Retrieved from Facebook profile of Saiin Gul Agha.

by: Yousaf Ajab Baloch

Saleem Shehzad, 40, bureau chief of Asia Times Online (Hong Kong) and Italian news agency Adnkronos, was abducted on May 29, 2011 in Islamabad and later, his bullet-riddled body was found after three days on May 31 in a river in Jehlam. Shehzad’s body bore marks of extreme torture, similar to that of more than 180 of Baloch journalists, freelance writers, lawyers, human rights defenders and political activists who were first abducted, tortured and subsequently killed. The journalist and human rights organizations allege secret agencies of the state for the murder of Shehzad.

Private TV channels, newspapers and magazines have fully focused the case and are demanding a probe into the extra judicial killing of the murdered journalist. For that purpose, Pakistan Union of Journalists (PFUJ) held a protest demonstration for two days in Islamabad, demanding tangible measures for the Saleem Shehzad’s murder case .In the protest, all the media men and some politicians participated and condemned the murder and demanded that a judicial commission be constituted to probe the killing of the slain journalist.

The stimulus role of mainstream media in Pakistan in general and massive  attention of international media, journalist organizations and human rights organizations in particular  astonished and once again increased despair among Baloch people, particularly the Baloch journalist. They have lost hope in international media as their colleagues have been systematically killed in “Kill and dump” policy of the state and in other target killing incidents in Balochistan.

It is surprising as why the international media or the champions of the imbalanced media in Pakistan have adopted a tacit role on the target killings of Baloch journalists, political workers and leaders, human rights activists, including common citizens. If we have a look at the case of Saleem Shehzad, and then observe disappearances of more than 8000 Baloch youth and recovery of more than 180 decomposed, mutilated, and bullet-riddled bodies from different districts of Balochistan, then the role of international media and journalist organizations becomes objectionable. Because, these bodies found in different parts of Balochistan also include journalists and writers.

Though Baloch people have been receiving bodies of their loved ones, whether they are target killed or have become victims of “Kill and dump” policy, it is the need of the hour to examine the role or reaction of media on international level or the role of the proponents of defending journalists’ rights and imbalanced journalism in Pakistan. The world has become known what happened with Saleem Shehzad, but let me share how the Baloch Journalists and freelance writers were victimized.

Journalists and writers killed in Balochistan in the past one year

Mr. Ali Sher Kurd was abducted on 21st September 2010 from Quetta, three days later his tortured and bullet riddled body was found in Khuzdar. Ali Sher Kurd was brutally tortured .His body had visible marks of torture. Mr.Ali Sher Kurd was a regular contributor to daily Ustaman and he also served as Sub-Editor of Monthly Nawa-e-Bolan.

Journalists in Khuzdar claim that all members of the press club face threats from militant groups, mainly the state agencies and their patronized anti-Baloch armed groups. Two journalists have lost their life so far. Faiz Muhammad Sasoli 27, a former member of Khuzdar press club and reporter for Daily Aaj Kal, was murdered on 27 June 2010 in Khuzdar. Similarly, Muhammad Khan Sasoli, 36, was killed on December 12, 2010. He worked for Royal TV and the INP news agency in Khuzdar. He was the president of Khuzdar Press Club. An anti-nationalist group claimed responsibility for his killing.

Hameed Hayatan Baloch, a young Baloch journalist, was kidnapped in Gawadar, Balochistan on October 25, 2010.Three months later, his bullet-riddled body was recovered in a deserted area .A piece of paper found from his pocket stated: “Eid gift for Baloch Nation.” Hayatan Baloch was a correspondent for the most quoted Baloch newspaper, Daily Tawar. Another reporter of the same newspaper from Mach city Rehmatullah Shaheen’s mutilated and bullet-riddled body was found at Espelinji Balochistn on April 1. He had been whisked away by personnel of Pakistani security agencies on March 5 at Dhadar Balochistan. Whereabouts of four of his friends, Abdulfatah, Abdul Rasool, Amanullah and Abdul Nabi, are still unknown.

Earlier, Muhammad Ilyas Nazar, 26, a Baloch journalist affiliated with Balochi language magazine Dhorant was reportedly picked up by the Government agencies after dragging him out of a passenger bus in the coastal area of Ormara when he was on his way from Quetta to Turbat on December 22, 2010. His body was found along with the body of Baloch students’ leader Qamabr Chakar on 5th January 2011. He had received bullets in head and had severe marks of torture on his body

Abdost Rind, a reporter with Urdu language newspaper Daily Eagle, was shot dead on February 18, 2011.The secret agencies were alleged for his murder.

