Articles for category: Opinion

Abdullah Abbas

Activists of the Baloch Human Rights Organization protesting against human rights violations in Balochistan. -- Internet photo

Humanity at stake in Balochistan

In the middle of the night of October 28, 2017, I received a call from one of my colleagues in the Baloch Human Rights Organization (BHRO), a group working to highlight human rights abuses in Balochistan. It was unusual to receive a call from Pakistan directly on my mobile phone. Our colleagues there would usually ...

Malik Siraj Akbar

Siddiq Baluch, left, along with Malik Siraj Akbar (the author), middle.

Siddiq Baluch: the last surviving story teller

“So do you know what happened next?” asked Siddiq Baluch as he shared yet another anecdote from his eventful journalistic career that stretched over five decades. Young reporters and journalism students from the University of Balochistan sat around the seasoned journalist at the office of Daily Balochistan Express and Daily Azadi, both of which he ...

Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur

Internet photo

MQM-Altaf not a friend to Baloch

A Baloch activist friend who lives abroad recently wrote to me and expressed concern that some quarters among the Baloch are trying to forge a Baloch-MQM (Altaf)* alliance on the plea that the MQM is anti-establishment and will prove helpful to the Baloch. It is a tricky path to tread with such alliances which join ...

Fatima Lal

Dr Malik’s education emergency was a hollow promise

In January 2014, the then Chief Minister, Dr Malik Baloch, declared an education emergency in Balochistan, vowing to uplift the dismal state of education in the province. Four years later, it is time to ponder what has been achieved since then. Balochistan covers approximately 47 percent of the landmass of Pakistan, but its people have ...

Farah Naz Baloch

Diverse people

Cultural discrimination at education institutions

One of the main issues that is affecting the social, political, economic, geographical and educational career of learners is cultural discrimination. Cultural discrimination has been often identified as a barrier that affects the treatment and ultimately the success of learners in educational institutions. Culture discrimination results from social stereotyping and leads to poor communication and ...

Zaffar Baloch

The struggle for Balochistan’s independence: what went wrong?

What followed the 1948 invasion of the sovereign state of Balochistan by the Pakistani military was an armed revolt led by Prince Agha Abdul Karim, younger brother of the ruler of Kalat, Mir Ahmedyar Khan. The revolt ended in defeat. Early Reminiscences of a Soldier, published in the daily Dawn (August 14, 1960), authored by ...

Taj Baloch

Missing: Jam Wahag

He called himself Jam Wahag. His real name was Jan Mohammad, but he did not like to be called by this name. Jan Mohammad Allah Dad, a resident of Bit Buleda district Kech, Balochistan, was forcibly disappeared on March 13, 2013. He is missing since then. In 2005, Ghulam Muhammad Baloch, the founding President of ...

Sameer Mehrab

In the loving memory of uncle Noor Ahmad

Karima called me while on her way to the Pearson airport, Toronto. She was heading to Montreal for the hearing of her asylum case which had been delayed for two years. She told me she had received a call from our younger sister back home that there were unconfirmed reports about the discovery of a ...

Nodan Baloch

Lala Noor Ahmad: the silent martyr

When I was the Senior Joint Secretary of the Baloch Students Organization-Hai (BSO-Hai), I had to visit the Makran region for an organizational tour. I first travelled from Quetta to Turbat on a passenger coach where I called a meeting of the Senior Body of the BSO at the Turbat college hostel. My second stop ...

Yaseen Ghani

Qambar Chakar: a revolutionary, a friend

Change has been a constant driving force in the human history and evolution. Sometimes this change is forced by nature and we submit to it and it is called adaption, and sometimes this change is driven by us to alter the status quo and it is called revolution. The latter is a fuzzy word or ...