It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Baluchistan Faces Severe Water Shortages, Spread of Malaria
JUNE 29, 2023 Residents of Iran’s arid south-eastern province of Sistan and Baluchistan are grappling with formidable challenges at the beginning of the summer season
Residents of Iran’s arid south-eastern province of Sistan and Baluchistan are grappling with formidable challenges at the beginning of the summer season.
With a dust storm unleashing winds exceeding 100 kilometers per hour, the impoverished province faces a severe water crisis and the rampant spread of malaria.
The director of water and sewage affairs in the city of Zahak raised alarm bells over a dramatic pressure drop in rural water distribution networks, which he said led to acute shortages in many villages.
Ghlam Mohsin Lakzaianpour said that villagers in Jarikeh, Nawab, Khaliqdad, Kohak, Dasht Amirnizam and elsewhere are facing disruptions in drinking water supplies, forcing them to rely on water tankers.
Alireza Ghasemi, CEO of Sistan and Baluchistan Water and Sewerage Company, noted that over 90 percent of the region is affected by drought and estimated the current water shortage there to be 65 million cubic meters per year.
Meanwhile, the vice president of the Health Department at Iranshahr University of Medical Sciences reported an upsurge in malaria cases in the region during the first quarter of the year.
In an interview with the ISNA news agency, Faizur Rahman Rasoulizadeh said that more than 2,000 people have been diagnosed with the waterborne disease.
Water shortages – and protests over water scarcity – are becoming more commonplace across Iran.
Poor water management, drought, and corruption-ridden infrastructure projects have contributed to the crisis.
Moinuddin Saeedi, the representative of Chabahar in parliament, warned that the water crisis in Sistan and Baluchistan could trigger mass migration from the province to other parts of the country.
He stressed that such a scenario would undoubtedly create additional crises, particularly in big cities.
Last week, Iran's Migration Observatory revealed that 10,000 families have been forced to migrate from Zabol in Sistan and Baluchistan province over the past year due to harsh climate conditions and water shortages.
Group: Pakistani Baloch dissident buried amid high security QUETTA, Pakistan — A Pakistani dissident and civil rights activist who died in exile in Canada last month was returned to Pakistan and laid to rest in her home village in southwestern Baluchistan province under tight security, activists said Monday.
Only immediate family members of 37-year-old Karima Baloch were allowed to attend her funeral Sunday in the village of Tump in Baluchistan.
Her supporters claim that Pakistani troops had sealed off the village and prevented them from attending her burial. Her remains were brought to Pakistan from Canada earlier Sunday. Baloch’s body was found Dec. 22 near Toronto’s downtown waterfront, a place that she liked and often visited, a day after she was reported missing. Toronto police have not treated her death as suspicious though there were allegations by her supporters that she was killed.
TWO SAUDI SISTERS IN EXILE ALSO SUICIDED BY DROWNING IN LAKE ONTARIO
A fierce critic of Pakistani spy agencies that are often accused of abducting activists in Baluchistan and elsewhere in Pakistan, Baloch was granted asylum in Canada in 2016. Her death has raised suspicions among rights activists, who on Monday denounced authorities for holding the funeral in near secrecy.
“It is appalling to see how Karima Baloch’s dead body was treated," said Mohsin Dawar, a lawmaker from Pakistan's former tribal regions who campaigns for Pashtun minority right but like Baloch, has also criticized Pakistani spy agencies.
“It is not difficult to understand how this will deepen the divide and fuel separatism," he tweeted. "Is this the strategy to deal with the Baloch insurgency, to sprinkle salt on the wounds of Baloch?"
There was no immediate comment from the government, but a video that surfaced on social media shows soldiers turning back several mourners who are heard in the footage saying they wanted to pay their last respects to Baloch. Angered over the situation, a Baloch nationalist group — the Baloch Solidarity Committee — issued a call for a daylong strike and complete shutdown in Baluchistan on Monday. Its statement said Pakistani troops spirited Baloch's coffin away on its arrival from Canada and foiled a move by her supporters to hold her funeral in Karachi, instead taking her remains to her home village.
Later on Sunday, hundreds of Baluch activists rallied in Karachi, denouncing the government for not allowing that Baloch's funeral be held in the city.
They chanted antigovernment slogans and demanded justice for Baloch, who they say was a “voice of the Baloch people” that was “silenced.” The activists insisted she did not die a natural death though they offered no evidence to support their allegation.
Baluchistan has for years been the scene of a low-level insurgency by small separatist groups and nationalists who complain of discrimination and demand a fairer share of their province’s resources and wealth.
Although there are also militant groups in Baluchistan that stage attacks on soldiers, separatists also often attack troops in the province, prompting authorities to detain suspects. Human rights activists often blame security forces of illegally holding people. Such detainees are usually not charged and do not appear in court, which draws protests from their families and rights activists.
___
Associated Press writer Munir Ahmed in Islamabad contributed to this report.
