Connect the Dots

Drunk people are like babies; they could hardly walk straight, manage things on their own, speak properly and even make sense while communicating simple stuff. They just keep doing strange random activities in unusual way and end up usually in the most hilarious way that no one can-hardly resist laughing out loud.
That’s ok if someone is drunk BUT if not then it could be worryingly ALARMING, it begins to raise so many questions, like if the person is facing serious physical or mental-health illness, having problem handling jealousy, threatened to do something that they don’t want to do or may be working on some “agendas” for their regular remuneration package…
You can take it on a serious note or a complete crap, depending upon the intensity of stupidity or cleverness that you observe by your sharp powers of observation and clutch their clever crossword clue. Whatever the case is, it cannot go unseen by those who have “eyes of the Hawk”.
However, we cannot always take such people so seriously but when it comes to matters of national security measures, things MUST be done in a very appropriate and significant manner, especially when you are fighting a war that has been imposed on you and the enemy is attacking you from all sides at the same time. In such cases, there are bright chances that whatever they do or say has meaning behind it. It is possible that they may be telling the story from what they see or may be “chewing” the words that have been given in their mouth by “someone” else.
These kinds of people should be dealt officially; and if found guilty they must be shutdown once and for all, to set an example for every single person who takes national security as a joke. The message should be given loud and clear, it SHOULD be something like “anybody messing around with matters of national security will be given bloody noses”. This might seem bloody harsh but that’s the reality of establishing and maintaining the stable law and order situation for any country.
For example in 2014, a large quantity of anti-Pakistan literature as well as maps of a separate Balochistan were recovered during a raid of Attashad Degree College in Turbat district of Balochistan. It was also reported that one of the students was suspiciously found brainwashing students to conduct acts of terrorism in the country by a secret intelligence service. Frontier Corps (FC) claims after raid and further investigations unveil many clandestine talks and recovered material that included separatist leaflets, banners and posters, books including Nehru and Gandhi’s biographies and books about Baloch separation. These books were printed in Karachi and neighboring countries.
Despite knowing all these details yet many journalists are trying to twist things in a way that create doubts even in a mature mind. For example, couple of days backs a female writer tried to dig a year back story and thrown out disruption of her mind in a well-known news paper. According to basic principles of journalism, she had to come-up with something logical BUT unfortunately there was nothing left logical in that story after FC’s raid and proofs shown to media; so she tried to complicate things by questioning like:
·        Public schools in Balochistan teach neither Balochi nor Brahui; (keep that in mind that in every province of Pakistan, except Sindh, there may be hardly few schools teaching provincial language; then why her only focus was conjecturing around Balochistan?)
·        Works by Gandhi cannot be found in Balochistan. (Honestly speaking, that was the most ridiculous part of her whole argument on war of language; I mean seriously, are we talking about some Indian province here? What is the Gandhi’s role in Balochistan? Is he Allama Iqbal that she got so concerned about his missing literature?)
·        As there is no institute in Balochistan that offers Balochi or Brahui that means it is the fault of establishment. (If that is the case then what is the job of elected members in Balochistan assembly? if they don’t want to make Balochi and Brahui as elective subject will that be fault of someone living in Gilgit-Baltistan?)
·        The writer was invited in a university in Turbat where she was asked to take a look at a room full of dusty cartons filled with Balochi books. (Was that also the fault of the establishment that the university management did not bother to thresh books before inviting guests?)