On April 25, 2011, bullet-riddled body of Zareef Faraz, a poet and editor of a Balochi magazine – The Shabjoo – was found on a road in Turbat, Balochistan. According to the Asian Human Rights Commission, Faraz was whisked away a week before he was killed, extrajudicially. His family members blame intelligence agencies of the state for disappearance, torturing and subsequent murder.

On April 28, 2011, the body of Baloch journalist and human rights activist, Siddque Eido, was found along with the body of Yousaf Nazar, an activist of BSO-Azad in Ormara, Balochistan. Both the victims were disappeared on December 21 last year.

Apart from target killings and murders in detention, three more journalists lost their lives in violence that ensued after a suicide bomber detonated explosives at a rally in Quetta, and suicide bombing at a local hospital. The suicide bombing targeted a Shiite demonstration. The following media men lost their lives in the mentioned incidents:

Malik Arif, Samaa TV – April 16, 2010
Mohammad Sarwar, Aaj TV - September 3, 2010
Ejaz Raisani, Sama TV - September 6, 2010

Now, can anyone read the questions in the eyes of Baloch journalists and Baloch people? Why the world has applied silence on the killings of Baloch journalists, including other Balochs who were killed as part of the “Kill and dump” policy of the state. On the one hand, if one journalist is killed in any other part of Pakistan, the world takes attention. On the other hand, more than ten journalists were killed in Balochistan, but no one knows about them. I believe, this all is because of the hypocritical media in Balochistan and in the state of Pakistan and lack of interest on the part of world community and international media in unfolding humanitarian crisis in Balochistan.

This is the time world community and international organizations working for human rights and journalists took notice of the extra-judicial murders of the Baloch journalists. Their silence means they are hiding their heads in sand on the subject of Baloch genocide. Doesn’t that make them stand with the perpetrators?

Republished from The Baloch Hal.

Although it is a question of simple ‘recognition’ of cultures which actually form the ‘federation’, this issue has always been dealt with purely on political grounds, not knowing that this simple act of recognition (the government has nothing to show for actively promoting its cultures) will add to the strength of the country.

It’s not diversity but uniformity which has been propagated through the state or the so-called ‘national media’ – notion of being ‘one’ nationhood has been propagated so much so that the country has inappropriately been called a single nation. This concept has been propagated by the state and inculcated in the minds of the people to the extent that the real identities of the nations – Sindhi, Baloch, Pakhtoon, Seraiki, etc – have virtually evaporated, and the ones speaking for their separate identities are thought of as a threat to the country and, thus, should be ridded.

The problem is quite aggravated especially in the case of the languages spoken by the people for centuries now. The languages other than Urdu, and English, for that matter, have been taken to be something ‘alien’ for the country. Let alone promoting them at any level, these languages – Sindhi, Balochi, Pushto, Siraiki, Shina, etc. – have been associated with the term ‘regional languages’, as opposed to their historical status and importance, and the only language enjoys prestige is Urdu which, if we cast a quick glance at the history, is actually not a language belonging originally to any of the current geographical territories of Pakistan, i.e. Sindh, Balochistan, Punjab, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Thus, Pakistan was made an exoglossic country.

Before the Partition, Sindhi, for example enjoyed the status of being lingua franca and official and educational language of its land. Dr. Tariq Rahman, the famous sociolinguist of Pakistan, supports this view and says, ‘Sindhi is probably the oldest written language of Pakistan. Even when Persian was the official language of the Muslim rulers of Sind, Sindhi was given more importance in the educational institutions of Sind than the other languages of Pakistan were in the areas where they were spoken. From the 17th century onwards a number of religious and other books were written in Sindhi and were probably part of the curricula of religious seminaries. It was the only indigenous Pakistani language which was taught officially by the British at various levels of education.’ (pdf)

Scanned image of the official letter signed by a British commissioner in Sindh on August 29, 1857 declaring Sindhi as ‘official language’. It states that applications written in Persian would not be accepted, and, if anybody wants to submit it in Persian, a word-by-word Sindhi translation must also be attached with that to make it acceptable.

