The government of Pakistan says it wants peace in Baluchistan but supporters of the ousted dictator hold the real power
The latest Pakistani army massacre in occupied Baluchistan is further evidence that the democratic government of Pakistan is in office but not in power. The military is calling the shots. It is carrying on killing the Baluch people, against the wishes of the elected president, Asif Ali Zardari.
Last Tuesday, 3 February, in another brutal military operation, Pakistan army units fired at random into a wedding party in Baluchistan, killing 13 people including the bride and groom and injuring 21 others, most of them women, according to the Asian Human Rights Commission.
The massacre occurred near the town of Dera Bugti, which has been under Pakistani military occupation since 2002 and has been bombed repeatedly and indiscriminately by the Pakistani air force, using US-supplied F-16 aircraft and Cobra attack helicopters. The British government also supplies arms and components to the Pakistani military.
After the massacre, soldiers were seen taking away the dead in three military trucks. They sealed off the area to stop independent human rights observers entering and gathering evidence.
Initially, the Pakistani armed forces denied there had been any military operations in the Dera Bugti area, let alone any civilians killed. Now that news of the massacre has leaked out, they are insinuating that the dead and injured were involved in attacks on their soldiers. Since when do wedding parties consisting of large numbers of women stage insurgent uprisings?
This massacre is just the latest of many mass killings since independent Baluchistan was invaded, occupied and annexed by Pakistan in 1948 – against the wishes of the Baluch people.
The Asian Human Rights Commission calculates that 3,000 Baluch people have died, 200,000 have been displaced and more than 4,000 have been detained by the army and intelligence agencies.
In a particularly shocking incident in April 2008, in the same Dera Bugti area as this week's slaughter, four Baluch civilians were burned alive in hot coal tar by the Pakistan army.
Many similar war crimes and crimes against humanity are still happening in Baluchistan, despite the ousting last year of the dictator Pervez Musharraf and despite Pakistan's ostensible transition to democratic government.
Last May, the elected prime minister of Pakistan, Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani, publicly apologised for the persecution of the Baluch people and pledged to halt military assaults in Baluchistan:
It has been decided that no army action will be carried out in the province [of Baluchistan] until a strategy is formulated in consultation with representatives of the provincial government to deal with the issue of law and order in the province.
In September 2008, this commitment was repeated by Zardari. He pledged that military operations would be halted and that his government wanted reconciliation and a negotiated peaceful settlement to the 60-year conflict.
This has not happened because real power does not reside with the democratic, civilian government. Although Musharraf was ejected from the presidency in 2008, his placemen and allies in the army and the intelligence services are still running the show. They often subvert the wishes of the elected politicians. Their agenda is war, war, war.
To justify their prolific military spending and privileges, they seem determined to prolong the conflict in Baluchistan. Loyal to Musharraf and his militarist strategy, they show little interest in peace and reconciliation.
To many Baluchs and Pakistanis, it looks like the overthrow of Musharraf changed very little. He is still the puppet master, pulling the strings behind the scenes; out of office but not out of power.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/feb/09/pakistan-musharraf-baluchistan
