Glasgow City College student Majid Ali faces torture and death if returned to Pakistan. Majid Ali’s brother and other members of his immediate family have been taken and I am afraid very probably murdered by the Pakistani authorities as part of their relentless persecution of the Baloch people and desire to wipe out Baloch national identity. The UK Home Office intends to deport Majid. The people of Scotland must defend him.
There will be an emergency demonstration at the Scottish office, 1 Melville Crescent, Edinburgh at 13.00 tomorrow. I shall be going along. NUS Scotland are organising a letter-writing campaign to Scottish MPs to get them to put pressure on the Home Office. This is important.
It is appalling that London can seek to rip Majid from a Scottish community which values him, from a nation which respects its immigrant communities and their contribution, as part of Theresa May’s campaign to pander to the corporate media induced racism which regrettably has been introduced into many communities in England. It is a further example of why independence is essential to build a more ethical state.
The persecution of the Baloch has received little attention in the West. Peter Tatchell has done admirable work in trying to raise its profile in the UK, but with little traction. Like so many dreadful abuses, it is a direct result of wrongdoing by the British Empire. Baloch or Beluchistan was formally known as the state of Kelat, which Britain first invaded in 1839, destroying the city of Kelat in 1840 and murdering the ruler Mehrab Khan on the pretext he had given insufficient support to the British invasion of Afghanistan. Britain’s relations with Kelat thereafter were an appalling litany of broken treaties, culminating into the forceful and unwanted incorporation into Pakistan.
A few years ago I met the current Khan of Kelat at his home in exile in Wales and learnt a great deal about the dreadful persecution the Baloch suffer. In the course of my researches into British responsibility for the situation I cam across the crime of the massacre of Kotra. After the killing of Mehrab Khan, fighting continued until a truce was agreed with Mehrab’s 15 year old son Nasir. While the truce was in force, British forces silently surrounded Nasir’s mountain camp at Kotra and attacked before dawn, massacring 500. It is reminiscent of Glencoe, though this was a much larger massacre. In the National Archives of India I trembled as I held the manuscript order for the massacre in my hands.
We should do everything we can to save Majid Ali out of common decency, wherever he is from. But the knowledge of Britain’s historic responsibility for the situation should broaden and deepen our understanding of his plight.
Rehmat, please can we leave ‘The Jews’ out of this? I mean, out of discussions about Pakistan. It – Israel, ‘the Jews’ and so on – really not a major real (as opposed to propagandistic) factor, or even a minor factor, in relation to the problems of Pakistan.
If we really wnat to explore actual, real, human Jewish topics in the context of Pakistan, suffice to say that there was a thriving Jewish community – of Jewish Pakistanis – mainly but not exclusively living in Karachi – until anti-Semitic persecution drove most of them out during the 1960s/1970s/1980s. Israel/Palestine was used to divert attention away from the systemic and massive economic and military crimes of successive Pakistani regimes on their own ppeople (of all kinds). With respect, it would not be appropriate for it to appear here when the fate of an asylum-seeker hangs in the balance.
I wouldn’t ordinarily back Rehmat, but I don’t think Israeli interest in destabilising Pakistan is negligible. Some Israeli opinion prioritises a Pakistani takedown over Iran, and within the paranoid and exclusivist context of the Israeli Right, logically: Pakistan’s present volatility, and its ambiguous relations with terrorist groups sanctioned in order to promote its smouldering conflict with India, added to its undoubted ownership of longrange nuclear missiles, make it an entirely credible threat. For this reason, perhaps –
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Israel-will-partner-India-to-develop-missile-system/articleshow/47364242.cms
This will be approved by at least a section of the Baloch independence movement:
http://www.examiner.com/article/free-balochistan-is-israel-s-ally-says-jewish-writer-khan-kalat-endorses-idea
“I was joking, Dreoilin. They argued for months over that one. I thought I’d stir it up again for a laugh.”
Oh good. I did wonder about you joking, but of course I did my wondering after I’d hit Submit Comment.
There are still old (but doctored) photos from South Ossetia 2008 turning up on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/ilyushin76/status/607439844357341184
“I am sorry (but unsurprised) to read about John Hilley being blocked. He’s a tremendous guy.”
I’m sure you know, John, that he’s only blocked by Stephen Fry (in this case). Which means that John Hilley can’t talk to him on Twitter, and Stephen Fry doesn’t get anything John Hilley posts. It’s not a big deal, really. I’d be surprised if John Hilley gives a toss.
I wondered if I had heard right on the radio in the night. Yes I had but it seemed incredible.