After partition, Urdu, spoken by not more than 8% of the total population as mother tongue, was made the national language of the country ignoring all other languages which were of great historical, cultural, social and literary importance. For example, Sindhi has been “spoken in the region of Sindh at the time of compilation of the Vedas (1500–1200 bce) or perhaps some centuries before that. Glimpses of that dialect can be seen to some extent in the literary language of the hymns of the Rigveda.” – as-is from Encyclopedia Britannica).

This led to language riots across the country at different levels and at different times; the worst example is when the riots erupted in the then East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in which the students of University of Dhaka participated more actively than the others, and demonstrated on the historical day of 21 February 1952. It was quite a tragic day in history when the police killed many of the student demonstrators which, later on, would be recognized as the International Mother Language Day by UNSECO.

The sad chapter of ‘language riots’ in Sindh is also a kind of a bad mark on the country’s history which took many precious lives over the issue.

However, in these times, when the situation is not that bad and when there are active segments of media covering every aspect of the governance and administration, the language issue can actually be discussed in the assemblies and necessary amendments made in the constitution’s article 251 National Language.

The article is as follows:

251. National language.

1. The National language of Pakistan is Urdu, and arrangements shall be made for its being used for official and other purposes within fifteen years from the commencing day.
2. Subject to clause (1), the English language may be used for official purposes until arrangements are made for its replacement by Urdu.
3. Without prejudice to the status of the National language, a Provincial Assembly may by law prescribe measures for the leaching, promotion and use of a Provincial language in addition to the National language.

Linguists have always discussed the verbs used for the purpose which clearly show that it is only Urdu for which the ‘arrangements shall be made’. As far as other language are concerned, it has not been made kind of a duty of the provincial assemblies to take special efforts for the progress of languages – rather it has been stated that they may take measures.

Fortunately, such a move was seen on the 18^th of this month when Marvi Memon, an MNA from Pakistan Muslim League (Q) presented a bill which sought status of national languages for 6 other languages – Punjabi, Pashto, Sindhi, Balochi, Shina and Seraiki – alongside Urdu. But, as people like me would expect from our policy makers in a political backdrop as of Pakistan, it was flatly rejected by the majority. Although it was a question of the national language status for 6 languages, only two persons from among the present supported the bill: Marvi Memon (PML-Q) and Syed Zafar Ali Shah (PPP). Not only the bill was rejected, it was called as an ‘anti-Pakistan bill’ – not surprising for the ones having an eye on the history of Pakistan’s politics and languages.

The Resolution for a separate country in 1940 was first presented in the Sindh Assembly by Sain GM Syed and it results in creation of the country; the same assembly, ironically enough, cannot pass the bill to make its language national.

The problem is that any move for any language issue is thought of being a threat to Urdu language, the only one to enjoy the status of national language, which is quite wrong. Awarding other languages the same status shall in no way risk Urdu – rather it would create a strong federation making the provinces trust each other which is lost, especially in the case of Punjab.

As a student of Linguistics and familiar with the background and importance of the languages spoken within the territories of Pakistan, I would highly recommend that the said languages be given the status of national languages: this will satisfy the people speaking them respectively as their mother tongue and ensure that no conflict arises over language issue in future – lest another serious mishap is witnessed out of this not-so-hot right now but an always simmering topic!

Let’s not harm Urdu, but benefit other languages. Treating languages equally is like treating people equally. The country should think. And the politicians should decide.. wisely!

The post first appeared on Global Voices (found here!) on May 03, 2011 and is a part of its special coverage, The Death of Osama Bin Laden. It is also available in 繁體中文, Français, Italiano, Español, and 简体中文.

Osama Bin Laden, the iconic figure of religious extremism-based terrorism, is dead – finally! Operation Geronimo ended his life yesterday, in an event which will surely leave its marks on history of the world, and politics, in general. The news literally gripped the world media so much that it was hard to find other news being reported on television channels.

In the wake of Bin Laden’s presence in Pakistan, Pakistan’s image as a haven for terrorists has, perhaps, been reinforced. However, the liberal class of urban Pakistanis have always welcomed any move to eradicate extremist elements from the country. And the province of Sindh, which has been home to great Sufis who devoted their lives in spreading peace and religious coexistence, has always repelled extremism from its grounds. That is why, Sindh has always had a distinct identity as compared to other units of Pakistan, as has been observed by William Dalrymple who visited Pakistan earlier.

