Thursday, December 2, 2021
#Pakistan - Silencing opposition - Pakistan must cut away from its royal, colonial and dictatorial legacy.
DESPITE a democratic Constitution, there seems to have been a move towards authoritarian rule in Pakistan with a concerted effort to silence and delegitimise any voices of opposition, political or otherwise. These efforts have been augmented through regulatory directives, undemocratic ordinances, extra-legal measures, and aggressive public messaging. The only capitulation by the state seems to be in the case of opposing parties that direct violence towards it under the pretence of religion.
Whether it is media, social media, human rights movements, political leaders, or even judges, there have been concerted efforts to silence them and get them to toe the line of the state.
Through attempts to put restrictions on the media, first through covert pressure on media houses to fire columnists and TV anchors who do not toe the state line, and then by proposing draconian ordinances such as the Pakistan Media Development Authority (PMDA), press freedom guaranteed by Article 19 of the Constitution is routinely violated. This was also seen when channels and newspapers with critical opinions were relegated to the end of the channels list by cable operators and banned from circulation in cantonment areas respectively. The government also stopped its advertisements for media groups that were critical, violating the right to information of citizens as guaranteed by Article 19-A as they were deprived of public messaging.
The state response to human rights movements has been even worse. The peaceful Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement (PTM) has ruffled feathers due to young and unarmed Pakhtuns demanding basic rights and protections guaranteed by the Constitution in a region ravaged by the war on terror brought to their lands by a reckless dictator. Instead of embracing the young of the former tribal areas, even their popular elected representatives have been imprisoned by the state with complete disregard for the democratic mandate they hold.
It is time that Pakistan cut away from its royal, colonial and dictatorial legacy.
Ali Wazir still remains incarcerated despite being granted bail by the Supreme Court on Tuesday, with other cases pending against him, while members of the movement and others have contrasted the treatment meted out to them with the olive branch consistently extended by the state to the violent TTP that killed thousands, and the violent TLP that on many occasions has held entire cities hostage. Such capitulation should only be extended to peaceful groups and certainly not to those who commit grave crimes including mass murder.
Similarly, the state has cracked down on NGOs by introducing stringent registration requirements that make functioning almost impossible under the excuse of foreign funding, overlooking the fact that the most foreign-funded entity in the country is the state itself. This was seen again last month with the government officials’ outburst at the Asma Jahangir Conference in Lahore where thrice-elected prime minister Nawaz Sharif was invited to address the closing ceremony in line with the tradition of the annual conference.
Even if he is considered a ‘convict and absconder’, despite the partiality with which the National Accountability Bureau targets opposition politicians, there is nothing in Pakistani law that prohibits convicted political leaders from addressing gatherings. However, the high-handedness and paranoia of the state was apparent in the suspension of internet services by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority in the vicinity of the conference in the centre of Lahore, something that ought to be seen as illegal, disproportionate and excessive.
This is not about Nawaz Sharif. This is about selective attacks against civilian politicians whose ability to compete in a democratic system is constantly undermined through all sorts of innovative tactics, ranging from blasphemy insinuations weaponised through extremist groups to the all-time favourite accountability laws that only seem to apply to opposition politicians to the use of treason clauses of the law that are used to accuse everyone that the state is displeased with, with the exception of those whom they should actually apply to for abrogating the Constitution. But these attacks haven’t even spared the apex court for raising questions regarding interference in politics by those who are meant to guard our borders.The onslaught on social media freedoms has been building since 2015 with Peca being passed the next year, and the latest social media rules, despite constant questions over their constitutionality including by the Islamabad High court, being incorporated. TikTok has been banned four times, most likely out of fear of the digital inclusion it enables for people at the margins and how it lends them the ability to have a voice with the viral factor. And Peca continues to be abused to silence journalists, activists, young citizens and political opponents for daring to exercise their guaranteed freedom of speech on the internet.It is time that Pakistan cut away from its royal, colonial and dictatorial legacy to become the completely democratic state that its Constitution envisages. This is not possible without the pressure of its citizens that have always been eager to resist attempts to put them under control, and political parties that must learn to mobilise without considering backroom deals to save their slice of the power pie that history shows always gets eaten by another eager entity.
Enforced disappearances, bogus cases, dictatorial tactics and online attacks to skew narratives have to be controlled. It is crucial that the independence of the judiciary is upheld, which may not be possible if the press is not free. Constitutional protections exist for a reason, and the roots are in our history of resistance against anyone who tries to impose their will on us.
Presidential systems or one-party systems do not belong in our vibrant democracy with a diverse populace, which is why the autonomy that the 18th Amendment gives to provinces was welcomed across the board. Let us work together to reap its benefits rather than try to upstage one another.
