Dr. Allah Nazar Baloch, a well-known, beloved freedom-seeking leader of Occupied Balochistan, has said that “If Balochistan is our body then its coast and Gwadar is our soul.
Leading Pro-Independence leader Dr. Allah Nazar Baloch said in his messages on the social networking website Twitter, yesterday that “If Balochistan is our body then its coast and Gwadar is our soul. Baloch will never let their soul get maimed. War against the enemy continues. It will not stop. Victory belongs to Baloch.”
He wrote in another tweet that “I appeal to our Baloch youth to adopt their national languages Balochi and Brahui. He did both tweets in his native languages, Balochi and Brahui, on the social networking site Twitter.
It should be noted that attacks on Pakistani forces by Baloch militants have intensified in the last two months, and Pakistan is also preparing to build a military airbase in Naseer Abad district of Occupied Balochistan.
The Future First: The Two-Nation Solution is Dead This is a geo-political, strategic narrative on Israel and Palestine, and does not focus on operational security imperatives. Long standing perceptions of Israel (and her supporters, mainly USA) that military victory and deterrence would force Arab hands, but require no concessions by Israel is being tested. Israel has cultivated a culture of profound mistrust of adversaries shaped by the legacy of the holocaust, and US indulgence of Israeli anxieties, which encouraged belligerence and discouraged compromise.
It is obvious to ALL, even the blind that the two-state formula is an illusion (a chimera from inception). The continuing expansive ambitions of Israeli leadership, the corresponding decay of vision and dynamism among the Palestinians, and the ‘own Nation first’ geo-political trend even amongst global powers, makes it extremely difficult to forecast/comprehend the way forward. Increasingly, Israel is unlikely to accommodate Palestinian expectations of sovereignty[i].
Current Middle East Geo-Political Situation The Middle East today is unrecognizable from three decades ago. The pan-Arab call for a united front against Israel “from the Atlantic Ocean to the Arabian Gulf” has given way to normalisation at an unprecedented pace, across that same expanse. Egypt and Jordan have been at peace with Israel for decades. Over the past several months, Bahrain, UAE, Sudan, and Morocco have normalised relations with Israel. Oman is on its home-run, and Saudi Arabia has taken unprecedented steps in that direction.
ALL Arab governments maintain important, albeit discreet, ties with Israel, and normalisation appears to be only a matter of time. Insistence on “land for peace” and normal ties in return for a full Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 lines, have been shed, and self-interest is the buzz word. However, while intra-state conflicts have ended, Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians has not. Till thirteen million Palestinians continue to live across the Holy Land and in exile (of which seven million reside between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean), the conflict/trouble spot will fester, and rise and flow based on geo-pollical events[ii].
Israel’s Hardening Stance Israel is aggressively accessing new lands and building colonies. The current geo-political realities provide little incentive for Israel to make concessions to Palestinians. A mix of unprecedented Arab dealings aligned to Israel; Palestinian frustration worsened by poor strategic leadership bereft of ideas and heft, and most importantly cohesion; increasing domination of right wingers in Israel; are shifting the sands of hubris (both sides). History shows that peace with Arab nations does not automatically lead to rapprochement between Israel and Palestinians. As a matter of fact, the current Palestinian national movement emerged precisely from the sense of defeat, solitude, and abandonment by Arab governments that followed 1948.
The Palestinian Reality and Dilemma
The Arafat Era and After: Overview In actuality, Arab nations never displayed any cohesion towards Palestine apart from empty rhetoric. Realising this the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO formed 1966) under Yasser Arafat (from 1969), succeeded in bringing Palestinians together, asserting a separate Palestinian political identity, forcing its cause onto the international agenda, and returning some Palestinians to self-rule. But it failed to end the conflict, to establish an independent and sovereign state, or to develop good governance for Palestinians.
The PLO and Palestinians made life difficult for themselves (to be fair their choices have always been between a rock and a hard place), when they recognized Israel in 1988 and embarked on a “peace process”. They established a security coordination with Israel, undercutting their ability to object when other nations establish security relationships of their own. Nor can they insist that their plight is the central Arab cause, but only PLO has the right to address it. Palestinian diplomacy failed Palestine, and the PLO has lost all credibility as a decision-making or representative body externally and internally. With the decline of PLO, Palestine’s ‘centre of gravity’, and national ‘one voice’ for strategic objectives was also lost.
The West Bank and Gaza Strip The Palestinian Authority (Fatah) governs the West Bank, and Hamas (since 2007) the Gaza Strip. They hold the geo-political keys and not PLO (read Palestinian Territories in Wikipedia, for elaboration)[iii]. A strategic mistake since PLO (or revitalised successor) should continue political leadership leaving administration to PA. Current arrangement causes both ambiguity and dissension. In addition, the 1993 Oslo Agreement unfortunately cut off/side-lined the substantial Palestinian diaspora who reside outside the West Bank and Gaza Strip (substantial numbers in Israel), since it did not address their cultural, economic, welfare and future aspirations.