Abdul Sattar, The Associated Press
Friday, April 05, 2024
Multiple attacks reported on police and army bases in southeast Iran, casualties feared
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attacks, but Iranian media blame Jaish al-Adl militant group
4/04/2024 Thursday AA
At least three simultaneous attacks have been reported on military bases and police stations in southeastern Iran's restive Sistan and Baluchistan province on Wednesday.
Iran's state-run news agency IRNA, citing sources, said three “terrorist operations” were carried out simultaneously late Wednesday targeting a police station and two army headquarters in the capital Chabahar and the city of Rask.
The report said at least three armed assailants had been wounded and one other killed in the operation carried out by the police. The hunt for other perpetrators continues.
The IRNA report did not mention any police casualties in the attacks, but local sources say many casualties are feared.
IRNA and other Iranian media outlets quoted the deputy governor of Sistan and Baluchistan province as saying that an attempt to enter the headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Rask had been foiled.
No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attacks, but sections of Iranian media blamed it on Jaish al-Adl, a militant group based in the border region between Iran and Pakistan.
Jaish al-Adl is an Iranian militant group that is believed to have bases in the border region of Pakistan and has claimed responsibility for many terrorist attacks in Sistan and Baluchestan province in recent years.
Wednesday's incident comes less than three months after the IRGC launched a barrage of missiles at Pakistan's Balochistan province, allegedly targeting the headquarters of the militant group.
It was followed by a Pakistani missile strike on a village in Iran's border province, leading to the escalation of tensions between the two neighbours.
At the same time, channels close to the separatist group Jaish al-Zalm, in an unusual move, distributed similar texts in a coordinated and simultaneous manner to make the public aware of the incident.
The deputy of security and law enforcement of Sistan and Baluchistan governorate confirmed the terrorist attack on the Rask and Chabahar military headquarters and said the situation is now under control.
Iran: At Least 29 Dead In Clashes Between Militants, Security Forces In Southeast
A screenshot from video of deadly violence in Chabahar, Iran on April 4.
(RFE/RL) — More than two dozen Iranian government forces and militants from Jaish al-Adl, which is recognized as a terrorist organization by Iran and several Western countries including the United States, have been killed in clashes in the southeast of the country in a flareup of violence in the underprivileged province of Sistan-Baluchistan.
Law enforcement officials told local media that the clashes lasted nearly 14 hours, leaving left 11 government troops and 18 militants dead in the cities of Rask, Sarbaz, and Chabahar. The deputy security minister of the Interior Ministry confirmed the deaths and injuries of security personnel and said the number of fatalities could potentially rise on both sides.
Alireza Daliri, the deputy law enforcement commander in Sistan-Baluchistan, said the militants had also precipitated a hostage-taking situation, but that it had ended with “all” of the attackers being killed. It was not clear whether those casualties were part of the numbers law enforcement had quoted earlier.
Jaish al-Adl, which ostensibly seeks greater rights for the ethnic Baluch minority, operates mostly in Iran’s southeastern Sistan-Baluchistan Province but is also suspected to be in neighboring Pakistan.
In an assault by the militants on the regional headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and police military bases in Rask and Chabahar, at least five security personnel were killed, according to security reports. The state-run news agency IRNA said the casualties included a soldier, an IRGC member, a Basij paramilitary member, and two law enforcement officers.
IRGC ground forces Commander Mohammad Pakpour said the attackers targeted several locations in simultaneous operations.
This deadly incident is the latest significant confrontation between Iranian forces and Jaish al-Adl, following the group’s claimed attack on a police station in Rask on January 20, which resulted in one law enforcement fatality.
Members of the Baluch minority, many of whom are Sunni Muslims in Shi’a-majority Iran, have long faced disproportionate discrimination and violence at the hands of the authorities.
The area, which borders Afghanistan and Pakistan, has also long been a key transit route for narcotics smuggled from Afghanistan to the West and beyond.
Written by Ardeshir Tayebi based on an original story in Persian by RFE/RL’s Radio Farda
Hostage taken in SE Iran after attacks on security forces, says Iranian official
Jaish Al-Adl group reportedly claimed responsibility for 3 attacks in Sistan, Baluchestan province, security officials say all hostages taken by militants freed
Syed Zafar Mahdi |04.04.2024
TEHRAN, Iran
Eleven security personnel and 15 militants were killed in overnight clashes in southeastern Iran, authorities announced on Thursday.
In the course of a military operation to free several hostages taken by the Jaish al-Adl militant group in the province of Sistan and Baluchestan, two border guards, two police officers, and seven Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) personnel were killed, reported state-run news agency IRNA, citing local security officials.
The clashes erupted in the cities of Chabahar and Rask after three simultaneous militant attacks were reported on a police station and two military bases, including one belonging to the IRGC in the province bordering Pakistan.
Gen. Mohammad Pakpour, the commander of IRGC's ground forces, told state TV said the "terrorist attacks" were carried out in several places in a coordinated manner and the perpetrators had operated as a group.
He said security personnel faced problems as the militants had taken several hostages in the provincial capital of Chabahar, adding that these were eventually released.