The censorship of opposing voices cannot continue, and the future belongs to an inclusive democratic system. If the government insists on burying its head in the sand, it must realise that the grains of sand around its head belong to the people who lend them legitimacy, and the people are not fools.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1661474/silencing-opposition
#Pakistan - The wages of the #IMF
Durdana Najam
IMF, World Bank have been of no use other than exacerbating Pakistan’s economic woes, says American economist.Despite having some of the best internationally recognised minds to manage Pakistan’s financial affairs, why is there no exit from the economic woes? Is there a probability that these able minds have been working as the so-called economic hitmen to keep Pakistan financially bankrupt? This is not an illusion of a conspiratorial mind as the readers might be tempted to think. There are reasons for the doubt. For instance, take the case of the IMF’s six billion dollar package. We have not even received half of the total package as the debt is released in bits and pieces. With every new tranche, a list of dos and don’ts is handed down for compliance. Being negotiated currently is a tranche worth $1 billion. So far, the walk on the tightrope has been made possible with the massive devaluation of the rupee, high electricity and gas tariffs, elimination of Rs350 billion worth of subsidies, the reincarnation of petroleum levy by Rs33, cut in the development budget to the tune of Rs300 billion and imposition of new taxes. Soon a mini-budget will be floated to give a legal cover to these demands. According to experts, this will be one of the biggest mini-budgets in the history of Pakistan. How will this affect a common man? That is not on the agenda of the government economic wizards. What is on their hit list is compliance with the IMF demand. Now let us talk about the illusion part. As compared to the $1billion IMF tranche, which is so far behaving like a sinking boat that may tumble the country with it if not rescued, Pakistan has earned $6 billion from textile export in the first four mounts of the current fiscal year. Juxtapose the part receipts of the IMF package with $6 billion from only four months of textile export, and you will find yourself questioning the justification for the anxiety to keep the IMF boat afloat. With an industrial output sufficient to overcome the so-called current account deficit, why have we tied ourselves to the IMF programme, which for all its purposes is only tightening the noose around common men’s neck? The question is: what justifies our eagerness to meet the IMF unjust demands for a $1 billion tranche, especially when our economy has the potential to wade us out of solvency — if there is any? Recently, Dr Arthur Betz Laffer, an American economist, was in Pakistan to attend Pakistan Prosperity Forum — 2021 arranged by the Prime Institute in Islamabad. During his address, he advised Pakistan’s economic heads to refrain from taking dictation from the IMF and the World Bank. Adding further to his anguish against the lending institutions, he said that the IMF and the World Bank have been of no use other than deliberately exacerbating Pakistan’s economic woes. He reminded us that we were not their slaves and that we should act independently. This advice of acting ‘independently’ brings to mind the ardent opposer of the IMF and the World Bank, Mr Yanis Varoufakis, a Greek-Australian economist and politician. He served as Greek Minister of Finance from January to July 2015. During his stint as finance minister, he refused to bend to the demands of the lending institutions and instead said that “…we are insolvent, and we have to embrace our insolvency.” Varoufakis equated these creditors with terrorists. Like terrorists, they instil fear and trepidation so that their targets bend and give in. The weapons used in this warfare are the economic experts drawn usually from the targeted countries. They deliberately make flawed policies. Each policy digs a hole in the exchequer. Eventually, a time comes when this leaking bucket becomes a burden to the community of greedy and expedient politicians, military personals and businessmen, who had been raised over the period to make this leaking bucket a reality. Later, each hole is patched from the creditor’s debt in return for more taxes, exorbitant utility bills, and inflationary pressures. Varoufakis met Barack Obama at the Greek Independence Day celebration in the East Room of the White House and was asked to “swallow bitter stuff” like he did to survive the 2008 economic crisis. Varoufakis replied, “You inherited a mess when you came to office, but at least you had your central bank behind you. We inherited a mess and we have a central bank” — the European Central Bank — “trying to choke us”. The creditors wanted Greece “to privatize state assets, such as Athens’s port; reform institutions and practices perceived to be inefficient, including its health-care and welfare systems, in ways likely to result in mass dismissals; and adjust its budget through further tax increases and spending cuts, to the point where Greece’s income significantly exceeded its spending on everything but its repayments”. From Laffer to economic experts like Dr Ikramulhaq, government is advised to downgrade income and sales tax to widen the tax net. However, the government has no appetite to hear sane voices. Instead, it is fuelling the 134 non-functioning state-owned organisations with an annual injection of $4 million. How does Pakistan’s economic wizard justify this loss is anybody’s guess.
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2331970/the-wages-of-the-imf
#Pakistan - Chairman #PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s message on International Day of Persons with Special Abilities
Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that the time has come for the state to stop resorting to excuses and depriving those with special abilities of their rights. Everyone must now come to the same page on the issue of rights, health, education, and employment of more than 3 million special people.
According to a statement issued by Media Cell Bilawal House, the Chairman PPP in his message on the International Day of Persons with Disabilities further said that people with special abilities do not need our attention and help, but the aid we provide them is a test of our responsibility and humanity. Creating a balanced and equitable society without full implementation of the rights of persons with special abilities is a dream that needs to be accomplished.
Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that during the tenure of the selected Prime Minister, special people have been severely affected by historical inflation, unemployment and poverty. The government has left them helpless like other downtrodden sections of the society.
Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also said that the PPP has always been responsible and committed in including the talents of specially qualified persons in the national development. The introduction of 5% quota for employment in government departments and the interest-free loan scheme of Rs. 1 – 2 lakh with the Benazir Income Support Programme are a few groundbreaking initiatives taken by PPP.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that the Sindh government of Pakistan Peoples Party has shown remarkable performance in all the standards of implementation of UN conventions on persons with special qualifications. The Sindh Assembly passed the Sindh Differently Abled Persons Act-2014 in 2017, under which persons with disabilities were declared as persons with special abilities.
The issuance of driving licenses for the deaf and the establishment of a Center for Autism Rehabilitation and Training in Karachi are the hallmarks of the peoples government of Sindh. The Department of Special Education in Sindh is also in the process of setting up special children’s schools along modern lines.
The PPP chairman said that Pakistan Peoples Party is the only political party in the country whose manifesto includes a revolutionary strategy for the protection of the rights and development of persons with special abilities. He said that the Pakistan Peoples Party government to be formed after the forthcoming elections, would take effective measures to ensure full implementation of the rights of persons with special abilities. The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has promised to abide by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which was ratified by the government led by former President Asif Ali Zardari in 2011.
