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Saturday, November 10, 2018

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Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates Are Starving Yemenis to Death

BY RADHYA ALMUTAWAKEL, ABDULRASHEED ALFAQIH

The world was rightly outraged by the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, but the bombs of Mohammed bin Salman and his Emirati allies are killing dozens each day in Yemen.

jamal Khashoggi was but the latest victim of a reckless arrogance that has become the hallmark of Saudi Arabia’s foreign policy. Yemenis were saddened, but not surprised, at the extent of the brutality exhibited in Khashoggi’s killing, because our country has been living through this same Saudi brutality for almost four years.

As human rights advocates working in Yemen, we are intimately familiar with the violence, the killing of innocents, and the shredding of international norms that have been the hallmarks of Saudi Arabia’s military intervention in our country. For nearly four years, Saudi Arabia has led a coalition, along with the United Arab Emirates, that has cynically and viciously bombarded Yemen’s cities, blockaded Yemen’s ports, and prevented humanitarian aid from reaching millions in need.

According to the Yemen Data Project, Saudi and Emirati aircraft have conducted over 18,500 air raids on Yemen since the war began—an average of over 14 attacks every day for over 1,300 days. They have bombed schools, hospitals, homes, markets, factories, roads, farms, and even historical sites. Tens of thousands of civilians, including thousands of children, have been killed or maimed by Saudi airstrikes.

But the Saudis and Emiratis couldn’t continue their bombing campaign in Yemen without U.S. military support.

Saudis and Emiratis couldn’t continue their bombing campaign in Yemen without U.S. military support.

American planes refuel Saudi aircraft en route to their targets, and Saudi and Emirati pilots drop bombs made in the United States and the United Kingdom onto Yemeni homes and schools Nevertheless, U.S. attention to the war in Yemen has been largely confined to brief spats of outrage over particularly dramatic attacks, like the August school bus bombing that killed dozens of children.

Saudi crimes in Yemen are not limited to regular and intentional bombing of civilians in violation of international humanitarian law. By escalating the war and destroying essential civilian infrastructure, Saudi Arabia is also responsible for the tens of thousands of Yemeni civilians who have died from preventable disease and starvation brought on by the war. The United Nations concluded that blockades have had “devastating effects on the civilian population” in Yemen, as Saudi and Emirati airstrikes have targeted Yemen’s food production and distribution, including the agricultural sector and the fishing industry.

Meanwhile, the collapse of Yemen’s currency due to the war has prevented millions of civilians from purchasing the food that exists in markets. Food prices have skyrocketed, but civil servants haven’t received regular salaries in two years. Yemenis are being starved to death on purpose, with starvation of civilians used by Saudi Arabia as a weapon of war.

Three-quarters of Yemen’s population—over 22 million men, women, and children—are currently dependent on international aid and protection. The U.N. warned in September that Yemen soon will reach a “tipping point,” beyond which it will be impossible to avoid massive civilian deaths. Over 8 million people are currently on the verge of starvation, a figure likely to rise to 14 million—half of the country—by the end of 2018

Over 8 million people are currently on the verge of starvation, a figure likely to rise to 14 million—half of the country—by the end of 2018

if the fighting does not subside, import obstructions are not removed, and the currency is not stabilized.

To be clear, there is no party in this war is without blood on its hands; our organization, Mwatana, has documented violations against civilians by all parties to the conflict in Yemen, not only Saudi Arabia. The Houthis have killed and injured hundreds of civilians through their use of landmines and indiscriminate shelling, while militias backed by the United Arab Emirates, Yemeni government-backed militias, and Houthi militias have arbitrarily detained, forcibly disappeared, and tortured civilians. But the de facto immunity that the international community has given Saudi Arabia through its silence prevents real justice for violations by all sides.

The people of the Middle East have long and bitter experience with international double standards when it comes to human rights, as purported champions of universal rights in the West regularly ignore grave violations by their allies in the region, from the former shah of Iran to Saddam Hussein to Saudi Arabia’s current crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.

This double standard was on display during the crown prince’s recent tour of world capitals and Silicon Valley, where he was generally praised as a “reformer,” and media figures recited his vision for Saudi Arabia in the year 2030 without asking what will be left of Yemen by the year 2020 if the war continues.