Before concluding I would like to remind you few points that were going in back burner; Many of you are well-aware of the plan leaked years back by Pakistan Intelligence services that discloses the extreme sensitive information regarding a resolution passed in the US Congress to divide Pakistan and shape out an independent Balochistan to establish India’s hegemony over Pakistan; Not only that but US wants to control Afghanistan-Balochistan to link the Central Asian energy oil and gas pipelines with Gwadar and delink Pakistan and Iran by carving out Balochistan and obviate the Iran-Pakistan energy/gas pipelines. Last but not the least “establish Pro-US military presence in Balochistan for upcoming US-Israeli war against Iran.
So, apparently the whole argument of war on language was nothing but a complete waste of time and a message in between the brackets; Somehow the lady wants to create doubts regarding that year back raid in which a large number of anti-Pakistan literature was found, she is directly maligning the reputation of security forces and law enforcement agencies who are the BIGGEST hurdle between latching Balochistan with Pakistan, on such a crucial stage when the enemy is trying hard to cripple Pakistan by separating Balochistan that has 46 percent of its territory with large mineral resources, besides the future global port of Gwadar.
I guess there is nothing left to share more BUT keep that in mind “It took years of hard work to connect the dots and unveil such types of conspiracies”
 
(Above paragraph’s information was taken from http://pakistansecuritybrief.blogspot.com/2012/03/americas-gameplan-in-baluchistan-and.html )
 

Raising Whose Voice?

International Intrigues anti Pakistan elements are incessantly conspiring against the province of Balochistan and making it spotlight of wicked schemes and mischievous designs. Hostile elements are keeping efforts to keep the province underdeveloped by promoting acrimonious sense of dissent, political volatility, sectarian violence, deteriorating law and order situation and arousing sentiments of separatism. Geopolitical location of Balochistan also makes it significant for world powers. The Big Game is on, and with the signing of agreement between China & Pakistan on China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), world powers will make their all out efforts to destabilize Pakistan. The missing person hue and cry is one of the chapters of the book written by foreign players, which is getting in lime light faster than ever. Lets analyze the basics of this “Missing Person Drama”.

Chief of the inquiry commission on ‘missing persons’ Justice (Retired) Javed Iqbal said that baseless propaganda was being done pertaining to the number of missing persons in the country, reported in Dawn News in the middle of 2012. It was also reported that foreign intelligence agencies were involved in the issue, not only to malign the repute of law enforcement agencies but to create an environment of chaos in the country. This was basically done to make an impression that no place in Pakistan is safe, even the ‘Places of worship’. Highlighting the issue of missing persons was also part of the game to gain countless advantages for their GREATER game plan.

It is said that the missing persons is a generic term used in Pakistan to refer to the alleged ostensibly hundreds of persons, and the blame was put on our own Law Enforcement Agencies. It is still a question whether the people were actually been “forcefully disappeared” or there was something fishy going on in the back burner by anti-state elements? Whatever the case was, one thing is certain, enemy made the most benefit out of this…

Now the question arises, who were the missing persons? Were they really innocent or were they the people who challenge the writ of government by planting bombs in fully crowded public places, are involved in extortion, target killing and kidnappings; from where do these so-called ‘innocent’ people get not only heavy explosives but also use these explosives to kill people viciously. This horrific bloodshed has spread a MASSIVE wave of terror in Pakistan which lasted for more than a decade and caused a massacre of innocent people, continuing to this day; the people who otherwise, had NEVER even seen the bullet of a rifle in their entire life.

After years of hard work and efforts, when things begin to settle down in an organized manner, suddenly a loud slogan hits the ears; this time it’s not a creepy looking suicide attacker holding highly sophisticated million dollar weapon in his hands killing civilians like a butcher BUT a goon with his head covered with a heavy white turban, holding picture of one of the goons of very same group that was involved in killing thousands of innocent Pakistanis and claiming openly in a video (available all over on internet) that he is part of the organization that is fully supported by foreign intelligence agencies, including “RAW (Research and Analysis Wing), Mossad (Israeli Intelligence Service) and NDS (National Directorate of Security)”. The goon guy is known as Mama Qadeer and the guy in picture is his son Jalil Reki who was killed in one of the battles between Baloch Republic Party and Baloch Peace Keeping Army, but Mama Qadeer proclaims that his son was killed by the law-enforcing agencies.