https://www.ppp.org.pk/pr/25863/
Wednesday, December 1, 2021
#Pakistan - #Balochistan’s Students Protest Enforced Disappearances
By Somaiyah Hafeez
@sommulbaloch
Students at the University of Balochistan in the Pakistani city of Quetta have been staging a sit-in, resulting in all academic activities being halted, for almost three weeks. Protests started on November 7 after the enforced disappearance of two students of the university, who were allegedly abducted from the campus. Faseeh Baloch and Sohail Baloch went missing on November 1. Since then, their fellow students have been protesting, day and night in the biting cold outside the university. The demonstrators say they won’t stop unless the missing students are released. Negotiations between the students and the university administration took place on November 9 but failed to reach a solution. Afterwards, students from the Baloch Student Organization (BSO) locked the gates of the university and announced that all academic activities, including the semester examinations, would be halted until the missing students were recovered. Later, on November 11, a committee formed by the government met with the students with similarly inconclusive results. “We have had two meetings with the representatives of the government,” Zubair Baloch, chairman of BSO Pajjar, a faction of the BSO, told The Diplomat. “In the first sitting, they assured us that the missing students would be recovered by 16 November. We paused our demonstration on 13 November, but in the second meeting, they had no information whatsoever about the whereabouts of the missing students. “Hence we have now resumed our protests, which will only end after the missing students are recovered.” The issue of the disappearances of the students was also raised in the Balochistan Assembly. This isn’t the first time that Baloch students have been abducted; however, the enforced disappearances of Faseeh and Sohail came as a shock as the students went missing from within the university campus, which has a heavy deployment of security forces, including housing a base of the Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force. Balochistan, Pakistan’s geographically largest but poorest province, has been wracked by an insurgent movement for the last two decades. Paramilitary forces are a common sight throughout Balochistan; even educational institutions are not free from the militarization.Enforced disappearances are widely believed to be a part of the state’s counterinsurgency operations. Victims of enforced disappearances range from insurgents and family members of insurgents to political workers and even students. Anyone who is merely suspected of sympathizing with insurgents is at risk of being whisked away.In a recent report titled “Living Ghosts,” the human rights group Amnesty International documented the practice of enforced disappearances in Pakistan and urged Pakistani authorities to end its use as a tool of state policy. The report consists of interviews with 10 family members of victims of enforced disappearances who are still missing to date. The report discusses at length the difficulties faced by the family members in using the legal system to locate their loved ones, the intimidation and threats they faced for their activism against the practice, and the impact of the issue on their mental well-being. As the insurgency has gained momentum over the past few years, there has been an increase in cases of enforced disappearances. Pakistan’s military, however, denies any involvement. In 2019, the director general of Inter-Services Public Relations, the publicity arm of the Pakistani military, tweeted, “Our hearts beat with families of every missing person. We share their pain and we are with them in the process of tracing them.” On November 26, the office of the registrar of University of Balochistan released a notification announcing the closure of the university until the recovery of the two missing students. “All academic and administrative functions will remain suspended,” the notification said, adding that students must vacate all hostels within three days. Baloch Student Activism The missing students are members of the BSO, a student organization that was founded to campaign for the rights of Baloch students in 1967. The BSO has been responsible for birthing many prominent Baloch politicians. Student leaders of the BSO have later gone on to participate in the politics of the country, many being elected to the National Assembly or becoming the chief minister of the province. Dr. Abdul Malik Baloch, the chief minister of Balochistan from June 2013 to December 2015, is a prominent example. Senator Muhammad Akram Dashti, who served as the speaker of the Balochistan Assembly, was also actively involved in student politics. He has raised the issue of the abduction of Baloch students in the Pakistani Senate. He told The Diplomat, “The abduction of Baloch youth, this counterinsurgency tactic, will yield dire negative consequences. Student politics has played a vital role in the politics of Balochistan and has always remained a secular, progressive, and nationalist practice. Balochistan is already a neglected province, this crackdown against the student activists will only further embolden the feelings of alienation and neglect.” “The security establishment hasn’t till date understood how to deal with the issues of Balochistan and how to address the grievances of the province,” Dashti added. “The security establishment often claims that no one is missing or the Baloch students abducted have links with the insurgency movement, but even if that’s the case, enforced disappearances isn’t the answer. If the state has any allegations against any of the students or anyone, they should take the legal procedure against them and present them in front of the courts” Students of Balochistan have been on the forefront of protests in major events in the past few years, on many occasions leading to fruitful results. In 2019, widespread protests by students against a sexual harassment scandal at the University of Balochistan resulted in the resignation of the university’s vice chancellor. The killing of a Baloch student, Hayat Baloch, by FC personnel; the murder of Malik Naz Baloch at the hands of a member of a “death squad”; and the issues with online classes during the pandemic in Balochistan, which lacks internet facilities – these are few examples that led students to mobilize and stage protests for their rights. “If anyone is doing politics that has some impact in Balochistan, then that’s the Baloch students, but they face a lot of issues: There’s [the] academic burden, [and a] lack of facilities,” said Dr. Sabiha Baloch, chairperson of the Baloch Student Action Committee (BSAC). Students undertake political activism to defend their rights, but in doing so, they face a great deal of pressure. “All the students protesting in UoB are threatened, calls are made to their parents with threats,” she said. Baloch Women and Student Politics Balochistan is a highly conservative, tribal, and patriarchal region, where women have restricted rights. However with the recent rise in enforced disappearances of Baloch men, it is the Baloch women who are filling the void created in the province’s political scene, including leading protests against enforced disappearances. Today, Baloch women have a far greater presence in the politics of the province, and much of it comes in the form of activism by Baloch women students. Last month, two young children were allegedly killed in a mortar attack by the Pakistan security forces, which led to protests by the family in Turbat and later on in Quetta, where they staged their protest with the dead bodies. Women were once again at the forefront of these protests: they shouldered the dead bodies of the children when they were finally laid down to rest. In a region where women are confined to their homes, such an act is nothing less than a rebellion. When Karima Baloch, the first women chairperson of the BSO, mysteriously died last year in Canada, Baloch women walked dozens of kilometers to take part in her last rites. Sabiha Baloch is the first female chairperson of the BSAC; however she has had to endure a lot of pressure ever since taking the responsibility. “I belong to a tribal region, and I had to keep my activism a secret for a very long time,” she said. “To date my family is pressurized with constant taunts hurled at my father in our tribe. Everyone says to him ‘your daughter is doing politics.’ They see my activism as a crime because I am a woman.” Baloch women student activists thus bear the brunt of a dual oppression. Collective Punishment Student activists, especially women, fear not only for their own safety but also for the safety of their loved ones. Sabiha’s 19-year-old brother, Shahmir Baloch, a student of Balochistan University of Engineering and Technology Khuzdhar, was abducted from the university premises along with some other students who were later released. “The day my brother was abducted, I had talked to him on call in the morning. He told me he had received a call threatening him that they’ll abduct me and telling him that ‘your sister is a terrorist,’” she recounted. “I asked him not to worry about me. We consoled each other but I had no idea they would abduct my brother – he has never been involved in student politics.” After the abduction of her brother, Sabiha was under a lot of pressure from her family to resign from her position. She said she decided to halt her activism and even offer her resignation if that would mean the safe release of her brother. Despite her efforts, the release of her brother was delayed time and again. Three months later, her cousin, Murtaza Baloch, was abducted too. Murtaza was released last week, but Shahmir is still missing. “When a female student leaves her home, she rebels against the norms of the tribal and patriarchal society,” said Sadia Baloch, a student activist from Balochistan (no relation to Sabiha). “She faces hostile behavior from administration and after all this, when she emerges as a student activist figure, there is oppression from the state and a collective punishment is given.” “Sabiha Baloch’s brother and cousin were abducted solely because she is a student activist. This is to send across a silent message to anyone resisting,” said Sadia. “If silencing myself would bring back my brother I am ready for that, but I know it wouldn’t because this is just a tactic – a collective punishment and a strategy to silence us from speaking for our rights,” Sabiha said. “They are abducting students from areas where they want to develop pressure. Zehri, Khuzdhar, Kharan, Nushki, Panjgur – every day you will receive news of enforced disappearances from these areas. “The cases that are reported on social media are just the tip of the iceberg, the majority of the cases are not even reported.” Back to the Past – or a New Future? Many Baloch student activists express concern on the mass abduction of students, fearing that security forces are looking to undo the progress the movement has made over the last few years. “Once again an atmosphere of fear is being built in Balochistan, much like 2009 times when one would think twice before calling themselves a Baloch out of fear of abduction,” Sabiha said. “From 2018-2021, the progress that was made via the movement to break free from the shackles of fear, whereby we had the hope that our protests would bear fruit in case someone is abducted or for any other issue – those chains of fear are once again being tied.” Still, the official announcement of the closure of the university until the missing students are recovered is a silent acknowledgment from the administration of the resilience of the Baloch students, who remain unshakable, unmovable, and undefeatable. Balochistan has seen a recent wave of protests from Gwadar to Quetta for the rights of the people and against enforced disappearances. Yet the protests and rallies in Balochistan don’t get any coverage in the mainstream media and Pakistani politicians avoid the issues troubling the country’s largest province.In his latest article, “History and Truth,” author Aasim Sajjad Akthar writes, “it may have been said many times but it must be said again: Balochistan continues to be treated little better than a colony in contemporary Pakistan.” In the words of Senator Dashti, “The state must not repeat the mistakes of the past. Instead of a crackdown against student activists, the state must engage with the youth of Balochistan and address their grievances. Balochistan should not be treated as a colony. That’s the only solution to the mistakes of the past – by safeguarding the rights of the future.”For over three weeks, Baloch students in Quetta have been demonstrating against the suspected abduction of two of their own.
https://thediplomat.com/2021/12/balochistans-students-protest-enforced-disappearances/
Video Report - #NayaDaur #AsmaShirazi Long Before Nawaz Sharif And Audio Leaks, History Gave Its Verdict In Bhutto's Favour: Asma Shirazi
ذوالفقار علی بھٹو ایک سازش کا شکار ہوئے اور جن ججوں نے سزا سنائی وہ بعد میں ان کے حق میں شہادتیں لے کر سامنے آئے۔ عاصمہ شیرازی لکھتی ہیں کہ آج ہماری عدالتوں سے انصاف لینے کے لیے آڈیو اور ویڈیو لیکس کا سہارا لیا جا سکتا ہے لیکن تاریخ کا فیصلہ طویل ترین رہتا ہے۔
#Pakistan: Can Nawaz Sharif Stare Down the Hybrid Regime?
@mazdaki
While the political sands are shifting, the ultimate face-off remains between Nawaz Sharif and the army – with Imran Khan and other minor players being a sideshow.
The drama which started almost two months ago with Prime Minister Imran Khan’s obstinate insistence on retaining his favourite, General Faiz Hameed Chaudhry, as director general of Inter-Services Intelligence (DG ISI) ended this past week with the military brass led by army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa ultimately prevailing.General Faiz has been posted as Commander of the XI Corps at Peshawar and the new DG ISI, Lt. General Nadeem Ahmed Anjum, has replaced him. Though the junta showed tremendous patience with its puppet PM – swallowing his tantrums and even allowing him even to interview a slate of candidates – it eventually ensured that he signed off on the candidate the army had chosen.
This is the first major, and very public, rupture between Imran Khan and General Bajwa. Both the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government and the army have been known to publicly declare that they are “on the same page”. However, that page seems to be in tatters now. And the end result is political uncertainty, if not full-blown chaos, with the two constituents of Pakistan’s hybrid regime, as well as the opposition to it, all fending for themselves.
The army imposed Imran Khan on Pakistan in 2018 by literally stealing the elections. Before engineering Imran Khan’s electoral victory, the army got the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) to oust and disqualify the three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif from office on the flimsy charge of failing to disclose potential wages from a ceremonial position he had once held in his son’s UAE-based company.
The army had been infuriated with Sharif and his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) for trying to assert a modicum of civilian supremacy and pursuing a high treason case against former dictator General Pervez Musharraf. But unable to mount an overt coup d’état due to domestic and international constraints, the brass had opted to rule indirectly in this South Asian variety of a Potemkin Democracy. The idea simply was to maintain a veneer of democracy while the army really called the shots. In the process, the army also canned Nawaz Sharif’s agenda for regional peace and trade with the neighbouring countries, especially India. An economy on upward trajectory between 2013-18, with GDP growth as high as 5.8 and the CPI inflation not exceeding 5.4%, came to a grinding halt under the new management. The junta and Imran Khan both seemed to have convinced each other that the latter had assembled a financial dream team, which would steer the country to an economic Valhalla that the army gods would get to rule over in perpetuity without ever having to deal with irksome democratic mortals.
Fast forward to the end of 2021 and Pakistan’s economy is on the brink of disaster, with inflation skyrocketing into double digits. In a play on the literal meaning of Pakistan – the land of the pure – the Economist has called the country the land of the poor, with its per capita GDP not even at two-thirds of India’s and life expectancy slightly better than Afghanistan’s. While GDP showed a slow uptick, rising imports, surging global commodity prices and the ever-weaking rupee have pushed the hybrid regime to desperately seek a lifeline from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In the interim, food and fuel prices have virtually broken the back of the middle and lower-middle classes, and crushed the poor.
But what got the army eventually worried was not the hideous reality of its warped hybrid project, but that its image as the manipulator that could no longer be hidden. The common man is pointing the finger of blame for his economic misery not just at Imran Khan but at those who have installed him. A slogan now heard at protests in the Punjab province, which is home to most of the brass and troops, goes:
“Bhukkay reh gaye main te tu,
Lut ke lay gaya GHQ”
(Who is hungry? Me and You,
Who has plundered? GHQ)
The junta seems willing to sacrifice its protégé so long as the alternative does not try to name, shame, and hold it to account for the disaster. It appears amenable to even letting the judiciary take the heat for its role in bringing down Nawaz Sharif, so long as the generals do not get blamed for leaning on the judges to do their hatchet job.