Majid Mirahmadi, the deputy interior minister for security affairs, told state TV that the militants had "failed" to seize control of the IRGC headquarters in Chabahar and Rask.
The Jaish al-Adl militant group, which is believed to have bases near the border with Pakistan, reportedly claimed responsibility for the attacks.
The group has in the past claimed responsibility for many attacks in the Sistan and Baluchestan province in recent years.
The last incident comes less than three months after IRGC launched a barrage of missiles at Pakistan’s Balochistan province in January, allegedly targeting the headquarters of the militant group.
It was followed by a Pakistani missile strike on a village in Iran’s border province, leading to the escalation of tensions between the two neighbors.
Military bases targeted in Iran's Sistan and Baluchestan province
Casualties as armed assailants carry out simultaneous attacks on a police station and two army bases in provincial capital Chabahar and Rask city, local media and officials say.
Sistan-Baluchestan is located on the border with Pakistan in the southeast of the country.
Photo: TRT World
Three security personnel, including the deputy of a police station, have been killed in "terrorist attacks" in Iran, state media reported, two days after seven Iranian Revolutionary Guards were killed in an Israeli air raid in Syria.
"Three security members have been martyred in several night-time terrorist attacks on military stations in the cities of Rask and Chabahar" in southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan province, Alireza Marhamati, deputy governor of the province, told state TV.
"In one of the attacks on police station number 11 of the city of Chabahar, deputy of the station Abbas Mir, was martyred," state broadcaster IRIB said, adding that a number of assailants were also killed or injured.
It also said that Jaish al Adl militant group, which was formed in 2012 and is blacklisted by Iran as a "terrorist" group, claimed responsibility for the attacks.
The attacks came less than 48 hours after an air strike on the Iranian consular annex in Damascus killed seven Revolutionary Guards, two of them generals.
"The terrorists did not succeed in their goal of capturing the Guards headquarters in Chabahar and Rask and are under siege," Deputy Interior Minister Majid Mirahmadi told state TV.
"The terrorists are stationed around these headquarters and are shooting blindly, with the courageous members of the Guards and the police are confronting them," he added.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps [IRGC], the ideological arm of Iran's military, has numerous stations in Sistan-Baluchestan province, which borders Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Jaish al Adl, or the Army of Justice, that mainly comprises members of the banned militant Jundullah group, claims that it "defends the rights of the Sunni Baluch people", and occasionally organises attacks against Iran in the Sistan-Baluchestan province.
Sunday, January 03, 2021
Pakistan: Gunmen kill 11 minority Hazara coal miners in Baluchistan
The victims were from the minority Shiite Hazara community. Pakistan's prime minister, Imran Khan, condemned the attack as a "cowardly inhumane act of terrorism."
Many ethnic Hazara live in Pakistan's Baluchistan region
Attackers in southwestern Pakistan have killed at least 11 workers at a remote coal mine, officials said Sunday.
The attack took place before dawn on Sunday near the Machh coal field, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) southeast of Quetta.
Moazzam Ali Jatoi, an official with the Levies Force, a paramilitary gendarmerie, said armed men took the coal miners to nearby mountains before shooting them. He said six of the miners died at the scene, while another five died of critical injuries on the way to hospital.
Hazara are often targeted by Sunni militants, who consider them heretics
The assailants fled after the attack. Officials said police and members of the local paramilitary force were on the scene, where a search operation had been launched to trace the attackers.
It remains unclear why the mine was targeted. Though Pakistan's mines are notorious for poor safety standards, such attacks against miners are rare.
In a tweet, Prime Minister Imran Khan condemned "the killing of 11 innocent coal miners in Machh" as a "cowardly inhumane act of terrorism."
"The families of the victims will not be left abandoned by the government," he added.
News of the killings prompted members of the Hazara community to take the streets of Quetta in protest. Shiite cleric Nasir Abbas said demonstrations against the incident would be organized across the country.
kmm/nm (AP, AFP)
IS gunmen kill 11 minority Shiite coal miners in SW Pakistan
QUETTA, Pakistan — Gunmen opened fire on a group of minority Shiite Hazara coal miners after abducting them, killing 11 in southwestern Baluchistan province early Sunday, a Pakistani official said.
The Islamic State group later claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement on its website. The Sunni militant group has repeatedly targeted Pakistan’s minority Shiites in recent years.
Moazzam Ali Jatoi, an official with the Levies Force, which serves as police and paramilitary in the area, said the attackers identified the miners as being from the Shiite Hazara community and took them to up into nearby mountains for execution, leaving others unharmed. He said six of the miners died at the scene, and five who were critically wounded died on the way to a hospital.
Police video of the bodies revealed the miners were blindfolded and had their hands tied behind their backs before being shot. The attack took place near the Machh coal field, about 48 kilometres (30 miles) east of the provincial capital Quetta.
News of the killings quickly spread among the Hazara community and members took to the streets in Quetta and surrounding areas to protest, blocking highways with burning tires and tree trunks. Officials closed the affected roads to traffic.
