Government in talks with ‘everyone,’ including separatists, chief minister of Pakistan’s Balochistan says

The chief minister of Balochistan, Mir Abdul Quddus Bezinjo, speaks to Arab News in Quetta, Pakistan, on November 27, 2021. (AN Photo)
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Updated 30 November 2021
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Government in talks with ‘everyone,’ including separatists, chief minister of Pakistan’s Balochistan says

  • Mir Abdul Quddus Bezinjo says government “taking everyone on board” including Balochistan Liberation Front of Dr. Allah Nazar Baloch
  • Says missing persons cell set up by Home Department approached by 180 families, links rise in attacks in Balochistan to change in Afghan government

QUETTA: The chief minister of Balochistan, Mir Abdul Quddus Bezinjo, has said his government was speaking to all dissidents who were “unhappy” with the state, including reaching out to Dr. Allah Nazar Baloch, the head of the separatist Baloch Liberation Front (BLF), as a step toward ending a long-running insurgency seeking greater autonomy or independence for the huge, resource-rich province. 
The low-intensity insurgency in southwestern Balochistan, a sparsely populated, mountainous, desert province bordering Afghanistan and Iran, has gone on intermittently for decades, with the government launching full-scale military operations as well as targeted interventions to quell it. Locals and rights activists say hundreds of people have been forcibly disappeared by security forces hunting for dissidents. The military vehemently denies committing abuses. Separatist fighters have also been accused of killing civilians and security forces and assassinating teachers.
Critics of the central government complain the province, which makes up 43 percent of Pakistan’s land mass, has received paltry royalties on its vast mineral, oil and gas resources, while remaining one of the country’s poorest regions. Baloch nationalists, many Pakistani politicians and rights activists say the chronic instability in the province is a stubborn reminder of the broader fragility of the Pakistani state and have repeatedly called on the government to urgently deal with years of pent-up grievances.
Now, Balochistan’s new chief minister, who was elected unopposed last month, says his government is ready for the challenge, and is “taking everyone on board” to seek an end to the decades of violence. 
“Absolutely, as soon as coming into power, we have focused on this,” Bezinjo told Arab News in an interview in Quetta when asked if his government was talking to separatists and other dissident groups. “Surely they have grievances because of which they have become unhappy, [so] the doors of dialogue should not be closed. We are talking to them, and lots of channels are also open.”

Among those the government was reaching out to is BLF chief Dr. Baloch, Bezinjo confirmed: “Not direct, but indirectly we are trying that we do this [talk to Dr. Baloch] and all the rest, whoever they are, we are trying that we talk to them.”
Dr. Baloch is the only leader of a sizeable separatist group who is believed to be waging a campaign for independence from inside Balochistan; the other two leaders are in exile in Europe, including Brahamdagh Bugti, the Switzerland-based leader of the Balochistan Republican Party, and Hyrbyair Marri, who lives in London and heads the Baloch Liberation Army. The three groups have for years launched attacks on civilians, journalists and government and security personnel.
Bezinjo said it would be premature to disclose “specifics” of the talks, but added: “Many personalities with whom we are in talks, we are hopeful that in a few months they will be in this country, and in this province … Very soon Balochistan’s people will get good news.”

Governments in the past have attempted, and failed, to win over dissidents and the prospects of success for Bezinjo’s campaign are bleak. But the need for peace is more urgent than ever before, especially in the last decade as China has turned its attention toward Balochistan’s wealth of copper, gold, gas and coal deposits and invested billions of dollars in the province.




Militants from the band organization Baloch Liberation Army and United Baloch Army, sit before hand over their weapons to the Pakistani government during a surrender ceremony in Quetta, Pakistan, on October 29, 2015. (AFP/File)

