Faisal Mengal, a Baloch intellectual, social worker and also a former staffer at the US Consulate in Karachi, was gunned down in Karachi on Saturday. What would have been considered a target-killing from an unknown bullet of an unknown target killer, many Balochs believe Pakistan’s infamous Inter-Services Intelligence and its other affiliates could possibly have a hand in the murder of this highly well-read, talented young Baloch.
What gives credence to ISI’s alleged role in Mengal’s killing is the mysterious and uncalled for death of a another Baloch staffer of the US Consulate in Karachi –Hakeem Baloch — earlier this month in Karachi Adventist Hospital after he was admitted in the hospital for an undiagnosed illness.
Condition of the ailing Baloch staffer of the US Consulate prior to his death reportedly didn’t suggest that he had died of the undiagnosed illness.
According to Express Tribune, one of Pakistan’s leading English dailies that seemingly doesn’t succumb to military’s pressure to abstain from reporting stories that undermine Pakistan’s ‘national interest– vis-à-vis Balochistan – quoted his elder brother Muhammad Aleem Baloch as saying that the deceased Baloch was fine and had taken a round of the hospital ward before his death.
An extremely motivated and talented individual, Hakeem Baloch had a double-masters degree in Economics and International Relations from Karachi University and had joined US Consulate in Karachi in July this year
Many independent Baloch observers believe Baloch’s and Mengal’s death indicate toward a latest campaign started from Pakistan’s powerful intelligence agency to rid Baloch of its talented and educated cadre who are making significant contributions towards highlighting the fact that Baloch have a very distinct, liberal identity that negates Pakistan’s Islamist, extremist ideology.
Hakeem Baloch and Faisal Mengal had many things in common: Besides working for the US Consulate, they also had some journalist background as well.
Baloch had worked for three years with Daily Tawar, an anti-government, pro-Baloch nationalist newspaper that has been trying to give the Baloch masses a voice. While, Mengal had been a regular contributor to Daily Asaap‘s op-ed pages.
Daily Asaap was forcefully shut down in August 2009 after two weeks of siege of its offices in Quetta by personnel of Pakistan’s intelligence agencies and the paramilitary Frontier Corps .
Mengal and Baloch, the observers believe, had been eyesore to the ISI since the outset. And their working for the US Consulate even made them more vulnerable as many elements within Pakistan’s military and its powerful intelligence agencies fear that US government has a soft corner towards Balochs who have a more liberal and moderate stance than other ethnic groups in the radicalized country.
People familiar with the work of Mengal and Baloch say both had endeavored their best to protect the Baloch rights whenever and wherever possible.
With the elimination of these two talented Baloch youth, Pakistan’s military and its intelligence agencies have sent out a loud and clear message: Baloch miseries should not be highlighted at all. If anyone does that, die a silent death like that of Baloch or have a bullet make its way through to the rare of your head.
Courtesy : http://muatasimqazi.com/2011/12/11/pakistans-infamous-isi-allegedly-kills-a-former-baloch-staffer-of-us-counsulate/
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http://tribune.com.pk/story/304907/target-killing-baloch-activist-gunned-down-in-karachi/
http://zeenews.india.com/news/south-asia/gunmen-kill-baloch-activist-working-for-german-ngo_746424.html
