A restive Lyari finally found a letup late in the night between Monday and Tuesday with Rangers patrolling the hostile territories to ensure the ceasefire lasts, Geo News reported.

The violent skirmishes devoured at least seven people including the Vice President of PPP Lyari, Hassan Soomro on Monday. The deafening gunfire, which grew louder and louder in the day, also echoed in the Presidency as in a statement issued, President Asif Ali Zardari, sounded off his concerns over the violent bloodletting in one of Pakistan Peoples Party’s strongholds in the metropolis.

 As a measure to choke off the infiltration of gunslingers into as well as out of hostile zone, President Zardari has ordered the authorities to erect a barbwire fence separating the areas of Balochistan bordering on Lyari.

 Analysts say the heaviest casualty of Lyari hostilities, the Vice President of PPP Lyari, Hassan Soomro, has complicated the situation. Taking a serious note of the Lyari’s plight, President has also ordered an inquiry into Soomro’s murder directing the lawenforcers to apprehend his murderers on the prompt.

 Earlier talking to Geo News Nabil Gabol has said Hassan was standing at Aath Chowk when unidentified man attacked him. MLO Civil Hospital confirmed the death of the PPP leader.

Nine including two policemen were injured during the clashes. The law and order situation deteriorated in Lyari following the killing of a ‘gangster’ during a police encounter on Sunday.

 An inquiry has been ordered into the killing and Deputy Commissioner South has been made the inquiry officer. The killing of the ‘gangster’ triggered clashes between angry residents and police who took a violent turn on Monday.

The police resorted to tear gas shelling to control the situation while some unidentified men forced the shopkeepers to shut markets in the area. On Sunday, the police raided the Chakiwara area in Lyari during which they claimed to have killed a known gangster Saqib alias Sakhi in an encounter. An ASI was also injured during the shootout.

 According to SSP Mohammed Aslam Khan of CID Sindh, the police acting on a tip off raided a place in Chakiwara No-II. Upon seeing the police the gangsters opened fire and an encounter ensued during which Saqib alias Sakhi of the Lyari gang war group and ASI Waheed sustained injuries.

 However, Saqib’s accomplices Umer katchi, Baba Ladla, Abdul Jabbar alias Jeango, Taj Mohammed alias Taju and others fled, taking advantage of narrow lanes. The police recovered one Kalashnikov and a 9mm pistol from the possession of Saqib.

When asked which agencies were involved in enforced disappearances and killings, Balochistan communications minister Sadiq Ali Umrani quipped, “I have told you enough. If I tell you more my body will also be found along a roadside.”

(SALEM) – One of American’s most popular public radio stations NPR (National Public Radio) carried a news story last July about the ongoing independence struggle in occupied Balochistan.

This is a subject we explored in the recent Salem-News.com article, Balochistan & Bangladesh – Enduring Pakistan’s Selective Genocide. The myriad problems relating to Pakistan’s history and aggressive military politics are ugly and widespread. It is tragic for a nation of mostly peaceful people who, like Americans, have little control over the actions of their country’s military preoccupation.

The YouTube clip below includes interviews with Balochistan minister and a Baloch girl whose father was abducted on 15 August 2010 by Pakistan’s Frontier Corps… in full view of the public.

His tortured body was found in May. See the report at our link above to learn more about incidents of this nature, and to see photos.

Balochistan communications and works minister Sadiq Ali Umrani confirmed to the NPR that Pakistan law-enforcement agencies were involved in the enforced disappearances and killings.

When asked which agency, Umrani quipped, “I have told you enough. If I tell you more my body will also be found along a roadside.”

As in Sri Lanka, and other parts of the world where resistance against military oppression exists, journalists in Balochistan who report atrocities tied to Pakistan’s military, live in peril and threat of gruesome deaths if they continue their reports. A list was recently released of at least 35 Journalists from Balochistan who were warned to stop writing about Pakistani atrocities in Balochistan; otherwise they will be killed one after other.

House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Baluchistan, Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), Chairman
Witnesses
C. Christine Fair, PhD, Assistant Professor, Georgetown University
Mr. Ralph Peters, Military Analyst and Author
Mr. T. Kumar, Director, International Advocacy Amnesty International USA
M. Hossein Bor, PhD, Counsel, Entwistle & Cappucci, LLP
Mr. Ali Dayan Hasan, Pakistan Director, Asia Division, Human Rights Watch

http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/112/HHRG-112-FA-WState-RPeters-20120208.pdf

Baluchistan Always under Pakistani Army Oppression

Pakistan Army's Another Genocide Reminiscent of another Bangladesh

http://www.boloji.com/plainspeak/011.htm
http://www.Balochvoice.com/index_a.html
http://www.balochistaninfo.com/balochistan_voice_sweden.htm
http://www.zrombesh.org/maqalat/Press_release%5B1%5D.htm
http://www.securitywatchtower.com/archi … istan.html
http://www.ostomaan.org/jan_articleOpinion.htm