Palestine’s Hobsons Choice: Prisoners of their own Discourse It is a tragic reality, that three decades of endless negotiations have led nowhere, with each new (US/Israel) dispensation, starting more negotiations in the vain hope that this time it may be different; that some new framework and passage of time will yield the achievement of previously unachievable goals. Each credible “peace” formula ends up being a regression, offering less to the Palestinians than the one before. The harsh reality is that the Palestinians were compelled (for lack of an option) to accept statehood over part of their ancient land. Ironically, as introspection reveals, Palestinians made their most significant concessions before the final deal, and have little left to give in talks. They are in a position of no salvation, which makes true negotiations impossible; prisoners of their own discourse, reasserting the same points to no end. This makes them look inflexible and intransigent.
Enduring Delusions and Challenges
The
Palestinians always depended on international law, and hoped that the
international community can or will act on its behalf. Real politik has made it
an enduring delusion. In reality, international law has not been a dependable
friend to the Palestinians: Balfour Declaration in 1917; UN Partition Plan in
1947; UN Security Council Resolution 242 in 1967 (cornerstone of the peace
process). International law has made a difference only when the outside forces
that purport to uphold it, specially the UN Security Council are prepared to do
so. Absorption of Arab East Jerusalem into Israel, US recognition of Israeli
sovereignty in the Golan Heights, de-facto annexation of much of what remains
of Palestinian lands showcase otherwise.
The
conflict was never bilateral between Palestine and Israel. The West Bank’s (and
Jerusalem) future is interlinked with Jordan, and the Gaza Strip with Egypt.
Gaza and
West Bank are deeply divided politically, creating increasingly insular and
rival bubbles of Hamas-controlled Gaza and PA (Fatah)-governed Ramallah. The
schism is more problematic than the Israeli-Palestinian divide.
Most
experts predict an extension of the status quo; uncertain and unexpected
consequences; slow absorption of Palestinians into the Israeli political orbit;
consolidation of one-state reality with no separation between Arabs and Jews in
the Holy Land. For some this may bring peace and for some existential
realities.
India and the Palestine Cause India has consistently supported the two-state solution. Upcoming months will witness government formation in Israel and elections in Palestine (first Palestinian elections in 15 years during May 2021). Using this change as a platform, India has urged the international community, Israel and Palestine for “meaningful negotiations” for achieving a peaceful solution to the dispute, and has offered its considerable geo-political soft power to take the process forward[iv].
The Way Forward Palestinians need a new approach: one founded on a reconsidered strategic vision (including of sovereignty) and recalibrated aspirations[v].
The West Bank-Gaza divide has to be bridged and a ‘one umbrella’ organisation created, with aim of achieving interim gains while exploring new possibilities for advancing their long-term goal of their own state. The normalisation deals between Israel and Arab countries, will offer opportunities that could be leveraged to Palestinian advantage.
As long as
the Palestinians do not lose, Israel cannot win. Palestinians need to
rebuild links to European, Latin American, African and other foreign solidarity
movements.
The key: ‘Win Jewish support
for justice and freedom of Palestine”. Jews have been the biggest victims
of anti-Semitism, apartheid and racism.
Influential players to include India to create a favourable
international geo-political climate to induce a softer, more inclusive Israeli
approach.
Conclusion As long as the Palestinians are neither pacified nor fairly accommodated, their cause will continue to burn, and the prospects for genuine peace and stability will remain elusive. Meanwhile the world occasionally wakes up to stir the hornets’ nest!
[ii] Widely
covered nationally and internationally in daily print media and think tanks.
Also perused Encyclopedia Brittanica and Wikipedia.
[iii] Israel occupied the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in the Six-Day War
of 1967 and has since maintained control. However, today 40% of West Bank is
administered by Fatah, while Hamas has taken control of Gaza Strip from
Palestinian Authority in 2007. On 29 November 2012, UNGA 67/19 reaffirmed “the
right of the Palestinian people to self-determination and to independence in
their State of Palestine on the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967”
and decided “to accord to Palestine non-member observer State status in the
United Nations”. In December 2012, a UN legal memorandum discussed
appropriate terminology to be used following GA 67/19. It was noted therein
that there was no legal impediment to using the designation Palestine to refer
to the geographical area of the Palestinian territory
First came the warning, a caller asking: Ebar, which translates into just one word: Now?
Then came the second warning. Six boisterous men came and smashed everything outside the house of Ashomonjo Bhowmick, a small-time BJP worker in Bhatpara, a bustling industrial neighbourhood known for its jute mills.
Then came the third warning: Two men carrying iron rods smashed Bhowmick’s car beyond repair. They even taunted him for carrying a top BJP leader in the car during the polls.
And then came another cold call, the caller said: Ebar Tui which translates into You Next. Bhowmick’s mother, Lupirani, remembered what had told her son before the start of the assembly election process in Bengal. She told Bhowmick that she dreaded what her son would face if BJP loses the show.
She knew the Trinamool Congress, over the course of a decade, had earned a dark and near-mythic reputation for cruelty. Her fears were realized when she saw her son in trouble. Worse, Bhowmick got no help from the party. Senior leaders merely told him to run and save his skin (read life).