Recently news was published in a well-known newspaper where Mama Qadeer says “21,000 missing in Balochistan”; God knows from where and how Mama Qadeer has compiled the list of these missing persons and from where can I get this list to verify about those missing persons. The title given to his statement was “Raising his voice” raising WHOSE voice and against WHOM? Father of a terrorist? A terrorist who was killed during the exchange of fire between a group of a terrorist organization BRA (Baloch Republic Army) and Baloch Peace Keeping Forces? Meaning terrorists vs Pakistan? I guess there is no need to discuss this case further…

But hold on a second, if the compiled list of missing persons is correct then another question arises; where are all these missing persons? After all, the agencies can’t just simply gulp 21,000 people, now can they? On the other hand, how come Mama Qadeer is so sure about the statistics of these missing persons? Things get more dramatic when I start studying the case in detail.

Jalil Reki (Son of Mama Qadir) used to recruit children by force and trained them to install bombs (many got killed during the training). He also used to smuggle people to militant training camps in India and Afghanistan and once training was completed, he took them back to Pakistan through Pak - Afghan border. During this smuggling, his group was intercepted by Baloch Peace Keeping Forces and during exchange of fire Jalil Reki was killed.
This is the information you will get only if you want to see the other side of the picture, the picture other than what the media is continuously feeding into your minds. No one from law enforcement agencies will come and knock your door and explain to you that what they are doing is for your own good.

Before summing up this debate I would like to say only one thing that “People need to know this. They are militants. People sit in their homes comfortably, use media – social media, electronic media, but they need to know the truth. The truth that mainstream media is not showing you”. I will advise the stooges of our print media to have some grey matter, before publishing such baseless articles. It really reflects the level of their investigative journalism which seems to be at its lowest ebb at the moment.

Balochi Language

Balochi is spoken in Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, India, the Arab Gulf States, Turkmenistan and East Africa. It is classified as a member of the Iranian group of the Indo-European language family which includes Kurdish, Persian (Farsi), Pashto, Dari, Tajik, Ossetian. Balochi is closely related to Kurdish and Persian.

There are two main dialects: Eastern and Western. It is difficult to estimate the total number of Balochi speakers, but there are probably around six million, most of whom speak Western Balochi, which is also the dialect that has been most widely used in Balochi literature. Within the Western dialect are two further dialects, Rakhshani (in the northern areas) and Makrani (in the south). The areas where Eastern Balochi dialects are spoken (the north-eastern areas of Pakistani Balochistan, Punjab and Sindh) are in many ways less cdeveloped, espeically when it comes to education, than other parts of Balochistan, which accounts for why it is little used in the written form.

Balochi was used only as an oral language until the post-colonial period. Before that it was generally regarded as a dialect of Persian and there was no tradition of using it in writing. Although some works in Balochi had appeared before then, the Balochi literary movement got fully under way only after the creation of Pakistan in 1947.

The status of Balochi in Pakistan

The Constitution of Pakistan (1973), states that "any section of citizens having a disticnt language, script or culture shall have the rifht to preserve and promote the same and, subject to law, establish institutions for that purpose", and "a Provincial Assembly may by law prescribe measures for the teaching, promotion and use of a provincial language in addition to the national language".

In 1989, Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto gave permission for the use of local languages (Balochi, Pushto, Brahui) in primary education in Balochistan, however there have been several problems associated with this program of mother-tongue education, namely: other language groups also seeking to have their language taught; the lack of teachers who are capable of implementing the program; and the fact that many parents want their children to learn Urdu and English, not a language that will be of little use outside of the immediate community. There is a Balochi Studies section at the Balochistan University in Quetta which teaches and researches the Balochi language and literature. In addition there is a Balochi Academy, also located in Quetta, which both publishes literary works in Balochi and supports the work of literary organisations. The Academy receives limited government funding. There are several Balochi language publications in Pakistan, the two most prominent being Balochi (published in the provincial capital, Quetta) and Labzank (published in Karachi).