In essence, the army wants to scale back the intensely in-your-face control of politics that General Bajwa has unabashedly conducted, to one that is more restrained publicly but complete, nonetheless. It effectively wants a face-saving leeway with mere cosmetic changes, without letting the lopsided power equation change vis-à-vis the civilians. To that end, the army might prefer an in-house change where a so-called national government is cobbled together with the help of opposition members from the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), a PTI block and allied parties pried away from Imran Khan, with the tacit approval – if not support – of the PMLN. This type of dispensation would supposedly run for the rest of the National Assembly’s term through 2023. The proposition may be acceptable or even desirable for the PPP, which potentially eyes the PM slot for its young chairman, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari that otherwise is a pipe-dream given the party’s dismal standing outside the leadership’s home province of Sindh. The PPP would also get to retain its provincial government in Sindh.
Imran Khan as the incumbent would obviously flail and swing against such machinations. In fact, his clinging to General Faiz was an act of self-preservation where he sensed that the army, which as an outfit brought him in, is collectively willing to send him to the chopping block. In the ex-DG ISI, Khan saw an ambitious ally who seemed willing to help him tide over the current crisis, secure a second prime ministerial term and, in a quid pro quo, himself become the COAS next November. But just like in Vegas, in the Pakistan army too the house always wins. The army does not tolerate solo flights from within its ranks. Its decision-making is collective and individual ambition is only acceptable if it matches the institutional needs.
The Khan-Faiz gamble thus backfired, as it does not converge with the army’s current need to repair its incredibly tarnished image. Should the army show him the door, Imran Khan, for his part would not be able put up any significant resistance for multiple reasons. Every bit of Imran Khan’s post-2011 ascent has been meticulously engineered by the army, complete with building his media image, organising his rallies and protests, shepherding the pro-army politicians into his PTI, as well as ruthlessly undermining his political opponents.
Bereft of all that support, it seems highly improbable that Imran Khan would be able to challenge his army masters. The reason that the army has not drummed Imran Khan out after this spat is that there really aren’t any takers for the job, without a change in terms and conditions. In fact, the brass even helped Khan’s government ram dozens of bills, including the approval of controversial Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and voting rights for overseas Pakistanis, through a recent joint session of the parliament. While Khan may see this as success in retaining the army’s patronage, the EVMs – with an inherent potential for electronic rigging – seem to be the proverbial sword of Damocles that the army is hanging over the opposition’s head, especially Nawaz Sharif’s, for he remains defiant and unyielding.
While the political sands are shifting, the ultimate face-off remains between Nawaz Sharif and the army – with Imran Khan and other minor players being a sideshow. Sharif was wronged and doesn’t flinch from saying that it is the army which has wronged him. He, his daughter, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, and a sizeable number of the PMLN stalwarts want this rectified. They want their sham judicial disqualifications rescinded and fabricated cases quashed. The father-daughter duo wants not just a level playing field, leading up to free and fair elections, but a guarantee that the army won’t resort to its usual shenanigans and start undermining yet another democratic setup within six months. However, the army seems willing to allow the PMLN back into the game only if – and that’s a huge if – it doesn’t insist on revising and resetting the rules.
Nawaz Sharif’s younger brother and the PMLN’s president Shehbaz Sharif, who has been a consistent proponent of a near-unconditional rapprochement with the army, would be acceptable to the latter. The younger Sharif, however, can’t and won’t go against his brother, not just because of the familial hierarchy but simply because the vote bank belongs to Nawaz Sharif, and then his daughter. The army remains wary of Nawaz given both his past record of trying to assert civilian control over the military and attempts to bring General Musharraf to book for subverting the constitution, as well as the more recent tactic of publicly indicting Generals Bajwa and Faiz for engineering his fall and ouster. For his part, Nawaz Sharif, even when he does not name names, makes it a point to draw attention to the army’s decades-long violations of the constitution. For example, speaking remotely to the recently-held Asma Jahangir Conference, Sharif described those who “scale the walls of the constitution” as traitors, in a thinly-veiled reference to the putschist generals, once again implying high treason charges.
The army, under General Bajwa, therefore, appears to be looking for alternatives to Imran Khan that would also keep Nawaz Sharif at bay for now. It seems to be dragging its feet even on the PMLN’s tacit demand that if an in-house change is to be brought about, it should be for the sole purpose of ousting Imran Khan’s disastrous dispensation and holding fresh elections. The PMLN remains part of an opposition alliance called the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), which, after showing tremendous initial promise at its inception a year ago, has been marred by divisions and inaction. The PDM has been promising a multi-pronged strategy to oust Imran Khan and force his army backers to lay off meddling into politics. To that end, it had pledged a pincer strategy of protests in the streets and inside parliament, culminating in the opposition’s resignations from the assemblies. None of that materialised. The junta successfully coaxed components of the PDM, like the PPP, to avert any coherent agitation and action. But that was before the tiff between the army and Imran Khan.
Another factor that has come into play lately are accusations by members of judiciary and an alleged on-tape admission by a former Chief Justice of Pakistan, Saqib Nisar, that the army had coerced the judges into convicting and disqualifying Nawaz Sharif and his daughter on framed charges. While the PMLN has been able to build a fairly strong anti-hybrid regime narrative, it has not been able to get the PDM to put forth a tangible plan for the endgame or come up with one on its own.
To successfully prosecute political change, a sound strategy and robust struggle must match a strong narrative. In the PMLN’s case, the narrative has been enunciated fairly clearly by both Nawaz and Maryam Sharif, but there seems to be vacillation about choosing the means to that end.
I had a chance to meet Nawaz Sharif in London earlier this month. It was eminently clear that in the final lap of his long political marathon, he wants to leave a legacy not just for his party but also a mark on the country’s history. It was refreshing to hear a right-of-centre politician speak clearly about civilian supremacy guaranteed by the constitution, the rights of the federating units, civil liberties, and regional peace. He seemed clear that he would not accept a government without the authority to run it.