Bhowmick went into hiding. A friend did not offer him a room but his terrace surrounded by coconut and palm trees. Bhowmick was five miles away, nights spent on a mat on a humid floor.
BJP workers are being systematically targeted by the TMC cadre.
His only solace: He is not the only BJP worker who is on the run in Bengal where the ruling TMC swept the polls and unleashed violence in the hinterland. There are many like him on the run.
Subhashini Ali of CPM and former MP, tweeted in total shock: “TMC has won decisively but that has increased its aggression against political opponents. Our AIDWA comrade Kakoli Kshetrapal was brutally murdered in her home in Jamalpur, Burdwan, two days ago. Appalling, no justice can be expected. We have lost a brave woman comrade.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SuWyGjzpjo
Click on the YouTube link to watch TMC cadre’s violent march across Bengal
Ali knew it was not happening only to the Left candidates.
There are hundreds, sorry thousands of BJP workers who just want to save their lives, as Bengal’s hinterland explodes with riots, disorder and killing. As many as 12 have died in the last 48 hours, videos and photos of fires and blood-smeared walls, shot on handsets, have spread across social media. Unofficial count doubled the figure.
Worried, tensed, the BJP workers are wondering whether they will survive in face of this severe onslaught by TMC workers. What is worrying is that none of the rioters have been apprehended and there remains a sense that the BJP must now reckon with a disaster that has been a long coming.
Yet another house of a BJP worker that’s been ransacked by the TMC cadre in Bengal.
Worse, the state government does not want anyone to talk about it. The killings in Bengal look like a vicious pogrom.
People of Burdwan and Midnapur districts are the latest casualties of violence, voter intimidation and sectarian politics that always accompany Indian polls.
“The TMC wants to tell us to get out of politics, get out of the state. Only we (TMC) will rule,” Bhowmick told me late last night. He wanted to escape to Assam.
It is reliably learnt that top officials of Bengal BJP have kept over 20,000 workers from the hinterland at an undisclosed location close to the airport under heavy guards. The workers, mostly young, had run away from their homes and were being fed by senior members of Bengal BJP.
Unconfirmed reports said Swapan Dasgupta, BJP contender from Tarakeswar, alerted the party high command about an estimated 1000 Hindu families who were allegedly being targeted by TMC workers, mostly Muslims, in rural Bengal.
This reporter’s interactions with many in the villages of Burdwan and Midnapur in Bengal brought up interesting insights. They told me that the pandemic also played a crucial role, feuds festered in Hindu and Muslim communities and there were occasions when they could not escape each other’s presence, triggering a cycle of violence.
The house of a BJP worker ransacked by the TMC cadre in Bengal.
Some of the initial fights, which happened before the election process started, were low-key. At times, rival gangs would pour Follidol in ponds that would poison the water and kill fish. But once the results were out and it was clear TMC was way, way ahead of the BJP, the ground level workers of TMC went berserk.
“We are seeing larger and larger crowds standing outside homes of BJP workers, waiting to attack. This is a very dangerous situation,” Indrani Biswas, a BJP leader in Bolpur wrote on her timeline, lamenting the sudden disappearance of BJP candidate Anirban Ganguly after losing the Bolpur seat to TMC’s Chandranath Sinha.
To many, it looked like a state-sponsored death roll, the hinterland slowly turning into killing fields with virtually no preventive action from the state police.
Lahiri was quoted by a regional daily that he did inform the party workers before leaving Bolpur but many felt the candidate left all party workers in the lurch and left Bolpur to save himself from marauding TMC workers.
A BJP worker’s body lies in the fields of Bengal. Hundreds of innocent BJP workers have lost their lives in the spate of violence during and after Bengal elections.
“There is a state of helplessness in Bolpur, we cannot save ourselves. People who are pro BJP are attacked and party workers are being targeted so that they can be killed,” wrote Biswas.
Political experts say the violence was expected. Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee had disliked the presence of Central Forces deployed for the polls and had made it clear that she would teach the BJP workers a lesson right after the elections were over. BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra even shared a video of a threatening Banerjee on Twitter.
Union Minister Babul Supriyo, who lost in Tollygunge, said he was not able to visit Bengal because his car would be attacked by TMC workers. He urged BJP workers in the state to save themselves first by shifting from their homes to undisclosed locations.
Gobardhan Das, a renowned molecular scientist who was fielded by the BJP to contest from the Purbasthali Uttar seat in Bengal’s East Burdwan district, got CRPF cover. He sought help after crude bombs were hurled at his home today by alleged TMC workers..
Das, a Professor of Molecular Medicine at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, said several incidents of violence against BJP workers have come to light since the Election Commission of India (ECI) declared poll results.
On Sunday, May 2, 2021, Avijit Sarkar took to Facebook to narrate the harrowing tale of violence by TMC workers. The video was uploaded just hours before Sarkar was lynched to death by the miscreants. “I don’t know how to come live (on Facebook). They hurled bombs right in front of my eyes and vandalised my house and party office. My only mistake is that I am a BJP worker,” he recounted.
PM Narendra Modi spoke to Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankar and asked him to ensure safety of BJP workers in Bengal.
