Awais Ahmad

Pakistan's Baloch separatists raise the stakes

Published: Dec. 1, 2024 | Link 

Since January, insurgents in Pakistan’s Balochistan province have launched increasingly complex attacks, killing hundreds. The violence has posed a new threat to Pakistan’s government that is grappling with a growing grassroots rights movement not afraid to face off with the police.

Dozens of people were waiting on the platform at Pakistan’s Quetta railway station on Saturday,November 9,, when a person carrying a bag packed with explosives walked into the crowd. The ensuing blast killed 26 people and injured more than 60 others, and was claimed by Balochistan’s most prolific insurgent group, Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA). Ten days and several more attackslater, Pakistan approved a “comprehensive military operation” against militant and separatist outfits in Balochistan. 

The blast in Quetta was not the first or even the worst assault in the province this year. InJanuary, the BLA seized control of the city of Mach, an hour’s drive fromQuetta, for more than 48 hours in an unusual military-style siege. OnAugust 26, the separatist group launched “Operation Herof,” carrying out multiple types of attacks across the province in what came to be known as the “deadliest day” in the region’s recent history. 

Factal senior editor and South Asia expert Halima Mansoor said the roots of the decades-old Baloch insurgency can be traced back to long-standing grievances against rights abuse and economic neglect, where 70 percent of the population is “multidimensionally poor." 

“One of the base factors of the insurgency is the obvious disparity between what is extracted from the resource-rich province by the state and its foreign investors, and the poverty its people continue to face,” Mansoor said.

Mansoor said the shift by BLA away from sporadic flash attacks to more sustained and military-style assaults became more noticeable around the same time that Baloch youth and women, such as Mahrang Baloch, became increasingly more visible in their fight for civil rights. This expanding, broad-based battle against the state by multiple separate entities — some non-violent and others militant — all accusing the Pakistani government of discrimination, has created a challenging environment for Islamabad, Mansoor said.

Recent protests in the province in part demand answers about morethan 7,000 people who have been taken without due process since the 2000s. Security forces will often abduct individuals in Balochistan and detain them with no official record. 

“They get taken to black sites,” Mansoor said. “There’s usually no paper trail and people have no idea where their family member went after some police officer came and picked them up.” 

As of early 2024, nearly 3,000 people were unaccounted for after enforced disappearances. The government of Pakistan claimed only 50 were missing.

“There is a heavy presence of the Pakistani military and it has been growing over the years,” Mansoor said. “Wherever the military sets base in Balochistan, there are streams of development leading to their bases where there’s electricity and running water and then a few dozen kilometers outside there are no proper roads, and there’s still people living in fishing huts.” 

The resentment against various arms of the Pakistani establishment extends to low-income laborers coming from Punjab to Balochistan for work, who are seen as symbols of Punjabi dominance in Balochistan despite their low wages. In the August attack, Baloch separatists targeted the workers, killing dozens.

The Baloch insurgency continues to identify all outsiders, including foreign investors, as legitimate targets, with China posing the main threat. The BLA has claimed that Beijing is directly helping both the Pakistani military and government via the development of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor and failing to deliver its promises of economic betterment for locals via its projects. 

The Pakistani government, however, claims the real external threat to Balochistan are its neighbors, accusing both India and Afghanistan of directly or indirectly supporting the insurgency without outlining clear evidence of direct involvement.

"I think withany country facing an insurgency, one natural conclusion is that an outsideforce is involved and benefiting from the internal unrest,” Mansoor said.

Iran, which shares a Baloch-majority region with Pakistan, faces its own separatist challenges and has frequently seen cross-border insurgent activity. January military strikes between Iran and Pakistan, a rare occurrence, were seen as a warning to both governments to crack down on militancy across their borders.

Pakistan’s government, already under immense pressure from a slew of other problems including economic and political instability, and an increase in militancy, now faces the daunting task of fighting an insurgency which has only grown more robust and organized in recent years. It is also making the country’s allies very nervous — the uptick in insurgency prompted China and Pakistan to announce their first joint anti-terror drills in five years. 

