Baloch Liberation Army Claims Killing of 16 Punjabi Settlers

Baloch Liberation Army Claims Responsibility for Attacks on Punjabis in Balochistan,
Daily News & Analysis,
15 August 2010

EXCERPT: “The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), a separatist group, has claimed responsibility for the killing of 16 Punjabi-origin people in ethnic violence in the insurgency-hit southwestern Balochistan province of Pakistan. The BLA said it attacked the settlers from Punjab in two separate incidents in Balochistan’s provincial capital Quetta and on its outskirts yesterday in retaliation against the ‘killing of missing persons in custody of government.’ The latest incidents of ethnic violence have raised concerns among authorities about the growing unrest in Balochistan. ‘Armed men hijacked a passenger coach coming from Lahoreto Quetta in the Bolan district and kidnapped 10 men, all of whom belonged to Punjab,’ a police official said. ‘The 10 men were later gunned down in cold blood. Six others, all of them labourers, had been killed in a targeted killing in the city in the Khilji colony,’ he said.”

http://www.pakistanconflictmonitor.org/2010/08/baloch-liberation-army-claims-killing-of-16-punjabi-settlers.html

Ejaz Haider writes:
November 1, 2010

Baloch sub-nationalists want the province to go from bad to worse. Reason: the worse it gets for the province the better it gets for their cause. The Taliban and their affiliate sectarian groups continue to operate and kill, mostly, the Shia Hazara community. The Sunni Jandallah, fighting the Shia clerical state of Iran, by many accounts, has linked up with some sectarian religious groups. And, finally, there are the criminal gangs involved in target killings and kidnappings; most, say people in Quetta, are backed by some provincial politicians.
As I wrote elsewhere, “Balochistan doesn’t like Punjabis, Shias and security forces. If one belongs to any of these three categories, one can likely end up dead. Punjabis and security forces are targeted by Baloch terrorist groups, Shias bombed by extremist terrorists. Caught in the conflict are journalists, threatened by all sides, some assassinated, others getting killed on the job.
“Right in Quetta, the capital, areas like Sariab, Huddah, Brohi Road and Eastern and Western Bypasses are ‘no-go’ areas for Punjabis. Much of the city, outside the heavily-guarded cantonment area, is dangerous for security personnel. Since 2009, nearly a thousand people have been killed on all sides and about double the number injured in assassinations, bombings, armed attacks and small-scale security operations.”

http://tribune.com.pk/story/70492/immediate-action-needed-in-balochistan/

Relevant Comments from ET:

Narejo:

I think the author raised some interesting points. First the Hazaras. Hazaras are a sectarian minority, who are, surprisingly and unfortunately, killed with impunity by the so-called Baloch. What is their fault? If you are not happy with the Shia rule in Sistan-Balochistan in Iran, does that give you a license to terrorize and kill people in your own province?

There is a bit of an irony too because the people who are killing Hazara Shias are also the ones who like to present themselves as “secular.” Yes, if they are so secular why don’t we see a Benazir rising from the beautiful land of Balochistan, why are the women still cloaked, why are women buried alive in Balochistan and members of the parliament have defended it as part of their “tradition”?

Are not these women Baloch? And are not the poor uneducated helpless people, beholden to the whims of sardars in the strongholds, the so-called deras, also Baloch too? If not, at least are they human?
If so, they too should have the rights– the right to education, the right to acquire wealth, the right to live– that the sardars and their off-spring (at least the sons) feel entitled to. I hope sanity prevails soon.

Malik Siraj Akbar:

There is so much wrong with this article that one fails to understand which part of it to address.

First, who is Ejaz do decide for the Balochs to live within the federation
of Pakistan?

Second, which province does not have members of other ethnic groups. karachi has Baloch, Punjabi, Pashutns, does that deprive Sindh of a claim over Karachi?

Thirdly, are Balochs also responsible for the sectarian killings in Karachi and Lahore? We all know sectarianism is a problem with that exists throughout Pakistan. It is the brainchild of Zia’s Islamization process.