The former PM is clearly not interested in political scraps. He does not want to merely replace Imran Khan without a substantive change in the army’s behaviour. He realises that there is a historical opportunity to correct the course of Pakistan’s polity, that no other politician – except perhaps Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in the post-1971 scenario – has had. On the strategic front, he seemed inclined to lead a broader front to change, without compromising on the civilian supremacy or his party’s preeminence. On tactics, he appeared patient but not incognisant that time is of the essence and that the window of opportunity can close before one knows it. The constellation of an unpopular and incompetent government and its army benefactors getting squarely blamed for its failings – especially the sagging economy – and public unrest and protest are the essential ingredients for a popular political movement. Pakistan’s current political milieu has them all.
In addition, the only way to push back against the army’s behind-the-scenes political machinations is a strong people’s campaign to counter those. Can Nawaz Sharif pull the rabbit of civilian supremacy out of the current political chaos and stare down the hybrid regime? One wouldn’t know unless he gives it his best shot. But this much is certain: there is no time to vacillate and dither. As Goethe once said, “Each indecision brings its own delays and days are lost lamenting over lost days. Whatever you can do or think you can do, begin it. For boldness has magic, power, and genius in it.”
https://thewire.in/south-asia/pakistan-can-nawaz-sharif-stare-down-the-hybrid-regime
Opinion: #Pakistan’s judges need to stop getting involved in politics
The Supreme Court of Pakistan has disqualified sitting prime ministers many times. The judges even decreed the hanging of one prime minister during the reign of a military dictator. There was no public outcry against the judiciary’s dubious actions back then. But society is changing. On Nov. 21, an investigative journalism website released an alleged audio recording on which former chief justice Saqib Nisar can be heard plotting against then-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif three years ago. On the tape, Nisar can be heard urging his unknown interlocutor to “penalize” Sharif and his daughter, Maryam Nawaz. (Both were under investigation for corruption in 2018, when the recording was apparently made.) “The institutions have asked to do so, whether it is fair or not, it has to be done,” says Nisar at one point. (The journalist Ahmad Noorani, who broke the story, has explained that the term “institutions” refers to the military establishment.) Nisar also notes that they want Imran in power — apparently referring to Imran Khan, the current prime minister — and implies that the judiciary must do what it can to facilitate his rise to power. Nisar immediately claimed that the recording was fabricated. Members of the current government have started defending Nisar, apparently on the instructions of Khan. Nisar’s defenders claim that the audio is part of a campaign launched by Sharif. (Who, it should be noted, used judges against his own opponents in the past.) Some officials say that the audio of the former chief justice is a fake, cobbled together from his old speeches. Noorani says that the tape’s authenticity has been confirmed by an American company that examined it. It’s important to note that Noorani is not living in Pakistan. He is currently living in the United States, where he runs his own website. He was forced to flee his homeland after his journalistic investigations into the corruption of those in power proved too risky. He was attacked in Islamabad, Pakistan in 2017, and the police failed to arrest any of the culprits. He feared for his life due to continuous propaganda against him on some TV channels. Soon after that, he lost his job. No Pakistani newspaper or TV channel was willing to take the risk of hiring him. Just a few days ago, a prominent lawyer, Ali Ahmad Kurd, harshly criticized the judiciary for its past political interference at a conference in Lahore that brought together Indian and Pakistani journalists and activists. Also in attendance at the conference was Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmad, who reacted angrily to Kurd’s remarks: No one should dare to dictate to the judiciary. This is the first time that a prominent lawyer has criticized the judiciary so directly for violating the principle of noninterference in political matters. The Nisar audio leaked a day later. It’s worth noting that Nisar himself has figured in past accusations about political interference by the judiciary. Three years ago, a human rights group, the Women’s Action Forum, filed a reference against the then-chief justice. The complaint, submitted to the Supreme Judicial Council, listed 25 blatant violations that had allegedly been committed by Nisar during his tenure. Yet the complaint was dismissed within weeks of his retirement. Now, two years after his retirement, Nisar is facing a very specific allegation of a different kind. This allegation is not ultimately about a person. It’s about institutions. We urgently need to know the truth about the allegations against Nisar. Larger issues are at stake. Pakistanis want to know why no prime minister in Pakistan has ever completed his or her five-year term. Yet no action has ever been taken against any of the chief justices involved in the corresponding political maneuvers. (Nor, needless to say, against any of the army chiefs who were involved in the same intrigues.) People are not prepared to trust simple denials from institutions. The next audio or video scandal could very well rock Pakistan’s institutions to their core. The country urgently needs an impartial probe of this latest scandal to find out the truth. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/11/24/pakistans-judges-need-stop-getting-involved-politics/An independent judiciary is one of the crucial pillars of any genuine liberal democracy. Here in Pakistan, a new scandal has ignited a firestorm of controversy precisely because it is reminding us that our judicial branch can make no claim to independence. Our country’s senior judges have intervened in politics again and again throughout history.
Tuesday, November 30, 2021
What ‘My Body, My Choice’ Means to the Right
OPINION: MICHELLE GOLDBERG
#Pakistan - Taliban Splintered by Internal Divisions, External Spoilers
By Lynne O’Donnell
Pakistan said to be supporting alternative jihadi groups to undermine the Taliban and maintain leverage over Afghanistan.
