Three Media Personnel Killed in Balochistan Blasts

journalists affiliated with the Samaa Television aif-ur-Rehman Baloch

Added by admin on January 10, 2013.
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Tags: Journalist Imran Shiek, Journalist Saif-ur-Rehman Baloch, Journalists killed in Quetta.

Baloch Hal News

QUETTA: At least three media personnel, including a reporter, television cameraman and a press photographer,  were killed in Balochistan on Thursday’s deadly bomb blasts in Quetta city, sources confirmed.

According to the details, two journalists affiliated with the Samaa Television, Saif-ur-Rehman Baloch, cameraman  Imran Shiek and Mohammad Iqbal, a photographer for News Network International (N.N.I.) were killed in the line of duty on Thursday while covering the blasts that rocked Quetta city.

Last year, the Committee to Protect Journalists, a New-York-based media watchdog, termed Balochistan the epicenter of violence against journalists.

At least seven reporters were killed in Balochistan in 2012 while reporting on various assignments. The government, despite repeated promises, has neither been able to bring the perpetrators of violence against journalists to justice nor has it been able to provide protection to the endangered correspondents.

Press clubs in at least two districts, Khuzdar and Panjgur, have remained completely shut after the killing of local journalists and threats from various quarters.

Samaa Television reported on its website:

“SAMAA family’s Senior Cameraman Imran Sheikh martyred in second lethal blast near Alamdar Road in Quetta on Thursday, leaving two little daughters, widow, parents, sister, brothers, and thousands of SAMAA fellows aggrieved behind.

Imran Khan is not the first martyred of SAMAA family in Quetta, two more members also embraced martyrdom while performing their duties in terrorism afflicted city of Balochistan.

Five years ago, Imran Sheikh joined SAMAA and since then continued performing his duty with keen interest, loyalty and fearlessly in terrorists key target city, Quetta.

Deceased SAMAA cameraman was residing in joint family with parents and brothers in MuslimTown area of Quetta.

Imran Sheikh tied marriage knot in 2009 and he was blessed with two daughters after that. His one daughter is two and half year old and other is only one year old.

journalists affiliated with the Samaa Television cameraman  Imran Shiek and Mohammad Iqbal

      Earlier in 2010, SAMAA cameramen Malik Arif and Ijaz Raisani embraced martyrdom in two separate blasts in Al-Quds rally and hospital. Imran Sheikh is third cameraman, who joined caravan of SAMAA martyred this day.

Many top leaders of the country included President Zardari, PM Raja, former PM Nawaz Sharif, Federal Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira and others have condoled and offered prayers for martyred SAMAA cameraman Imran Sheikh.

SAMAA family’s senior reporter Saif-ur-Rehman succumbed to injuries and embraced martyrdom in hospital after sustaining lethal wounds in second powerful blast on Almadar Road in Quetta, he has left his aggrieved parents, three little sons, and widow behind, SAMAA reports.

Saif-ur-Rehman rushed to cover a powerful blasts story at a snooker club on Almadar Road in Quetta on Thursday evening but he turned victim of a very powerful second blast outside the club.

He sustained critical injuries in lethal blast and gone missing for a couple of hour after the bang. Later on, he was traced in a very critical condition in Quetta’s CMH.

SAMAA’s brave senior reporter continued struggle for survival in Intensive Care Unit of the CMH for many hours but succumbed to lethal injuries and embraced martyrdom.

Saif-ur-Rehman is fourth member of SAMAA’s caravan of martyred, who embraced martyrdom while performing his duty in Quetta.

Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) has announced a countrywide protest against martyrdom of SAMAA cameraman Imran Sheikh and reporter Saif-ur-Rehman after Friday prayers’ today.”