Similarly, this double standard is on display when Western policymakers downplay Saudi and Emirati violations of Yemenis’ human rights by claiming that a close partnership with Riyadh is needed to prevent perceived Iranian threats to the international community, without asking whether that same community is also endangered by Saudi Arabia’s daily violations of basic international norms. And yes, there is a double standard in the wall-to-wall coverage of Khashoggi’s horrific murder, when the daily murder of Yemenis by Saudi Arabia and other parties to the conflict in Yemen hardly merits mention.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/11/08/saudi-arabia-and-the-united-arab-emirates-are-starving-yemenis-to-death-mbs-khashoggi-famine-yemen-blockade-houthis/

How Saudi Arabia became America's ally

When did the alliance start?

The relationship goes back to the late 1930s, just after Abdul Aziz ibn Saud consolidated squabbling Arab tribes into a kingdom. U.S. energy companies had discovered oil in the Arabian Peninsula, and they asked their government to promote their interests with the new monarch. In 1945, President Franklin Roosevelt met King Abdul Aziz aboard a U.S. ship in the Suez Canal, and the two got along famously. FDR gave the ailing king one of his own wheelchairs, which the king later called his "most precious possession." FDR succeeded in ensuring that the U.S., and not the British, would control Saudi oil. In return, the U.S. would provide security for the kingdom: Within a few years, a U.S. military base was set up near the oil fields. Over the decades, the oil-for-security arrangement has become vital to both countries. Saudi Arabia is now the U.S. defense industry's largest foreign customer, buying some $112 billion worth of weapons during the Obama administration alone.

Has the alliance ever wavered?

The 1973 oil embargo was a major rough patch. For a year, the Saudis quit selling to the U.S. in retaliation for U.S. support of Israel in the Yom Kippur War. But the two countries made up, united in opposition to the Soviet Union. Even the 9/11 attacks couldn't loosen the bond. Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and 15 of the 19 hijackers who flew planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were Saudi nationals, and U.S. public opinion turned strongly against the kingdom after Saudi citizens were allowed to leave the U.S. right after the attack — before the FBI could interview them. But President George W. Bush, whose family had long-standing Saudi business relationships, stood by the alliance, and in 2005, he was photographed holding hands with then–Crown Prince Abdullah. In the decade after 9/11, the Saudis spent more than $100 million on public relations in the U.S., trying to overcome the country's image as an exporter of terrorism.

Is that image true?

Yes. Decades ago, the Saudi monarchy made a tacit bargain with radical Islamists in the country: It would fund the spread of Wahhabism, the Saudi form of ultraconservative Islam, and jihadism around the world, as long as the radicals didn't blow up targets inside Saudi Arabia. Saudi money funded Islamist militants in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bosnia, and the Russian province of Chechnya. After 9/11, Saudi officials claimed to have turned off the money spigot. But secret U.S. diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks in 2009 said Saudi Arabia "remains a critical financial support base" for al Qaeda, the Taliban, the Pakistani terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba, and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, giving them "millions of dollars annually."

What about human rights?

With its draconian form of sharia law, Saudi Arabia's autocratic government is consistently rated among "the worst of the worst" human rights offenders. Its gender apartheid system treats women as second-class citizens — shrouded in abayas, dependent on male guardians, and mostly barred from going out alone and from any form of public life. There's no freedom of religion, and the press is censored. Brutal, public floggings and stonings are the penalty for such crimes as adultery and apostasy. Those arrested are routinely tortured to extract confessions. Last year, Saudi Arabia put to death 146 people for crimes including murder and drug dealing; most of the executions were beheadings.

What's in it for the U.S.?

Saudi oil, of course, although last year it made up only 9 percent of what the U.S. used, because of our fracking revolution. More strategically important today is the Saudis' regional role in counterbalancing Iran. Ever since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, when Iranian mullahs took U.S. diplomats hostage, the U.S. has seen Iran as the most dangerous actor in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia, which practices Sunni Islam, opposes the Iranian Shiite theocracy's proxy interventions in other Middle Eastern countries, including Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen. More recently, the Saudis have begun working with America's other major regional ally, Israel, because both countries see Iran as an existential threat.

How has Trump affected the relationship?

