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Revision as of 19:16, 24 June 2016 by Kautilya3 (talk | contribs) (Copyedit (minor))(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)The Baloch Students Organization (BSO; Template:Lang-ur) is an organisation that campaigns for the independence of Pakistan's Balochistan Province. It was founded as a student movement on 26 November 1967 in Karachi and remains the largest ethnic Baloch student body in the country. The Pakistani government banned the BSO on 15 March 2013, labelling it as a terrorist organisation.
The organisation gave rise to Balochistan Liberation Army, another organisation classified by the Pakistani government as terrorist.
Branches
BSO has three factions: BSO Pajjar, BSO Mangal and BSO Azad.
BSO Mangal
BSO Mangal, led by Muhiudeen Baloch, has affiliated itself with the Balochistan National Party (BNP), which is the largest opposition party in the Provincial Assembly of Balochistan. BSO Mangal advocates on behalf of the rights of Brahui speaking Balochs in central Balochistan within the parliamentary framework of Pakistan.
 | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (June 2016) |
BSO Pajjar
BSO Pajjar, led by Ameen Baloch, has affiliated itself with the National Party (NP), the ruling party in Baluchistan. BNP wants more provincial rights and greater autonomy for Baluchistan province within the parliamentary framework of Pakistan.
| This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (June 2016) |
BSO Azad
BSO Azad is a pro-independence organization established by Allah Nazar Baloch in 2002 when he was a medical student.
The Pakistani state is said to view the organization with such concern as to ban it in 2013, a month before the elections. Its leader Zahid Baloch was abducted in March 2014. His whereabouts are not known. 29 year-old Karima Baloch, a psychology student, then became the leader. Karima insists that the organization uses peaceful means by carrying out demonstrations and marches. It aims to raise the political awareness of the people. However, she has also added that any struggle against injustice is legitimate, whether "peaceful or armed." Malik Siraj Akbar, a Harvard-based political analyst, calls it a "very unique organization that does not have any parallels in Pakistan." It is one of the very few organizations that have managed to mobilize women at a social and political level.
Allah Nazar, the one time founder of the organization is now the commander of the Baloch Liberation Front, which wages an armed struggle for the state's liberation. The former leader Zahid Baloch was abducted in Quetta in front of eye witnesses by men who arrived in SUVs used by the Pakistan Army. Zahid was made to squat on the road and hit on the head several times, after which he was blindfolded and taken away. The Polite have refused to register a complaint. The organization has been protesting the abduction ever since. In April 2014, activist Latif Johar went on a hunger strike, which he called off after 46 days at the behest of human rights activist Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur. The organization also called for a nation-wide strike in April 2014, which was supported by all Baloch nationalist parties. Many towns in Balochistan observed a shut down. The organization has also approached the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights asking him to intervene with the Pakistan government and secure the release of Zahid Baloch. According to Al Jazeera, Zahid's abduction is only the latest among a long list of abductions of BSO-Azad's leadership, which represent the Pakistani state's attempt to suppress the independence movement. Most that are abducted remain missing, others are tortured and killed before the corpses are dumped in the country.
In November 2015, Karima Baloch went to Canada as a refugee. She said that she escaped a Pakistani military attack on the town of Tump and stayed underground for nearly a year before arriving in Toronto. It is reported that she intends to apply for refugee status in Canada. Karima attended the Amnesty International's `Rights for Rights' event to raise awareness of the world community on the abductions and disappearances in Balochistan.
See also
References
- Alexander Maxwell (2014). The Comparative Approach to National Movements. Routledge. p. 19.
- "No change made in list of banned outfits". The News. 4 September 2015.
- Aruna Gill (2013). The Indus Intercept. HarperCollins Publishers India.
- Ashutosh Misra and Michael E. Clarke (2013). Pakistan's Stability Paradox: Domestic, Regional and International Dimensions. Routledge. p. 83.
- "This Woman Is Leading Baloch Students in Their Struggle for Independence From Pakistan". Global Voices Online.
- ^ Karlos Zurutuza (27 April 2015) . "A 29-year old woman leads a secular and pro-independence movement which Pakistan labels as "terrorist"". Crisis Balochistan.
- ^ From rallies to armed resistance in Balochistan, Al Jazeera, 6 May 2014.
- Calls for the Release of Zahid Baloch, International Policy Digest, 27 April 2014.
- ^ Tarek Fatah, Refugee arrives in T.O., takes off niqab: 'I knew I was safe', Toronto Sun, 24 June 2016.
- Karima makes surprise appearance in AI event in Canada, Balochistan Times, 5 December 2015.
External links
- Official web site of the BSO Azad
- Balochistan National Party website
- Exclusive Interview of Brahmdagh Bugti by Qurat ul ain Siddiqui
- The end of BSO?, Malik Siraj Akbar, January 4, 2009
- Political Terrorism: A New Guide to Actors, Authors, Concepts, Data Bases, Theories, & Literature by Albert J. Jongman, Alex Peter Schmid, ISBN 1-4128-0469-8