This is a running story. More updates to come

Published in The Baloch Hal on January 10, 2013 :http://thebalochhal.com/?p=19589

Added by admin on January 12, 2013.
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Tags: Tarek Fatah

An unprecedented protest is unfolding in Balochistan capital of Quetta in Pakistan. One hundred coffins and thousands of people are blocking a road to protest the slaughter of Shia Muslims by Sunni Muslim terrorists allied with the Taliban.

Irfan Ali Who Died for Balochistan By Dr. Saleem Javed Being a Hazara, Irfan Ali, was destined to collect the dead bodies…

On Thursday night, January 10, twin bombings targeting Pakistan’s tiniest ethnic minority, the Hazara people, descendants of Central Asians and who are distinguished easily by their unique facial features–killed over 100 young men at a snooker club.

The attack was the latest in a slow-motion genocide of minority Shia Muslims in Pakistan by Sunni-Muslim extremists who consider the Shia as infidels, thus worthy of death. Many attacks against Shia Muslims are carried out by Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), a militant Islamic group allied with al-Qaida and the Taliban. This time too the LeJ promptly claimed responsibility for the slaughter , So far the Hazaras have endured every killing and attack with silent suffering, hoping their lack of response would be rewarded by a cessation of targeted attacks. But not this time.

Samaa Television senior reporter Saif-ur-Rehman Baloch who was killed in the line of duty in Quetta on Thursday

The Hazaras and the Unique Coffins Protest

The sight of 100 mangled bodies, including that of Pakistan’s leading Shia youth activist for human rights, Khud Ali, seems to be the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Instead of burying the dead, as is required by Islamic law, the Hazara shia Muslims have taken the coffins to the streets and refused to bury the deceased</a> unless the government assures them of protection against jihadi groups tied to the Taliban.

For over 24 hours now the Hazara shia of Quetta have braved sub-zero temperatures that dropped to -10C, and are refusing to vacate the blocked road or to bury the dead. So far there has been total inaction by all levels of government. Frightened by the Islamic terrorists, it seems the country’s president, prime minister and the provincial chief minister, have all cowered down in their respective shelters, not knowing if it would be safe, exposing themselves among the ordinary mourning Hazaras.

As far as the military is concerned, they already administer, though unofficially, the province of Balochistan where this slaughter took place. In Balochistan, the Pakistan Army has been fighting the indigenous Baloch population for the last five years to quash their fight for independence from Pakistan. If 100,000 troops cannot provide protection to the Hazara Shias, I doubt if another detachment of troops will help. If the men in uniform wish to help, they could easily cut off all ties to the jihadi terrorists and liquidate them, instead of doing a strip-tease for America and the Pakistani population.

Destabilizing Pakistan before an election

The fresh slaughter of the Shia in Pakistan comes in the wake of other events unfolding in Pakistan that seem to suggest its part of an attempt to destabilize the country and thwart parliamentary elections due in a few months.

Clashes with Indian Army on the volatile Kashmir border plus a planned ‘long-march’ by a Tahir-ul-Qadri, Sunni cleric who has arrived from Canada, point to a concerted effort to pave way for the military to step in and take over as an ‘interim government’ to conduct ‘proper’ elections–a tactic used in the past my army commanders.

Obituary: Saif-ur-Rehman, The Intrepid News-breaker By Malik Siraj Akbar SAIF BALOCH was pretty sure that he would one day make it…

The Sunni Islamic terrorists of the LeJ who proudly claimed responsibility for the Thursday night massacre, are a product of the Pakistan Army in its strategy to use non-state actors to create mayhem in India and Afghanistan. No one will be surprised if it turns out the latest slaughter of Shias was merely one act in the larger theatrical play to bring democracy into disrepute and making it palpable to endure another phase of military authoritarianism in Pakistan.

No matter how this play unfolds, the Pakistan created by a Shia Muslim, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, today lies in ruins, being torn apart as vultures gnaw at its carcass.