The president has long-standing business ties with the Saudis; by his own account, he's sold them millions of dollars' worth of real estate. "Am I supposed to dislike them?" he asked while campaigning for president. "I like them very much." Since taking office, he has made the Saudi alliance a priority; his first foreign trip was to Riyadh. Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner quickly grew close to one of the king's sons, Mohammed bin Salman, and the administration strongly supported Mohammed's elevation to crown prince last year, viewing him as a reformer intent on modernizing his country. Congress, though, is not so enamored. The killing of Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last month prompted the Senate to invoke the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, which requires the president to identify within four months which individual Saudis should be sanctioned. "In moments like this, you have to embrace your values," said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). "No more transactional interactions."

U.S. support for the war in Yemen

Barack Obama initially backed Saudi Arabia's war against Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen in 2015 in order to prevent the overthrow of the Yemeni government. But after thousands of civilians were killed in Saudi airstrikes, Obama suspended a sale to the Saudi military of some $390 million in weaponry. Trump pushed that sale through right after he took office, and U.S.-made laser-guided bombs are now being used against Houthi militants and Yemeni civilians. The Pentagon is also giving the Saudis intelligence help in identifying targets, and U.S. planes provide midair refueling for Saudi aircraft. Since last year, U.S. special forces have been stationed on the Saudi-Yemen border to help the Saudis destroy Houthi missile sites. This support, though, may soon end, as hunger and chaos threaten millions of Yemeni civilians. "Now is the time to move forward on stopping this war," Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said last week.

https://theweek.com/articles/806654/how-saudi-arabia-became-americas-ally

Houthi leader: We want peace for #Yemen, but #Saudi airstrikes must stop

By Mohammed Ali al-Houthi

Mohammed Ali al-Houthi is the head of the Supreme Revolutionary Committee.

The continued escalation of attacks against the port city of Hodeida in Yemen by the U.S.-Saudi-Emirati coalition confirms that the American calls for a cease-fire are nothing but empty talk. The recent statements are trying to mislead the world. Saudi leaders are reckless and have no interest in diplomacy. The United States has the clout to bring an end to the conflict — but it has decided to protect a corrupt ally.

Any observer of the crimes committed in Yemen by Saudi Arabia — a campaign that has been accompanied by disinformation and a blockade of journalists trying to cover the war — can offer an account of the indiscriminate killing thousands of civilians, mostly through airstrikes. Their attacks have led to the greatest humanitarian crisis on earth.

The brutality of the Saudi regime was reflected in the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi. And it can be seen in the military escalation and airstrikes in Hodeida and other cities, in defiance of all international warnings.

The blockade of the port city is meant to bring the Yemeni people to their knees. The coalition is using famine and cholera as weapons of war. It is also extorting the United Nations by threatening to cut their funds, as if it were a charity and not a responsibility required under international law and Security Council resolutions.

The United States wants to be viewed as an honest mediator — but it is in fact participating and sometimes leading the aggression on Yemen.

We are defending ourselves — but we don’t have warplanes like the ones that bomb Yemenis with banned ammunition. We can’t lift the blockade imposed on Yemeni imports and exports. We cannot cancel the air embargo and allow daily flights, or end the ban of importing basic commodities, medicines and medical equipment from any place other than the United Arab Emirates, as it is imposing on Yemeni business executives.

And the list goes on. These repressive practices are killing and destroying Yemen.

Yemen was not the one who declared the war in the first place. Even Jamal Benomar, the former United Nations envoy to Yemen, said we were close to a power-sharing deal in 2015 that was disrupted by the coalition airstrikes. We are ready to stop the missiles if the Saudi-led coalition stops its airstrikes.But the United States’ calling to stop the war on Yemen is nothing but a way to save face after the humiliation caused by Saudi Arabia and its spoiled leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has ignored Washington’s pleas to clarify Khashoggi’s murder.Moreover, Trump and his administration clearly prefer to continue this devastating war because of the economic returns it produces — they drool over those arms sales profits.

We love peace — the kind of honorable peace defended by our revolution’s leader, Abdulmalik al-Houthi. We are ready for peace, the peace of the brave. God willing, Yemenis will remain the callers of peace and lovers of peace.

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People “disappeared” in #Pakistan - Return From a Pakistan Dungeon

By Shah Meer Baloch and Rabia Bugti

Thousands of people have been “disappeared” in Pakistan. And for those who reappear, life is never the same.

This is a tale of every missing person who has borne the brunt of torture in a detention center.

The torture is meant to be painful but more painful and damaging is the psychological effect on the missing persons and their family members. The experience damages them mentally and reshapes their personalities.

