Those who do not learn from their own history are doomed to fight sectarian psychos in Kurram

Anybody who hates Jimmy Carter and Manmohan Singh is an ugly human being who hates peace

Jimmy Carter and Manmohan Singh were amazing men with vile successors.

Biden did the right thing by leaving Afghanistan then Jimmy Cartered his own party to advance neo-conservative American goals in the Middle East

Bloodbath after bloodbath across Balochistan

Balochistan has been in a state of mass-murder by terrorist bombing, ambushes and army counter-ambushes for the last five months. Since the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) decided to celebrate Nawab Akbar Bugti's killing on 26 August with a spate of terrorist attacks across Balochistan there have been attacks every couple of weeks since then. November saw over 200 people killed in the last month across the province.

This blood soaked November in Balochistan lead to the total number of people killed by violence since August to over 500. More than half a thousand being killed in a province by terrorism is a lot of people, and the geographic variance of the attacks obviously shows the spread of terrorist cells far and wide across its territory.

The problem however goes above and beyond the terrorists and extends into politics - the cruelty, political and material theft of the political rights of the Baloch people and their province are what is clearly feeding the violence, and frankly preventing an off-ramp from the mayhem and murder. If I went through every terrorist attack since August over here, the uptick in deaths and murders would be repulsive. What also would be repulsive would be the response, or non-response, of the Quetta provincial government that has/was put into power by the Army through the rigging of the Balochistan elections (along with the federal one) in February 2024.

Alongwith the rise in the TTP's violence in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan is facing a massive security crisis that this hybrid regime (Pakistan's fourth in six years) is frankly, not interested in competently facing. From the Taliban in Afghanistan providing a back-yard for genocidally anti-Shia Sunni terrorists to escape to, to the Baloch insurgency, to the return of the TTP and the general hostility and threat of India, especially under Modi, Pakistan has a really spiky security situation on its border and inside its home. This security crisis pre-dates Pakistan and its Army inflicting a massive political crisis on itself by rigging the February election this year that would have seen Imran Khan return to power in stunning numbers. The result shocked too many people inside Pakistan close to the beginning of 2024 and should be seen as one of the first few elections of this year's historic anti-incumbency wave. 

The insurgency in Balochistan has now been a 24 year long wound that Pakistan has inflicted on itself and frankly, the election this year could have been an off-ramp from the violence, but the Pakistan Army, with the connivance of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) decided to keep rigging the votes in Balochistan so that the Pakistan Army's disastrous, frankly, rule there could continue. What is the Pakistan Army's rule in Balochistan? Illegal mining and siphoning money off it or Pakistan Army officers owning those mines or fuel (gas or oil) wells or part of them out right. Alongside stealing Balochistan's mineral wealth, to which the Baloch and their provincial government have first rights, there are kickbacks from the provincial budget to select officers. And finally, there is the smuggling. So much money from taking kickbacks from smuggling across the frontiers of Balochistan are going into Pakistan Army officers pockets. If there was a half-way functional government from Quetta like there is in Sindh or Punjab, so much of this would, just from a jurisdictional perspective, have to be cut down to size.

The moment of the suicide bombing in Quetta, captured on surveillance video

However, the Pakistan Army's neo-colonial rule of Balochistan continues, the world has easily ignored it because of the keeping out of foreign reporters and the successful intimidation of Pakistani reporters not to cover the flood of disastrous information coming out of the province. I feel incredibly lonely being one of the few people who has, can and still write about the Balochistan conflict, but the lack of other people writing on this topic because of the Pakistan Army's successful blackout by threatening newspapers, television channels, journalists and the disappearing of journalists or their killing by them or the BLA has kept the story out of the world's eye, a tragedy for the people of Balochistan. Frankly, the only way to cover Balochistan is for foreign channels to hire a Pakistani local, have them cover the province once and just leave the country - an expensive proposition.

All that leaves us with our the extremely bloody terrorist attacks. Just to talk about what happened last month and in this one the biggest terrorist attack was the bombing of Quetta's railway station. A Baloch separatist/nationalist suicide bomber set himself off killing 32 people and injuring over 60. The crowd for the morning train out of the city to Rawalpindi were targeted, specifically a lot of soldiers from a local unit who were scheduled to leave. This indicates the terrorists have their sights set on hitting the security forces (and still have) a good understanding and local surveillance on the Pakistani military. The terrorists obviously targeted the crowd because it was the one for the train heading to Pakistan's "garrison" city; Rawalpindi.