The violence was largely condemned across the country, with Prime Minister Imran Khan saying the perpetrators would be taken to task and the affected families would be cared for.
Shiite cleric Nasir Abbas said protests over the incident would be organized nationwide. Political and religious leaders from different segments of the population also expressed their grief and sorrow over the killings.
Pakistan’s Hazara community has been targeted many times in recent years by Sunni militant groups, including the Islamic State group. IS has also declared war on minority Shiites in neighbouring Afghanistan, and has claimed a number of vicious attacks since emerging there in 2014.
A suicide bombing at an open-air market in Quetta in April 2019 killed twenty people. At the time, IS said it had targeted Shiites and elements of the Pakistani army.
Last January, IS claimed responsibility for a powerful explosion that ripped through a mosque in Quetta during evening prayers. The blast killed a senior police officer and 13 others, and wounded another 20 worshipers.
Baluchistan is the scene of a low level insurgency by Baluch separatist groups who also have targeted non-Baluch labourers, but they have no history of attacks on the minority Shiite community.
Abdul Sattar, The Associated Press
Friday, June 02, 2023
The Battle For Water: Iran And Afghanistan's Taliban In Conflict
Water has exposed cracks in the Taliban's fragile relationship with Tehran, with both sides exchanging pointed barbs over scarce supplies before coming to deadly blows along the Afghan-Iranian border.
Tensions remain high following the deaths of troops from both sides on May 27, with Taliban and Iranian officials digging in on their positions with increased military activity and fresh warnings.
But while disputes over water security are expected to intensify between the two drought-stricken countries, both sides appear to be keeping the door open for dialogue on the issue while boosting cooperation in other areas of mutual concern.
The deadly firefight took place across the shared border between southeastern Iran and southwestern Afghanistan, with each side accusing the other of firing first. Social media footage showed Taliban heavy weaponry streaming to the border in the Kang district of Nimroz Province, where officials said one Taliban border guard was killed and several people were wounded after an exchange of heavy gunfire.
Iranian media, meanwhile, said up to three Iranian border guards were killed and several people wounded in its southeastern Sistan-Baluchistan Province, where Iran has worked to fortify its border as tensions over water supplies rose over the past two weeks.
Women crouch in a former basin in Sistan and Baluchistan amid a severe water shortage on May 18.
Following the incident, the Taliban has continued to push back on Iran's claim that it is not honoring a water treaty ironed out by the two sides in 1973.
"The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan considers dialogue to be a reasonable way for any problem," Taliban Defense Ministry spokesman Enayatullah Khawarazmi said in a statement on May 28, referring to the official name of the Taliban's unrecognized government. "Making excuses for war and negative actions is not in the interest of any of the parties."
Iran has continued its harder line, with national police commander Brigadier-General Ahmadreza Radan saying the same day that "the border forces of the Islamic republic of Iran will decisively respond to any border trespassing and aggression, and the current authorities of Afghanistan must be held accountable for their unmeasured and contrary actions to international principles."
But Iranian officials, too, have expressed the need for a diplomatic solution, with high-ranking security official Mohammad Ismail Kothari describing the dispute as "fighting between children of the same house" while rejecting that Tehran would resort to the "military option."
Big Dam Issues
Water is a precious commodity in both southwestern Afghanistan, one of the country's most productive agricultural areas, and in southeastern Iran, one of several arid areas of the country where water scarcity has fueled public protests.
But with Afghanistan in control of upriver water sources that feed low-lying wetlands and lakes in Iran's southeast, the Taliban finds itself with a rare tool for leverage in its relationship with Tehran.
The problem -- or the solution, depending on which side you consider -- stems from the construction of major dam projects in Afghanistan that in combination with increased drought and other factors have restricted the flow of water to the Sistan Basin.
The border-straddling basin depends on perennial flooding to fill what used to be a vast wildlife oasis and was home to the massive Hamun Lake, which now consists of three smaller seasonal lakes -- Hamun-e Helmand in Iran and Hamun-e Sabari and Hamun-e Puzak in both Afghanistan and Iran.
The longstanding issue of replenishing the basin with water came to the forefront earlier this month following comments by Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and President Ebrahim Raisi.
Amir-Abdollahian, in a call with his Taliban counterpart, Amir Khan Muttaqi, demanded the Afghan authorities open the gates of the inland Kajaki Dam that pools water from the Helmand River "so both the people of Afghanistan and Iran can be hydrated."
A view of the hydroelectric Kajaki Dam is seen in Kajaki, northeast of Helmand Province
Shortly afterward, Raisi upped the ante during a visit to Sistan-Baluchistan on May 18 by warning the "rulers of Afghanistan to immediately give the people of Sistan-Baluchistan their water rights." He added that the Taliban should take his words "seriously" and not say "they were not told."
The Taliban has consistently denied the accusation that it was not complying with the 1973 treaty and said that even if the Kajaki Dam were opened there would not be enough water to reach Iran.