Spending just a few days in a detention center – more aptly a dungeon — with no window and proper space to lay down completely reshaped the life of Khalil Ahmed. He was abducted in June 2010. At the time of his abduction, he was a premedical student at Khuzdar Degree College in Balochistan. He left his studies after the incident.

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When he was released after three days of harrowing torture, Ahmed reached home trussed and blindfolded. It seemed, however, that his abductors had uncovered his eyes.

We met the silent and lost Ahmed in Karachi when he was brought to the metropolitan city for routine checkups with a psychiatrist. Medication keeps him in a semi-stupor and he rarely talks; despite many attempts, he did not respond to us. When his younger brother asked him if he was beaten and interrogated in captivity, Ahmed left the room without a word.

Any experience that changes one’s emotional, intellectual, and physical being in a negative sense is called trauma. The missing persons who are released after torture remain traumatized and scarred for life — along with their family members.

Despite pressure from the Pakistani establishment, the issue of “disappeared” people has been raised nationally and internationally. Not too many people are raising the issue, but a few have written on this pressing matter. However, the mental health of missing people and their loved ones is often overlooked, especially upon their return.

“Missing persons and their loved ones, the traumatized ones, live in a state of helplessness and resignation. It’s like someone stops existing,” Farah Nasim, a psychotherapist, told The Diplomat. “The main reason behind torture is to break someone’s will and rob him of his dignity, pride, respect, and dreams… so the tortured people, who come from dungeons, can’t be the same again. They can’t act in the same way as they used to. It is like raping a woman and robbing her dignity and respect and expecting her to act normal. This is impossible.”

Most of the missing persons’ cases have been reported in Balochistan and the Federally Tribal Administered Areas (which now have been merged with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province). Since 1948 Balochistan has witnessed various rounds of insurgencies; the current, fifth round began in the rugged mountains of Kohlu and Dera Bugti. It permeated across Balochistan after the killing of the former chief minister of Balochistan and the chief of the Bugti tribe, Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, in a military operation initiated by Pakistan’s then-dictator, General Pervez Musharraf, in August 2006.

The disappearances are a response by the state to the separatist movement. Separatists, sympathizers, their family members, supporters, and political workers have been whisked away by the state. But this fire has engulfed more innocent souls than supporters of insurgents.

The case of FATA is a bit different than Balochistan. In this northwestern region, the issue of people going missing emerged when Pakistan joined the war against terrorism. As their region shared borders with Afghanistan, the local people had to bear the brunt of Pakistan’s anti-terror campaigns. Manzoor Pashteen, the founder of the Pashtun Tahafuz (protection) Movement (PTM), has consistently raised his voice against enforced disappearances in FATA.

According to Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) data, 728 people reportedly went missing last year. HRCP also says that since 2001, over 10,000 people have gone missing, of which approximately 3,000 are unaccounted for.

The government of Pakistan and its institutions provide very contradictory figures to that of HRCP and other human rights organizations. As per the Pakistani institutions, not more than 2,000 people are missing across the country.

Pashteen claims that in the past decade, approximately 32,000 Pashtuns have gone missing from FATA. That means 32,ooo families have been affected. At Pashteen’s gatherings, the families of missing persons come forward and narrate their heart-wrenching ordeals.

The PTM leader has been campaigning for the release of missing persons. The most haunting fact is that the missing are never charged openly – or given a chance to defend themselves — in a court of law. Instead, they are tortured and humiliated in a secret dungeon. Pashteen demands that the state and security forces present the missing persons in court and punish them if they have committed any crime — but simply whisking them away is unconstitutional.

Pashteen has even blamed the officials of the “missing persons commission” for harassing the wife of a missing man. If the commission’s officials harass and mentally torture family members, then how will the missing be treated in a dungeon?

Ahmed typifies an extreme case of devastated mental health after being “disappeared.” There are also those who can’t integrate into society again. Despite their psychological trauma, most missing persons after being released prefer to be silent — because narrating what they went through might land them in the dungeon again.

Many victims we met refused interviews. Some refused to meet at all. They lose trust in people; some even lose faith in God. “How could they trust anyone when no one helped them in the dungeon?” said Farah.

It’s not only missing persons who go through trauma; their family members suffer as well. “The people who love the victims can equally feel the torture and bear the brunt of it. Trauma is always shared,” said Farah.