Before the Quetta railway bombing, 9 people were killed and 29 injured in Mastung district by a bomb blast near its Civil Hospital. This vile attack happened at the beginning of November, literally 1 November 2024. Children were killed and this was absolutely heinous. If anyone wants to know why I can never give the BLA any sympathy, here you have it.

Then after the Quetta bombing, in Kalat on 17 November, a check post of the Frontier Corps was attacked by the BLA and 7 of the men were killed with 18 injured in a three hour gun battle. These were just the major attacks last month, but they indicate the pattern of the attacks. I am leaving a lot of violent incidents or attacks that failed or had smaller casualties for the sake of being concise. December in Balochistan has basically been a constant hum of disappearances, raids, scouring operations by the Pakistan Army/Frontier Corps in some areas and the loss of soldiers or paramilitaries of the Frontier Corps in ones or twos every week in encounters with militants. The province is very much insurgency struck and at the end of the day, this will require a political solution.

Frontier Corps paramilitaries controlling traffic near the checkpoint attacked in Kalat

Why the current situation is made worse is because the government is not interested in responding to this massive upsurge in terrorism. The men running the government, are by their constitution, just not willing to confront terrorism that destroys the lives of Pakistanis. That is because the men running this government are the worst boomers to emerge from the end of the Cold War. The Army Chief, Asim Munir is a deeply reactionary, actually, member of Generation-X allied with our frankly insane Prime Minister, Shahbaz Sharif, a psychotically reactionary boomer from the end of the Cold War (I will write a profile about Shahbaz Sharif some time later). Forget conservativism, the levels of reaction among two men who lived through the end of the Zia-ul-Haq dictatorship and thought it was so good they should join it, Asim Munir by signing up for the Pakistan Army and Shahbaz Sharif by co-signing off to his elder brother becoming the puppet chief minister of Punjab province for the dictator Zia-ul-Haq.

Does Balochistan need new elections?

As for Balochistan, the place frankly needs a new election to a provincial government that is actually freely elected, the stopping of federal officers from looting the minerals of that place and a cessation of violence. The elections should be fair and without interference by the Pakistan Army or Frontier Corps because we saw in February how the public and political parties in the province easily recognise a fixed election. After the votes were rigged earlier this year protests and multiple riots broke out across Balochistan with the traditional political parties there up in arms and leading the protests. The current Chief Minister of Balochistan Sarfaraz Bugti Is a product of that rigged election and is running the province after defecting to the PPP, who are nominally supposed to be running the province, but are really just providing cover to this puppet of the Pakistan Army to be a figurehead for military control of Balochistan. Frankly, I think Sarfaraz Bugti is in over his head and too incompetent to run a war-ridden province.

A map of all the places that where a terrorist attack happened on 26 August 2024. Source: https://www.dawn.com/news/1854838

In August over 12 cities were attacked by the Baloch separatists across the province. I wondered then if Pakistan was going to take Baloch grievances seriously now or was it going to wait until 20 cities went up in flames. Let me also say, there is pretty much a continuum from the elections being stolen in February, to terrorist groups having enough sympathy and room to maneuvre for a dozen cities to see terrorists attacks in August. This is why I think an election for a new provincial assembly and chief minister should be called in Balochistan.

I know a free and open election, where the Baloch and everyone who lives there elects who they want, will not immediately end the violence or make the militant groups go away. But the people will at least have their representatives in power, they can decide their priorities, an elected provincial government will have responsibility for its own internal security. A new provincial election for the province, without military interference is a hard ask, but it is a necessity for an off-ramp from this thrum of violence. To get to some peace, an actual freely elected representation for Balochistan would be a start.

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Pakistan's Minority Day at Frere Hall

Have you ever gotten news that just made you happy? Well I did last Friday when I opened the newspaper and was extremely pleasantly surprised to see the announcement of a Minority March – a pro-religious minority march patterned on the successful feminist Aurat March that happens in Frere Hall, Karachi and across Pakistani cities every 8 March.