The extent of the military operation remains to be seen and how it impacts things like foreign investors operating out of Balochistan. 

“It remains to be seen whether ‘comprehensive’ will be more of the same under-the-radar ops to counter insurgents or more like the military’s 2014 ‘Operation Zarb-e-Azb’ in northwest Pakistan, involving tens of thousands of soldiers and drone strikes to target foreign and local militants, displacing one million people,” Mansoor said. “The Pakistani military never leaves Balochistan, it exists therein its multiple forms,” she said. 

Fallof Hasina raises hope for reform in Bangladesh

Published: Sept. 1, 2024 | Link

Weeks of student-led protests fast turned into a nationwide movement, forcing Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from both power and country with a rushed exit in a military helicopter. Now, under Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus, the country grapples with making peace as he looks to revive a troubled economy, reinstate law and order after one of the country’s deadliest demonstrations, and prepare a fractured society for democratic elections. 

On August 5, Sheikh Hasina, the longest-serving prime minister of Bangladesh, resigned from office and fled the country. Her exit followed the deaths of several hundreds at student-led protests that started against government job quotas before snowballing into a mass uprising against Hasina’s authoritarian administration.

The final tipping point came after at least 90 people were reported killed at protests the day before. Protesters ignored a nationwide “shoot-on-sight” curfew and marched toward Hasina’s residence, giving her a reported45 minutes to leave the country.

Videos circulated on social media showed a jubilant crowd storming her residence and laying claim to her belongings, from giant fish to Hasina’s infamous sarees. The police, who had participated in the crackdown at the behest of Hasina, went into hiding in fear of retaliation. Military chief Gen. Waker-uz-Zamam then announced “temporary control” of the country as soldiers were deployed to calm the thousands who had since moved on to attack buildings associated with Hasina’s party and family, before an interim government led by Muhammad Yunus, Nobel laureate and long-time critic of Hasina, was called in. 

The fall of the ruling Awami League was a long time coming for many reasons even if the quota system limiting jobs for some 400,000 graduates every year amid high unemployment – that benefited the party – was the catalyst for the uprising, Factal senior editor and South Asia expert Halima Mansoor said.

“The fact is that the ruling party was seen as taking advantage of its hold on the country for so many years,” Mansoor said. “And it…abused its power via the police and other government bodies.” Over the course of her rule, Hasina’s government has been accused of corruption, suppressing the press and public opinion, and abusing human rights. 

“There were regular people [at the protests], some too young to even benefit from the quota and some past the age for applying for government jobs,” Mansoor said. “But it had been 15 years and they’d had enough…and the deaths were definitely part of the turning point.”

The death toll in the government’s crackdown is understood to be in the hundreds, but Mansoor says the rushed burials without mandated autopsies that took place during the unrest may mean a real toll is never known.  

In two short weeks after taking over, Yunus’ administration found anomalies that suggest economic data was manipulated, potentially further proof of damage done by the regime that left Bangladesh in debt to the tune of $156 billion. It also started to root out corruption, with a commission set to investigate at least 41 former ministers and lawmakers who belonged to Hasina’s Awami League between 2009 and 2024.

The interim government has also cleared the path of the Pakistan-aligned Jamaat-e-Islami to contest in any future elections for the first time since 2013. It revoked a ban on the party under the anti-terrorism law by Hasina’s government, which accused it of inciting violence during the protests. The party now seeks to restore its registration with the country's election commission, however, the interim government seems in no rush to hold elections at this time. 

“Under Bangladesh’s legal system, there isn’t much written about the tenure of the interim government,” Mansoor said, referring to the absence of a deadline for the transitional government to hold polls. “This sort of gives Yunus’s government some leeway because they…want to reform things so that when elections happen, they happen under a system with empowered institutions.”

The pressure to rush to polls could also come from the military, whose leadership has assigned itself the task of appointing a new administration. Bangladesh has a long history of military coups and army rule, and according to some reports, its top officials played a role in convincing Hasina to step down. The military now also faces shake-ups in the upper echelons of its leadership.

“But we don't know how deep these reforms will go in the military,” Mansoor said. “And we don't know how much the interim government wants to push the military, because they also need peace for desired reforms.”