Asad Baloch has spent over seven years waiting for his father to be returned. Asad was in his teens when his father was whisked away during a military operation on February 18, 2011. Now Asad is an adult, and he does not know whether his father is alive or dead.

“I want to know if my dad is in a dungeon or has been killed. This thought had made me restless. I can’t live a normal life,” said Asad.

As the eldest son, and living in a tribal society, the many responsibilities after his father’s sudden disappearance have overburdened Asad.

During our talks, Asad goes numb and sometimes silent. He never knew that he was suffering from severe mental disorders until one of his family friends told him to visit a psychologist after witnessing changes in his personality.

Asad suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and depression. He has lost the ability of resilience and suffers frequent panic attacks as well. This incident also increased Asad’s hatred against security forces. “I feel like hitting and harming paramilitary forces when I see them or their convoys. I just detest them,” he said angrily.

Asad, in a sense, is one of the lucky ones. Not everyone can afford to visit a psychotherapist or psychologist; many will suffer indefinitely without ever receiving help or a diagnosis.

Professionally working with “missing persons” is an unknown branch of trauma, and academically represents the development of a new aspect of human psychology, said Farah.

After the Vietnam War, when soldiers and survivors came back, psychologists began to examine how killing and being killed in the name of war can damage even those who survive. When the survivors came out of the war they were totally different people suffering with a severe “fear of living.”

All over the world mental health practitioners and researchers have extensively worked on how the atrocities of war impact mental health. Whether victorious or defeated in battle, either way the soldiers were mentally damaged.

“The world needed to stop glorifying the solders by giving them the medals,” Farah said.

Balochistan and FATA are among the most undeveloped places of Pakistan, meaning victims and their family members don’t have access to psychologists. Ahmed and Asad both travel about a thousand kilometers to Karachi for their checkups.

Even if a person has access, social pressure may prevent treatment. In tribal societies like those in Balochistan and FATA, victims and their families rarely visit psychologists because psychological issues are stigmatized.

Thus feelings of helplessness prevail in victims and their family members.

“The victims can integrate with society again but they do need professional and family or societal help,” Farah explained. “Definitely, they can’t be the same person again but they can at least cope with the issues.”

The most disturbing fact is that relatives and friends view the victims and those closest to them with suspicious eyes after they return. Some even distance themselves from the victims because of fear that they may be harmed by the state.

In Pakistan, the issue of missing persons is a red line. Media houses and journalists refrain from crossing it. Digging deep into this matter sometimes invites the wrath of the establishment.

Sajid Hussain is one of the few journalists who have extensively reported on the issue. Doing so put his own life in danger, and he is now living in self-exile. Hussain could not go unscathed after reporting the ordeals of missing people; he too has some scars.

“The dead do not haunt me as much as the missing do,” Hussain told The Diplomat. “To tell the truth, I feel relieved when I hear about the discovery of a missing person’s body. But the stories of those languishing blindfolded in tiny, dark cells for years make me avoid dark, congested places.

“My prose betrays me if I try to write about any subject other than the missing persons. I am forced to think I should be trying to help highlight another case of enforced disappearance. At the same time, I’m bored of writing the same damn story for over 10 years. ‘The story of this guy who was whisked away by uniformed men and is still missing.’ I want to write about happier things, about personal things. The problem is I can’t. Is that what you call PTSD?”

Asad Baloch’s missing father was a political activist and worker of the Balochistan National Party (BNP). BNP’s chief, Sardar Akthar Mengal, in his maiden speech in Pakistan’s Parliament raised the issue of missing people. Mengal submitted a record of around 5,000 missing persons. He blamed the state for doing nothing to ensure their recovery.

Surprisingly, there is no governmental or nongovernmental organization for treating the mental health issues of victims and their loved ones. Fazila Alyani, who is a member of the Balochistan chapter of the National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR), told The Diplomat, “Unfortunately, no one has raised the issue of their mental health before but we will put this issue on the government’s table soon.”

The Diplomat tried to reach Pakistani Minister for Human Rights Dr. Shireen Mazari for comment but got no response. When contacted, other officials at the ministry refused to comment on the issue, saying “it has no relevance with the ministry.”

Farah observed that “if the state takes any steps to resolve the issue, it directly decreases the stresses of the victims and their family members go through. Peace in a society brings mental peace as well.”