It was great to see that a group of Pakistani minority activists plus the famous Sheema Kermani, had planned to hold a minority rights march ala the women’s march. Except this would be on 11 August, a day that was declared 13 years ago as Pakistan’s national minority day. This was in memory of Pakistan’s founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah (called by Pakistanis as the Quaid-e-Azam aka the great leader) making what is generally understood as a quite secular a speech on 11 August 1947. On that day Muhammad Ali Jinnah said, “You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other places of worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed — that has nothing to do with the business of the State.”

It was in rememberance of that statement in 2011 (and a lot of mobilisation and organisation amidst the mass murder of the Pakistani Taliban in the years prior to that, especially the murder of Governor Salmaan Taseer) which saw 11 August officially declared Pakistan’s national minority day. So the organisers of the Minority Rights March (who held this event last year) held a press conference at the Karachi Press club last week to announce that they would hold their protest at Frere Hall (the park and colonial era town hall) and march out from there. Sheema Kermani was at the presser and tried to give what became a rally a neutral position. Kermani pointed out that the Minority Rights March is not a political party or NGO when she said, “We are just an organic movement of people who have come together for a good cause. The majority can defend the minority.”

The march's list of demands - click on them to read them

The Hindu and Christian minority activists spoke about the broken promises of the Pakistani state and they also made a point that minorities from India, to Pakistan to Europe and North America have made: The minorities were the original inhabitants of the land. Whether its Hindus in Pakistan or Muslims from India, they are from the land and these countries are their countries as well.

As we got to 11 August, we heard that permission for the march had been taken away, but the organisers decided to go ahead. A Karachi bureaucrat said that there was a terrorist threat — it turned out to be the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan who specialise more in sectarian rioting, assassinations and blasphemy mobs rather than bombing.

So on 11 August 2024, the march happened at Frere Hall. It was supposed to be the starting point for the march, but it instead was restricted into just being a rally in the park. When I approached the location, I found that both the major streets that Frere Hall is bound by had shipping containers on them. The police had done that and I found that all entrances to Frere Hall’s park had been restricted except one. The police presence was heavy and visible all around the block that Frere Hall’s at.

As I saw the mix of regular police, Special Security Unit (essentially SWAT cops), riot cops and traffic police I had a hard time making out the poor volunteers for the minority march.

The massive police presence confirmed what I had heard — there were Islamist TLP counter-protestors afoot. They were the ones who didn’t want this march to take place, but the protest had begun with the rally in Frere Hall amidst the rain.

The rain made things...kind of strange and odd. I had to park in an incredibly unusual way, worrying about what would happen with the car if I left it where it did. Then I had to skirt around standing pools of water/sewage and get to the entrance all while it was not even raining, but drizzling, making everything slimy and disgusting. It really felt like between the right wing and the security forces of this country, we were going to have to wade through garbage to get basic liberal rights. Seriously, a minority march is not a particularly radical thing, but in Karachi on 11 August 2024, even having what turned out to be just a heavily policed rally for minority rights felt like a dicey affair. And the policing may have been loudly stated by the cops and government for “our protection” but considering the number of normal people who were trying to attend the march in Frere Hall, the police presence just felt intimidating and lent an oppressive air to the day’s proceedings. The police were visibly scattered throughout Frere Hall, even after you entered through the single metal detector-ed entrance.

However once I was in, it was good to see that the rally was happening. There were performances on stage that covered the horror of forced conversion of young minority girls and the lynching of people accused of blasphemy. This was all done in the style of South Asian street theatre. There were little flags which said “Stop forced conversions” and I took pictures and waved one of them. That, the plays on stage, the speeches and the crowd made the event really nice, while you were there. It was a benign middle class sort of affair. The march's list of demands was something that is important and needs to be implemented for the sake of minorities in Pakistan. If you discuss each of them, you can point to some horrible act of persecution in the past that lead to the creation of that demand.

The weather was overcast and threatened to rain. The real problem that was made apparent as I spent more time there amid the over-policed event was, that there was not going to be a march despite what the title of the event being “The Minority March.” I started asking the cops about the TLP presence and how far away it was. They either lied or pretended not to know anything. Typical cops. After being told, “I don’t know” twice by cops when I was asking how far away the fundamentalist protestors of the TLP were from the event, one policeman just lied and said they had dispersed. You can listen to what a cop says, but don’t believe what they say until you have proof or evidence of what these people are saying.

