BALOCHISTAN - Baloch Nationalists Threaten Hostage Lives

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KARACHI 000255

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV SOCI PK
SUBJECT: BALOCHISTAN - Baloch Nationalists Threaten Hostage Lives
Over Security Crackdown


1. (SBU) Summary: A Baloch militant nationalist organization, the
Baloch Republican Army (BRA),kidnapped eleven laborers and nineteen
policemen on July 30, 2009. The hostages were taken in
retaliation for an alleged Frontier Corps (FC) crackdown and arrest
of several hundred Baloch youth agitators. The BRA threatened to
kill the hostages if Baloch political leaders and youth wing members
are not released from custody. On Sunday, four bodies of abducted
police officers were found and another four police were found shot
on Monday. The BRA moved the remaining hostages to the Sui area of
Dera Bugti and threatened to kill four of them each day until their
demands are met. End Summary.


2. (SBU) The eleven laborers were working on a Government of
Pakistan project near Naseerabad and were taken from their job site.
Police officers pursuing the kidnappers were subsequently ambushed,
disarmed and taken hostage. A rescue party was also ambushed and
according to a BRA spokesperson, the four police officers whose
bodies were found on Sunday were killed in the crossfire between the
BRA and government forces. The four additional police found shot on
Monday had been executed. The spokesperson also added that eleven
other hostages had been injured.


3. (SBU) Baloch Republican Army spokesperson, Sarbaz Baloch, said
the abductions were in response to alleged humiliation and abuses by
FC troops against Baloch youths in different areas of Balochistan.
The spokesperson warned the FC to stop their assault on the people
of Balochistan, or the BRA will conduct other operations against
government officials. The BRA set a daily 6pm deadline for the
release of the imprisoned youth, and threatened to kill four
hostages each day until their demands are met.


4. (SBU) Ayub Tareen, a Quetta based journalist, stated that he
believes the provincial law and order situation deteriorated
following the killing in Quetta of three FC personnel on July 31,
and the wounding of three others by Baloch militant groups. The FC
allegedly has responded with a crackdown against Baloch youths and
arrested more than 150 people. Tareen added that most of the
province was engaged in a shutter down strike in protest against the
FC activities.


5. (SBU) Atta-ur-Rehman, District Police Officer(DPO),Naseerabad,
related by telephone that provincial authorities and others are
indirectly negotiating with the BRA for the safe recovery of the
remaining hostages. The DPO lamented that due to their lack of
training and professional skills that the police caused the deaths
of their colleagues.


6. (SBU) Naseerabad based journalist, Hasim Baloch, said that
relatives of abducted persons are appealing to the kidnappers
through informal channels such as local jirgas and by offering a
Baloch form of adjudication known as Medh which is used to resolve
disputes between individuals and groups. (Note: Once the aggrieved
party has agreed to Medh in accordance with traditions, a Jirga of
respected persons visits the house of the victim on behalf of the
offender to accept their guilt and to offer apologies on his behalf.
The jirga will formally ask for the forgiveness from the aggrieved
party, and once forgiveness is granted, the matter is closed. End
Note). Baloch said that most people in the area do not have
confidence that government efforts will succeed and some believe
that Government involvement may result in more hostage deaths.


7. (SBU) According to Senator Dr. Abdul Malik Baloch, Vice
President of the National Party (NP),Baloch political circles have
been peacefully agitating against the role of the FC in Balochistan,
and were against the targeted killings and the taking of hostages.
He emphasized, however, that many politicians believed the alleged
heavy-handed actions of the FC and the alleged abuses against Baloch
youths in particular, had incited some Baloch activists to these
extreme actions.


8. (SBU) Comment: The FC is perceived by many Baloch as an
occupation force and their activities are seen as oppressive.
Unlike the FC in the Northwest Frontier Province, the Balochistan FC
is not regarded as an indigenous force because it is made up of
primarily ethnic Pashtun and Punjabis in addition to a few Baloch,
and is denounced as the tool of Islamabad. There were doubtless
overreactions on both sides, but regardless of the root causes,
Balochistan already has a troubled relationship with Islamabad and
these recent killings and abductions will ensure that it is more

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difficult to keep the peace. As to the fate of the remaining
hostages, it remains to be seen if tribal tradition or government
force will prevail.
FAKAN