UN expresses concern over killings of top Pakistani provincial leaders of Quam Dost Committee

The United Nations voiced its serious concern over the killings of three leaders from Balochistan province, the largest in Pakistan, calling for immediate investigations into their murders.

The three men were members of the Balochistan Quam Dost Committee, recently created by the Pakistani Government to investigate missing persons cases in the province in the South Asian nation’s east.

The UN, which expressed its sympathies to the families of the deceased, called on authorities to ensure that the committee continues its important work.

Last weekend, a staff member of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was released after spending two months in captivity.

John Solecki, the head of the agency’s office in Quetta, Balochistan’s provincial capital, was abducted in an attack on 2 February that also left another colleague, Syed Hashim, dead.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed his gratitude to the Pakistani Government, Balochi authorities and others who helped secure Mr. Solecki’s release, re-affirming the UN’s commitment to helping the people of Pakistan. (UN: 9 April 2009).

Victims
According to media reports, the activistst killed are Ghulam Mohammed Baloch, central president of the Balochistan National Movement; Lala Munir Baloch, a central leader of the Balochistan National Movement, and Sher Mohammed Baloch, deputy general secretary of the Balochistan Republican Party.

Baluchistan
Balochistan, or Baluchistan is the largest province in the country by geographical area. It constitutes most of the region of Balochistan and is named after the Baloch people.

Its neighbouring regions are Iranian Balochistan to the west, Afghanistan and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas to the north and Punjab and Sindh to the east.

The capital and largest city is Quetta. Balochistan is believed to be rich in mineral resources. It is the second major supplier, after Sindh, of natural gas to the country.

Balochistan was not a part of Pakistan when the British departed from India in August 1947. The area was annexed by force in March 1948. Since then, Pakistan’s army launched four military operations that has left thousands of Baloch killed.

"Pakistan kan binnen een half jaar ineenstorten"

The Times of India reports in the article ‘Pakistan could collapse within six months: US expert’: “Pakistan could collapse within six months in the face of the snowballing insurgency,” according to a top expert on guerrilla warfare.

The dire prediction was made by David Kilcullen, a former adviser to top US military commander General David Petraeus.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Pak-could-collapse-in-6-months-Expert/articleshow/4365030.cms

Times of India
The Times of India (TOI) is a leading English-language broadsheet daily in India. The newspaper is owned and managed by Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. (The Times Group) of the Sahu Jain family.

The newspaper has the widest circulation among all English-language broadsheets in the world.

In 2005, the newspaper reported that (with a circulation of over 2.4 million) it was certified by the Audit Bureau of Circulations as the world's largest selling English broadsheet newspaper.

“Video zweepslagen voor meisje uit Swat was niet echt”

Swat girl flogging video fake, official says
Gulfnews meldt: “A top government official of Pakistan's Taliban-controlled Swat region has made a surprise claim that the amateur video clip shown by television channels of a 17-year-old girl being flogged was fabricated, media reports say.”
http://www.gulfnews.com/world/Pakistan/10301597.html

Google Earth reveals secret history of US Shamsi airbase in Pakistan

The US was secretly flying unmanned drones from the Shamsi airbase in Pakistan's southwestern province of Baluchistan as early as 2006, according to an image of the base from Google Earth. The image is no longer on the site but was obtained by The News, Pakistan's English language daily newspaper.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5762371.ece

Tientallen doden bij aanval VS op Pakistan

U.S. Airstrike Kills 30 in Pakistan

Two missiles fired from American drone aircraft killed more than 30 people, including Qaeda and Taliban fighters, near the Pakistani border with Afghanistan on Saturday. The missiles struck three compounds, including one where the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud. Mehsud was not among those killed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/world/asia/15pstan.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Aanslagen in Mumbai werden gedeeltelijk voorbereid in Pakistan

Pakistan has admitted for the first time that the November attacks on India's financial hub Mumbai, in which 179 people died, were partly planned in Pakistan.

Pakistan has registered a criminal case against six men held in custody and two others still at large, Rehman Malik, the country's interior ministry chief, said on Thursday.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/02/2009212131817895219.html

De buitenlandse politiek voor Obama en Pakistan

Obama's biggest foreign policy challenge? It's Pakistan

Pakistan , convulsed by a growing al Qaida -backed insurgency, hamstrung by a ruinous economy and run by an unpopular government that's paralyzed by infighting and indecision, is critical to U.S. efforts to stabilize Afghanistan , thwart the spread of nuclear weapons and prevent tensions with neighboring India from escalating into a nuclear showdown.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20090207/wl_mcclatchy/3162640