The problems of language policy in Pakistan are described by a Baloch student:

"Go and visit all the schoosl in Lyari [an area of Karachi inhabited by many Baloch] and give a language test to the children. You will find that they cannot speak good Urdu or good English. It is due to their mother tongue. If you get education in your mother tongue, you can understand everyhthing. If you don't, you cannot understand anything." (Titus, 1996)

The status of Balochi in Iran

According to the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran (1980), "the official language and script of Iran, the lingua franca of its people, is Persian... The use of regional and national languages in the press and mass media, however, as well as for teaching in schools the literatures written in them, is permitted in addition to Persian". The reality, however, is quite different.

At present there are no publications in the Balochi language. A number of magazines emerged after the Islamic revolution in 1979, but were closed down soon after, due to pressure from the authorities. There is no provision to teach Balochi literature in the schools of Iranian Balochistan. Radio Zahedan broadcasts a daily Balochi language program from the capital of Sistan-va-Balochistan province, Zahedan.

Many Baloch in Iran are concerned about the strong Persian influence on Balochi, as all education takes place in Persian/Farsi.

Discussion on the use of Baloch and Balochi as nouns and/or adjectives

What is the adjective of "Baloch" in English? Our country is called Balochistan, that point is clear. We live in Balochistan. We speak Balochi, we have several Balochi dialects, we weave Balochi carpets, we ride Balochi camels, we (hopefully!) give Balochi names to our children. We read Balochi poetry which is published at the Balochi Academy.

However, I have also noticed that often "Baloch" is used as the adjective:

• Baloch cultural tradition
• Baloch Students’ Organisation
• Baloch authors
• Baloch ethnicity
• Baloch nationalism
• Baloch National Movement
• Baloch men
• Baloch ethnic group
• Baloch people

And what about the noun? Am I a Baloch or Balochi? Are my parents Baloch, Balochs, Balochis or Baloches?

Baloch: Baloch is generally known as a noun. The native people who live in Balochistan are called Baloch. Generally Baloch people speak Balochi, but even if native people can't speak Balochi, they are still called Baloch. They can migrate and live in other parts of the world. They can still refer to themselves as Baloch. So, I believe that it is now accepted that "Baloch" is noun in this context.

Mistakenly, some non-Baloch scholars use the word "Balochi", instead of "Baloch" when referring to people of Balochistan. For instance, they may say: "Baaraan is Balochi". It is wrong. "Baaraan is a Baloch" is the right expression. One my say that "Baaraan is a Balochi name", which is a correct phrase to say.

So, I am a Baloch, not Balochi (likewise, Hazhaar is a Kurd. Hazhaar is a Kurdish name. But saying "Hazhaar is a Kurdish" is a rather an inaccurate expression).

On many occasion, it is rather use a "the" before Baloch, when we refer to people of Balochistan (in national adjective usage). For instance, national adjectives ending in "ch" or "sh" e.g. the Dutch, the Spanish, the Welsh (see The Oxford Library of English Usage, Chapter I, 1990. Similarly we can say "the Baloch" etc.

Other parallel examples:

Javier is a Spaniard. He speaks Spanish. He eats Spanish food. He is a Spanish person. (But although one may say that "He is a Spanish", the more accurate way is to say it is "Javier is a Spaniard", instead of "Javier is a Spanish. The same applies for Scot (native Scottish person from Scotland) etc.

Please remember that there is not a universal rule about this issue. e.g. " Shah Latif was a Sindi (Sindhi). He spoke Sindi (Sindhi) and he was from Sind (Sindh). As you see in this case the word "Sindi" is used both as the noun for naming people from Sind and the language.

As for Plural version of the word "Baloch", there is no universal accepted form. Some people use "Balochs", other use "Baloches". Increasing number of people use "Baloch" as both singular and plural. In my view, using "Baloch" as both singular and plural is somehow a better way to use it. A parallel in English language is the word "Dutch" (people and language of Holland). When referring to people from Holland, they are called "Dutch", whether one or many people. I have never seen expressions such as "Dutchs" or "Dutches". I think it looks nicer in a sentence to use "Baloch" as both singular and plural form. One can understand from the sentence, whether we talk about one person or many. It is a personal preference, but words "Balochs" or "Baloches" do not appeal to me. I rather use "Baloch" only. (Some people may write it as "Baluch", "Balouch" etc. Again "Baluchs/Baluches" or "Balouchs/Balouches" do not sound "attractive".