Separatist militants have frequently targeted Chinese projects, including its construction in Gwadar, a port on the Balochistan coast, near the entrance to the strategically-important Gulf. And in 2018, the Balochistan Liberation Army attacked the Chinese consulate in the southern port city of Karachi, killing four Pakistani police and civilians.
It was the most high profile attack by the group until June 29 2020, when its fighters launched an assault on the stock exchange, killing four people.
That attack came a day after hundreds of relatives of missing Balochs gathered in Quetta to mark the four thousandth day of their protest against what they say are enforced disappearances by the state. The daily sit-in launched in 2009 entered its 4,509 day today, Monday. 
The Pakistan military denies it is involved in enforced disappearances. In 2019, it issued a statement sympathizing with the families of missing Balochs and said that some may have joined militant groups: “Not every person missing is attributable to the state.”
But the issue of missing persons has continued to spark revolt in Balochistan and arrests and disappearances of alleged separatist sympathizers as well as political and student nationalist leaders have hardened attitudes, particularly among the young.
A federal commission on enforced disappearances set up in March 2011 listed 8,122 cases of missing persons reported nationwide by June 2021, of which 5,880 have been resolved. At least 500 people on the list are from Balochistan. 
“We made a cell [in the Balochistan Home Department], it’s been one year and in that around 180 families have approached us,” the chief minister said. “We are investigating whether they are missing or not, but the numbers are not as large as they say.”

Speaking about the outsized role of the Pakistani military in the running of Balochistan, Bezinjo said there was no harm in governments in the province seeking help from the army, particularly against security threats.
“They are our forces, we feel no shame if they come to us [the government], and support us somewhere, in relation to law and order, and other issues,” the chief minister said. “Wherever we felt that we needed the forces, we needed to improve law and order, we certainly requested them, where we felt that we can’t work, the situation was untenable, there we took the army’s support … Sometimes they feel that some steps are needed for the betterment of Balochistan.”




The chief minister of Balochistan, Mir Abdul Quddus Bezinjo, speaks to Arab News in Quetta, Pakistan, on November 27, 2021. (AN Photo)

Bezinjo also spoke about a rise in attacks on security forces in Balochistan in the last three months, and linked it to a change of government in neighboring Afghanistan, where the Afghan Taliban seized Kabul in mid-August. 
The militant Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which is separate from the Afghan Taliban, has stepped up its campaign against the Pakistani army and paramilitary forces in recent months.
“Whenever things change in Afghanistan, its effect is always seen in Balochistan,” Bezinjo said. “Because of change there [in Afghanistan] a lot of elements have come here [to Pakistan] and taken part in different kinds of terrorism. Things are in front of us, we can see for a few months that the law and order situation has deteriorated quickly.”
But Bezinjo was hopeful that new development schemes in the province would improve overall tensions, especially the announcement by the federal government of a “Southern Balochistan Project,” under which 199 projects worth Rs601 billion are to be executed. 
Currently, Balochistan has the worst development indicators in the country, with over 50 percent people living below the poverty line and 92 percent of provincial districts classified as “highly deprived” by the United Nations. 
“If these [Southern Balochistan] projects become functional on the ground in a timely fashion, then we are hopeful that Inshallah things will improve a lot and we will have a lot of support in the development sector,” Bezinjo said. 

And while he lamented that past central governments had not paid due attention to Balochistan, he said the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan was taking special interest in the province’s development. 
“If the federal [government] does not give us proper space, proper development funds, then we can never develop Balochistan,” the chief minister said. “If they want to strengthen this pillar then they will have to enlarge their heart.”


Fear, grief grip Pakistan’s Kurram district as 41 killed in sectarian attacks

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Fear, grief grip Pakistan’s Kurram district as 41 killed in sectarian attacks

  • Gunmen opened fire on vehicles carrying members of minority Shiite community in KP province on Thursday
  • Clashes in July and September killed dozens of people and ended only after a jirga called a ceasefire