Israel and Saudis Disclose Secret Talks on Iran
Israel Daily News Stream
2 days ago
http://honestreporting.com/idns-06072015-israel-saudi/
‘2. Israel and the Saudis disclosed they’ve held secret talks since 2014 on countering Iran. Weekend papers picked up on Eli Lake’s scoop for Bloomberg News. The key Saudi figure, government adviser Anwar Eshki, gave an interview to an Israeli TV station. Meanwhile, a survey found that Saudis consider Iran their main adversary, not Israel.’
https://twitter.com/Ostrov_A/status/606953374530052097
The Saudi general was interviewed by Dore Gold at the right wing CFR think tank. Albright and Powell are on the board.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_on_Foreign_Relations#Notable_board_members
with both supporting the establishment of an independent Kurdistan according to the BBC Radio 5 report.
Any attack on Iran will precipitate Armageddon.
Though very quiet, Israeli-Saudi convergence hasn’t exactly been secret, Mary. And the overt interest in Kurdistan follows active Israeli support of PJAK –
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93PJAK_conflict
– particularly after Gulf 1.
Note also the close ties (in part ethnic) between Kurds and Balochis and return to the topic….
http://www.ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2010/7/state4068.htm
You had to interfere firstly Dreoilin in what I said to Habbabkuk about his typo. I am sure he would have been able to reply to me on his own. If you left me alone then you would not irritate me.
Dreoilin
09/06/2015 9:12am
He cared enough to write about it on his blog. J
It may well be true that Israel would welcome Baloch independence. It is also true that Israel does not want the entire human population to be wiped out in a catastrophic asteroid strike. You have to be crazed with hate to accept the argument that because Israel wants something, then it is wrong.
US Warns Israel –There Will Be No ‘USS Liberty Pt II’
“Cutting short his trip in Europe the first week of July, recently-appointed Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Adm. Mike Mullen flew to Tel Aviv along with an entourage of high-ranking US military personnel and, upon his arrival, rushed to meet with the highest-ranking members of Israel’s military establishment. While this is not unusual (as many such meetings have been taking place as of late) what was unusual was the topic discussed–Israel’s attack on the USS Liberty 41 years ago during the 6 day war and how ‘important’ it was that ‘history not repeat itself,’ given the present tensions existing between Israel and Iran.” (continues)
https://theuglytruth.wordpress.com/2012/06/08/us-warns-israel-there-will-be-no-uss-liberty-pt-ii/
“Given the fact that this brazen 2 hour attack upon the United States has been hushed up these last 41 years, there can be little else to conclude by Mullen’s meeting other than the obvious–That someone from within the intelligence or military apparatus of the United States has looked towards the horizon and concluded that Israel is planning a ‘USS Liberty Pt II,’ meaning an attack on a US ship, most likely in the Persian Gulf, leading to a massive loss of life to be then blamed on Iran.”
May be a false flag coming up. I hope not. And I sure hope it’s not another 9/11.
“He cared enough to write about it on his blog. J”
It wasn’t the blocking he was writing about. He was writing about what Stephen Fry said about Israel and Hamas. He mentioned the blocking in passing.
“You had to interfere firstly Dreoilin in what I said to Habbabkuk about his typo. I am sure he would have been able to reply to me on his own. If you left me alone then you would not irritate me.”
No idea what you’re on about Mary.
Dreoilin
09/06/2015 9:29am
No, he didn’t. He mentioned it as an important point.
Anyhow, the point I was making was he’s a tremendous guy and well worth reading. J
It may well be true that Israel would welcome Baloch independence. It is also true that Israel does not want the entire human population to be wiped out in a catastrophic asteroid strike. You have to be crazed with hate to accept the argument that because Israel wants something, then it is wrong.
A bit of a straw man there. You don’t have to be crazed with hate to assert, and I do, that Israel playing regional superpower, and getting what it wants in regions distant from its legitimate sphere of influence is pretty hard to swallow. Nor to assert that Balochistan’s independence or not is none of its damn business.
And I am pretty certain, whatever its feelings about asteroid strikes, that Israel wouldn’t throw up its hands in horror if the US, at its behest, glazed Iran tomorrow. Provided the wind was in the right direction.
Helpfully, the Daily Mail has a cut-out and keep picture of smiling Tony Blair featuring prominently in this article below.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3116088/Police-new-Janner-probe-Labour-peer-abused-boy-trip-Scotland-pressure-grows-charge-despite-ill-health.html
I have no idea why.
Nevertheless, I’m sure that around half the commenteers on here would perform their ‘public diplomacy’/’morale operations’ role much better with this Blair picture printed out and framed next to their powerful workstation, I apologise in advance for those other real personas who now feel sick.