Before his abduction, Ahmed was the brightest and most intelligent son in his family. He dreamed of being a doctor and rendering his valuable services to the most impoverished people in the most impoverished Pakistani province, Balochistan. But now dark rooms and inhuman torture haunts him.

The helplessness of his dungeon has taken over Ahmed. Once, he wanted to treat others but now he is roaming city to city for his own treatment. Doctors and family members alike seem hopeless about his recovery.

Ahmed has returned from the dungeon, but his ordeal is far from over.

Pakistan: Festering Wound In Balochistan – Analysis

By Tushar Ranjan Mohanty

Five construction workers of non-Baloch ethnicity were shot dead while another three suffered injuries in an attack near Ganz, some 15 kilometers west of Jiwani town in the Gwadar District of Balochistan on October 31, 2018. According to official sources, the labourers were working at a China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)-related private housing scheme on Peshkan-Ganz road, which links Gwadar with Jewani, when a group of unidentified assailants riding motorcycles appeared on the scene and opened fire. Security officials identified four of the deceased as Naeem Ahmed and Hunzullah, residents of Karachi (Sindh); Irshad Ali of Sukkur (Sindh); and Muhammad Shakir of Multan (Punjab). The identity of the fifth deceased is yet to be ascertained.

Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) ‘spokesperson’ Azad Baloch, claiming responsibility for the attack, stated,

The site attacked today was part of CPEC project… Today’s attack is a clear message to China and all other countries that Balochistan is an occupied territory. We warn all military and other constructions companies to immediately stop working on their projects in Gwadar or they will be targeted by Baloch fighters.

He added that any agreement with China and other countries by Pakistan, without the consent of the Baloch nation and before the freedom of Balochistan, has no legal standing. Further, that Pakistan on October 29, 2018, organised a conference of 26 countries – Asian Parliamentary Assembly Committee on Political Affairs – in its attempt assert the legality of its illegal occupation in Balochistan. Warning against the ongoing ‘colonisation’ of Balochistan he stated,
China and Pakistan are settling Punjabis and Chinese in Gwadar and other areas of Balochistan’s coastal belt to turn the Baloch into a minority under their expansionist designs… If the international community fails to fulfil their responsibilities and turns a blind eye to the Pakistani and Chinese colonisation of Balochistan, then the Baloch nation will have no other option but to target all non-Baloch settlers in Balochistan… The BLA will continue to resist against the occupation of Baloch Ocean and coastal belt…

He added that China and Pakistan were building around 70 housing schemes under the exploitative CPEC colonisation project.

On August 11, 2018, six persons – among them three Chinese engineers – were injured in a suicide attack on a bus in the Dalbandin area of Chagai District in Balochistan. The bus carrying 18 Chinese engineers was being escorted by Frontier Corps (FC) troops to the Dalbandin airport from the Saindaik copper and gold mines, when a suicide bomber tried to drive his explosives-laden vehicle into the bus. “The explosives-laden vehicle exploded near the bus on Quetta-Taftan Highway – and as a result three Chinese engineers, two FC soldiers and the bus driver were injured,” an unnamed Levies official stated. Saifullah Khatiran, Deputy Commissioner of Chagai District, disclosed that the engineers were working on the Saindak project, a joint venture between Pakistan and China to extract gold, copper and silver from an area close to the border.

Jiand Baloch, a BLA ‘spokesperson’, had then stated, “We targeted this bus which was carrying Chinese engineers. We attacked them because they are extracting gold from our region, we won’t allow it.” In a statement issued on Twitter, the BLA identified the suicide bomber as Rehan Baloch, who died in the attack, as the elder son of BLA’s ‘senior commander’ Aslam Baloch.

On May 4, 2018, six ethnic Punjabi labourers were killed and one injured in an incident of firing in the Laijay area of Kharan District. Levies sources said the labourers, who hailed from eastern Punjab, were working on a mobile tower and were sleeping in tents at the site when unidentified militants on motorcycles opened fire on them. The assailants escaped unhurt after the attack. There was no claim of responsibility.

There is persistent discontent among the ethnic Baloch with regard to CPEC, as the Province is at the heart of the USD 62 billion scheme – a massive series of projects that includes a network of highways, railways and energy infrastructure spanning the entire country. CPEC is a flagship project in China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). This discontent constitutes an enduring threat to Chinese engineers, workers and people associated the constituent projects from Baloch nationalists, who consider it part of a ‘strategic design’ by Pakistan and China to loot Balochistan’s resources and eliminate the Baloch culture and identity.