PESHAWAR: Fear gripped Pakistan’s northwestern Kurram district on Friday as the death toll from two sectarian attacks rose to 43, with authorities imposing a curfew and suspending mobile phone services in the remote mountainous region.
Gunmen opened fire on vehicles carrying members of the minority Shiite community in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Thursday in one of the region’s deadliest such attacks in recent years. The assault took place in Kurram, a district where sectarian clashes have killed dozens of people in recent months.
“Total 41 people have been killed and 19 others are injured in the attack,” Deputy Commissioner Kurram, Javaid Ullah Mehsud, told Arab News on Friday, saying police were yet to file a police report on the incident. 
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the latest attack, which came a week after authorities reopened a key highway in the region that had been closed for weeks following deadly clashes.
Mehsud told reporters a local jirga, or tribal council, had been convened to help restore peace and order.
Previous clashes in July and September killed dozens of people and ended only after a jirga called a ceasefire.
A senior administration official told the AFP news agency mobile signals across the district had been shut down, describing the situation as “extremely tense” with locals staging a sit-in in Parachinar, the district’s main town.
“A curfew has been imposed on the main road connecting Upper and Lower Kurram, and the bazaar remains completely closed, with all traffic suspended,“ the official said.
Shop owners in Parachinar had announced a strike on Friday to protest the attack.
Locals described an atmosphere of fear across the district. 
“The night was spent in tension,” Irfan ullah Khan, a local youth representative, told Arab News. “People in different villages were guarding their homes … The region is in grief as the situation is tense. Anything can happen.”
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi called the shootings a “terrorist attack.” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and President Asif Ali Zardari condemned the attack, and Sharif said those behind the killing of innocent civilians will not go unpunished.
Baqir Haideri, a local Shiite leader, denounced the assault and accused local authorities of not providing adequate security for the convoy of more than 100 vehicles despite fears of possible attacks by militants.
Shiite Muslims make up about 15 percent of the 240 million population of Sunni-majority Pakistan.
With inputs from AFP


Pakistan reports two new polio cases in northwest, raising 2024 tally to 52

Updated 22 November 2024
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Pakistan reports two new polio cases in northwest, raising 2024 tally to 52

  • Cases detected in DI Khan district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province 
  • Pakistan and Afghanistan are last polio-endemic countries in the world

PESHAWAR: Pakistan’s polio eradication program said on Friday two new cases of the crippling virus had been detected in the country’s northwest, bringing the nationwide tally for 2024 to 52. 
Pakistan, along with neighboring Afghanistan, remains the last polio-endemic country in the world. The nation’s polio eradication campaign has hit serious problems with a spike in reported cases this year that have prompted officials to review their approach to stopping the crippling disease.
“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan, bringing the number of total cases in the country this year to 52,” the National Emergency Operation Center for Polio Eradication said in a statement. 
“On Thursday, November 21, the lab confirmed the cases from DI Khan where a boy and girl child are affected. Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is underway.”
DI Khan, one of the seven polio endemic districts of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has now reported five polio cases this year.
Of the 52 cases reported in 2024, 24 are from the Balochistan province, 13 from Sindh, 13 from KP and one each from Punjab and Islamabad, the federal capital.
Poliovirus, which can cause crippling paralysis particularly in young children, is incurable and remains a threat to human health as long as it has not been eradicated. Immunization campaigns have succeeded in most countries and have come close in Pakistan, but persistent problems remain.
In the early 1990s, Pakistan reported around 20,000 cases annually but in 2018 the number dropped to eight cases. Six cases were reported in 2023 and only one in 2021. 
Pakistan’s polio program began in 1994 but efforts to eradicate the virus have since been undermined by vaccine misinformation and opposition from some religious hard-liners, who say immunization is a foreign ploy to sterilize Muslim children or a cover for Western spies. Militant groups also frequently attack and kill members of polio vaccine teams. 
In July 2019, a vaccination drive in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was thwarted after mass panic was created by rumors that children were fainting or vomiting after being immunized.
Public health studies in Pakistan have shown that maternal illiteracy and low parental knowledge about vaccines, together with poverty and rural residency, are also factors that commonly influence whether parents vaccinate their children against polio.
Pakistan’s chief health officer this month said an estimated 500,000 children had missed polio vaccinations during a recent countrywide inoculation drive due to vaccine refusals.


Marathon polo tournament draws huge crowds in Pakistan’s picturesque north

Updated 22 November 2024
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Marathon polo tournament draws huge crowds in Pakistan’s picturesque north

  • Ten-day tournament played among 17 teams of Gilgit-Baltistan as part of independence day celebrations 
  • GB Independence Day celebrated on Nov. 1 every year to mark region’s independence in 1947 from Dogra Raj