Abbottabad is a city in the Hazara region (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) which attracts tourists every year with its scenic mountains and valleys. In the recent years of religious extremism resulting in terrorist activities, Abbotabad has also been one of the very few peaceful cities of province.

Pakistani reactions

Osama’s presence, and now death, in the city has taken people aback; here is how a senior journalist and policy advisor, @razarumi, reacted to it:

I still cant believe that #OBL was in Abbottabad 4 yrs-a small, sleepy town 1 has visited sevrl times 4 recreation.#Pakistan needs a clean-up

As always, social media including Facebook, Twitter and blogs, have been publishing stories about Bin Laden’s death with varied perspectives: the dominant sentiment is one of satisfaction – and happiness – on the death of the embodiment of global terrorism.

@guldaar tweeted:

Damned when he was alive, damned now that he is dead. Not really looking forward to the backlash & the city bombings. #OsamabinLaden

My own Facebook status reads in Sindhi:

All those peace- and humanity-loving, and the supporters of religious coexistence, congratulations on the death of the icon of the terrorism, Osama bin Laden. Rest in Hell, Osama!

During the last decade, religious extremism could not penetrate in the mostly underdeveloped province of Sindh. This has always been attributed to the teachings and preaching of Sufi saints of the land especially, Shah Abdul Latif, Sachal Sarmast, Sami, Shah Inayat and others who not only strongly supported religious coexistence, but also condemned the way a typical Mullah would interpret Islam.

That is the reason why the Sindhis have always welcomed the United States of America and its war on terror; the reaction to Osama’s death is also not different. They have acclaimed and, in fact, congratulated each other on the death of the terrorist on Twitter and Facebook.

The following update from Sindhi resident Xafar’s profile would support the aforementioned:

W[h]ether it’s Bin Qasim who was Osama’s spiritual father or Tughluq; he tried to justify his acts in the name of Islam or humanity, if his hands are dirtied in the blood of the innocent people, his logical end could only be the same as that of Saddam Hossein. I feel happy to see the secular nationalists congratulating each other and the supporters of the terrorists being sad on this news. [Translated from Sindhi]

Akhtar Shaikh wrote on his wall:

Congratulations to all the peace-loving [people on earth] and the Sindhi nation… Now, this is crystal clear before the world that this attitude of Punjabis (Read: Pakistani Establishment) has become a great danger for Sindh and the rest of the world.

Let’s come out in the streets and participate in this global celebration as this is a great victory over fundamentalism. [Translated from Sindhi]

Another open comment came from Sikanderhayat Hayat:

thank you America and president obama you killed (the) enemy of mankind

@sanasaleem tweets:

Alqaeda was never a one man army to begin with claiming that US will wrap up the war now is really foolish.

A while before that I tweeted:

Death of #osama may be a milestone, but not the destination; extremist mentality has to be gunned down to make peace, and justice #pakistan

However, does this really means that the reason for the US to stay in Pakistan is no more? Will America officially leave the Afghan-Pakistani territories? This is the question that has been rotating around social media.

Famous singer, Salman Ahmed (@sufisal) asks:

Will Pakistan finally breathe a sigh of peace after Osama’s death? 7,873 innocent Pakistanis have died as a result of terrorism

@mehreenkasana also poses the same question to Barack Obama, the president of the United States:

Will this stop the US regime from drone attacking civilians in tribal areas, Mr. @BarackObama? Justice has been served, after all.

And @SadamMahessar tweets:

America, now that you have served your purpose! Please get out of of my country and let us live in Peace and watch some Cricket here!!

As final words, where Pakistan will have the direct impact of death of Bin Laden in its borders, over the seas in the United States of America, President Obama has made his position strong by this act. Against or for, we all are here to face the music of his death; and, satirically, Osama goes on to his promised ‘virgins’ in heaven. In @BinaShah’s words:

72 virgins preparing for OBL’s imminent arrival with lots of ice and tylenol.

The blast was preceded by a transient phase of firing on the spot which, now we know, was actually a battle between the security forces personnel and the attackers. After putting the security personnel to sleep, a truck heavily loaded with explosives slammed into the CID building leaving it almost flattened. And where the blast instigated a wave of shudders encircling its circumference of many kilometers and smashing glasses of buildings to pieces, I wonder if it could also reach to the noticeably protected buildings of the nearby CM House and the US Consulate, not to mention the five star hotels dotted around.