But just two days after Raisi's threats, the Taliban appeared to twist the knife by inaugurating a new irrigation project that involved completing the construction of the Bakhshabad Dam on the Farah River, which feeds the Sistan Basin from the north.
Contentious Water Treaty
According to the 1973 treaty, Afghanistan is committed to sharing water from the Helmand River with Iran at the rate of 26 cubic meters of water per second, or 850 million cubic meters per year.
But the accord also allows for less water to be delivered in cases of low water levels, which have been affected by persistent drought and the construction of new dams in Afghanistan, including the Kamal Khan Dam on the Helmand River that was completed in 2021 shortly before the Taliban seized power in Kabul.
Vanished wetlands in the Sistan Basin on the Iranian-Afghan border
The Taliban's deputy prime minister for economic affairs, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, said on May 22 that Kabul was "committed to the water treaty of 1973 but the drought that exists in Afghanistan and region should not be ignored."
"The pain of the people of Sistan-Baluchistan is our pain," he added. "Our hearts melt for them as much as they melt for the people of Afghanistan, but we also suffer from a shortage of water."
Cooperation on the water issue was previously seen as a sign of deepening ties between Afghanistan's Sunni Taliban rulers and Shi'a-majority Iran. In January 2022, the Taliban released water from the Kamal Khan Dam on the Helmand River in Nimroz Province into the Hamun Lake.
While their sectarian differences once made them enemies, their common interests in opposing Afghanistan's Western-backed government and U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan over the past two decades brought them closer.
Since the Taliban returned to power, the militant group has sought to build economic and security ties with Tehran. While Iran has not recognized the Taliban-led government, it has sought to work with the group on the issues of Afghan refugees in Iran and cross-border drug trafficking. In February, Iran formally handed over the Afghan Embassy in Tehran to the Taliban.
In January 2022, the Taliban released water from the Kamal Khan Dam on the Helmand River in Nimroz Province into the Hamun Lake.
Afghanistan's and Iran's water crises require both countries to show a strong hand on the issue of water supplies, both for domestic consumption and to protect their national interests. But experts suggest the benefits of cooperation outweigh an escalation of the conflict.
"Neither country at this point in time needs a really hostile border," Marvin Weinbaum, director of Afghanistan and Pakistan studies at the Middle East Institute think tank in Washington, told RFE/RL.
"Economically it is an issue for both countries -- there would be no agricultural potential in Helmand Province without the water furnished by the dam. And very little of it gets into Iran. And southeast Iran is as dry as any place on the planet."
Weinbaum said neither the Taliban nor Tehran is going to exhibit weakness on the issue of short-term water shortages. "As the climate heats up, this is only going to grow more acute," he said.
But for both countries, Weinbaum said, "economic ties are really what matters the most," along with cooperating on other issues of mutual concern such as preventing the Islamic State extremist group from expanding its foothold in the region.
Ironically, just days after Raisi's threats and the inauguration of a new dam project in Afghanistan, the Taliban's Defense Ministry announced it had reached a new agreement on cooperating with Iran on defense and border issues. And on the day of the firefight that left border guards dead on both sides, officials had met earlier to discuss the water dispute.
After the deadly incident, Iranian and Taliban officials held another meeting to investigate the cause of the "tensions."
Path To Resolution
The construction of dams -- which both Iran and Afghanistan engage heavily in -- and their downstream impact stand out among the causes to discuss.
"What really triggers these disputes?" asked Weinbaum. "The intensification of them is obviously building dams, which represent simply a lower flow than they've been accustomed to and are not happy with."
Vanished wetlands in the Sistan Basin
Other observers suggest the decades-old water-sharing agreement that Iran and the Taliban accuse each other of failing to adhere to holds the answer to resolving the dispute.
The 1973 treaty does allow for the delivery of water from the Afghan side to be lower than the agreed-upon levels under certain circumstances, which would appear to include the drought and climate change that the Taliban has said have limited water supplies.
It also commits the two countries to follow a set course "in the event that a difference should develop in the interpretation" of the provisions set out in the treaty: diplomatic negotiations, turning to the "good offices" of a third party to help mediate a solution, and in the event neither step works, arbitration.
ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN — Police in southwestern Pakistan said Friday that separatist militants blocked a national highway linking the country to Iran, kidnapped 11 travelers and then shot them all to death.
The deadly late-night violence occurred in the Noshki district of the sparsely populated Baluchistan province.
Habibullah Musakhail, the district deputy commissioner, confirmed the incident, saying a search by police and paramilitary forces later recovered the victims’ bodies from under a bridge. He added that nine passengers of a bus were among those killed.
Police said that about a dozen armed men had blocked the highway. After checking the national identification cards, the attackers stopped a bus and took nine passengers to the nearby mountains, where they were fatally shot.
Authorities said that the slain bus passengers were traveling from the provincial capital of Quetta to the border town of Taftan. They were identified as residents of Pakistan’s most populous province of Punjab. The identities of the other victims were not known immediately.