Monty-Python instigated the famous meme “what have the Romans ever done for us”
continuing the comedic theme, one could replace ‘Romans’ with ‘NSA’ then this next link tells-us what. . .
http://www.dailydot.com/politics/nsa-prism-fallout-35-billion-us-tech-firms/
A reasonably balanced report on the increasing cost of ‘privacy unfriendly policies’ for US tech-industry
. . .of being discovered with their trousers down, or am I metaphoring my mixers
“No, he didn’t. He mentioned it as an important point.”
We’ll have to agree to disagree, John. He mentioned it in paragraph 3. The title on his blog post was
“Complicit liberal-speak: Stephen Fry says the ‘unsayable’ about Israel’s ‘right’ over Palestinians”
I was not deluding that the Pakistan Army is stepping back and letting tribal politics take over.
That the Punjabi’s take part in this ethnic cleansing is a surprise to me.
Was just referring to the small chance of a Baluch regiment feeling some ‘nationalist’ pangs for their country.
Looking at the Foreign office and home office here, Britain’s past mistakes are still being compounded. I feel for Majid Ali and all of us who want to do something, because the large majority of subjects feel apathetic, busy with other stuff, just as the gold fish Rob G, thanks for the latest links, so aptly compared to our reaction over Fukushima’s ongoing pollution.
So the next comments we will hear are that he has been deported to his death, a loud blip/outcry resumes and some other news will smother his useless death.
Britain would have silently delivered, we might as well say, carried out, part of ISI’s murderous campaign and the US/Israel are silently agreeing as it creates chaos and allows them to destabilise the eastern borders of Iran.
Yep, that’s fine. Let’s just post what he said about the blocking issue just to clarify whether Hilley thinks it’s an important point, or not.
“Yet, while Fry was seemingly intent on saying the unsayable at the New Statesman, he blocked me for stating what was just as reasonably sayable about a view he’s willingly placed in the public domain. That, arguably, says more about the mindset of the sensitive liberal than any concern I have at being twitter-blanked.”
J
Mary, 9:14 am; I’m surprised to find that you’re surprised about Israel and Saudi Arabia’s close ties – they are both close allies to US/UK, both closely aligned with the NeoCon agenda. There seem to be two major groupings in the Middle East; those countries that align with US NeoCon objectives and host US military bases, and those countries which don’t and instead have closer ties with Russia. Between them, they have the oil reserves surrounded:
http://www.killick1.plus.com/map.jpg
“Obama lambasts Putin: you’re wrecking Russia to recreate Soviet empire”
Hilarious. The US is wrecking large chunks of the world to create an American empire.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/08/g7-leaders-sanctions-russia-ukraine-conflict-obama
Signatories of early day motion yesterday:
http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2015-16/87
Mary
“I might try and FIND out who is on that UN list. It will not change the fact though that Israel has been excluded from the list.”
_________________
Thank you for your intention to find out.
BTW, as I said in my previous post, it is not Israel that has been excluded from the UN list. It is the Israeli Defence Force (IDF).
Of course, saying it’s Israel as a whole and not just the IDF makes things sound graver, doesn’t it – which is presumably why you, “Global Research” and Russia Today persist with this erroneous informmation.
PS – another early day motion, deploring the proposed eviction of 7000 Beduin by Israel
http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2015-16/60
Not too many SNP there, I see.
Ba’al Zevul
You are quite wrong.
9 of the 56 SNP MPs signed. Compared to 26 of the 232 Labour MPs. That’s a much higher percentage of SNP MPs who signed.
Dreoilin, 9:48 am; typically human behaviour to see fault in one’s competitors while being blind to that same fault in oneself; straws and rafters in eyes etc seems to apply just as well to governments and other organisations as to individuals, and lies behind much of the animosity on these comment threads.
Government contracts Mary:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/279313/foi_public_mod_contracts.pdf
I know what you’re saying Clark, but I don’t see how Obama can be “blind to that same fault” in the USA. It’s their stated intention, isn’t it. Not to have any equal competitors on the face of the globe.
He hardly opens his mouth lately but he makes me scoff at their double standards.
Gotta run
Ba’al,
To be honest, I too didn’t know this I had to look it up.
Early Day Motions are allowed a maximum of 50 signatures including six sponsors. That motion has the maximum. So nobody else – Labour or SNP – was able to sign it.
Fair enough, Craig. That passed me by too. Apologies for imputation.
“You have to be crazed with hate to accept the argument that because Israel wants something, then it is wrong.”
_____________________
Exactly, Craig. It needs saying from time to time.
And the same applies to the actions of Western govts – even, dare I say it, the US and UK govts.