The Union ministry of home affairs (MHA) on Monday said it has sought a report from the Bengal government over reports of this post-poll violence in the state.
“MHA has asked the West Bengal government for a report on the post-election violence targeting opposition political workers in the state,” it said in a tweet.
The Trinamool Congress claimed three of its supporters were killed by the BJP, which rejected the allegations, saying the incidents were the result of “people’s resistance”. The incident took place when some TMC supporters were on the way to Nabagram in the Jamalpur police station area on their motorcycles and were allegedly attacked by BJP workers, the sources said.
In Kolkata, senior TMC leaders said the opposite and blamed the BJP for unleashing violence on TMC workers. The TMC said the BJP even killed some of the TMC workers, a charge denied by the BJP.
“We built a counter-resistance and the TMC attackers fled. But they returned via another route, forcibly entered my house, and attacked my family members. My mother died in the attack,” said BJP Bengal leader Ashish Khetrapal. He further said TMC supporters also injured his father and uncle, vandalised and looted 17-18 houses in the area.
TMC supporters were also accused of vandalising the homes and shops of BJP workers in various parts of Galsi village in East Burdwan. In Kolkata, a person died after he was severely assaulted by TMC workers in the Kankurgachi neighbourhood on Sunday night, police said. The person, claimed by his family to have been a BJP activist, was declared brought dead when taken to a nearby hospital, the police said. A few houses in Jadavpur area of South Kolkata were vandalised by unknown miscreants, who were alleged to be members of TMC.
BJP state president Dilip Ghosh told reporters here that neither the state police nor the administration came to their help.
He claimed that the mother of a booth president was killed during an attack by TMC workers at Jagatdal in North 24 Parganas district and another person was killed at Sonarpur in South 24 Parganas. Another BJP supporter was killed in Beleghata area of the city, while two others were killed in similar attacks at Ranaghat in Nadia district and Sitalkuchi in Coochbehar, he said.
In Jalpaiguri in North Bengal, the newly-elected legislator of Dabgram-Phulbari, Sikha Chatterjee of BJP alleged that miscreants supported by the TMC attacked her house. She even took reporters inside her house to show them the destruction caused by the attackers. She also alleged that houses of BJP workers were vandalised and a vehicle was damaged at Chunabhatti area of Dabgram-Phulbari constituency, where state minister and TMC leader Gautam Deb was defeated by BJP.
Following widespread violence in the state, Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar summoned the state Home Secretary, DGP and Kolkata Commissioner of Police and directed them to restore peace.
Mamata Banerjee, meanwhile, urged her supporters to maintain peace amid reports of violence and asked them not to fall prey to provocations. “Even after the results were announced, BJP attacked our supporters in certain areas but we ask our men not to get provoked and instead report to the police,” Banerjee told reporters.
A committee of journalists in Islamabad said on Monday that the media is facing growing censorship. Attacks and harassment are threatening the freedom of the press in the country. The Pakistani government, however, says that journalism is under no pressure in the country. The premier of the country has said on many occasions that Pakistan is among the “freest” countries for the press despite the country’s pitiful ranking in global press index.
On Monday, President of Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists Shahzada Zulfiqar and Secretary-General Nasir Zaidi said that freedom of the press is their hallmark and that they will “not surrender this cause at any cost.” They said that journalists in the country are being underpaid and thousands are now jobless.
Pakistan has been a deadly place for journalists for a long time. There were 148 documented cases of attacks and violations against journalists in Pakistan from May 2020 to April 2021, according to the Dawn, the country’s oldest and largest English newspaper. These included six murders, seven attempted assassinations, five kidnappings, 25 arrests or detentions of journalists, 15 assaults and legal registered cases against journalists. In an editorial, the paper said that the space for journalism is shrinking in Pakistan, and “a media in chains cannot hold the powerful to account and serve public interest as it is meant to do.”
Pakistan ranked ninth on the Committee to Protect Journalists’ (CPJ) Global Impunity Index which assesses countries where journalists are murdered and their killers go free. Even though the Pakistani government says it supports freedom of speech, rights activists say that the Pakistani military – the de facto rulers of the country – attacks and harasses journalists.
According to sources, Pakistan’s media regulatory body – the PEMRA – has issued more than 12,000 notices for media people, newspapers and journalists. The establishment is using various tactics to silence dissent and investigative journalism in the country, including telling PEMRA to direct news media on what can or cannot be reported. The news channels that do not comply with these regulations are taken off air or fined handsomely.
The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of Pakistan reportedly carried out a raid in the Maavand area of district Kohlu on Friday, detaining one individual and harassing his family members.
According to the details, the CTD raided the house of Hazar Khan, a resident of Mavand in Kohlu, and detained his young son Nadir Ali. The security forces also harassed the female householders, including the detainee’s elderly mother. The forces also tried to assault women but were thwarted after the householders put up a resistance.
Ali’s elderly parents said that we are poor and helpless. “These CTD personnel broke into our house, tore our clothes and detained our son”, they said. They demanded the Pakistani authorities to safely release their son. The authorities have not yet commented on the raid.
No society flourishes, or democracy does not come to a country and economic development is not possible unless their fourth pillar, the media is not free and freedom of expression does not exist.