The Baloch attempt to fight back: A timeline: Pakistan Army (“Government”) leaves them no option
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/7935_0,001601170003.htm
Armed groups in Baluchistan and their fighting capacity
http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/03/armed-groups-in-baluchistan.html

Pakistan resorts to genocide: Killings from the first days on…
Baluchistan Dossier: genocide
http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:nH9YxHE877UJ:www.bso-na.org/files/Baloch…
Racism as a cause of genocide
http://horsesandswords.blogspot.com/2006/03/ethnic-tensions-in-baluchistan-an…
Baloch Nation Letter to UNHCR
http://www.petitiononline.com/baloch/petition.html
http://intellibriefs.blogspot.com/2005/12/bso-na-launches-petition-stop-milit…

Genocide with a story
http://www.sindhtoday.net/voicebalochistan.htm

Chemical weapons used on the baloch by Pakistan Army
http://colorado.indymedia.org/newswire/display/12371/index.php
http://dtirp.dtra.mil/CBW/News/NG/ng_07feb06.asp

Sana Baloch, Mehran Baloch, Wahid Baloch speak
http://fpc.org.uk/articles/369
http://www.worldproutassembly.org/archives/2006/01/war_crimes_and.html
Aziz baloch speaks
http://www.bso-na.org/BSO_NA_activist_spoke_at_World_peace_forum.html
Blogs on the Baloch
http://www.boloji.com/plainspeak/011a.htm
The real deal with Pakistan: Taliban, Baluchistan, other issues with a common thread.
http://www.paifamily.com/opinion/archives/001034.html

Murdering the leader
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5290966.stm
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/7932_1787891,001601170000.htm
The Dera Bugti shelling
http://www.sarbaaz.com/

Non-Army Pakistanis denounce killing
http://www.dawn.com/2006/08/30/local30.htm

Genocide video

Where did we see all this before? The genocide in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). Different mass murderers. Same uniform. Same philosophy: Let me treat you as the slave you are–or die.
http://www.muktadhara.net/page34.html
http://www.globalwebpost.com/genocide1971/docs/jurists/2_intro.htm
http://www.gendercide.org/case_bangladesh.htm

Balochistan: Pakistan’s other war
Baloch politicians and leaders share their vision of self-determination and freedom from Pakistani rule.

In the rugged mountains of southwest Pakistan lies the country’s largest province of Balochistan. Far from the bustling cities of Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad, this remote region has been the battleground for a 60-year-long insurgency by the Baloch ethnic minority.

“The Baloch people now live in a state of war. Every day, they face injustice. The army and intelligence agents kidnap our young, and we know nothing about them for years. The Baloch people live in a state of war. We will not accept any offers until we regain control over this land. They burn down our homes and then ask us for peace? We are not stupid.”

- Baloch Khan, Baloch rebel leader

The ongoing conflict is often called Pakistan’s dirty war, because of the rising numbers of people who have disappeared or have been killed on both sides.

But the uprising against Pakistan’s government has received little attention worldwide, in part because most eyes have been focused on the fight against the Taliban and al-Qaeda in other areas of Pakistan.

Bordering Iran and Afghanistan, Balochistan remains notorious for cross-border smuggling and has more recently been infiltrated by former members of the Taliban and al-Qaeda operatives. Few outsiders gain access or permission to travel in the region.

Al Jazeera’s Ahmad Zaidan travelled to Balochistan to meet with key Balochi politicians who explain the history and current circumstances of the region and to get an exclusive interview with the leader of the Balochistan rebel movement seeking secession from Pakistan.

This film offers a glimpse into a region which, in 2010, had the highest number of militant, insurgent and sectarian attacks of any province in Pakistan. It is a region torn apart with separatist organisations attacking the state, sectarian and ethnic attacks, and crime, including kidnapping for ransom.

http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/aljazeeraworld/2012/01/2012121372863878.h…

Karachi: At least seven persons, including wife and daughter of a Balochistan Assembly lawmaker, were shot dead in a fresh outbreak of violence here.
The wife, daughter and driver of the sitting MPA from Sibi in the Baluchistan province, Mir Bakht Yar Domki, were gunned down late last night near the Gizri bridge in the upmarket area of Clifton while they were going home.

Domki is the grandson and his wife was the grand daughter of the late Baluch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, who was killed by security forces in 2005 while he was underground due to a clean up operation by the government in the province to combat terrorism. “Now even our women are not safe. We don’t expect any justice from the government but we will get justice from God,” a grieving Domki told reporters.

City police chief, Ayaz Ghorchani, said the killings appeared to be the result of a family enmity which are common in Baluchistan.

Few hours earlier violence erupted in the Shia Muslim dominated areas of the city in which three persons were gunned down in the north Karachi area.

Police said the three were killed when unidentified masked men opened fire on the car they were riding in.

SP Chaudhry Asad though said that the men belonged to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement. However, he refused to confirm whether this was an ethnic attack. “Investigations are still underway,” he said.

Earlier in the day a Shia, Taseer Abbas Zaidi, was gunned down in the Gulberg area leading to protesters blocking roads and attacking the law enforcement agencies and media personal to vent their anger.