Highlighting the existing discontent, the then Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo on April 11, 2018, had said that his province was being neglected by the Federal Government in the CPEC project: “More than Rs. [PKR] 5,000 billion is being spent on the CPEC, but Balochistan is not receiving even one per cent of it.”

Earlier, on March 5, 2017, pro-Government Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) president Sardar Akhtar Jan Mengal had asserted that no development could be seen in Balochistan under CPEC, and that this project would not benefit its people, as not a single development project had been launched in the region as part of the mega project. He had also argued that CPEC was not meant for the development of Balochistan, but rather for converting the Baloch nation into a “minority on its own soil.” Sardar Mengal alleged, further,

The Punjab is looting resources of the small provinces for its own interest. We do not ask anything from the Punjab, but want ownership of all the resources of Balochistan. The people of Balochistan, and not Sardars and Nawabs, deserved and owned these resources.

Asserting that CPEC would convert the Baloch people into minorities in their own homeland, Noordin Mengal, a human rights campaigner from Balochistan, stated that, with an influx of outsiders as a result of the project, the identity of the Baloch was being threatened.

Much earlier, on August 13, 2016, dubbing China, a ‘great threat’ to the Baloch people, United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Balochistan representative Mehran Marri had argued,
China really-really is spreading its tentacles in Balochistan very rapidly, and therefore, we are appealing to the international community. The Gwadar project is for the Chinese military. This would be detrimental to international powers, to the people’s interest, where 60 percent of world’s oil flows. So, the world has to really take rapid action in curbing China’s influence in Balochistan in particular and in Pakistan in general.

Indeed, the Senate (upper house of the National Assembly) was informed on November 24, 2017, that 91 per cent of the revenues to be generated from the Gwadar port as part of CPEC would go to China, while the Gwadar Port Authority would be left with a nine per cent share in the income for the next 40 years. This was disclosed by the then Federal Minister for Ports and Shipping, Mir Hasil Bizenjo, after senators expressed concern over the secrecy surrounding the CPEC long-term agreement plan, with many observing that the agreement tilted heavily in China’s favour. Balochistan will not get a single paisa from the revenue, because ports are a federal subject and no steps were taken to make an exception for the impoverished Balochistan province.

The Gwadar Port is the epicentre of whole of CPEC project in Pakistan, yet the residents of the city have a hard time getting drinking water on a daily basis. In order to address the drinking-water shortage in Gwadar, the Federal Government has announced many desalination plants, but none has yet materialized.

Most of the other CPEC projects are for power generation, as Pakistan was facing a severe power shortage. CPEC projects are expected to generate almost 10,000 megawatts of electricity for the national grid. But again, Balochistan has not benefited from this. Of the 21 electricity-generation plants planned under CPEC, only one is in Balochistan, and that will also supply electricity to the national grid and not exclusively to Balochistan.

Provoked by a sense of deliberate neglect of the province and systematic loot of its natural resources, the Baloch militant groups have been targeting non-Baloch workers and people associated with CPEC. Militants trying to disrupt construction of CPEC projects in Balochistan have killed 66 persons since 2014. According to Colonel Zafar Iqbal, a spokesperson for the construction company Frontier Works Organisation (FWO), “The latest figure has climbed up to 44 deaths and over 100 wounded men on CPEC projects, mainly road construction in Balochistan, which began in 2014.” Since September 7, 2016, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), another 22 persons have been killed in different CPEC related projects across the province (till November 4, 2018).

The latest attack, on October 31, came a couple of days before newly elected Prime Minister Imran Khan’s departure for China on a three-day official visit. Khan’s visit evoked considerable interest as it comes in the wake of his past criticism of CPEC projects. On October 6, 2018, Khan declared that Pakistan was reviewing the projects under CPEC to safeguard the interest of the people in Balochistan Province, adding, “Balochistan will get its due share, whatever it may be, in the CPEC.” Unfortunately, the Province has been getting such assurances for a long time, without any visible positive movement on the ground.