Fourth, do you think Balochs are responsible for the massacre of Hazaras in Hazarajath and Bamiyan in Afghanistan? C’mon, Ejaz.

Fifth: Ok Pashtuns live, say they are even the majority in Balochistan.
See, all resources are based in Baloch areas and a large part of the conflict is because of the resource distribution. Sui, from where gas is discovered, is a 100% Baloch populated area. Gwadar, with a port which will connect South Asia with Central Asia, is 100% Baloch. Reko Diq gold project is based in a Baloch district.

@NAREJO: We may bury our women alive but that does not give anyone an excuse to invade our land. Punjabis praded Mukhtaran Mai naked, does that provide the Balochs a chance to grab your rice farms?

Ameer Hamza:

The Baloch is right is saying that Punjab is responsible for much of their plight. For one, Punjabi-dominated economic system and military have not only captured most of the prized lands of Balochistan, they have also not benefited the common Baloch. You can note that most of the Army men are Punjabis. You can also very clearly see that companies operating in Balochistan tend to employ Punjabis / others rather than go for the local Pashtuns or Baloch. If this won’t create grievances, what else will. And to top it all, Gen. Musharraf allowed Punjabis to dominate GDA (Gwadar Development Authority). And you still think the hatred for common Punjabi is uncalled for?

I am sure, as a regular visitor to Balochistan since 2005, that the grievances of Baloch against Punjabis of all shades and hues are much stronger than they were before the murder of Akbar Bughti. It is now or never and Punjabi-dominated system must realize that there is no stopping Baloch except that they are given their rightful share of their province’s mineral and land resources.

Narejo:

@MALIK SIRAJ AKBAR, if you learn one thing from the program you are enrolled in the U.S., it is that one must NEVER jump to conclusions. Your ethnocentrism is most glaringly at display when you ask “Punjabis praded Mukhtaran Mai naked, does that provide the Balochs a chance to grab your rice farms?” I am not a Punjabi so I find that a little ridiculous question; for all I care you could perfectly grab my rice farms since I have none. By the way I think I should remind you that no one suggested invading any one’s land on the pretext of human rights violation so your analogy is moot. The questions I posed–and I certainly intended no offence–stemmed out of the dichotomy I observe between claims of Baloch secularism and struggle for human rights on the one hand and the discrimination against the Baloch women as well as the Baloch denizens of the assorted deras under not-so-impoverished Baloch sardars on the other.

And before you get so worked up, remember that not everyone who is critical is an ill-wisher or a Punjabi. I hold my Baloch sisters and brothers in a very high esteem and I have nothing against them. Unfortunately, it is the erroneous assumptions and paranoia, as reflected by the question I quoted, very slightly but eerily echoes the paranoia of BLA and other thugs, who in their blind ethnic chauvinism, are killing, without much condemnation in the media or otherwise, poor innocent ( Punjabi) laborers/ teachers of other ethnic groups in Balochistan.

http://tribune.com.pk/story/72970/lies-and-half-truths-on-balochistan/

@Sheen Alif

When MQM is known to have operated as far as Lahore and London, when LeJ is know to operate in every city and town of the country, why can’t Baloch extremists operate in Makran?

I fail to understand why your condemnation of BLA is qualified and half-hearted. Read your own words: “BLA is condemnable if it kills innocent civilians…The Baloch have learnt that a message can be sent to the state via killing the people and delivering dead bodies to other provinces, and the have learnt it best”.

How would you explain the following news item and scores of other similar pieces of evidence?

Baloch Liberation Army Claims Killing of 16 Punjabi Settlers

http://www.pakistanconflictmonitor.org/2010/08/baloch-liberation-army-claims-killing-of-16-punjabi-settlers.html

How can we unequivocally condemn Taliban brutalities but use all sorts of excuses and qualifiers for terrorism by Baloch extremists?