In a society where freedom of expression is restricted, the society suffers from stagnation and the rule of tyranny blocks the ability of thinking and a certain class or power rules and plays with human rights. Such an example is Pakistan.
Pakistan continues to be ranked as one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists as more than 140 Journalists have been killed in the country since 2000.
Religious extremists and security forces continue to intimidate journalists in Pakistan.
According to David Griffiths, Amnesty International’s (AI) deputy Asia Pacific director, Pakistan is one of the most dangerous places in the world for journalists.
Freedom of expression is a human right and forms Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Freedom of expression covers freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and gives individuals and communities the right to articulate their opinions without fear of retaliation, censorship or punishment. (The right to freedom of expression wouldn’t be worth much if the authorities also had the right to imprison anyone who disagrees with them.) An effective media also depends on the legal basis that freedom of expression gives the right to function and report freely, sometimes critically, without threat or fear of punishment.
Freedom of expression is not an absolute right: it does not protect hate speech or incitement to violence. That said, many other rights which are intrinsic to our daily lives build on and intersect with this protection for free thought and individual expression. Freedom of expression covers everything from satire to political campaigns to conversations in your own home. It’s a fundamental human right which allows for citizens to speak freely and without interference.
Knowledge is power. In print, on line, or on TV or radio: without a free exchange of information, people can’t be fully aware of what’s going on around them and so can’t meaningfully participate in their communities or democracies.
Local and national reporters, bloggers and news outlets can keep people informed about what is happening in the world around them. Freedom of expression is the legal underpinning which allows people to access information about current events and matters of public interest – whether that’s from large media companies, local newspapers, or from each other through citizen journalism and social media.
When freedom of expression is respected and recognised, the media are able to freely report on politics, economics and societal events as they occur.
A democratic society hinges on the people being able to hold informed opinions and express them – both in voting booths and more broadly in their day-to-day lives. It’s important that people are able to ask tough questions of the people in power and find out about decisions which affect them and their fellow citizens.
Freedom of expression is a core value in the democratic process. It ensures people are able to discuss, exchange, and debate ideas. This human right allows individuals and communities to find information which is important to them and share it with others, without censorship or reprisals.
Freedom of expression is crucial to the process of participating in a democracy. It influences everything from newspapers to social media posts and campaign adverts. By allowing voters to make their voices heard and make educated choices about the topics which matter to them, freedom of expression strengthens democracies.
But if we look around us, in a country like Pakistan where there is no democracy and freedom of expression is also restricted.
It’s crucial to quality journalism to be able to ask difficult questions, follow interesting stories, query inconsistencies and report accurately on the issues. By dedicating time, energy and skill to finding out what’s going on in the world around us, a free press is able to bring important information out into the public arena.
Accurate information is of huge importance to public debate: forming shared values and influencing policies at local, national and international levels. Investigative journalism is one of the most public-facing ways of sharing new information. Freedom of expression supports and protects the press’s ability to freely research and report in the public interest.
Sunlight is the best disinfectant. Independent reporting shines a light on sometimes-hidden topics and provides crucial checks and balances on powerful people and institutions. While an accurate press is not always flattering, it is crucial to hold the powerful and wealthy accountable.
Public attention creates scrutiny and is a disincentive for corruption or human rights abuses. The truths that quality investigative journalism uncovers can topple governments, alter international policies, and improve human rights standards internationally.
A strong, independent media ensures transparency and helps reduce maladministration. Freedom of expression protects the rights of reporters, bloggers and news outlets – and the general public – to speak critically.
A respect for freedom of expression is an essential element for a functioning and accurate media.
If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it: does it make a sound?
If human rights are abused and no one knows: how does anyone stop it?
Freedom of expression underpins a wide variety of other human rights both directly and indirectly. It can shine a light on human rights abuses such as torture, interference with indigenous peoples’ land rights. Without accurate reporting many human rights abuses would not be known about, and might continue with impunity. Freedom of expression allows people to tell their stories, help advocate, and hold governments to international human rights standards.
But the situation in Pakistan is different. The voice of the oppressed people has been silenced due to the controlled media. The Baloch, Sindhi, Pashtun nations are suffering due to the restriction on freedom of expression. Due to control of media by army and the notorious ISI, there are no reports of repression against these oppressed nations. This gives the Pakistani army and other state terrorists an impunity and they are continue their repression with more force.
Freedom of the press is important because it plays a vital role in informing citizens about public affairs and monitoring the actions of government at all levels.
@DostenBaloch1 is Editor-in-chief , Sangar Media , Journalist & Political Analyst
But this did not happen, and India – expectedly – is in the middle of an unprecedented human crisis, coinciding with the 35th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster which shocked mankind in April 1986.
The Strait Times of Singapore reported that the number of journalists who died battling Covid in India is higher than reporters who died covering the Vietnam war.
Calamity leading to mass deaths are not uncommon in India. Thousands of Sikhs died in the 1984 riots that followed the assassination of PM Indira Gandhi in 1984, the same year thousands died in Bhopal after lethal methyl isocyanate gas leaked from poorly maintained tanks at the Union Carbide factory.