Had it not been a nuclear power with 200 missiles pointed at India and unknown western interests in the region, we could have shrugged off the failed experiment. But Pakistan today needs to be watched as the single largest source of anti-Western terrorism and the nurturing ground for the ideology of global jihad in which the Shia and Ahmadi Muslims, its beleaguered Hindu minority as well as traumatized Christians are mere canaries in the mine, screaming out to the rest of us.

Published in The Baloch Hal on January 12, 2013

Sakine, Fidan, Leyla worked for freedom and peace in Kurdistan

Three women, three lives, three generations united by their love for freedom and justice
Sakine Cansız, a co-founder of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) and one of the three Kurdish activists murdered in Paris last night, was born in the province of Dersim in 1957. Having been active in the student youth movement in Elazığ for long years, Cansız joined the Kurdish revolutionary movement in 1976.
Cansız, a leading figure in the struggle against fascist circles in Elazığ, was mainly active in the neighborhoods of Fevzi Çakmak and Yıldızbağları. By joining political works in and around Dersim in 1978, Cansız became fully involved in the revolutionary movement after that time.
After attending the PKK Congress on 27 November 1978, Cansız was arrested in Elazığ and sent to prison together with a group of friends. She was subjected to heavy torture in the period of the 12 September military coup in 1980. She was released in 1991.

Soon after her release, she continued to take an active part in revolutionary activities in West and South Kurdistan.
After many years of struggle on Kurdistan mountains, Cansız went to Europe where she started to lead the Kurdish women’s organization. She was one of the inspiring and prominent women who made great contributions to the association and organization of Kurds in diaspora.

FİDAN DOĞAN

Doğan, one of the two other Kurdish women killed in Paris last night, was born in the district of Elbistan (Maraş) on 17 January 1982. As a daughter of an immigrant family in Europe, she grew up in France.

Doğan, who took a strong interest in Kurdistan Freedom Struggle since her childhood, started to take an active part in revolutionary works in Europe as of 1999. Besides her works which mainly focused on youth and women, Doğan also took part in diplomacy activities in Europe as of 2002. She was both a member of the Kurdistan National Congress and Paris representative of the establishment.

LEYLA SOYLEMEZ

Leyla Söylemez, daughter of an Ezîdi family from Diyarbakır's Lice district, was born in the southern province of Mersin. She spent her childhood here until her family moved to Germany in 90's.

She had been studying at the Department of Architecture for one year when she joined the Kurdistan Freedom Struggle. After 2006, she started to take an active part in many European cities, particularly in Berlin, Köln, Hannnover, Frankfurt and Swiss city of Basel.

After spending one and a half year in Kurdistan in 2010, she returned to Paris where she had been conducting works since then.

Sakine, Fidan, Leyla worked for freedom and peace in Kurdistan

Watch the trailer of this documentary, 'The Grand Deception'. Muslim Brotherhood's plan in the USA. Be afraid, be very very afraid.

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Appeal for the establishment of a Parliamentary Assembly at the United Nations

Humanity faces the task of ensuring the survival and well being of future generations as well as the preservation of the natural foundations of life on Earth. We are convinced that in order to cope with major challenges such as social disparity, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the threat of terrorism or the endangerment of global ecosystems, all human beings must engage in collaborative efforts.

To ensure international cooperation, secure the acceptance and to enhance the legitimacy of the United Nations and strengthen its capacity to act, people must be more effectively and directly included into the activities of the United Nations and its international organizations. They must be allowed to participate better in the UN’s activities. We therefore recommend a gradual implementation of democratic participation and representation on the global level.

We conceive the establishment of a consultative Parliamentary Assembly at the United Nations as an indispensable step. Without making a change of the UN Charter necessary in the first step, a crucial link between the UN, the organizations of the UN system, the governments, national parliaments and civil society can be achieved through such an assembly.

Such an assembly would not simply be a new institution; as the voice of citizens, the assembly would be the manifestation and vehicle of a changed consciousness and understanding of international politics. The assembly could become a political catalyst for further development of the international system and of international law. It could also substantially contribute to the United Nation’s capacity to realize its high objectives and to shape globalization positively.