No one claimed responsibility for the Friday night killings in Baluchistan, which is rich in natural resources. Several ethnic Baluch outlawed groups are active in the province and routinely target security forces as well as settlers from other parts of Pakistan.
The so-called Baluch Liberation Army, or BLA, has taken credit for plotting many of the recent attacks. Last month, BLA militants attacked a key Pakistan naval airbase and a government complex in Baluchistan within days of each other. The ensuing clashes killed several security force members and about a dozen assailants in both attacks.
Monday, August 02, 2021
How Chinese investments are capturing Pakistan's economy
Despite security threats and growing local resentment, China continues to pump billions of dollars into Pakistan and invest in a wide range of sectors.
Many Pakistanis remain euphoric about Chinese investment, arguing that it's needed to pull the nation out of economic crisis
In 2015, China announced an ambitious multibillion-dollar initiative aimed at overhauling Pakistan's crumbling infrastructure and linking the nation's southern port of Gwadar to western China.
The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), part of Chinese President Xi Jinping's signature Belt and Road Initiative, was originally estimated to bring in $46 billion (€38.7 billion) of investment into Pakistan. But it's now estimated to have increased to about $65 billion.
During the first phase of CPEC, dozens of projects, mainly related to power and transport infrastructure, were carried out with the help of Chinese money.
The second phase of the initiative, which began last December and comprises 27 projects, has focused on boosting manufacturing capacity and job creation.
And Beijing has been pumping money not only to Pakistan's economic hubs, but also to places like Pakistan-administered Kashmir and northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Many Pakistanis remain euphoric about the growing Chinese investment in the country, arguing that it's needed to pull Pakistan out of a severe ongoing economic crisis.
The strategically located Gwadar port, which is run by a Chinese company, is in insurgency-hit Baluchistan province
A 'source of blessing' for the Pakistani economy
Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province was badly hit by Islamist terrorism between 2004 and 2015. Tribal areas in the region were considered a hub for Islamists, including those affiliated to terror outfits like al Qaida and the Haqqani network.
Given this terrible law and order situation, many Western countries and businesses were not willing to invest in the province.
Aneela Khalid of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Women's Chambers of Commerce believes that Chinese investment is a "source of blessing" for the Pakistani economy.
"First, China invested in our province under CPEC, working on various power and infrastructure projects," she told DW, adding that "now it is also investing in sanitation and other projects."
Undeterred by terror threats
In the southern province of Sindh, Chinese firms have not only completed several CPEC projects but have also bought a 40% stake in the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) company.
Ahmed Chinoy, a prominent businessman from the port city of Karachi and director of the PSX, told DW that the Chinese now have the powers to appoint the managing director, chief financial officer and chief regulatory officer of PSX.
Such appointments, nevertheless, have to be endorsed by the board of directors, he added.
Multiple sources told DW that China is planning to buy a power utility in Karachi, which is one of the largest energy companies in the country.
"The Chinese are trying to invest everywhere in Sindh," said a regional government official on condition of anonymity.
He pointed out that recently, sanitation contracts in five districts had been given out to Chinese companies. A number of businessmen, the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation and various trade union members corroborated the official's claim.
They expressed anger at the government for giving away such lucrative contracts to Chinese firms, which they believe undermines the authority of civic bodies.
Khurrum Ali, secretary-general of the Awami Workers Party in Karachi, claims that various oil exploration blocs in Sindh have also been given to Chinese companies.
Western companies like the British Petroleum were operating such blocs in the past, he added. Chinese presence in Baluchistan
Baloch rebels have been fighting against the Pakistani state in a bid to gain independence for the region. They have often attacked non-Baloch as well as Baloch opponents besides targeting the police and the army.
While the region is considered risky for investment, the Chinese appear to have had no qualms so far in funneling money into the province.
They have been building an airport in Gwadar, along with a number of other major projects.
Rahim Zafar, a resident of the port city and a former adviser to ex-Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, told DW that the Chinese had set up three factories close to the port of Gwadar, which are not part of CPEC.
They are also involved in fishing business, bringing in deep sea trawlers, catching fish in a non-sustainable way and depriving the locals of the catch, he added.
Jan Muhammad Buledi, a former spokesman for the Baluchistan government, told DW that the Chinese businessmen are involved in the extraction of marble and minerals through local partners in various parts of the province. Motivated by cheap labor and high profits?
Lahore-based analyst Ahsan Raza believes that the meeting of Prime Minister Imran Khan with around 100 Chinese investors last year encouraged the Chinese to invest in Pakistan.
"The government has reformed the regulatory framework for the investors in general and Chinese investors in particular. So, they are investing in hospitality, information technology, telecom, consultancy and other sectors," Raza said.
Shaik believes it is cheap labor and high profit margins that are driving the Chinese to invest in Pakistan.
"There is also less competition because although the government has announced relaxations and privileges for all investors, Western businesspeople are not ready to invest in Pakistan."