KHAPLU, Gilgit-Baltistan: Large crowds have been gathering daily in the northern mountain town of Gilgit for a 10-day polo tournament being held to mark Gilgit-Baltistan’s Independence Day, the military’s media wing and government officials said on Thursday, the last day of the event. 
GB is administered by Pakistan as an administrative territory and consists of the northern portion of the larger Kashmir region, which has been the subject of a dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947. The impoverished, remote and rugged mountainous territory borders Afghanistan and China and is the gateway of the $65 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) infrastructure plan. 
The Gilgit-Baltistan Independence Day is celebrated on Nov. 1 every year to mark the region’s independence in 1947 from Dogra Raj, the erstwhile rulers of the now disputed Jammu and Kashmir region.
“The big event of Jashan Azadi Polo Tournament was held at Wahab Shaheed Polo Ground in Gilgit, a remote area of the northern region under the management of Pak Army,” the military’s media wing said in a statement, saying Force Command Northern Areas, Maj. Gen. Syed Imtiaz Hussain Gillani, was the chief guest at the closing ceremony of the event in which 17 teams participated.

A Pakistani tribal polo team member chases the ball as the crowd watches the match during a polo game in Skardu, in Pakistan's northeastern Gilgit-Baltistan region on November 21, 2024. (Photo courtesy: ISPR)

“The final match was won by Chilas in civil and NLI teams in departmental categories respectively,” the statement added. 
Gilgit-Baltistan is also known for the annual polo festival at Shandur, an area between the northern Pakistani towns of Gilgit and Chitral, and at over 12,000 feet (3,700 meters) the world’s highest polo ground. 
Polo in GB is played without rules and at a blistering pace, suggesting more of a clash of cavalry than a sport. Locals believe polo was born in their land and Gilgit is home to the famous polo inscription: “Let other people play at other things, the King of Games is still the Game of Kings.”

A Pakistani tribalmen perform traditional dance during a polo game in Skardu, in Pakistan's northeastern Gilgit-Baltistan region on November 21, 2024. (Photo courtesy: ISPR)

Faizullah Faraq, the spokesperson for the G-B government, said thousands had come to watch the matches and celebrate the Gilgit-Baltistan Independence Day.
“Polo is the national game of Gilgit-Baltistan. And thousands of people reached Gilgit’s playground to watch the polo matches daily,” he told Arab News on Thursday. 
“Such kinds of activities unite the youth and they play their role to create harmony in the society. The promotion of polo is a need of time to maintain peace in society.”

Crowd watches the match during a polo game in Skardu, in Pakistan's northeastern Gilgit-Baltistan region on November 21, 2024. (Photo courtesy: ISPR)

Afrad Gul, the team captain of the winning Chilas team, appreciated locals who supported the tournament. 
“I have been playing polo for the last 15 years, my son was also part of my team,” Gul said in a phone interview. “We have left no stone unturned to keep this regional game alive.”


Pakistan government slams Imran Khan’s wife for using Saudi Arabia for ‘political point scoring’

Updated 22 November 2024
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Pakistan government slams Imran Khan’s wife for using Saudi Arabia for ‘political point scoring’

  • Deputy foreign minister urges political forces to desist from compromising Pakistan’s foreign policy for political objectives
  • Khan has been in prison since August last year and facing a slew of legal challenges which he says are politically motivated

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan government on Friday rejected comments by Bushra Bibi, the wife of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan, that Saudi Arabia had been opposed to her husband’s government, calling on political forces to desist from compromising the country’s foreign policy for the sake of “petty” political point scoring. 
In a rare public message on Thursday, Bushra assured state institutions Khan had no plans to seek revenge from opponents if he was freed from jail, as she rallied supporters to join a protest planned by Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in Islamabad on Nov. 24. In the message, she also made remarks that were widely seen as implying that the Saudi government had been opposed to Khan. 
“Implicating Saudi Arabia for petty political point scoring is regrettable and indicative of a desperate mindset,” Pakistan’s deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar said in a statement after Bushra’s video was released. “We urge all political forces to desist from compromising Pakistan’s foreign policy in pursuance of their political objectives.”
“Pakistan and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are close friends and brothers. This relationship is based on mutual respect,” Dar added. “We have great admiration for Saudi Arabia’s journey of development and prosperity. The Pakistani nation is proud of its close relationship with Saudi Arabia which has always stood by Pakistan through thick and thin.”
After his ouster from the PM’s office in a parliamentary vote of no-confidence in 2022, Khan had also alleged that he was removed by his political rivals and the all-powerful military with the backing of the United States government. All three deny the charge. 
Khan has been in prison since August last year and facing a slew of legal challenges. He denies any wrongdoing, and alleges all the cases registered against him are politically motivated to keep him in jail.