The unity that catapulted the Taliban to victory in Afghanistan is splintering under the pressure of internal divisions that could threaten the group’s survival if rivals cannot mend their differences while dealing with the realities of running a troubled country.Against a backdrop of looming economic and humanitarian catastrophe, lines—and swords—have been drawn between two senior Taliban figures: political leader Abdul Ghani Baradar, who co-founded the group with Mullah Mohammad Omar and whose power base is in Kandahar, and sanctioned terrorist Sirajuddin Haqqani, who heads the affiliated Haqqani network and is close to al Qaeda. As Taliban factions battle for bigger slices of the pie, the local branch of the Islamic State is picking up recruits disillusioned with the political direction the Taliban are taking, security and academic sources said.Amid the internal power struggle at the top of the Taliban, and the Islamic State recruitment drive, indications are emerging of an alliance of smaller jihadi groups spearheaded by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), attracting elements dissatisfied with even the most extreme factions currently in control of Afghanistan. The Islamic Invitation Alliance (IIA), funded by the ISI, was formed in early 2020 with the aim of ensuring the Taliban’s victory, according to a document prepared for the previous government of Afghanistan, seen by Foreign Policy. It now aims to destabilize the Taliban by empowering extremism across Afghanistan, said an intelligence source involved in uncovering the group’s existence, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The emergence of the IIA, which sources say is known to the U.S. intelligence community, further complicates Afghanistan’s fractious political landscape as the country’s former allies grapple with how to deal with a government controlled by sanctioned terrorists allied to al Qaeda. The cleavage between Baradar, who cut the so-called peace deal in 2020 with former U.S. President Donald Trump, and Haqqani, who introduced suicide attacks to the Afghan battlefield, is growing wider. Baradar, now interim deputy prime minister, is seen as “America’s man,” while Haqqani, acting interior minister, represents the group’s most strident anti-Western face, which appeals to Pakistan, said Rahmatullah Nabil, the former head of intelligence for the previous Afghan government. He said divisions between the two men, who have an uneasy power-sharing agreement, are pushing Taliban foot soldiers into the arms of the Islamic State, challenging the Taliban’s control of Afghanistan, and risking the country’s stability and potentially regional peace. “Guerrilla fighting with drug smuggling income is easier than running a state,” said Nabil, referring to the Taliban’s control of heroin production and trafficking. “They have already faced several challenges, and their internal divisions are increasing.” Those divisions became public in September, shortly after the Taliban seized control of the country, and could be behind some recent high-casualty attacks attributed to the local Islamic State branch, known as the Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K), according to Weeda Mehran, a conflict expert at the University of Exeter. “We knew the Taliban was not a homogenous group. Nonetheless, we are seeing violence between rival factions now becoming more public,” she said. The Islamic State is a “convenient scapegoat” for attacks possibly committed in the fratricidal battle for supremacy. A recent attack on a Kabul military hospital, for instance, killed a Haqqani ally, Hamdullah Mukhlis, head of the capital’s military corps. Survivors of the attack told AFP that the attackers chanted “Long live the Taliban” and avoided areas of the hospital where Taliban fighters were being treated. IS-K claimed responsibility. “Baradar’s side can benefit on two fronts—if they are smart enough to play it like that: They can ensure they get their internal rivals with these huge attacks, and they can show the West they are acting against IS-K to get support for dealing with the ‘new’ terrorists,” Mehran said. IS-K’s capabilities concern the U.S. Defense Department, where belief has taken root that it could pose a threat to the United States in under a year. Recruiting experienced fighters will only bolster those worries. Colin Kahl, the U.S. undersecretary of defense for policy, told the Senate Armed Services Committee last month that the United States is fairly certain that both IS-K and al Qaeda have the “intention” to attack the U.S. homeland. Some reports have said IS-K is also absorbing members of the former state security forces as they try to avoid retributive attacks from the Taliban and earn money. Nabil said IS-K offers 30,000 afghanis, or about $300, per month. Former Afghan National Defense and Security Forces personnel, however, have denied the reports. IS-K and al Qaeda are part of an increasingly complicated political mosaic as Pakistan’s ISI continues to ensure it has leverage over the Taliban and control of regional jihad. Both groups have been drawn under the IIA umbrella, according to the research document, which has not been made public. It says the IIA grew out of ISI support for a group called Karwan Abu Obaida (KaO), which splintered from the Haqqani network after the Trump-Taliban agreement was signed in February 2020. KaO was made up of Haqqani followers who were disappointed that the Haqqani network did not take action against Baradar and other Taliban leaders for negotiating with the United States, the document says. “From its inception, KaO focused on targeted attacks against journalists, civil activists, and ‘those who are against Islamic law,’ as well as ‘those who are supporting the agreements with the Americans crusaders’ and their allies in Afghanistan,” the document says, quoting interlocutors. It adds that the ISI initially deployed the KaO to extend the assassination campaign, which had a devastating impact on government, civil society, and media in Afghanistan throughout 2020. The ISI then decided to expand its influence over non-Taliban actors working to topple then-President Ashraf Ghani’s government, the document says, with the aim of building a formidable jihadi force that could be a useful tool of political coercion in the event of a Taliban victory. During 2020, the IIA also became a platform for the return to the battlefield of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. Hekmatyar, a former warlord who struck a peace deal with Ghani in 2016 to return from exile, became disillusioned and “approached the ISI for help re-engaging with the insurgency,” the document says. The main objectives of the IIA, which numbers an estimated 4,500 fighters, are to “keep the jihad movement in Afghanistan alive” and “act as a tool of ISI pressure” on the Taliban to ensure that Pakistan’s interests are protected, the document says. It adds that the IIA is funneling ISI funding to member groups and giving IS-K a boost by enabling it to claim responsibility for attacks committed by other groups in the coalition. This creates the potential for a self-fulfilling prophecy by allowing IS-K to build an image of itself as an “ascendant organization in Afghanistan.” Requests for comment on the report were made to Pakistan’s foreign ministry spokesperson and, separately, the public relations and information officer, as well as to Islamabad’s embassies in Kabul and London, all without response.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/11/12/taliban-afghanistan-pakistan-factions-fighting-division-unity/
#Pakistan: Systematic Annihilation In #Balochistan – Analysis
According to HRCB data, at least 27 persons were disappeared in the month of October 2021. Since January 1, 2021 at least 339 people have been disappeared by the SFs from across Balochistan. Moreover, at least 298 people have been confirmed to have been extra judicially killed in 2021, thus far. Many of those killed were registered as victims of enforced disappearance and had already been in the custody of the forces.
Atrocities in Balochistan in 2021
| Month | Disappearance* | Killed** |
|---|---|---|
| January | 10 | 32 |
| February | 19 | 21 |
| March | 21 | 38 |
| May | 40 | 27 |
| June | 37 | 25 |
| July | 22 | 19 |
| August | 28 | 45 |
| September | 28 | 25 |
| October | 27 | 39 |
| November | 38 | NA |
| Total | 301 | 298 |
According to HRCB data, since 2016, at least 3,738 people have been forcibly disappeared by the SFs. These include 522 in 2016; 1, 225 in 2017; 642 in 2018, 568 in 2019, 480 in 2020, and 301 in 2021 (data till November 10). Of these 3,738, just 453 have been released. But SFs have extrajudicially killed at least 1,553 people since 2016 (data till October 31, 2021).
The Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP), meanwhile, claims that more than 45 thousand people have been forcibly disappeared by the Pakistan Army, and five thousand missing persons have been ‘killed and dumped’ over the last decade.
