Prominent Baloch leader, Akhter Mengal was recently released by the Government in an attempt to foster national harmony and to start a peace process in Baluchistan. Today, he spoke at his first public gathering at Khuzdar to a huge crowd. Video of the speech will be available later.
For now, here is a plan for yet another long march up and coming from Baluchistan. Fasten your seat belts !
Here is what the news-item says:
Akhtar Mengal vows to restart Lashkar-i-Balochistan long march
QUETTA, June 4 (APP) : Balochistan National Party-Mengal supremo, Sardar Akhtar …

With sheer anger, I report that this blog is blocked for access in Pakistan since 3 PM, Saturday, May 31st, 2008. A few minutes later, I noticed FASTRising blog blocked as well while other blogs seemed to work. It was late in the night that I was informed about the blockage of the complete blogspot domain.

The outgoing SMS on my public number are blocked for a few months. An hour before the blog was blocked on Saturday , I received a blank call from ‘Unknown’ on my other cell phone …

Almost an year back, following the links on the Google search results for ‘Baluchistan Geography’ I happened to visit a blog titled Gedrosia. The content at the blog came as a surprise to me and I dropped an email to the blog-owner. Today, I feel myself in a better position to understand his feelings, being a Baloch, after I have been to Baluchistan a couple of weeks back.
I present you the email conversation, from the archives.
ALE-Xpressed wrote:
Hello,
I just noticed your webblog titled Gedrosia.
What does the flag on the main page …

28 May, 1998: Pakistan successfully tested its nuclear weapons at Chaghi hills in Baluchistan. The government promised the necessary follow-up measures for the people of the area to avoid any after-effects but did not fulfill the promise and hundreds, if not thousands, are known to be suffering for the effects of the nukes.

Was having nuclear weapons inevitable for Pakistan ?
Will we ever be able to come out of the myth of the security state and head towards a social welfare state ?

These question tease me all the time …

Eye opener facts on Baluchistan. A multimedia rich travelogue of FASTRising’s fact finding mission.