see
anymore Rabias and Zeenats in
the coming future.
That would not only be a
loss for Makran but, more
importantly, for the provinces
human development and socio-
economic progress.
With not much having gone in
its way, the last thing Balochistan
needs is to have its girls forced
to sit at home instead of the
classroom.
(This article frst appeared in
Dawn)
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as anti-state, are particularly
vulnerable to these violations.
Relatives and eyewitnesses
frequently accuse the security
forces, especially the Frontier
Corps and intelligence
services, for carrying out these
violations.
Please write immediately in
Urdu, English or your own
language:
Expressing concern to the
authorities that Zahid Baloch
has not been seen since 18
March when witnesses say he
was abducted by the Frontier
Corps;
Urging them to order
an immediate impartial
investigation into this apparent
enforced disappearance,
publicly disclose its fndings
and bring those responsible
to justice in fair trials without
recourse to the death penalty;
Insisting that if Zahid Baloch is
in custody, he is immediately
released or transferred to an
ofcial place of detention
and charged promptly with
an ofence consistent with
international human rights law;
Urging them to ensuring that
Zahid Baloch is not tortured
or otherwise ill-treated, and is
allowed immediate and regular
access to his family, lawyers
of his choice and any medical
attention he may require.
Additional Information
Political activists from the
ethnic Baloch community have
been subjected to abductions,
enforced disappearances and
extrajudicial executions in
Pakistans Balochistan province.
Hundreds have reportedly been
subjected to these violations,
but the precise fgures are
impossible to verify given
the secretive nature of the
including former Chief Justice
Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry,
have also accused the Frontier
Corps of being responsible for
many enforced disappearances
in the province.
The Frontiers Corps is the
primary state security force
responsible for maintaining
law and order in Balochistan
province. The confrontation
between Baloch nationalists
and the state is characterized
by human rights abuses
committed by both sides.
VIEWS ON BALOCHISTAN
AMESTY INTERNATIONAL: DOCUMENT - PAKISTAN: ABDUCTED POLITI-
CAL ACTIVIST AT RISK OF DEATH
UA: 132/14 Index: Pakistan ASA
33/008/2014 Date: 19 May 2014
URGENT ACTION
abducted political activist at
risk of deathZahid Baloch,
Chairman of the Baloch Student
Organisation-Azad (BSOA)
was abducted in Quetta,
Balochistan, on 18 March. His
family do not know where
he is or what has happened
to him. He is at grave risk of
ill-treatment, torture, or even
death. Hundreds of other
activists have sufered similar
fates in the province over
recent years.
Witnesses claim Zahid Baloch
was taken at gunpoint in the
Satellite Town area in Quetta,
Balochistan on 18 March by
personnel of the Frontier Corps,
a federal paramilitary force. The
authorities have not provided
any information concerning
his abduction and have failed
to investigate it adequately.
Zahid Baloch is the Chairman of
BSOA, a student organization
advocating the separation of
Balochistan province from the
state of Pakistan. It was banned
by the Pakistan government
in March 2013 because they
claimed it was involved in
terrorism.
Zahid Balochs abduction
follows a pattern of enforced
disappearances in Balochistan
province whereby Baloch
political activists, human rights
defenders, journalists, lawyers
and suspected insurgents
have been picked up by state
security forces, and never seen
again. Across the province
many of those subjected to
enforced disappearance have
been recovered dead, often
bearing bullet wounds and
marks of torture. Activists
calling for greater autonomy
for the Baloch population, seen
by the Pakistani authorities
abductions and killings, and
the general inaccessibility of
Balochistan province. Lateef
Johar, a member of the BSOA
has been on hunger strike
for the safe recovery of Zahid
Baloch since 22 April at a
protest camp in Karachi.
Activists, journalists, lawyers,
and student leaders as well
as members of armed groups
are among those who have
been targeted for enforced
disappearance, abduction,
torture and unlawful killing.
The violence takes place
in a context of increasing
political unrest and state
military operations in
Balochistan. Straddling the
border with Afghanistan and
Iran, Balochistan is Pakistans
geographically largest, but
most sparsely populated
province. It has a history
of insurgency, with local
groups advocating greater
autonomy and a bigger share
of the revenue generated
by the province's natural
resources, principally natural
gas, which they believe now
disproportionately beneft
other provinces.
The bullet-riddled bodies
of those who have been
abducted, many showing
signs of torture, are frequently
found across Balochistan
and occasionally in the
city of Karachi, capital of
neighbouring Sindh province.
Relatives and Baloch groups
accuse Pakistani security forces,
particularly the Frontier Corps
and intelligence agencies, of
perpetrating these abductions
and killings. In December
2013 Balochistan Chief
Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch
acknowledged that state
agencies were responsible
for illegal confnement of
Baloch activists. Judges of the
Supreme Court of Pakistan, the
highest judiciary in the country,
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LINKS AND CONTACT
www.bygwaah.com - A website on missing persons.
www.balochwarna.com - Balochistan news.
www.sagaar.net - BSO-A ofcial website.
www.sangarpublication.com - Magazine covering Balochstan.
www.thebalochhal.com - Online newspaper covering Balochistan.
www.nakedpunch.com - Politics magazine with regular coverage of
Balochistan.
Contact Balochistan Weekly Review
Balochistanreview1@gmail.com