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.
Dreoilin 10:53 am (for when you return); blind to it being a fault. The US sees itself as virtuous, so it sees its projection of dominance as benevolent. Russia likewise sees itself as virtuous, so it regards its projection of power into Ukraine as “protection”. The UK sees itself as virtuous, so it regards its attacks on Iraq and Libya as “humanitarian”. China is only helping out when it exercises control over Tibet. The UK establishment is “just trying to help” those poor wee stupid Scots who could never make it on their own. And on and on and on…
The same knife cuts the other way when we defend the actions of our allies despite them being wrong.
A remarkably similar dynamic seems depressingly common in interpersonal and family relationships. It reinforces group identity and causes polarisation of disputes and conflicts.
Here’s how lying Zionazi weasel Habbakuk is lying to you today.
The reason why he’s obsessively fixating on global research is to impugn it so you don’t go there and read the actual UN documents it provides. Zionazi weasels are terrified of UN documents, even when their disgraced pariah state doesn’t show up in them yet – like the document at issue here, A/68/878–S/2014/339,
https://www.un.org/ga/search/doc_top.asp?symbol=a/68/878&Lang=E
Now watch this contortion by lying weasel Habbakuk: he harps on a ridiculous distinction between the IDF and the GOI, as though the IDF reports to someplace else. Habbakuk thinks that will fly because he’s not too bright and thinking is harrrd for him. But when you read the actual document, you see that it is organized at the top level by country. When Israeli government genocidaires get their entry, it will have a big bold heading that says Israel. This is best that lying weasel Habbakuk can do, to hope that you don’t realize this.
The sad thing about Israel’s national culture is, it places so much emphasis on intellectual attainment that the dumb ones like Habbakuk are plagued by terrible feelings of inadequacy. That’s why he put on this Haw-Haw Oxbridge act.
Clark 11.42am : “The US sees itself as virtuous, so it sees its projection of dominance as benevolent. Russia likewise sees itself as virtuous, so it regards its projection of power into Ukraine as “protection”. The UK sees itself as virtuous, so it regards its attacks on Iraq and Libya as “humanitarian”. China is only helping out when it exercises control over Tibet. The UK establishment is “just trying to help” those poor wee stupid Scots who could never make it on their own. And on and on and on…”
Really Clark? You think the leaders of these countries are principled rather than cynical? For example, do you really imagine that when the men in grey suits were planning their dirty tricks campaign for the Independence referendum they were saying to each other “This is for their own good, they’ll thank us for it one day” rather than “Let’s stop the Jocks getting their hands on the oil, and see how else we can shaft them while we’re at it”?
OMG. The BEEB is doing the Ghurkas.
Craig
“You have to be crazed with hate to accept the argument that because Israel wants something, then it is wrong.”
Well that’s one way to look at it. Here’s another:
The machinations of empire are fluid, hidden and always present in the action of the rogue states. It is far from crazed with hatred, more like a sensible approach, to suspect that all actions by rogue states have an ulterior motive that serves empire itself. This is how we learn to recognise the methods of empire.
You have to be crazed with naivety to not question everything these killing machines do.
John Spencer-Davis
7 Jun, 2015 – 4:40 pm
“I didn’t ask for Abe Rene’s support. Or yours. I said the whys and the wherefores are irrelevant to getting the deportation stopped. Which they are.”
“You don’t want to assist, I’m sure he can do without you, go and do something you think is more useful.”
……………………………………………………………………………..
John, Jemand is a long standing racist contributor here.
Don’t get him started on Aborigines!
Craig
“It has though been instructive to see how so many commentators anxious to sound off on all kinds of subjects have not the least common decency to be concerned about what will happen to Majid Ali.”
Ugh. How pompous. What do you expect as a reaction to you mentioning a, conveniently politically expedient, victim of persecution? The world ain’t short of horror stories mate.
Before this page I had no idea about Ali or the Baloch. Now I know ignorance mostly no impediment to an opinion but I have nothing to say. I have been reading.
I am not going to comment the hollow words “how sad. How very, very sad.” Expressions of pity are at best meaningless. More often it’s a replacement for action. It is more about the feelings of the privileged writer.
I am not going to automatically fire off a templated letter at the bequest of some blogger. Letter writing achieves nothing so yet again I question why people do. Does it make them feel better?
You often say you pick your fights according to what you think might be achieved. This is true for all of us. So stick your guilt tripping up your reborn do-good careerist arse.
RE: a virtuous v cynical US.
Coincidentally yesterday’s Lobster also has an article about Vietnam which very well describes a mix of cynicism and delusions of virtue that drive empire.
http://www.lobster-magazine.co.uk/free/lobster70/lob70-flys-eye-view-vietnam.pdf
Perhaps Joanna Lumley will arrange for the Gurkha mercenaries to be employed as guards for her proposed garden bridge.
Shmendrik.