Though Yunis’ interim government is yet to present an outline of reforms, including for a transition of power, Mansoor says there is much renewed hope for a Bangladesh that has long been denied free and fair elections under Hasina’s rule.

“[It looks like] they have this opportunity…a lot of optimistic young people in Bangladesh are probably looking at [this as the] moment in history where the country can turn a new leaf. It's sort of like a metamorphosis of sorts that they want.”

India-Pakistan airstrikes 

Published: May 8, 2025

Simmering tensions between India and Pakistan reached a boiling point on Wednesday after India launched missile strikes in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Under “Operation Sindoor,” it targeted what it called nine Pakistani sites linked to militant infrastructure, killing at least 26 people and injuring dozens of others. In response, Pakistan claimed to have shot down five Indian Rafale jets that it recently acquired from France, vowing retaliation and condemning the strikes as a blatant act of war. Both sides have traded artillery fire across the Line of Control, with India reporting at least 15 civilians killed and more than 50 others injured. In the aftermath, civilian life has been severely disrupted, with flight cancellations, power outages in Muzaffarabad, and emergency alerts across Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, as fears of full-scale escalation mount. 

Watch for: India’s Operation Sindoor included strikes in Pakistan’s Punjab province, including near Lahore, for the first time in more than half a century. The scale of the operation far surpassed its previous responses to attacks blamed on Pakistan, leading to expectations of a significant Pakistani retaliation and heightening fears of a wider military conflict between the two nuclear-armed rivals. Global leaders – including those from the United States, United Nations, China, Russia, and the United Kingdom –  called for restraint and urged both nations to maintain communication to prevent further escalation. Meanwhile, public sentiment in both countries remains charged, as people expressed strong support for their governments’ actions. As the conflict reaches relatively unchartered grounds, the upcoming days remain crucial in deciding how the conflict unfolds.

Gunmen open fire on tourists in Jammu and Kashmir

Published: April 25, 2025

At least 26 people were killed and a dozen others injured after militants opened fire on tourists in the Baisaran meadow near Pahalgam in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday. The Resistance Front (TRF), a group linked to militant organization Lashkar-e-Taiba, claimed responsibility, citing opposition to the settlement of non-locals in the region. This is the deadliest attack in the region since the 2019 attack in Pulawama, which killed 40 of India’s Central Reserve Police Force personnel. In response, Indian authorities placed major cities on high alert. The Jammu and Kashmir region saw shutter-down strikes and protests condemning the violence. India also downgraded diplomatic ties with Pakistan, including an unprecedented suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, closure of the last remaining land border crossing and expulsion of Pakistani diplomats. Pakistan retaliated by suspending all trade, closing airspace to all Indian airlines and canceling visas for Indian nationals, adding that any attempt to block water flow into Pakistan would be considered an “act of war.”

Watch for: The attack has escalated tensions between India and Pakistan, with India accusing Pakistan of backing militants in Kashmir, a claim Pakistan denies. The suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, a 60-year-old agreement, is a significant move that could disrupt Pakistan’s vital water supply. In Jammu and Kashmir, the violence has sparked widespread protests, particularly as tourism — an important economic lifeline — suffers. Indian commentators have called for an “Israel-like solution” to combat militancy, which could lead to an even larger military presence in the region. Past militant attacks have resulted in breaches along the Line of Control, the military control line between Indian and Pakistani administered parts of Jammu and Kashmir, and cross-border airstrikes. With diplomatic relations at a new low point, India’s response to Pakistan’s actions could further destabilize the region and complicate any efforts toward reconciliation.

RSF capture of Sudan's Zamzam IDP camp

Published: April 17, 2025

More than 300 people were killed and hundreds more injured in a four-day assault by Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) beginning Thursday as it seized control of Zamzam, a major camp for displaced people just south of El Fashir in North Darfur, according to the UN and humanitarian organizations. The attack, which came after a similar assault in nearby Abu Shouk, destroyed shelters, markets, and the last functioning clinic in the camp, killing 10 Relief International staff members. Zamzam’s population has nearly doubled to almost a million people in recent years due to ongoing displacement. The UN now estimates up to 400,000 people have fled Zamzam and Abu Shouk since the assault, overwhelming the nearby El Fashir, where tens of thousands are now sleeping outdoors without food, water, or medical care. 

