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Title: Baluchistan and the coming war on Iran
Source:
Online Journal
URL Source: http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_1156.shtml
Published: Aug 31, 2006
Author: Luciana Bohne, Online Journal Contributi
Post Date: 2006-09-02 14:33:47 by robin
Keywords: None
Views: 102
Comments: 5
Akhbar Khan, a nationalist/independence leader in Baluchistan has recently been killed by the Pakistani military, in a massive operation that is seriously destabilizing military dictator Pervez Musharraf's regime [1]. Why should the news from Baluchistan interest us? I'll let you connect the dots by presenting a bit of context and concluding with an article from the Carnegie Endowment [2], which, I think, will underline the significance of the event for the prospected US attack on Iran. The military dictator's regime is very unpopular in Pakistan. Pervez Musharraf, as Bush's ally on the "war on terror," has had to do unpopular things, like deploying 70,000 troops to the North-West autonomous tribal regions (among them Waziristan) to hunt down "terrorists" and such. He hasn't been successful, but American aerial attacks from nearby Afghanistan have killed alleged "leaders" and sundry civilians, causing a flood of refuges and displacements. Serious Pakistani military casualties have not increased his popularity and neither has the charge that he's allowing American forces to violate Pakistan's sovereignty. Musharraf's campaign in Waziristan has failed so thoroughly that the region is now virtually off limits to government forces. Baluchistan is contiguous with the Waziristan region. Baluchistan is a western province of Pakistan, constituting about 40 percent of Pakistan's national surface. Its capital is Quetta, accused by Afghanistan's Karzai (which really means Washington) of being a Taliban stronghold supplying and fueling the Taliban armed resurgence in southern Afghanistan. Musharraf's regime denies it. Nevertheless, Musharraf has reopened hostility in Baluchistan against the decades-long separatist forces, which he's accused of provoking into taking up arms again. Musharraf has come under intense criticism by British, American, and Afghan officials for not doing enough for the "war on terror." The trouble is that if he complies with his allies in the "war on terror," he comes under attack from domestic critics, of which he has legions, including the majority of the people. The latest developments in the murder of the Baluch leader, Bugti, is a case in point: Pakistan is in an uproar and calling for his resignation. Why would the axis-of-evil crusaders want to destabilize a crucial ally? They don't "want" to, but they have bigger plans. The US has three military bases in Baluchistan. They say they are fighting Al Qaeda and Taliban forces in the region. Perhaps. But, Baluchistan borders with Iran to the west. Baluchistan, too, is rich in natural gas and minerals. China is helping the Pakistani government to build a natural gas pipeline from Baluchistan's port of Gwadar to China, a project the Bush administration opposes. The port of Gwadar just happens to be geographically located to overlook the Straits of Hormuz, which the Iranians intend to block if they are attacked. Hormuz is the crucial sea route for internatinal oil distribution. Coincidence that the US should be interested in "terrorism" in Baluchistan and urging Musharraf to be more zealous at the same time that it is planning an attack on Iran? An article by the Carnegie Endowment entertains the same thought, albeit to deny it: "The Baluch and the Pakistani think that Washington would like to use Baluchistan as a rear-guard base for an attack on Iran, and Iran is suspected of supporting Baluch [independence] activists in order to counter such a Pakistani-US plot. . . . Some Pakistanis perceive the US using its Greater Middle East initiative to dismantle the major Muslim states and redefine the borders of the region. Some Baluch nationalists charge the US with conspiring with the Pakistani government to put an end to Baluch claims. So far nobody has been able to prove any of these accusations." No? No matter, the Iranians have been mining their side of the Baluch borders, just in case, and Bugti, Baluch independence leader, has been killed by the diplomatically besieged Musharraf, catapulting the country into a political crisis. Coincidence? Or are plans for an Iranian attack well on the way? I remind you that Seymour Hersh, in The New Yorker, has confirmed that US commandos have launched penetration initiatives across Pakistani Baluchistan into Iran. Notes [1] Bomb blast damages Pakistani government build amid protests over tribal chief's killing, International Herald Tribune, 27 Aug. 2006 Bugti's killing is like the hanging of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, New Kerala, 27 Aug. 2006 Pak Oppn slams govt. for Bugti killing, The Hindu, 29 Aug. 2006 In the afterlight of the Bugti episode, Dawn, 29 Aug. 2006 [2] Pakistan: The Resurgence of Baluch Nationalism, Carnegie Endowment, 26 Jan. 2006Luciana Bohne teaches film and literature at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. She can be reached at lbohne@edinboro.edu.
Poster Comment: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balochistan_%28region%29 
Major ethnic groups in Pakistan and surrounding areas, in 1980. The Baloch are shown in pink.
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#1. To: robin (#0)
We would be very well served to GTF out of that part of the world and try to get our own shit together here. A dream, I know.
I don't know about you, but I'm having trouble keeping up with the geography lessons for every place this evil regime is taking us.
"If there’s another 9/11 or a major war in the Middle-East involving a U.S. attack on Iran, I have no doubt that there will be, the day after or within days an equivalent of a Reichstag fire decree that will involve massive detentions in this country." - Daniel Ellsberg Author, Pentagon Papers That's the danged truth - I didn't know that some of these places existed, much less their names. That last map indicates, to me, that we are dangerously near both Russia and China, who would be on us like white on rice, should smirk try something even more stupid than what he's already done.
The neocons could care less if Pakistan is broken up with and independent Baluchistan, especially since it would mean a destabilization of Iran with the large Baluchi population there. So, it seems that the Paki apprehension of outside interference with the Baluch nationalist movement is well founded. Baluch smugglers are important in the opium trade which we know is backed by the CIA. A breakaway Baluch republic would serve another purpose than to help destabilize Iran. It would likely get the Chinese out of the region, which the Indians also find to be discomforting. The U.S. is not pleased with the Chinese presence since the port of Gwadar is meant to be the southern terminus of the trans-Afghan oil and gas pipelines to get the Caspian sea supplies to market in South Asia. Musharraf's days could be numbered, and it is likely that he may fall vicitm to a CIA sponsored coup sooner than later. Expect that whoever takes over in place of Musharraf will be very much in line with the neocon policy and that will mean the break up of Pakistan, something which the Indians will not like much at all.
"Never has so much military and economic and diplomatic power been used so ineffectively, and if after all of this time, and all of this sacrifice, and all of this support, there is still no end in sight, then I say the time has come for the American people to turn to new leadership not tied to the mistakes and policies of the past." Richard M. Nixon
Informative analysis, thanks!
"If there’s another 9/11 or a major war in the Middle-East involving a U.S. attack on Iran, I have no doubt that there will be, the day after or within days an equivalent of a Reichstag fire decree that will involve massive detentions in this country." - Daniel Ellsberg Author, Pentagon Papers Amazing.
#2. To: lodwick (#1)
#3. To: robin (#2)
I don't know about you, but I'm having trouble keeping up with the geography lessons for every place this evil regime is taking us.
#4. To: robin (#0)
#5. To: BTP Holdings (#4)
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