Pakistan: Violence Breaks Out In Balochistan After 3 Nationalist Leaders Killed

Pakistan: Violence Breaks Out In Balochistan After 3 Nationalist Leaders Killed

(NSI News Source Info) ISLAMABAD - April 9, 2009: Violence broke out in some parts of southwestern Pakistan on Thursday after dead bodies of three leaders of nationalist groups found. Angry protesters torched a United Nations vehicle in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, and also attacked banks and several government buildings, the News Network International (NNI) news agency quoted police as saying. A Pakistani policeman walks past burning tyres set alight by protesters in Karachi April 9, 2009. The protesters were demonstrating against what they said were the killing of political activists in Balochistan. Police officer in district Turbat Ayaz Baloch said bodies of the chief of Baloch Nationalist Movement (BNM), Ghulam Muhammad Baloch, leader of Baloch Republican Party, Sher Muhamamd Bugti and BNM leader Lala Munir were found late Wednesday night. They were kidnapped last Friday from the office of a local lawyer by unidentified gunmen, police said. People took to the streets in Quetta after the bodies were identified on Thursday morning and attacked vehicles and buildings, police said. The police fired tear gas to disperse the protesters. Baloch leaders alleged that the nationalist leaders were kidnapped by the government people, the charge denied by the authorities, according to the NNI. Witnesses said that the slain Baloch leaders were shot dead after they were kidnapped. No group claimed responsibility for the kidnapping and killings. The government has put the security forces on alert in Balochistan to counter nay backlash of the incident.

Pakistan Government Covertly Supporting Taliban To Suppress Balochs / Pakistan Uses Taliban As A Proxy Against Balochs

Pakistan Government Covertly Supporting Taliban To Suppress Balochs / Pakistan Uses Taliban As A Proxy Against Balochs

(NSI News Source Info) Peshawar - January 6, 2009: The Pakistan government is providing covert support to the Taliban to capture land in eastern and western Quetta in order to undermine the Baloch nationalist movement and promote Talibanisation in Balochistan. Balochistan National Party (BNP) information secretary and former Senator, Sanaullah Baloch, said that the government is fully aware of these encroachments, but it was deliberately silent because the Taliban enjoy the support of the government and its intelligence agencies who wish to pit the religious elements against the Baloch nationalists.

The Daily Times quoted Baloch as saying that the government had failed to establish its writ in Quetta, where the Taliban and their supporters were consolidating their grip.

Several parts of the provincial capital have become ‘no-go areas’ where the Taliban and their supporters have consolidated their position, he added. “We are surprised why the government does not undertake a military operation against these elements who have openly challenged the writ of the government,” Baloch said.

“Military operations were carried out in Dera Bugti and Sui areas by the government on the pretext of establishing the writ of the government, but the state machinery does not move against the Taliban and their supporters who have illegally and forcefully captured large areas of land in Balochistan,” he said.

Baloch said that the government was trying to patronise the Taliban elements in Quetta and its outskirts in order to undermine the power of the actual democratic forces.

The Afghan refugees, besides being a burden on the economy of Balochistan, have become the biggest cause of lawlessness and terrorism in the country’s largest province, Baloch said. Billions of rupees were being spent on eliminating the Taliban and their supporters in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and the NWFP, he said, asking why the government was ignoring the ‘alarmingly dangerous moves’ of the Taliban and giving them protection in Quetta. The BNP leader criticised the government for initiating fresh operations in Dera Bugti and Naseerabad areas, adding that such unprovoked operations were likely to escalate tensions in Balochistan.