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UNENDING BLOODBATH IN PAKISTAN: REVENGE OF BALOCH SEPARATISTS? – ANALYSIS By Eurasia Review

By Jai Kumar Verma
A high-intensity deadly bomb blast in Islamabad on April 9 killed at least 25 people and left more than 110 injured. The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) explicitly and in unmistakable terms condemned the bombing. Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif also 
condemned the blast and stated that it was an effort by enemies of Pakistan to destabilize the country and sabotage the peace talks.
Bomb blasts are a regular feature in Pakistan which is the biggest sponsor and exporter of terrorism all over the world. The bombings mostly occur in Peshawar or in Karachi, Islamabad is relatively safe. The previous bomb blast was on March 3 in an Islamabad court in which 11 people, including an additional districts and sessions judge, were killed.
The spokesperson of the United Baloch Army (UBA), while taking responsibility for the April 9 bombing, stated that “we carried out the attack in reaction to the continuous military offensive against us in our homeland”. This was the second explosion by UBA in 24 hours. The other bomb attack occurred on Jaffar Express at Sibi railway station in which 17 passengers lost their lives and several others were injured. The banned outfit, UBA, pointed out that it was its revenge for the killing of more than 35 militants in Khuzdar and Kalat districts of Balochistan by security forces in cold blood.
The Pakistan administration and all-powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) are trying hard to propagate that the Apri 9 bomb blast was the handiwork of a foreign power. They want to show that the bombing was not done by UBA. Interior Minister Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan also rubbished the claim of UBA as “ludicrous”. The Pakistani administration alleged that UBA has no reach up to Islamabad, and generally its activities are restricted to southwest of Pakistan. That the UBA is reaching Islamabad so frequently is a disturbing factor.
The UBA, which is also known as Balochistan United Army (BLA), was constituted in 1999 by Baloch separatists in Balochistan province, which is the largest and poorest province of the country. Besides BLA, other organizations fighting for independent Balochistan include, Baloch Republican Army (BRA), Baloch Liberation Front (BLF), Lashkar-e-Balochistan, Balochistan National Party- Mengal (BNP-M), BNP-Awami, National Party (NP) and Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP). Besides these, there are several splinter groups of the Baloch Students Organisation (BSO).
Baloch separatists maintain that the Pakistan government is exploiting the vast resources of the province for the benefit of Punjab and other provinces. The separatists also claim that the immense mineral wealth of Balochistan is looted by Pakistan, and China is an equal partner to this loot. China is trying to exploit the coal, copper and zinc deposits as well as gas and oil reserves. In the Saindik gold project, Balochistan gets only 2 percent, while Islamabad and China get 48 percent and 50 percent respectively. Besides several other factors, including human rights abuses, economic deprivation of the province is the main factor behind the insurgency. In the beginning, the demand was for greater autonomy, but now Baloch people are fighting for an independent state. The separatist organizations declared to establish a ‘Greater Balochistan’ which would include Baloch-dominated territories of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan.
The UBA has hardcore cadres of about 1,000 separatists. However, the number of active sympathizers may reach up to 10,000 as a large number of Baloch feel exploited by the Pakistani government. The outfit was declared a terrorist organization by Pakistan and UK in 2006. The Pakistan government alleges that BLA is financed by India. The Baloch maintain that the nefarious ISI and personnel of Pakistani security agencies have killed peaceful Baloch political and human rights activists, students and several intellectuals. The Baloch people were fighting for provincial autonomy up to 2006, but that year the Pakistan army attacked Balochistan and killed the most powerful political and tribal Baloch leader. Nawab Akbar Bugti, and after that Baloch nationalist leaders started demanding a separate Baloch state.
The Baloch leadership and Pakistani administration do not trust each other; hence the intervention of some international agency like United Nations or European Union is crucial. The international body should be a guarantor of the terms of a peace settlement. The Baloch nationalist leaders feel that Baloch people are being tormented since 1948; hence the international community has the responsibility to force Pakistan to stop state-sponsored repression of Baloch nationality.
Baloch nationalist leaders challenge the Pakistan authorities to give any proof of involvement of foreign powers, including India, USA or Afghanistan in their nationalist movement. The allegation is baseless and mischievous. In Balochistan, the only foreign hand is of the ISI, Pakistan army and Frontier Corps. All these agencies comprise of soldiers from Punjab and Pakhtunkhwa. The Baloch movement is a homegrown movement. However, it needs assistance from international agencies and the democratic world to end the butchery of Pakistan. Baloch leaders mention that not only Baloch, but others like Shias, Hindus, Christians, Sindhis and many others in Pakistan are tortured and are uncomfortable in Islamic Pakistan. The time has come when Pakistani rulers should revisit the fundamental idea of an Islamic country.
Several military actions in Balochistan in the past made it clear that the Balochistan problem cannot be solved militarily. Pakistani security agencies should disband its death squads, stop extrajudicial killings and end forced disappearances. Not only this, security forces should stop using proxy groups and lawful authorities should be used to curb the violence in the area.
There should be economic development of the province. Men and women of all ethnicity should be educated, unemployment should be reduced and the people or groups resisting the progress of the province should be punished. Pakistan should become a social welfare state instead of a national security state. There should be a political agreement between the central government and nationalist Baloch leaders which could end the current impasse.
Pakistan must stop blaming India, USA or Israel for the failures of its domestic policies. Pakistan could not provide any proof that the Baloch national movement was getting any type of assistance from abroad. In view of the animosity Pakistan has towards India, if it has any evidence it will propagate it in the international arena with full force. The Baloch nationalist movement is an indigenous movement and Pakistan should stop repression and exploitation of the mineral wealth of Balochistan.
(Jai Kumar Verma is a Delhi- based strategic analyst. He can be contactedatjaikumar.verma909@gmail.com)
This article appeared at South Asia Monitor and is reprinted with permission.
Eurasia Review
Eurasia Review is an independent Journal and Think Tank that provides a venue for analysts and experts to disseminate content on a wide-range of subjects that are often overlooked or under-represented by Western dominated media.
Despite the combined Eurasia and Afro-Asia areas containing over 70% of the world’s population, analysis and news continues to be dominated by a U.S. slant, and that is where Eurasia Review enters the picture by providing alternative, in-depth perspectives on current events.

http://www.eurasiareview.com/27042014-unending-bloodbath-pakistan-revenge-baloch-separatists-analysis/

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