"In addition, the Chinese can repatriate 100% profits as there is no bar for reinvestment in the country," he added.
While some businesspeople in Pakistan claim that Chinese firms are being given preferential treatment when it comes to handing out public contracts, the government rejects such allegations.
Fazal Muhammad Khan, a member of parliament from the ruling party, told DW: "We neither give any preferential treatment to Chinese companies nor are contracts doled out. We take conflicts of interest and other factors into account. And the ground is open for both Chinese and Western companies."
Friday, September 29, 2023
Factbox-Major attacks in Pakistan during 2023
Suicide blast in southwest Pakistan
By Ariba Shahid
Fri, September 29, 2023
KARACHI, Pakistan (Reuters) - Islamist militants have staged a series of attacks in Pakistan since last year when a ceasefire between the Pakistani Taliban, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the government broke down.
Here are details of some of the attacks that took place before suicide bombings at two mosques on Friday for which no one has claimed responsibility. The TTP, whose stated aim is to impose Islamic religious law in Pakistan as the Taliban have done in Afghanistan, denied any role in Friday's attacks.
JANUARY
A suicide bomber blew himself up inside a crowded mosque in a highly fortified security compound in the north-western city Peshawar on January 30, killing at least 100 people, mostly policemen, while 57 people were injured.
The attack was the deadliest in Peshawar since twin suicide bombings at All Saints Church killed scores of worshippers in September 2013, in what was one the deadliest attacks on Pakistan's Christian minority.
The Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a faction of the TTP, claimed responsibility for the bombing. TTP spokesman Mohammad Khorasani distanced the group from the attack, saying it was not its policy to target mosques or other religious sites.
MARCH
A suicide bomber rammed a motorcycle into a police truck in southwestern Pakistan on March 6, killing nine policemen in Sibbi, a city some 160 km (100 miles) east of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province.
Islamic State, which is fighting the Taliban in neighbouring Afghanistan, claimed responsibility for the attack, according to the SITE Intelligence Group.
APRIL
Four people were killed and 15 injured in a bombing targeting a police vehicle in a marketplace in Quetta on April 10. In a successive attack, a station house officer (SHO) was targeted in a roadside blast in Quetta.
Separatist group the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the attacks, which was the third attack in less than 24 hours on police in Quetta.
APRIL
Two explosions in a counter-terrorism ammunition depot in the northwestern Swat valley killed at least 17 people, mostly policemen, and wounded over 50 on April 25. The valley had long been controlled by Islamist militants before they were flushed out in a military operation in 2009.
The valley police chief said experts visited the spot but did not find any evidence of a militant attack.
JULY
On July 31, At least 63 people died in a suicide bombing at a political rally organized by the conservative Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) party, which is known for its links to hardline Islamists, but which condemns militants seeking to overthrow the Pakistani government.
The religious group was allied with the government at the time.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for the suicide attack, which compounded security concerns in the run-up to a general election expected in January. It was the most deadly attack to target a political rally since an election campaign in 2018.
AUGUST
Nine soldiers were killed when a suicide bomber on a motorcycle set off his explosives next to a convoy in northwestern Pakistan on Aug 31.
(Reporting by Ariba Shahid in Karachi; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
Suicide bomber kills more than 50 people near mosque in Pakistan
Guest Author, Maria Usman Updated Fri, September 29, 2023
Islamabad, Pakistan — A religious gathering to celebrate the birthday of Islam's Prophet Mohammad turned deadly Friday in Pakistan when a suicide bomber exploded a powerful device near a mosque, killing at least 52 people and leaving some 70 more injured in an attack targeting worshippers and police. Another attack elsewhere in the country, targeting another mosque, left at least 5 people dead.
Local officials said the blast in the Mastung district of Pakistan's southwest Baluchistan province, which has faced a decades-long nationalist rebellion as well as multiple attacks by the ISIS faction in the region, had targeted the procession as worshipers left the mosque.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for Friday's explosion but the Pakistani Taliban, a collection of religious extremist sub-groups that's separate from the Afghan Taliban but closely allied with the group that retook power in Afghanistan in August 2021, denied responsibility.
ISIS-Khorasan, or ISIS-K, a branch of the terror group that operates in Pakistan and Afghanistan, is also active in the province has claimed previous deadly attacks in Baluchistan and elsewhere.
The Baluch nationalists who have fought for years for independence in the oil-rich province bordering Afghanistan and Iran typically target security officials rather than civilians.
Video aired by Pakistani TV stations and posted on social media showed bloodied victims of the explosion and body parts strewn across the site of the blast.
Dr Saeed Mirwani, chief executive of the local Nawab Ghous Bakhsh Raisani Memorial Hospital, told reporters that dozens of casualties were being treated at the facility, while more than 20 more seriously injured victims were sent to the provincial capital of Quetta for more advanced treatment.
"The process of moving bodies and injured persons is under way," the hospital CEO said.
Hours after the suicide blast in Baluchistan province, at least one more explosion ripped through a mosque in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which also borders Afghanistan, killing at least five people, a regional official said. The mosque's roof collapsed in the blast, leaving about 30 to 40 people buried under rubble.