I spoke to one of the protestors and they gave me the details: The TLP were some distance away, the heavy police presence had kept them from getting to where the protest was and because of the presence of the TLP, the organisers of the march had restricted themselves to just holding a rally within Frere Hall, and not to march to the Press Club, or even outside the perimeter of Frere Hall, as originally planned. The attendee conceded that at least the Minority March had happened as a rally that day and stated that even having the event, as it was, had been an achievement. In light of the TLP threat, this person, who was a relative of one of the organisers of the march, seemed slightly relieved.

Attendants watching a street theatre play on people being oppressed by blasphemy allegations and religious oppression 

Between the crazed threats from the TLP and the security overkill that seemed to be posting forces from five to six police stations, there was some disappointment and a sense of subdued feelings at what should have been a polite, but fun political summer event. That just to have, what by 21st century standards would be a run off the mill affair — a rally for minority rights —  had, no thanks to fundamentalists and frankly, an administration and a city/province bureaucracy that doesn't want to deal with the problem of fundamentalists, become an affair where one had to hunt for a location to get off their vehicle, trudge through mud to a security point over a long distance, and only then could you enter the arena. No thanks to the threats faced, there would also be no public march through the streets, and so the event ends with people milling around and then walking or trudging back to their vehicles through that single security point. It's the fundamentalist TLP and their supporters and the PPP people who run Sindh and Karachi who are the problem.

"Why should I change? He's the one who sucks."

  - Office Space, talking about the TLP and their supporters in the public and the Pakistani state

A large poster showing the dangers minorities in Pakistan face as a Snakes and Ladders board game

While I was there, I hung around for nearly an hour and as the evening wore on, and the rain slowly came down, I decided to leave, but also check the TLP situation, after I exited Frere Hall. I drove around and found that traffic from Shahrah-e-Faisal (Karachi's main central road) past the abandoned Metropole Hotel, was choked, likely because of the TLP march that the cops were earlier denying. The entire street where Shahrah-e-Faisal terminates and leads to Frere Hall, had been blocked by shipping containers placed by the police. Later it was revealed by the Dawn newspaper that fundamentalists on motorcycles had been trying to probe the perimeter of the event by driving up and seeing if they could get past the cops or security. The traffic situation I saw after leaving the event, with the shipping containers, the traffic jams and everything and the news from the next day, justified the air of menace that seemed to pervade the perimeter and beyond of the event. The police lied, and the fundamentalists tried to be a pain. What should have been a celebratory affair, felt a little grim once you weren’t in it. The fundamentalists need to be exiled beyond the back of society. However, I’m at least glad that an in-person, physical event, a protest for minority rights in Pakistan was held.

Politics year at These Long Wars

You may have noticed there have been a lot of elections this year  - and for better or worse, they have effected the wars that have been going on. We're leaving judgement out until winter, but the effects of these elections on conflict has been for the worse. So we'll have to talk about them. I'm not the only person whose noticed how 2024 has been the year of elections across the globe.

Honest Government Ad | Democracy Ad — Banned in India

A decisive knockout blow to reactionaries and wannabe fascists was not delivered by many of these votes. However, the replacement of some egregious governments, especially in the UK and the prospect of a new, explicitly left-wing Prime Minister in France, are a good development. However, the fact that so many people around the world have voted has been globally for the better for democracy and freedom. It at least puts to bed one particularly crazed argument broached by the satirical Honest Government ad, that right-wingers and various wannabe dictatorial types have, which is that people don't care about voting or democracy. 

Some of the more strange things that happened this year were when Iran, Pakistan and Russia held votes, with the most disappointing and obviously faked "results" while the crazed government of Israel is avoiding having an election Then there's the fact that India is still lead by a man, in the person of Narendra Modi, who is still haunted by mentions of the riots and pogroms he oversaw 22 years ago. The first ex-president ever was convicted of a crime in the 248 year history of the United States of America.

Since I'll be talking about elections and politics in the rest of 2024, I'll talk about some other social and economic topics as well. These issues might have some political salience - they may also be personal opinions. Since I think it's relevant to talk about other stuff besides conflict for 2024 (I'll still mostly be talking about conflicts), I think it might be good to clear these matters as well.

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