Formidable Threat: Lashkar-i-Jhangvi in Balochistan
From Dawn AS Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, that claimed responsibility for the horrific violence in Quetta on Saturay, strikes again and again in Balochistan, there may be a temptation to regard it as an out-of-control problem in an out-of-control backwater. But LJ is part of a continuum of militancy and extremism that has a long history and an [...]
Challenges Faced By Dr. Malik
By Mahvish Ahmad AS the newly-elected chief minister, Dr Abdul Malik, ends his first week in office amid cheers about his middle class roots — making him an anomaly in an office that has been the exclusive domain of Sardars or tribal chieftains — he faces pressures from Baloch who feel increasingly alienated from the [...]
Hope for Balochistan?
By I.A.Rehman WILL Nawaz Sharif’s laudable decision to choose for Balochistan’s chief ministership a Baloch from outside his party revive hope for tranquillity, good governance and progress in that much misunderstood and persistently wronged federating unit? To a considerable extent, Pakistan’s future will depend on what answer we get to this question. The PML-N chief [...]
A Glimmer of Hope in the Baloch Despair
By Kamila Hyat There may finally be some hope for Balochistan – a province so wracked by violence for so many years that it had for long almost seemed to lie beyond the realm of hope. The sagacious decision by the PML-N and Mian Nawaz Sharif to appoint Dr Abdul Malik Baloch to take charge as [...]
Balochistan’s Chief Problem
By Dr. Fouzia Saeed Good governance in Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa remains one of the critical dimensions of our approach to dealing with our biggest issue: countering militant insurgency. On the appointment of the Chief Minister in K-P, as we all know Khattak’s background and we have all witnessed his words of wisdom in his first press [...]
Elections 2013: Balochistan
By Nazish Brohi One way to start a write up on elections in Balochistan would be to tally the count of provincial seats where PkMAP emerged as the single largest party taking three national assembly seats and ten provincial seats followed by PML with nine provincial seats and the National Party that managed seven provincial ones. [...]
Balochistan Demands Fairness, No Power Politics
By Imtiaz Gul Nawaz Sharif did well to acknowledge the PTI’s mandate in KP, but unlike KP, things in Balochistan are still murky and mired in typical power games. The PML-N has nominated Sardar Sanaullah Zehri for the chief ministership following an influx of independents. The issue at hand is whether Nawaz Sharif will fill [...]
PML(N)’s First Blunder?
By Amir Mateen PML (N) may have blundered in its first political decision even before their third government by choosing Sardar Sanaullah Zehri as its nominee for Balochistan’s Chief Ministership. The troublesome province needed somebody who was less tainted in controversy, crime and corruption charges. True, he suffered a tragedy during the elections when his [...]
34 Candidates Contesting in NA-259-Quetta City
By Saleem Shahid in Dawn In NA-259, Quetta city, 34 candidates are contesting elections. The important ones include chief of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) Mehmood Khan Achakzai, senator Hafiz Hamdullah of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association Ali Ahmed Kurd, Mir Maqbool Lehri of the Pakistan Peoples [...]
Suppressing Information — Cases Against Dailies
THE registration of cases under the Anti-Terrorism Act against four newspapers by the Quetta police is unjustifiable. The newspapers were hauled up for publishing a statement by Jaish al-Islam, a banned organisation, in which the group claimed responsibility for the killing of a police officer. It goes without saying that the media must not glorify [...]