According to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), of the 4,623 civilian fatalities recorded in Balochistan since March 6, 2000 (data till November 28, 2021), at least 1,449 have been attributable to one or another terrorist/insurgent outfit. Of these, 471 civilian killings (291 in the South and 180 in the North) have been claimed by Baloch separatist formations, while Islamist and sectarian extremist formations – primarily Islamic State, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Ahrar-ul-Hind (Liberators of India) – claimed responsibility for another 978 civilian killings, 895 in the North (mostly in and around Quetta) and 83 in the South. The remaining 3,174 civilian fatalities – 1,760 in the South and 1,414 in the North – remain ‘unattributed’. It is widely believed that these are principally victims of the security agencies’ ‘kill and dump’ operations, particularly in the Southern region, targeting local Baloch dissidents.
Indeed, the systematic campaign of extermination of ethnic Baloch people through enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings in the South of the Province remains unabated.
VBMP vice chairman, Mama Qadeer Baloch, asserted on April 27, 2021,
Pakistani state has been startled by the widespread popularity and positive reception of the peaceful struggle in Balochistan. In its desperate attempts to quell the struggle, the state formed these inhumane, bloodthirsty ‘death squads’ and gave them a free hand to operate throughout Balochistan. These groups are directly or indirectly involved in the enforced disappearance and liquidation of student leaders, journalists, rights activists and political workers.
Again, on October 27 VBMP asserted that the Pakistani authorities had failed to take any concrete measures to end “enforced disappearances” in Balochistan. VBMP stated that the organisation had asked the Pakistani authorities to criminalize the practice and fix responsibility on the people behind these disappearances. VBMP Chairman Nasrullah Baloch added that those guilty of these crimes should be legally prosecuted, and the families of the missing persons should be supported and compensated by the Government. But the law criminalizing ‘enforced disappearances’ in Pakistan has not been put into practice effectively.
The menace is a reality that Pakistan’s Supreme Court has clearly recognized time and again.
Most recently, on September 30, 2021, the Supreme Court declared the report submitted by the Balochistan Police on five missing persons “unsatisfactory.” Gulzar Ahmed, the Chief Justice of Pakistan, remarked that people had gone missing and the families had to run after the Police to register cases: “You (police) do not know how to investigate cases. A case of disappearance should have been registered by the police which could not be done.” A three-member bench, comprising Chief Justice Ahmed, Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Faisal Arab, was hearing the case at the Supreme Court’s Quetta Registry. The Court had taken suo motu notice of the disappearances.
On November 21, 2021, former Senator Farhatullah Babar stated that the enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings had been going on for decades, but they were institutionalised during the regime of General Pervez Musharraf who acknowledged this in his book, In the Line of Fire: A Memoir.
Further, a Commission on Enforced Disappearances was formed in in March 2011. According to Pakistan’s Commission of Enquiry on Enforced Disappearances (COIED), it received 8,191 complaints related to enforced disappearances between March 1, 2011 (the date of inception of the Commission) and October 31, 2020. According to the Commission, of these 8,191 persons, 4,879 persons were traced – 227 dead bodies, 582 in prisons, 933 in internment centre and 3,137 returned home. The Commission ‘deleted’ cases of another 1,089 missing persons, claiming that these were “closed due to not being cases of enforced disappearances, incomplete address, withdrawal by complainants, non-prosecution. etc.” Thus, as per the commission, a total of 5,968 cases were ‘disposed of’, leaving another 2,223 cases under investigation.
Earlier, on September 8, 2020, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), a legal rights group based in Switzerland, observed that the Commission “has wholly failed to address entrenched impunity” and had not held any perpetrators of the crime to justice, even in cases where the whereabouts of the disappeared had been traced or the person had been released,” by implication, cases in which direct evidence would be available.
Despite this, the Government continues to deny reality. Balochistan Chief Minister Qudoos Bizenjo, in an interview on November 11, 2021, when asked about enforced disappearances in Balochistan, stated evasively that the Home Department was looking into the figures to determine whether the missing persons are actually missing or had fled to some other country, like Afghanistan. He claimed there were several names on the missing persons’ list who were in some foreign country. Bizenjo added that his government was working ‘in concert with other stakeholders’ to make sure that the issue is resolved and that his government was still trying to estimate an “accurate” figure for the Baloch missing persons.
On June 7, 2021, the Government introduced the ‘Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill 2021’ in the National Assembly, criminalising enforced disappearance and imposing a punishment of 10-year imprisonment for anyone found guilty of the offence. The Bill stated that a new section 52-B (enforced disappearance) should be inserted into the Pakistan Penal Code after section 52-A. The proposed section states:
Term enforced disappearance relates to the arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by an agent of the state or by person or group of persons acting with the authorisation, support or acquiescence of the state, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which place such a person outside the protection of the law.
Given the background, the Bill against enforced disappearance appears to be no more than an eyewash to contain the rising protests. Indeed, it was only after five months of deliberate delay and continuous campaigning by international and national human rights organisations that the National Assembly passed the Bill on November 8. However, the Bill is yet to be become law, and will now be sent to the Senate for its passage.
As the situation with regard to enforced disappearance and extrajudicial killings worsens, there are reports of near daily and widespread protests. Most recently, protests started in Quetta and the federal capital Islamabad on November 5, after the November 1 incident in the University of Balochistan. The protestors were demanding the safe release of Sohail and Fasih Baloch as well as action against “enforced disappearances” and to stop raids on academic institutions in the province. Following the protests in the University of Balochistan, Baloch students in the Bolan Medical College, Degree College Sariab, Polytechnic College and the Science College also suspended academic activities in protest against the disappearance of their fellow students from Balochistan University.
But Islamabad’s and Rawalpindi’s heavy-handed approach to Baloch dissent and separatism, as well as the relative weakness of judicial institutions in the country, make any reversal of the current and pervasive ‘disappearances’ and ‘kill and dump’ strategy unlikely. Further, the widening footprint of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects in the province, the denial of any significant benefits to locals, and the demographic transformation that is being engineered, can only compound the alienation and anger provoked by rising atrocities by SFs and their proxies.
https://www.eurasiareview.com/30112021-pakistan-systematic-annihilation-in-balochistan-analysis/
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