Interim information minister for the provincial government Feroze Jamal said there were two suicide bombers involved in the attack, one who was killed in a shootout with police at the entrance to the mosque in the city of Hangu, and another who then detonated his device inside the building as people gathered to tend to the wounded.
Pakistan's president Arif Alvi condemned both attacks and asked authorities to provide all possible assistance to the wounded and the victims' families.
In a statement, caretaker Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti denounced the bombing, calling it a "heinous act" to target people in the religious procession.
The government had declared Friday a national holiday to mark Prophet Mohammad's birthday.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said it was "unacceptable that the residents of Baluchistan are compelled to live in constant fear amid deteriorating law and order."
"Those responsible for this heinous attack must be brought to justice. HRCP believes, however, that hyper-securitization will not resolve the security problem in the province," it added in a statement shared on social media.
Soon after news of the explosions in Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, police in Pakistan's most populous province, Punjab, and in its biggest city Karachi, said they were stepping up security around mosques amid Friday prayers.
Friday's bombing was among the worst attacks in Pakistan in a decade. In 2014, 147 people, mostly schoolchildren, were killed in a Taliban attack on an army-run school in the northwest city of Peshawar.
In late January, more than 100 people were killed, mostly police, at a mosque inside a high-security compound housing the Peshawar police headquarters. In July, at least 54 people were killed when a suicide bomber dispatched by ISIS-K targeted an election rally for a pro-Taliban party in the northwest of the country.
Thursday, January 18, 2024
WW3.0
Pakistan's air force carries out retaliatory strikes against Iran
ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s air force launched retaliatory airstrikes early Thursday on Iran allegedly targeting militant positions, an attack that killed at least seven people and further raised tensions between the neighboring nations.
The strikes in Sistan and Baluchestan province follow Iran’s attack Tuesday on Pakistani soil that killed two children in the southwestern Baluchistan province
The strikes imperil diplomatic relations between the two neighbors, as Iran and nuclear-armed Pakistan have long regarded each other with suspicion over militant attacks.
The attacks also raised the threat of violence spreading in a Middle East unsettled by Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Iran also staged airstrikes late Monday in Iraq and Syria over an Islamic State-claimed suicide bombing that killed over 90 people earlier this month. Iraq has recalled its ambassador from Iran for consultations.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry described their attack as “a series of highly coordinated and specifically targeted precision military strikes.”
“This morning’s action was taken in light of credible intelligence of impending large scale terrorist activities,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “This action is a manifestation of Pakistan’s unflinching resolve to protect and defend its national security against all threats.”
Several insurgent groups operate in Iran and Pakistan, including the Jaish al-Adl Sunni separatist group that was targeted by Tehran in its own strike. They all have a common goal of an independent Baluchistan for ethnic Baluch areas in Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan.
Pakistan’s Baluchistan province, as well as Iran’s neighboring Sistan and Baluchestan province, have faced a low-level insurgency by Baluch nationalists for more than two decades.
A deputy governor of Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan province, Ali Reza Marhamati, gave the casualty figures from Thursday’s strike in a telephone interview, saying the dead included three women and four children. He did not immediately elaborate.
HalVash, an advocacy group for the Baluch people, shared images online that appeared to show the remains of the munitions used in the attack. It said a number of homes had been struck in Saravan, a city in Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan province. It shared videos showing a mud-walled building destroyed and smoke rising over the strike immediately after.
Thursday’s development came a day after Pakistan recalled its ambassador to Tehran because of Tuesday’s strikes by Iran inside Pakistan’s southwestern Baluchistan province.
Iran claimed it targeted bases for a militant Sunni separatist group. It drew strong condemnation from Pakistan, which denounced the attack as a “blatant violation” of its airspace and said it killed two children.
QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Militants attacked a road construction labor camp in southwestern Baluchistan province overnight killing three workers and wounding five others, officials said Saturday.
The assailants late Friday opened fire on the camp, burned vehicles and destroyed machinery in a mountainous part of the district of Harnai, said Farah Azeem Shah, spokesperson for the Baluchistan provincial government. She said the camp was part of a local company working on a road construction project.
Five workers were missing from the camp after the attack, said Rafiq Tareen, district deputy commissioner. He said security forces started a search operation but the terrain was difficult.
Later, he said two of the five workers were found nearby.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but separatist groups involved in a low-level insurgency in Baluchistan have staged similar attacks targeting non-local workers they accuse of taking jobs in the province. Separatist groups in the mineral and gas rich province like the Baluchistan Nationalist Army want independence from Islamabad.
Separately, a militant and a soldier were killed in a shootout in the northwestern North Waziristan district Saturday. A military statement said security forces recovered arms and ammunition at the spot where the militant was killed. It said an intense exchange of fire was triggered during a raid in Miran Shah, the district's main town. The area served as a sanctuary for militants for years until 2014, when the military carried out massive operations to clear the region of militants.