Yet, the nation did not learn its lessons, India remained complacent. The leaders did not tell the masses that there is no shame in being seen as extra careful. Everyone, the rulers and the people, let their guard down, hoping they had escaped 2020’s initial wave.
The message from the rulers (read politicians) was not a right message for a billion plus nation. The ruling BJP – whose frontline include PM Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah – addressed huge political rallies across India, so did Mamata Banerjee of Trinamool and leaders in TamilNadu, Kerala and Assam.
The leaders were all masked when they reached the venues of the rallies. But when they addressed their supporters without wearing a mask, a very bad signal in these dangerous times. Precise data on the correlation between political campaigns and the spike in Covid-19 is not available, but a report said the number of cases in West Bengal increased tenfold from early to the middle of April, 2021. The figure was several times the numbers in the crowded cities of Mumbai and Delhi.
Then there was the mother of all, the Kumbha Mela at Haridwar. The Ganges pilgrimage for a cleansing ritual was a huge super spreader. And there were the night markets in the Ramzan month, teeming with thousands.
The Opposition parties also played their destructive part. Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav said he did not trust the Covid vaccine. He termed it “BJP’s vaccine”. Television channels hyped what many felt was a blatantly anti-vaccine rant.
Yadav’s rant was supported by senior Congress leader Rashid Alvi who said Yadav’s fear was justified. Also joining the anti-vaccine rant was Chhattisgarh health minister TS Singh Deo who said he will not accept Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin. Singh Deo forgot that his very own state government had asked the Centre for Covaxin.
Industrialist Rajiv Bajaj who urged Indians to be careful while getting vaccinated because he felt the risks far outweighed the benefits.
India, the world’s second most populous nation, is now faced with an unmitigated disaster. People are falling like ninepins.
Currently, India has had a total of 15.3 million reported coronavirus cases to date, with reported deaths to date of 180,000 people. Bulk of the collapsing healthcare system are from major Indian cities. No one knows the level of devastation in rural India, home to 70 per cent of India’s 1.3 billion people. It is common knowledge that the hinterland has far fewer hospital beds and medical personnel.
A doctor pulling the stretcher of a Covid positive patient in Delhi. (Representative photo: Reuters)
Yet, no one is in charge to treat those affected by the virus. The private hospitals are blaming the government, the government hospitals are blaming the government and the Centre is at loggerheads with the state governments over supplies of vaccines and oxygen.
Very few have asked hospitals – especially the private ones – how come they do not have their own oxygen plant despite spending over Rs 300-600 crores in setting up their gigantic brick and mortar structure. It costs Rs 10 crores to set up an oxygen plant that can take care of a huge hospital.
India’s rapid slide into this unprecedented crisis only happened because the government and various policymakers prematurely declared victory over the pandemic. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the world’s richest, allowed another rich event to take place, the Indian Premier League (IPL). The league is being played before empty stadiums, players living in a bio bubble. But then there is a serious argument over allocation of vital resources for the matches to happen. Worse, some state governments even opened movie halls, allowing over 200 to attend wedding parties.
Everyone claimed they had seen the endgame of the pandemic in India, relaxing the guard around the time when the variants were spreading. There is a strange, unfounded sense among Indians that exposure to pollution and microbes had pushed their immunity to superior levels.
Very few remembered that the double mutant now dominating headlines was first identified last October. But no one took notice. Sadly, it is this very mutant spreading like wildfire across Maharashtra.
Someone should have told the government that a nation with high population density should never relax its guard. But like all top political parties in India, the ruling BJP also lacks sensible advisors.
There is still some saving grace, the Indian mutant is reportedly less virulent than the British variety. But then, most of the known variants – the UK, Brazilian and South African – have also manifested in India.
It will be wrong to blame India alone for all the ills. The virus is wreaking havoc across the world. The United States is experiencing in some states the most dangerous outbreak, neighbouring Canada is in the midst of a third wave of infections.
The pandemic has brought India’s healthcare system to the verge of collapse. Millions of lives and livelihoods at risk.
Across India, the scenes are worse than Dante’s Inferno, reflecting the nation’s abysmal healthcare system. Ambulances with patients are seen waiting outside hospitals for hours because ventilator beds and oxygen had run out. Doctors at Shalby Hospital in Ahmedabad messed up the life of Rupal Thakkar. She lost her battle to Covid because of the hospital’s alleged mismanaged admission process and inadequate infrastructure.
In the Indian Capital, Rohit Sardana, a very influential journalist who had worked with the Zee network and Aaj Tak, died on Covid, triggering a response even from the PM.
Senior journalist Rohit Sardana succumbed to Covid infection on Friday.
If this was not all, there were reports how hospitals were filling beds with fake patients in the hope of earning extra cash. In expansive Noida in Uttar Pradesh bordering the Indian Capital, cops raided one hospital and freed over 200 beds. Similar incidents were also reported from the Indian Capital, Mumbai and Kolkata where patients got ICU beds after paying ten times the standard fee.