The randomness also makes me wonder if the truck could possibly cross a couple of meters more in the direction of the traffic signal.

Common post-blast take on media sections is if it was a security lapse, or who to blame for the havoc — but, I tend to ask a different question here: are we, the fortunate lot to have escaped the attack, safe now? Should we trust our guardians, or, let me use intertextuality, should we sleep carefree because the government is awake?

The Taliban and other extremists are not in war with US or the present government; they have waged a war on humanity and are ‘religiously’ following it. Attacks in bazaars, markets, buses, shrines and mosques are bothering the ‘infidels’ in no way. What such suicide and attacks of other types by the Islamist organizations are doing is scratching the once soft image of their religion. We call it ‘injustice’ to call the Muslims terrorists just because some of the pricks are so – but what if we swap the situations? What if it was some other religion’s followers execute suicide attacks on common people and destroy buildings in seconds? What if you hear news of lashing women just because they talked to somestrangers regarding grocery? ‘They are not humans. They are B’s!’ would, perhaps, be our answer.

So, how has our government been tackling the issue of militancy which has reached its zenith in the past decade with complete preparations? Yes, by allocating billions for buying weapons and for army operations. Speaking in the language of warfare, that’s OK. But, have we ever thought to counter the mindset which supports the Talibani brand of Jihaad or Ghazwa-i-Hind of Zaid Hamid? Well, not really.

The point I want to make you understand is that we fight weapons with the help of weapons; likewise, we should counter the Talibani brainwashing and the sympathies they get with the help of nourishing the true spirit of religions, i.e. humanity regardless of creed or color. The Islamic extremists are in the phase of ‘making’ in the Madressahs where they are taught courses which inculcate in the minds of the learners a sense of religious superiority and lust for Jannah is conceived in their chest. They look for shortcuts to Jannah – the easiest one seems, if there is one, suicide bombings and killing non-Muslims, or the infidels, as they are commonly referred to.

This extremist thought has surprisingly been won over by the Sufi school of thought which preaches tolerance, harmony and peace. This is distinct in the backdrop of present horrible terrorist activities being carried out throughout the country and, yet, the Taliban, the executioners, have sympathizers throughout the country – Sindh begs to differ on the matter. It has no Taliban-sympathizers and has not witnessed any Taliban from its land. This is also evident in the case of Nato oil tankers being set on fire in Shikarpur where the Sindhis took out demonstrations against this act of blazing and told the world that it’s not them. They referred to the act as a conscious effort to distort the Sufi image of Sindh, the land which has remained under the influence of Sufi saints like Bhittai, Sachal, Rohal, Allama I.I. Qazi and G.M. Syed taught us universal peace and peaceful coexistence for progress of human kind. The shrine culture of Sindh has a different version of Islam than that propagated by the Islamist textbooks of the country which also instigate extremism.

Mr. William Dalrymple, the award winning Scottish historian and travel writer, records: ‘On my last visit to Pakistan, it was very clear that while the Wahhabi-dominated North-West was on the verge of falling under the sway of the Taliban, the same was not true of the Sufi-dominated province of Sindh, which currently is quieter and safer than it has been for some time. Here in southern Pakistan, on the Indian border, Sufi Islam continues to act as a powerful defense against the puritanical fundamentalist Islam of the Wahhabi mullahs, which supports intolerance of all other faiths.’ He goes on to advise the governments of the South Asia to support development and propagation of Sufism as it’s, in his words, ‘an entirely indigenous and homegrown Islamic resistance movement to fundamentalism, with deep roots in South Asian culture.’

My final words would be a humble suggestion to the government and, especially, Mr. Zardari that it’s high time they realized that, since the extremism is at the grassroots level, it should be tackled at the same height. It’s common people who should be mobilized to eradicate this evil from the society because that’s the thing which has been missing from your strategies to counter terrorism.

We, the common people, feel no more safe anywhere. If it can hit an area as the highly monitored area of the CM House and the US Consulate, it can hit a hundred times more the areas which are left to be monitored by the angels above!

Originally posted at http://mespeaks.tumblr.com/post/1566076075/cidbombing