Watch for: The RSF denies targeting civilians and claims the camp was used by armed groups allied with the Sudanese army, while releasing video of its deputy commander promising aid to displaced families. Still, rights groups warn of potential war crimes, as El Fashir — just 9 miles from Zamzam — faces growing instability. Local militias are urging army reinforcements to defend the city’s 1.5 million residents. Meanwhile, the RSF has stepped up drone strikes in army-held territory, including a hit on a key power station that cut electricity to Port Sudan. With famine worsening and humanitarian access shrinking, the fall of Zamzam signals a dangerous new phase in the Sudanese conflict.

Afghanistan resumes public executions

Published: Dec. 22, 2022

An Afghan man was publicly executed on Dec. 7 in the southwestern Farah province, in the country’s first such instance since the Taliban retook power in August last year. The man executed had been accused of murder and theft in 2017 and was fatally shot by the alleged victim’s father under the supervision of Taliban officials. The execution follows a series of public floggings of both men and women accused of crimes such as adultery and running away from home. Afghan officials decried the subsequent international outcry and defended their stance by saying the execution follows the Islamic law of “qisas” which is interpreted as retributive justice. This allows for a perpetrator to serve punishment for a crime in the same manner as the said crime was committed. An eye for an eye, a tooth for tooth, and a life for a life. 

Watch for:  In the weeks that followed the Taliban’s Kabul takeover last August, the group portrayed itself in a moderate image that promised a departure from its regressive practices, including the ones it utilized while previously in power between 1996 and 2001. These claims of a more moderate rule directly contradict Afghanistan’s reality which has seen a plethora of new restrictions placed on women, including but not limited to a total ban on education. Women are also required to wear head-to-toe clothing in public, are barred from entering gyms and parks and have been restricted from most fields of employment. Nearly a year and half since the takeover, the Afghan Taliban have appeared to drop all pretense of a non-oppressive rule, marking a shift in their governing approach.

Pakistan flooding

Published: July 28, 2022

Hundreds of people have been killed in Pakistan since mid-June as unusually heavy monsoon rains continue to lash large parts of the country, leaving some of its largest cities, especially Karachi, paralyzed in their wake. Outside of Karachi, which has seen at least 31 people killed so far, the country’s Baluchistan province remains the worst affected with more than 100 people killed and thousands of structures damaged or destroyed since the beginning of the monsoon season.. 

Watch for: Residents in the worst-hit cities have criticized the government for its lackluster response in dealing with the monsoon season that brings devastating rains to the country each year. Officials cited climate change as the biggest factor in the widespread damage caused by these torrential rains, which continue to intensify each year. Meanwhile, experts believe other factors like lack of emergency preparedness and poor urban planning also play a role. Above normal rainfall is expected to continue across the country throughout the season, which usually occurs between June and September, but weather authorities forecast a drier season during its second half beginning on Aug. 15. 

Motion of no confidence against Pakistani prime minister

Published: March 17, 2022

Last week, Pakistan’s opposition, led by Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), submitted a motion of no confidence against Prime Minister Imran Khan, accusing him of mismanaging the economy amid high inflation and depleting foreign reserves. The move came after Khan’s refusal to resign, a demand put forth by the PPP at the end of its long march in Islamabad on the same day. The opposition now requires a simple majority of 172 votes in the National Assembly to oust the premier. While the opposition claims it will have the required votes, Khan, who voluntarily sought a no-confidence vote from the National Assembly in March 2021 and won, remains confident. 

Watch for: Though the rules of the no-confidence motion require a National Assembly session to be convened within 14 days, PTI Senator Faisal Javed announced the vote will take place after the premier addresses a rally in Islamabad on March 27. Only two other Pakistani premiers have faced a no-confidence motion, with no prime minister in the country’s history ever removed from office through this process. If the motion passes, the National Assembly will be tasked with voting in a new premier, a year before the country’s next general elections. 