What was horrifying was most of the hospitals were largely manned by paramedical staff and junior doctors while the senior doctors were busy counselling patients through Skype or Zoom. In Delhi, home to 18 million people, only 40 intensive care unit (ICU) beds were available for Covid-19 patients.
The pandemic highlighted decades of underinvestment in India’s healthcare sector. Across India, hospitals continue to be short on anything and everything, trained doctors, paramedical staff, beds, blood, drugs, oxygen and even oxygen canisters.
However, some in the government argued that the proportion of those who died after a Covid-19 diagnosis was lower in India when compared with other nations. Very few said it was because 65 percent of Indians are under 35 years old. Worse, those in the 40 to 70 year category were more likely to have died in India because of comorbidities like hypertension, diabetes and respiratory disorders.
Lockdowns and curfews have started happening in many states, including Delhi and Maharashtra, but India’s drive to vaccinate its citizens is being impacted by severe supply shortages.
A second national lockdown will crush the economy. So it is out of the question. Indians will have to self-protect themselves. The government must use a scientific approach and issue orders for mandatory use of masks and ban all mass gatherings for sometime.
As per estimates, the current vaccination process will take till the end of 2022 to fully vaccinate 70 per cent of the Indian population.
And that is the figure a nation needs for achieving herd immunity. Only if India can increase its vaccine production capacity to over 12 million doses a day, it can vaccinate 70 per cent of its population in six months.
An investigative report by Taha Siddiqui of the South Asia Press has revealed the minutest details of how the state-sponsored death squads operate in Balochistan. The reports details how Pakistan’s army outsourced the targeting and killing of Baloch activists and “pro-independence” leader and workers to these private militias. These militias have been frequently accused of carrying out human rights abuses in Balochistan at the behest of the mighty Pakistani military which then gives them a free hand to carry out burglaries and other crimes with impunity.
The reports are the result of three months of exhaustive investigation and reporting throughout Balochistan. It is written by Taha Siddiqui, a Pakistani journalist living in exile in France, in cooperation with a local Baloch reporter. Siddiqui escaped a kidnapping and possible assassination attempt at the hands of the Pakistani military in Islamabad in 2018. Concerned for the safety of himself and his family, Siddiqui fled Pakistan and sought asylum in France. He now lives in Paris from where he operates the South Asia Press, an online newspaper focusing primarily on South Asia.
The so-called ‘death squads’ militias of local goons and convicted felons who allegedly operate on the behest of the Pakistani military to counter the ongoing Baloch insurgency. These groups often accompany the Pakistani army in carrying out raids on the houses of political activists, dissidents and “pro-independence” leaders.
Siddiqui’s report says that the Pakistani military has been death squads for decades to carry out its bidding in Balochistan. But since 2010, the practice has been intensified and institutionalized, especially in the south-western parts of Balochistan where a full-fledged insurgency has been going on since the killing of Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti in 2006. To counter this new uprising, the Pakistani military created local militias consisting of convicted criminals, drug kingpins and pro-Pakistan Baloch political activists.
The report says that the military also employed another strategy to quell the new wave of insurgency – Islamizing the youth through religious seminaries aligned with the military. Many of these pro-Pakistan religious groups maintain links with the death squads operating in the south.
Shafiq Mengal formed the first mainstream death squad in Balochistan in 2008 – the Musallah Difah Tanzeem (MDT) with the mission of defending the public from “pro-independence” groups. Mengal had the support of the Pakistani army, and his powerful connections helped him acquire his militia. Mengal initiated a reign of terror in Balochistan, killing not only suspected nationalists but also political, non-political and tribal rivals. Shafiq is also credited for the mass graves discovered in 2014 in Tootak – a rural area 55 kilometres to the north of Khuzdar, where Shafiq Mengal is headquartered – where 169 dead bodies were found.
The report says that following Mengal, other local militias sprouted across Balochistan, mainly in Khuzdar, Mastung, Kech, Panjgur and Awaran. Other than Mastung, the rest of the said area lie to the extreme south of Balochistan where the insurgency is the strongest. The report also names several of the leaders of these death squads – Shafiq Mengal and Zakaria M. Hasni in Khuzdar, Deen Muhammad Deenu in Awaran, Samir Sabzal, Rashid Pathan and Sardar Aziz in Kech, Maqbool SHambezi in Panjgur and late Siraj Raisani in Mastung.
Zakaria M. Hasni – in his thirties – is known for his connections not only with the Pakistani military but hardline religious groups as well, as the Islamic State of Khorasan. His career in crime began in 2012 when he started levying heavy taxes on the mining business and collecting ransoms for the Pakistani military from the families of Baloch missing persons. The report says that M. Hasni was also believed to be involved in attacks on activists and journalists sympathizing with the Baloch cause outside of Balochistan. He reportedly boasts of killing Sabeen Mahmud, an activist who was murdered in Karachi after holding a talk on Balochistan, and Hamid Mir, a renowned Pakistani journalist attacked after hosting Mama Qadeer and other Baloch activists to his show Capital Talk. The report cautions that these allegations are unverified.
