Crisis Balochistan | 18 Nov, 2012
Also by the same author: Of Pakistani Death Squads, Baluch Masses and Slaughterhouses

By H. Baloch

Khuzdar, East Balochistan's second most populated city, is a literal war zone. The relative peace deteriorated rapidly following the assassinations of high value targets, belonging to alleged Pakistani death squads, by the Baloch resistance in September 2012. Since then Pakistani forces have retaliated by unleashing terror attacks on the Khuzdarites. Below is a sample of headlines, sourced primarily from newspapers, related to the ethnic cleansing in Khuzdar:

*Tribal notables Mir Aziz and Muhammad Khan, residents of Naal, Khuzdar, went missing on their way to a funeral; both were found beheaded on September 20th, 2012. No one has accepted responsibility for the slaughter.

*Journalist Abdul Haq Zehri of ARY News, shot dead by unknown assailants on September 29th, 2012. Haq had no affiliations with any political group. No one has accepted responsibility for the murder.

Photo: Abdul Haq Zehri of ARY News

*Leader of the Awami Ittehad Party and tribal elder Kareem Khan Marri, who was passing by the Khuzdar Road parallel to the Pakistani Frontier Corp garrison, was killed by unknown men on 2nd October, 2012. Kareem Khan had no known personal enemies and no one has accepted responsibility for the incident.

*Doctor Daud Aziz and Abdul Hameed killed on 8th October, 2012. Daud was a senior medical officer in the health department and the owner of a private hospital in Khuzdar. No one has accepted responsibility for the killings.

*Sons of Khuzdar Press Club president, Nadeem Gurgnari, targeted by unknown assailants on 25th October, 2012; both died.

*Masked assailants opened fire at a bus in the vicinity of the Khuzdar cantonment on 2nd November, 2012; eighteen, all Baloch, including eight women and three children were burned to death. No one has accepted responsibility. A District Police Officer has characterized the incident as an instance of revenge killing.

*Despite tight security, three closed shops looted in broad daylight in Khuzdar on 15th September, 2012.

Most of the news reaching the outside world is based on personal accounts from residents or visitors. Eyewitness accounts of conditions in Khuzdar include ghastly incidents such as:

*Female Abductions: Reports of Baloch women alleged to have been abducted by Pakistani forces.

*Gendercide: There are reports of at least four or five men being targeted each day. The city has an undeclared curfew for males: men spotted after six in the evening risk being shot at by any number of actors. These actors are widely regarded to be members of the FC, proxy death squads or intelligence agencies. The police and Balochistan Levies forces are NOT implicated in the killings in Balochistan.

*Exodus: Residents report receiving notes from the Pakistani Frontier Corp (FC), warning them to evacuate Khuzdar. Many have migrated to Karachi or Quetta.

*Political Cleansing: There are rumors that at least fifty members of the Balochistan National Party have been killed since party chairperson Akhtar Mengal appeared in the Balochistan Law and Order hearing in the Supreme Court in late September, 2012.

*Economic Shutdown: The city is in a state of perpetual 'shutter-down' strike enforced by alleged Pakistani death squads following the execution of Saeed Qalandrani, the alleged perpetrator of the Tootak massacre. Shopkeepers who do not comply are threatened with fatal consequences.

Mindless Violence or Grand Scheme?

The conflict in Khuzdar may seem like a tit for tat embroilment between Baloch nationalists and the Pakistani occupation, but what cannot be ignored is Khuzdar's geostrategic location in the context of Pakistan control of Balochistan.

Located midway between the Pakistan Army's Sindh and Balochistan core headquarters in Karachi and Quetta, Khuzdar has the resource rich and politically aware districts of Awaran, Punjgur, Kech and Gwadar in the South and Kharan, Washuk and Kalat in the West.

China, after taking control of the Gwadar Port from the Port Authority of Singapore in early September, 2012, announced its plans to set up an oil terminal in Gwadar.

Astola Island, part of the Pasni subdistrict of Gwadar District in Balochistan

The Pakistani government in the meanwhile is trying to elicit its own 'gold rush' from Balochistan. The Inspector General of the Pakistani Frontier Corp visited an oil and gas exploration site in Washuk on 25th October, 2012; other confirmed drilling sites are in Panjgur, Kharan, Kalat, Lasbela, the entire coast of Gwadar, offshore sites, and Khuzdar itself.

Pakistan, as a rule of thumb policy, has fortified its presence in resource-rich areas of Balochistan with Pakistan army cantonments in Sui, Kohlu and Gwadar. Though there is already a cantonment in Khuzdar, what is a point of concern is that the Pakistani leadership may be considering a mega-cantonment--a military town--close to the Southern Command headquarters in Karachi, from where the Pakistan army could launch waves of attacks against the Baloch nationalists, create a protective zone for settling Pakistani citizens and thus impose its writ in the region, making it conducive for the Chinese to establish their presence on the Strait of Hormuz.

Military planners in Rawalpindi would no doubt like the world to believe the situation in Khuzdar is a case of mindless violence, but scrutinizing possible outcomes of the Khuzdar imbroglio reveals another scenario. Can the United States and the West afford the presence in this region of both an ambitious and aggressive China on the Strait of Hormuz and a hostile and desperate Iran?

Additional reading:

China confirms takeover of Gwadar port: Report
Balochistan: Tribal leader among 4 killed in Khuzdar
2 beheaded bodies found
Global Security: Cantonment
Journalist shot dead in Khuzdar
Tribal elder Karim Khan Marri shot dead in Khuzdar
Doctor shot dead in Khuzdar
Second son of Khuzdar Press Club president passes away
Frightening fires

Balochistan district map