Last week a fresh round of target killings had given rise to fear that these were the result of ethnic and sectarian violence.

Turkmenistan Balochi songs

By Rafay Mahmood’
The song featured in ‘Coke Studio 4’ is more than just a catchy tune. ILLUSTRATION BY: JAMAL KHURSHID
KARACHI It’s an anthem for some, a symbolic representation of culture for others and an appealing melody for many more.

traditional Balochi Brahvi folk song

The Brahvi  Baloch folk song is considered to be one of the finest and most celebrated pieces of poetry and song writing in the history of Balochistani folk music, penetrating pop culture after it was performed by Pride of Performance winner Akhtar Chanal Zahri — the maestro behind the song at the “Coke Studio”.

“It was not a song but a revelation that came to me while I was sitting in Kalat, a city which once held the throne of Balochistan,” Zahri told The Express Tribune. It was at a tailor shop in Quetta that the writer first heard a faqeer chanting the phrase “Daanah Pah Daanah” on a cassette player.

“As soon as I held my pen, I knew this song will be about peace, love, brotherhood and above all, the love for our Balochistan,” said Zahri. Sharing more details about “Daanah Pah Daanah”, Zahri said the song was written in Brahvi — a language spoken by Brahvi people who are ancestral shepherds. In “Daanah Pah Daanah” too, a shepherd introduces Balochistan to his sons and the sounds he makes while singing, are meant to create a visual of a flock of sheep that he is walking with.

“All the Balochi melodies are derived from the stroll of a camel and hence they are based on a beat of six. That is what makes the melody of “Daanah Pah Daanah” very different as compared to Sindhi or Punjabi melodies which are based on the gallop of a horse with a beat of four,” said Zahri.

The song became an instant hit as soon as it was released in 1990. “The song talks about the Balochistan that existed in the 1700s and 1800s. Hence, it has references to Kalat being the capital of Balochistan and to mountains’ peaks like Chiltan, Shahshan and rivers like Harboi and Marjaan. This all reflects the narrator’s love for the land,” told Zahri.

Zahri believes that some people, with no understanding of poetry, attach political connotations to the song which he finds totally incorrect: “It does not talk about separation, it does not talk anything negative and it is an anthem of peace and brotherhood, nothing more than that.”

Zahri has come a long way marking his 50 years in music but the artist admits he was upset when Shazia Khusk released her own version of “Danaah Pah Daanah”. The two first met at Sachal Sarmast mela, where Khushk showed her interest in singing the song but Zahri believed Brahvi was a difficult language to sing. Zahri claims that he offered to discuss the project details with Khusk at a later date when he had to visit Hyderabad.

However, he saw Khusk’s new album in the market featuring the same song. Before he could do this, he hired a lawyer to file a case against Khushk. However, Zahri was pacified after the involvement of a government representative.

“Shazia and I never performed together and she has nothing to do with ‘Danaah Pa Daanah’ and that is why Rohail Hyatt called me instead of many other folk artists who have copied the soundtrack,” said the singer.

No matter how long and hard his journey has been, Akhtar Chanal Zahri gave us a melody that will remain as an integral part of Pakistan’s folk music.

The lyrics of ‘Daanah Pah Daanah’

Among the multitude of grains (in the world), mine is this grain (you)

(Now that) you and I have grown to be friends

We have no need of anything

O live, live, my darling breath

Sehkumb and Marap are my places

O my gentle, petite lady

Come aside with me to talk in privacy

O, my good sir, Soomro (the prince who came between two lovers)

Desist, sir, for God is powerful (in retribution)

(Among the) multitude of grains, this grain has

This lovely pearl has stolen my heart

May you live long, live long!

You have stolen my fragile heart

May you live long!

Kalat is our Khan’s country

This is the capital of Balochistan

Come and see the water of the Dudran spring

Naseer Khan Noori is our Khan

We devote our lives to our country

Kachhi and Khurasan — oh excellent!

Lyrics courtesy “Coke Studio

BBC English report on Balochi Revoulatonary song!

BBC made a nice effort for general understanding of emerging revolutionary Baloch culture .

The Baloch tribal leader Nawab Akbar Bugti had served as Former governor and ex Chief Minister of Balochistan before he was killed in 2006 in an army operation.

Balochistan will be an Independent Country

A wave of violence and killings has taken over the country with sporadic incidents of killings taking place in areas of Balochistan too, including Mastung, HUB and Quetta. No group has taken responsibility yet. Security agencies and the provincial government has failed in bringing order in the province.

Spokes person from Baloch people party at italian parliament

West Balochistan 30 June 2011 Italian Parlament

Pakistan’s military intelligence agency, the ISI, is facing mounting allegations of involvement in the murder of journalist Saleem Shehzad. Pakistan’s security forces have long committed human rights abuses with impunity, says Ali Dayan Hasan of the Human Rights Watch. He says the civilian government must assert its authority over the military to put a stop to such abuses and for greater democratization.