U.S. Mission to UN condemns Algeria’s treatment of Ahmadis

06/08/2017

At the 27th session of the United Nation’s Universal Periodic Review held in Geneva, Switzerland, the United States mission to Geneva expressed its concerns over the arrest of minority Ahmadiyya Muslims in Algeria.

The U.S. representative at the session, Sheila Leonard said:

We are concerned by recent arrests of Ahmadi [AH-ma-dee] Muslims, which call into question Algeria’s respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.

We recommend that Algeria:

1. Amend the Law on Associations to remove undue restrictions on civil society organizations.

2. Work to ensure constitutional guarantees of the inviolability of freedom of thought, conscience, and religions are carried out for all, including for Ahmadi Muslims, and provide that community with the accreditation it needs to worship openly and in compliance with Algerian law.

3. Amend Penal Code articles that punish peaceful free expression with prison terms, to conform to Algeria’s Constitution.

The United States also conveyed its concerns over the arrest of members of the independent media.

The Universal Period Review or UPR is part of the United Nation’s Human Rights Council (HRC) which aims to improve the human rights situation in the U.N. Member States. Each year, 42 states are reviewed in three sessions, which are held in January/February, May/June, and October/November. During every session, each State under review is provided with a list of recommendations which it has to implement before the next review.

This review comes after over 70 Ahmadis, including community leaders, were arrested in Algeria last year. The arrests started early 2016 but intensified in July 2016.

This article was originally published on Rabwah Times. 

The Case of Asia Bibi and Pakistan’s Treatment of Its Religious Minorities

11/30/2018

When the Supreme Court of Pakistan overturned the original verdict in the Asia Bibi case in late October, protesters flooded the streets all over the country, calling for her execution. Now they are going “house to house,” hunting her and her family. This is the Pakistan I was born in and the Pakistan that scares me.

In 2010, a Christian woman named Aasiya Noreen, commonly known as Asia Bibi, was sentenced to death by hanging in a blasphemy case. The verdict was upheld by the Lahore High Court. Bibi would have been the first person in Pakistan’s history to be executed for the crime of blasphemy against Prophet Muhammad.

She spent eight years on death row before the Supreme Court acquitted her due to insufficient evidence. This decision sparked nationwide protests by Islamist groups, with death threats sent to Bibi and the three Supreme Court justices involved in the case. A number of countries have offered Bibi asylum, but she is not allowed to leave the country.

I have experienced a flood of varying emotions as I watched all of this unfold. I was overjoyed to see Bibi regain her freedom, but I am still scared for her. Many in Pakistan still want her dead.

I am also angry about so many aspects of this case: I am angry at the law that is so vague and broad that it could keep a woman jailed on death row for eight years over the insufficient testimony of two neighbors. I am angry at the protestors calling for her execution, and I am angry at the government for negotiating with protestors, further jeopardizing Bibi’s safety by denying her leave from the country.

I also can’t help but feel sad about the eight long years that Bibi served for being a religious minority. I am sad that this is what Pakistan has become since General Zia-ul-Haq put the country under martial law in 1976 and that there are other citizens, serving time for the same ‘crime,’ whose stories will never be told.

This Pakistan scares me because, technically, Ahmadis in Pakistan commit the crime of blasphemy every single day by just existing. By all means, this community of mine belongs to Islam, but the Constitution of Pakistan declares otherwise.

Pakistan has legalized our persecution by classifying the Ahmadiyya community as a non-Muslim minority, refusing us the rights to vote, identify our houses of worship as mosques, assert ourselves as Muslims and simply exist.

Most of all, I am confused. After living in the U.S. for the past 10 years, it can be very easy to hold a fantastical, romanticized view of the country in which I was born. However, I cannot ignore my own knowledge either. I cannot pretend that this ugliness doesn’t exist in my country because I know what it means to be an Ahmadi in Pakistan, to wake up as a nine-year-old during the holy month of Ramadan to the news that eight of my community members were shot to death during morning prayer at the mosque. I know what it’s like to live a concealed life, to see my mother be forced out of a job because of our faith, to have recurring nightmares as a young boy of my throat being slit because my religious identity was discovered.