Pakistan telecom regulator affirms support for ‘positive use’ as VPN ban deadline looms

Updated 22 November 2024
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Pakistan telecom regulator affirms support for ‘positive use’ as VPN ban deadline looms

  • PTA says businesses can use VPNs by registering with government but unregistered VPNs will be blocked after Nov. 30
  • Rights activists say government wants to block vital tools that allow users to bypass restrictions amid digital crackdown

ISLAMABAD: The chairman of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), Major General (r) Hafeezur Rehman, said this week the body would facilitate the “positive use” of virtual private network (VPN) services even as the government was determined to move ahead with plans to block unregistered VPNs by the end of this month.
The PTA says businesses and freelancers can continue to legally use VPNs by registering with the government, but unregistered VPNs will be blocked in Pakistan after Nov. 30. Authorities say the measures are meant to deter militants and other suspects who use VPNs to conceal their identities and spread “anti-state propaganda” and promote “blasphemous” or other illegal content online.
Digital rights activists say the move is part of government attempts to block vital tools that allow users to bypass restrictions amid a wave of digital crackdowns, particularly since the use of VPNs has sharply risen in Pakistan since February this year when the government banned X. 
The federal government is also moving to implement a nationwide firewall to block malicious content, protect government networks from attacks, and allow the government to identify IP addresses associated with what it calls “anti-state propaganda” and terror attacks. Internet speeds have dropped by up to 30-40 percent over the past few months due to the firewall, according to the Wireless and Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan (WISPAP).
“We don’t say to block the VPNs but to regulate the VPNs,” the PTA chairman said on Thursday during an address at Youth Safety Summit Pakistan, jointly organized by TikTok and the PTA.
“If somebody needs VPN for the business purposes, for some positive use, nobody will stop him, let me reassure you, we will facilitate him.”
Rehman said the authority issued its first letter for VPN registration back in December 2010.
“It is now 15 years,” he said. “We have been pushing people to please register with us so that their business is not disturbed.”
The PTA chairman urged TikTok and other social media platforms to use artificial intelligence tools to “block anti-state and blasphemous content.”
“This summit marks a significant step in our mission to secure a safe and inclusive digital environment for Pakistan’s youth,” Rehman said. “PTA remains steadfast in its efforts to implement innovative measures that protect children online and promote a digitally responsible society.”
Emir Gelen, the director of government relations and public policy at TikTok for the Middle East, Turkiye, Africa, Pakistan and South Asia, reaffirmed TikTok’s commitment to online safety at the summit. 
“At TikTok, we are committed to ensuring the online safety and well-being of our users, particularly children and youth,” he said.
“We believe that this summit marks an important step toward creating a safer online environment in Pakistan … We’re dedicated to promoting digital literacy and online safety through our initiatives, and we look forward to continuing our collaboration with the PTA to achieve this goal.”
In August, the Pakistan Business Council (PBC) warned that frequent Internet disruptions and low speeds caused by poor implementation of the national firewall had led many multinational companies to consider relocating their offices out of Pakistan, with some having “already done so.” The Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA), the country’s top representative body for the IT sector, warned this week Internet slowdowns and the restriction of VPN services could lead to financial losses and closures and increase operational costs for the industry by up to $150 million annually.
Pakistan’s IT and ITeS exports have been growing at an average of 30 percent per year, and are on the way to achieve over $15 billion in the next 5 years, according to industry data, provided the government ensures continuity in export, fiscal, financial, SME, infrastructure and IT policies.
“If the VPNs are blocked, most of IT companies, Call Centers, BPO [business process outsourcing] organizations of Pakistan will lose all the major Fortune 500 clients, as well as others – as data protection and cybersecurity are of paramount importance to our clients, and connecting to client systems through VPN is a global norm and standard, and is a basic requirement and expectation of clients around the world,” P@SHA Chairman Sajjad Mustafa Syed said in a statement released on Tuesday.
“Additionally, no international company of any size tolerates any intrusion into their security protocols by any private or public institution.”