Editorial: Worse Than Raisani
The Pakistan Muslim League (P.M.L.-N) has attained the required support to form a coalition government in Balochistan after the Pakhtunkhawa Milli Awami Party (P.K.M.P) of Mahmood Khan Achakzai and the National Party of Dr. Abdul Malik Baloch announced to join the next administration. The new coalition partners have decided to keep the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (J.U.I.-Fazal) and [...]
Pakistan’s Unfair Elections
On May 1, 2013, a full-page ad in Pakistan’s Dawnnewspaper read: “My Dear Pakistanis, have you thought why PPP, ANP and MQM are targeted?” The ad was referring to three secular political parties, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), the Awami National Party (ANP.) and the Muthida Quami Movement (MQM). The three parties formed a coalition that ran the [...]
Repression is Unlikely to Make Baloch Proud Pakistani Citizens: Dr. Frederic Grare
Dr. Frederic Grare is the author of the recently published report Balochistan: The State Versus the Nation published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a Washington DC-based think-tank where he is the Director and Senior Associate of the South Asia Program. Dr. Grare had previously written another important report on Balochistan, Pakistan: The Resurgence [...]
Editorial: Campaigns Silenced
The election campaigns in Balochistan have been deeply silenced after at least four organized attacks on different political parties in various cities. On April 16, the Baloch Liberation Army (B.L.A.) attacked the convey of Sardar Sanaullah Zehri, the Balochistan president of the Pakistan Muslim League (P.M.L-Nawaz), which led to the killing of his young son, [...]
Editorial: The One-Man Interim Government
If the primary goal of an interim government is to organize free and fair elections, Balochistan’s caretaker government headed by Chief Minister Nawab Ghaus Bakhsh Barozai seems to be failing to perform the job. Almost a month after his appointment as the caretaker, Mr. Barozai has not formed his cabinet. He has been running the affairs [...]
Editorial: The Attack on Zehri’s Election Campaign
In an attack on the convey of Sardar Sanaullah Zehri, the provincial president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (P.M.L-N), in Khuzdar, four people were killed and several were injured. Those killed included Mr. Zehri’s son, brother and a nephew. According to B.B.C. Urdu, the Baloch Liberation Army (B.L.A) claimed responsibility for the assault as it [...]
Editorial: The Carnegie Endowment Report on Balochistan
The Washington-based think-tank Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (C.E.I.P) has indeed done more work on Balochistan and Baloch nationalism than any other American educational institution and think-tank. Very few people in the United States know about Balochistan and its geo-strategic importance. The C.E.I.P. has been doing a remarkable job in terms of conducting research on Balochistan. [...]
Editorial: Is B.N.P. the New King’s Party?
What initially looked like a pleasant political change in Balochistan with the decision of the Baloch nationalist parties to contest elections now looks like an organized attempt to bring one particular political party (read the Balochistan National Party-Mengal) into power in the next general elections. There is always a fine line between reconciliation and official [...]
Editorial: Befriending The “Good Punjabis”
The Pakistan Muslim League (P.M.L-Nawaz) notched another important electoral success by formulating a seat-to-seat adjustment with the Balochistan National Party-Mengal. In his Quetta meeting on Wednesday with Sardar Akhtar Mengal, the Balochistan National Party (B.N.P.) president, former Punjab chief minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif showed an interest to work with Baloch nationalists in order to resolve [...]
Editorial: Elections Without Neutral Observers Will Have No Credibility
The European Union (E.U.) decision not to send election observers in Balochistan is disappointing but understandable at the same time. This year’s elections are very significant for Balochistan as the Baloch nationalist parties have decided to contest polls. This newspaper had opposed the nationalists’ decision to contest the polls for reasons similar to what the [...]