The report goes on to say that the death squad in Awaran – the most volatile region of Balochistan where the Balochistan Liberation Front is headquartered – is run by Deen Muhammad Deenu. Deenu was a former “pro-independence” commander who surrendered to Pakistani authorities in 2017. Since then, he has been commanding a death squad aligned with the Pakistani forces and has been involved in various military operations in Awaran.
District Kech has the highest number of death squads than anywhere else in Balochistan. One death squad leader is Rashid Pathan, an illiterate young man with a criminal past. Pathan, who at one time commanded more than 100 loyalists, was involved in the arrest and killing of his brother-in-law, a commander of the BLF. He has been in attacks against members of BSO-Azad, BLF and BNM – organizations advocating for the independence of Balochistan from Pakistan. Due to his close ties with the Military Intelligence (MI) of Pakistan, Rashid Pathan enjoys a significantly free hand in Kech. He harasses local politicians, businessmen and government officers in Kech with no repercussions. Pathan moved to Gwadar in 2018 where he maintains a low profile and is setting up a terror base.
Pathan’s departure left a vacuum in Kech and another hardcore criminal rushed to fill it. Samir Sabzal gained the affection of the Pakistani military by organizing rallies on Pakistani national holidays. Samir’s criminal career came to an almost abrupt end, but his powerful military companions came to the rescue. Samir’s men broke into a house in Dannuk, Turbat, to carry out a burglary. The woman of the house – Malik Naz – put up a fight and was slain, whereas her five-year-old daughter Bramsh was wounded in the attack. One of the intruders was caught by the family and admitted to being a member of Sabzal’s death squad. Samir Sabzal was arrested and charged with robbery and murder, but he was soon acquitted due to the “lack of evidence.” Videos on social media show Sabzal driving around the city in expensive SUVs and flaunting weapons before the FC personnel.
The report then says that the third death squad in Kech is run by Sardar Aziz and his two sons. Aziz hails from an impoverished family from the Pidark area of Turbat. He also runs a religious seminary which gained him significant clout in the region. He is a strong ally of the Pakistani military due to his two-pronged activities: Islamizing the youth and carrying out the military’s bidding in the region. He has been involved in attacks on the Zikri community which maintain a heavy presence in Turbat.
The report also details the rise and fall of Siraj Raisani – brother of former Balochistan Chief Minister Aslam Raisani and a politician of the army-backed BAP – who ran a death squad in Mastung until his recent killing in an explosion. Siraj launched a group called Balochistan Muttahida Mahaz (BMM) which was centred in Mastung but had influence in Quetta and Kalat as well. His anti-India stance bought him the affection of the Pakistani military and he gradually rose to the status of a politician. He was killed in an explosion in Mastung in July of 2018, allegedly by the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant in retaliation to the killing of Saifullah Kurd, a Lashkar-i-Jhangvi leader, organized by Raisani. Pakistan’s Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa attended Raisani’s funeral, calling him a “soldier of Pakistan.”
Siddiqui’s report claims that the Pakistani military is now gradually shifting its policy towards these death squads. The military in the past trained notorious criminals to fight the “pro-independence” groups, but now there are converting them into political parties to occlude ethno-nationalist political parties – like the BNP-Mengal – from winning the polls. Shafiq Mengal is once again at the centre of this new policy – he contested in the last polls in 2018 but did not succeed. He announced the launch of his own party in January this year, and there are rumours that he may join the Pakistan-backed BAP, which is currently ruling Balochistan.
But despite all the its shenanigans, the state seems to fail in Balochistan. “The state’s policy to run death squads, introduce Islamization and engineer political manipulations – all of it has failed in Balochistan”, the report quotes Muhammad Ali Talpur, a veteran of the Baloch insurgency and a columnist. “Despite these crackdowns, the resistance of the Baloch continues and the alienation of the Baloch people vis-a-vis the state is only increasing.”
The Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF) has claimed responsibility for attacks on Pakistani troops in the Kech district of occupied Balochistan on Tuesday and Wednesday.
At around 6:45 pm on Wednesday, a sniper attacked a military post in Patok area of Dasht in Kech district and killed an army personnel.
Meanwhile, at 7.50 pm on Tuesday, Sarmachaars attacked a military post at Cinema Chowk in Turbat city of Kech district, with a grenade, causing heavy casualties to the Pakistani army.
Major Gahram Baloch, spokesman for the Balochistan Liberation Front, claimed responsibility for the attacks, releasing a statement to the media.
Major Gwahram Baloch once again appealed to the nation to stay away from military posts, camps, and military caravans.
He said that attacks on the occupying forces will continue till the independence of occupied Balochistan.
The Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) completed the 4298th day of its historical protest in Quetta on Wednesday. A delegation of the civil society of Balochistan visited the camp and expressed solidarity with the families of the Baloch missing persons. Addressing the gathering, VBMP Vice-Chairman Mama Qadeer Baloch said that the state has given a free hand to the death squads in Balochistan.
He said that the Pakistani state has been started 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, he said.
Mama Qadeer further said that these groups have raided several houses in Balochistan and “abducted” numerous individuals. Trespassing on the privacy of the householders, they breach into their houses and confiscated and vandalize their possessions. In Balochistan, the honour and dignity of people are nowhere safe, he said.
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