د خادم رضوي او مولانا فضل الرحمان پرضد د غدارۍ مقدمې غوښتنه شوې

د لاهور هایي کورټ د نومبر پر نهمه هغه درخواست د اورېدنې لپاره منظور کړ په کوم کې چې د

تحریک لبېک پاکستان پر مشر خادم حسېن رضوي او د جمعیت علما اسلام ف ډلې پر مشر مولانا فضل الرحمان د غدارۍ مقدمې درجولو غوښتنه شوې ده.

د لاهور هایي کورټ جج جسټس باقر نجفي ویلي دي چې د ولسي وګړي شبیرالله د دې درخواست اوریدنه به د نومبر پر ۱۲مه کېږي.

په درخواست کې ویل شوي چې خادم حسېن رضوي او مولانا فضل الرحمان د سپریم کورټ د اسیه بی بی کېس په فېصلې تنقید کړی دی ، د ریاست او پوځ پرضد یې خبرې کړې دي ، خلک یې راپارولي او د ولس جایدادونو ته یې زیان رسولی دی.

په درخاست کې غوښتنه شوې ده چې عدالت دې د خادم حسېن رضوي او مولانا فضل الرحمان پرضد د غدارۍ مقدمې درجولو په اړه حکومت ته د پالیسي جوړولو امر وکړي.

د پاکستان سپریم کورټ د اکتبر پ ۳۱مه د اسلام پېغمبر ته په سپکاوي تورنه شوې عیسوۍ مېرمن اسیه بي بي بې ګناه وګرځوله او د هغې د خوشي کولو امر یې وکړ.

نوموړې بیا د عدالتي پرېکړې په رڼا کې په ملتان کې له زندانه خوشې شوه خو کره ځای یې نه دی مالوم چې هغه اوس چېرې ده.

تر هغه وروسته د تحریک لبیک پاکستان او جمعیت علما اسلام په ګډون د نورو مذهي ډلو له خوا احتجاجي مظاهرې پیل شوې.

په دې احتجاجونو کې پر حکومت ، عدالت او پوځ یو شمېر نیوکې وشوې.

د جمعیت علما اسلام ف ډلې غړې او پخوانۍ د قامي اسمبلۍ غړې نعیمه کشور خان مشال راډیو ته وویل چې عدالت ته تګ د هر چا حق دی خو د دوې په وینا ، د دوي د ګوند مشر مولانا فضل الرحمان د این او قانون پرضد څه خبره نه ده کړې.

د تحریک لبیک پاکستان له خوا تر اوسه د لاهور په های کورټ کې د ورکړل شوي درخواست په اړه څه غبرګون مخې ته نه دی راغلی.

Pakistani right-wing political party meets online backlash after sowing violence in Asia Bibi case

Petitions and campaigns have been launched against right-wing Islamist political party Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan(TLP), in the wake of the violent protests followed by Asia Bibi's acquittal on October 31, 2018. Pakistani Christian Aasiya Noreen (widely known as Asia Bibi) was convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to death by hanging by a Pakistani court for allegedly making derogatory comments against Islam — a charge she denies.

After Asia Bibi's acquittal, TLP led a violent wave of protests which took over major cities of the country and brought the country to a halt for three days. The protesters demanded that the acquittal be reversed and Bibi hanged. Violent protesters were seen carrying sticks, guns, and swords and were burning down vehicles and blocking roads.

Soon after the protests spread over the country, a campaign to launch petitions against TLP for spreading extremism was initiated. A non-profit awareness project, Pakistan Votes urged people to join to legally proceed against the TLP leaders, Khadim Hussain Rizvi and Pir Qadri. They posted on Facebook:

Within a day, 175 Pakistani citizens volunteered to petition against the political group:

Simultaneously, another campaign to ban the TLP was launched by the civil society with the hashtag #BanTLP. Activist Jibran Nasir tweeted:

People joined the civil society in support. One netizen tweeted:

Another added:

Aasia Bibi and Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan:

After three days of the shutdown, a treaty was signed between TLP and the government. According to the treaty, Asia Bibi's name would be put in the Exit Control List that means she would not be able to exit the country. Her case was to be sent into appeal and the TLP arrested workers were to be released.

Asia Bibi was released from prison on November 7, 2018, and was moved to an undisclosed location in Islamabad by the government after receiving death threats.

Recent rumors of Asia's exit from the country has stirred more controversy, and TLP again plans to hold countrywide protests. The country is watching the situation with bated breath as the government struggles to put things back to normal.