Balochi: Anything related to the Baloch (people from Balochistan) can be described as Balochi. It can have genitive form or simply used as an adjective.

Languge of the Baloch is called Balochi. Not only, we the Baloch, call it "Balochi", but every other non-Baloch person also called it "Balochi". At least, there is unanimous acceptance about this issue. There are still variations in spelling "Balochi" such as "Baluchi" and "Balouchi". But it is not a big deal.

"Balochi" is mainly used as an adjective e.g. "Balochi dress", "Balochi book", "Balochi dance", etc. "Baloch" cannot be used in the same context. It is, however, to be noticed when one refers directly to people, i.e. the Baloch, it is rather use "Baloch" not "Balochi" in any compound nouns. e.g.

Baloch Students' Federation (not Balochi Students' Federation) as it refers to Baloch people (in this case, students). Also "Baloch women" but NOT Balochi women (again Baloch refers to people, women) etc.

In the meantime, there is a need for a flexible approach towards this issue, as there is no standard/universal rule especially with regards to "Baloch", "Balochi" etc. The same applies to Balochi orthography (both in Persian/Urdu and Latin/English alphabets). At this stage, there is no excuse for exclusion of any approach, style and preferences. As for various dialects of Balochi language, there is an even greater need for flexibility.

The first radio broadcasts in Balochi

Broadcasts in Baluchi were introduced on 25th December, 1949 by Radio Pakistan with a 45 minute daily programme on a 10 kilowatt short wave transmitter from its Karachi station, which was also established soon after Pakistan gained its independence in 1947.

The programme consisted mainly of a news bulletin, talks, features and folk music. It served as a great boon to the Baluchi language and the development of its literature and music. The Baluchi broadcasts helped generate great interest and enthusiasm amongst the poorly educated but spirited Baluch population of Karachi. They started up new literary societies and held regular meetings and sessions. The broadcasts also prompted the publication of the first regular monthly Baluchi magazine Oman, edited by Maulana Khair Mohammad Nadvi. It was first published in Karachi in 1951.

The programme proved a great challenge and a novel experience for the broadcasters responsible for the translation of the news bulletins from English. They were obliged to come up with a workable script that could be easily read by them at broadcast time. A group of students from the Karachi colleges formed the pioneer talent recruited to translate and read the news and plan the other programme contents.

Another problem was finding musicians and folk singers. Fortunately, these were available among the Baluchi speaking population of Karachi, mainly immigrants from Iranian Baluchistan, the coastal areas and other parts of the former Kalat state. The quest for musicians, both vocalists and instrumentalists, led to a large number of hitherto unknown artists being discovered and launched. These people, who had never seen a radio station before and had no knowledge of what was expected of them, were auditioned by a committee and booked to perform "live" in the days that followed. These were artists who could sing classical lyrics, verses from folk tales, war ballads and other epic poetry, which had been learnt from the classics and handed down from generation to generation. A large number of singers of ghazals and compositions of modern day poets were also included in the programmes.

Both the broadcast material and the recording facilities were inadequate in those days. Since tape recording had not been introduced, Radio Pakistan had its own disc-cutting machines set up in the studios, where recordings were made for the purpose of building up a library.

As time passed, it also became possible to introduce variety into the programme contents. A vast treasure of folklore in the form of romantic ballads were broadcast as musical items, features and plays. In the field of the spoken word a variety of new formats such as musical features, full length radio plays, short stories and stories for children were regularly broadcast, in addition to talks on cultural and literary topics, tales from Islamic history, skits on topics of interest to women, eg child care and miscellaneous pastimes, were regular items.

The broadcasts in Baluchi from Radio Pakistan in Karachi were suspended when another radio station began broadcasting from Quetta on 17th October 1956.