Echo Of Balochistan
The development we are witness to is kidnapping, disappearances and the mutilated dead bodies of Baloch activists.
BALOCHISTAN had been burning for years together, but the way Gen Pervez Musharraf fuelled [the fire] he deserves some ‘award’. …Statesmen do not speak, the way Musharraf spoke about Balochistan. This language is spoken with enemies, not with the people of one’s country. Whatever Musharraf cultivated, Pakistan is harvesting. When we now speak to the Baloch they express only hatred against the country and are not ready to hear anything. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has termed the US Congress resolution as interference in Pakistan’s domestic affairs. No doubt … the US is trying to impose its authority in Pakistan and has succeeded in many cases.
…Let our government condemn this undue taunt, but history shows that, in order to survive in power, our unpopular rulers have played an important role in creating a situation, where they have allowed foreign intervention. Today, the US Congress is considering a resolution against the violation of human rights in Balochistan, but it forgets these violations were given momentum during the Musharraf era, when he had the complete blessings of the US.
We may term this US activity wrong, but … our attitude to Balochistan has been negative…. Musharraf continued to say that tribal chieftains were a hurdle in the development of Balochistan and … he killed Nawab Akbar Bugti…. After the killing of this chieftain where is the much-talked-of development? The development we are witness to is kidnapping, disappearances and the mutilated dead bodies of Baloch activists. The rulers have been trying to solve this complicated and sensitive issue through committees and ordinary packages. In the Musharraf era, a parliamentary committee prepared some recommendations.
Nobody knows what happened to these recommendations as violations of rights continued. …Holding an APC is laudable, but this should not result in the formation of fact-finding ‘committees’… We know the facts… we have to take bold decisions…. – (Feb 20)
Selected and translated by Sohail Sangi