The Supreme Court may have released Bibi, but this is only the beginning of the troubles that she and others like her in the religious minority will face. Pakistan will never release the Ahmadis that have been jailed under the same law, especially when Islamist groups continue to be legitimized.

Prime Minister Imran Khan won the election earlier this year under the promise of bringing about a “naya Pakistan,” new and reformed. The youth voted him into office. It was supposed to bring about an era of tabdeeli (change) and hope, right?

I am not hopeful.

This article was originally published on Brown Girl Magazine. 

Review: Islam, Race, and Pluralism in the Pakistani Diaspora

05/29/2017

In his book, Islam, Race, and Pluralism in the Pakistani Diaspora, Dr. Craig Considine explores the experiences of several Pakistani American and Pakistani Irish men. He expertly unpacks these experiences while also being extra diligent in avoiding the notion of a singular diasporic identity and maintaining and furthering the heterogeneity present within the community. Further, these experiences are brilliantly contextualized through the compendious exploration of histories of Boston and Ireland, the settings of his research. Ultimately, the book puts an emphasis on the agency that Pakistani men in Boston and Ireland have over their response, and often resistance, to being marginalized.

Dr. Considine structures his research into 8 chapters. The first two chapters provide necessary background into his research as well as important theories that would be discussed later in the book and the last chapter provides possible solutions towards “fostering religious pluralism and interculturalism.” His interviews with Pakistani men are structured into the other five chapters, each focusing on a different theme including, but not limited to, the dichotomy of the “good” versus “bad” Muslim, and political issues such as terrorism. He also introduces the term “Pakphobia” which describes a fear of or apprehension towards Pakistani people in America and Ireland.

There are many issues Dr. Considine tackles within the book which naturally comes through from the multiplicity and pluralism present within the Pakistani community. A heavy focus is placed on the heterogeneity in the Pakistani diaspora. This is exemplified through the case studies which include a wide array of Pakistani men, differing in age, socioeconomic statuses, religions, sects, sub-ethnicities, as well as sexual orientation. There is Anwar, an Ahmadi Muslim born and raised in America, Nadeem, a self-described “devout Muslim” living in Ireland, Omar, a Salafist getting a medical degree from Boston, Maliq, a second-generation Irish Sufi, Hamayun, a 20-year old gay Muslim who spent the first 14 years of his life in Pakistan, and many more. The stories of these men prove that Pakistanis and Muslims are not members of a homogenous community. Rather, they have their own stories and their own journeys.

There is heavy complexity both in the structure and the content of the book yet Dr. Considine explains the ideas in a very accessible manner. He is, however, careful in that he does not oversimplify ideas, maintaining the truth of the ideas. He also crafts these complex ideas in such a way that it does not leave the reader overwhelmed. Pakistani people are not the only ones who would gain from this book. The book is rich with knowledge that would enlighten and expand the mind of any reader. Perhaps the best part about the creation of this book is that it comes from a place of peace and tolerance. Dr. Considine dedicates it to the “bridge builders.” This book is a profound step towards doing exactly that: building a bridge. Dr. Considine deserves high-praise for the feat he has managed to accomplish with this book.

Craig’s book which comes out on July 11th has already been endorsed Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, who is a lawyer, politician, and member of the British House of Lords:

“Considine unpicks the complex journey of identity through the lens of the Pakistani experience both in the US and Europe. Placing both belief and bigotry in context, challenging both inter and intra community tensions and using the personal accounts of individuals he humanizes the monolithic myth of ‘the Pakistani.’ An important and timely contribution by a committed bridge builder.”

Dr. Mona Siddiqui, who is a Professor of Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations at Edinburgh University also endorsed the book saying:

“Pakistani Muslims are often seen as one of the most controversial ethnic and religious groups on issues of identity and integration. In this well researched and empathetic study of Pakistani diasporas in Ireland and the US, Craig Considine has made a valuable contribution to the literature on Muslims in the West and the language of `us’ and `them’ which continues to inform the political and social narrative of citizenship.”

This article was originally published in Rabwah Times.