A Parliamentary Assembly at the United Nations could initially be composed of national parliamentarians. Step by step, it should be provided with genuine rights of information, participation and control vis-à-vis the UN and the organizations of the UN system. In a later stage, the assembly could be directly elected.

We appeal to the United Nations and the governments of its member states to establish a Parliamentary Assembly at the United Nations. We call for all organizations, decision-makers and citizens engaged with the international common interest to support this appeal.

Support appeal

 link: http://en.unpacampaign.org/appeal/index.php

5 Female Teachers Killed In Pakistan; Do Human Rights Organizations Need To Travel To The War Torn Region?

By IDigital Times Staff Reporter on January 1, 2013 2:55 PM EST

After five female teachers were killed in the war-torn region of northwest Pakistan, human-rights organizations are becoming increasingly alarmed that the region is even more dangerous than before. (Photo: Reuters)

 

Five female teachers were killed in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday, only a few days after 21 policemen were shot in the region. The growing unrest in the war-torn area is becoming increasingly dangerous, according to an Amnesty International report released in December. Now the international community needs to decide if it will help - and how.

The latest incident began when gunmen ambushed a van on Tuesday and shot seven aid workers, five of whom were teachers. The aid workers, who belong to a Pakistani organization called Support With Working Solutions, were on their way home from work at a community center just outside the northwest city of Swabi. Driving home in a van, the workers were stopped by two gunmen on motorcycles, according to police. Five female teachers, a female health worker and male health technician were killed.

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The van driver, Abdul Majid, survived and has offered details of the mass shooting. "I think the attackers were already waiting for us," Majid, who is being treated for gunshot wounds at a Peshawar hospital, told reporters. "After they finished firing, they just drove off."   

The workers' organization, Support With Working Solutions, was founded in 1991 in order to help underprivileged Pakistanis in rural areas. But it is now feared that the dangerous conditions will prevent workers from traveling back and forth to help children.

In addition to countless tribal and militant attacks in the region, the Taliban has also waged a campaign against Pakistan's education system. Last year, almost 100 schools were damaged or destroyed by militants, according to Human Rights Watch. In 2011, militants attacked 152 schools, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The horrific incident comes on the heels of news that 21 policemen were shot dead by militants in the northwest tribal region of Pakistan. Police discovered the bodies in the Jabai area after officer Naveed Akbar Khan, who escaped, notified officials. Twenty-three policemen vanished early morning on Thursday, during a militant attack that included grenades and automatic weapons. 

According to reports, militants lined up the policemen on a cricket field on Saturday and shot them all down. Though no specific group has come forward to take responsibility, it is believed that the gunmen were part of the Pakistani Taliban.

In mid-December, Amnesty International released a scathing report saying: "Millions are locked in perpetual lawlessness in Pakistan's northwestern Tribal Areas, where human rights abuses committed by the Armed Forces and the Taliban are beyond the reach of justice."

The report, entitled The Hands of Cruelty - Abuses by Armed Forces and Taliban in Pakistan's Tribal Areas, added: "The Taliban and other armed groups continue to pose a deadly threat to Pakistani society - thousands have been killed in indiscriminate attacks or those deliberately targeting civilians over the last decade."

READ MORE ON THE REPORT HERE

The region has been extremely unstable for the last few days after an explosion on a passenger bus killed six people and wounded 52 others.

"After a decade of violence, strife and conflict, tribal communities are still being subjected to attack, abduction and intimidation, rather than being protected," said Polly Truscott, Amnesty International's Deputy Asia Pacific Director. 

"By enabling the Armed Forces to commit abuses unchecked, the Pakistani authorities have given them free rein to carry out torture and enforced disappearance." 

http://www.idigitaltimes.com/articles/14114/20130101/5-female-teachers-killed-pakistan-human-rights.htm