I think you’re doing weasels a dis-service by comparing them to Habb.
Habbabkuk (la vita è bella)
8 Jun, 2015 – 5:35 pm
“On the other hand, it would probably have been correct to say that some of the low-lifes on here are “snot-nosed”.
…………………………………………………………………….
I thought my nose was bleeding but its snot!
“And the same applies to the actions of Western govts – even, dare I say it, the US and UK govts.”
________________________________
Habb.
Yes dare away,it’s surprising,but rather refreshing of you old chap,dare I say it,but there’s hope for you yet.
We’ll find out very soon if Mr Carmichael will defend or quit,the latter being preferable.
Alistair Carmichael has admitted leaking and then lying about the memo, which was aimed at damaging First Minister Nicola Sturgeon by wrongly suggesting that she had told the French ambassador she wanted David Cameron to remain as Prime Minister.
A petition under the Representation of the People Act 1983 bidding to overturn the result in Carmichael’s Orkney and Shetland seat was published on Friday. If he wants to challenge it, he must state his intention to do so by tomorrow at the latest.
http://www.thenational.scot/politics/libdems-to-decide-if-they-will-pay-costs-to-defend-carmichael-over-frenchgate.3846
Re my last comment the public have reached their target,if Carmichael quits the cash will go to food banks around the country.
If he fights the action the monies will be used for legal actions,to force a by-election
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-people-versus-carmichael#/story
RoS, you are right and I was wrong. Weasels are ballsy creatures that will take on rabbits 5 times their size. One was recently photographed hanging onto a bird in flight. Habbakuk, on the other hand, hides whenever someone forthrightly addresses his manipulation and lies. It’s remarkable in cyberspace where physical courage is not required. He’s probably aware that we know who he is and can out him at will, complete with hilarious and humiliating tidbits. Perhaps I shall drop one next time he shits on the rug!
The UN Human Rights Council
Rotating membership
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/Pages/Membership.aspx
Current members
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/Pages/CurrentMembers.aspx
Whatever and whoever the membership is, the fact is that Israel has been let off the hook yet again. The Zionist Israeli entity knows no law.
UN Spurns Palestinian Children. Ban Ki-moon Decides Not to Include Israel in the List of Violators of Children’s Rights
Ban Ki-moon’s decision not to include Israel on the list of violators of children’s rights twists the knife in the heart of every Palestinian parent, making it very clear that in the eyes of the United Nations, Palestinian children’s lives don’t count.
When a military with the most sophisticated and accurate weaponry on the planet can kill more than 500 children in cold blood with complete impunity, as Israel’s absence from the list shows, it reveals more than just the complete disregard for Palestinian lives that has become so commonplace in the halls of power. It also makes it abundantly clear that the UN, the single most important international organisation charged with protecting the lives of the most vulnerable, is failing spectacularly.
/..
http://www.globalresearch.ca/u-n-spurns-palestinian-children-ban-ki-moon-decides-not-to-include-israel-in-the-list-of-violators-of-childrens-rights/5454293
Note here that Israel would not give entry to an OCHR commission. Same old.
Oral Update by the Chairperson of the Independent Commission of Inquiry on the 2014 Gaza Conflict
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=15741&LangID=E
‘The Commission made an initial call for submissions with the deadline of 10 January 2015. This deadline was extended until the end of January 2015 and then again until late-February, in order to give all stakeholders the opportunity to provide any information they wished to share with the Commission. The Commission has done its utmost to obtain access to Israel and the Gaza Strip, as well as to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. We would very much have liked to meet face to face with victims and the authorities in these places. In October and November 2014 the Commission wrote to the Government of Israel requesting access. We wrote again in January and February this year, but to date we have received no response to our letters. In November 2014 the Commission wrote to the Government of Egypt requesting access to Gaza via the Rafah crossing. Egypt indicated it was ready to facilitate our travel to Gaza as soon as the security situation permitted travel through its territory. Unfortunately that has not yet been possible, but we remain ready to go should circumstances change.’
And the UN roll over to it.
Yes Shmendrik,weasels are truly underestimated,the name suggests something cowardly and sly,when infact that description couldn’t be further from the truth.
The weasel is a truly amazing predator,watch as it takes on a Herring Gull out at sea,that’s right out at sea…..remarkable.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3k319DbHU80
“Schmendrik”
“Here’s how lying Zionazi weasel Habbakuk is lying to you today.
The reason why he’s obsessively fixating on global research is to impugn it so you don’t go there and read the actual UN documents it provides. Zionazi weasels are terrified of UN documents, even when their disgraced pariah state doesn’t show up in them yet – like the document at issue here, A/68/878–S/2014/339,
https://www.un.org/ga/search/doc_top.asp?symbol=a/68/878&Lang=E
Now watch this contortion by lying weasel Habbakuk: he harps on a ridiculous distinction between the IDF and the GOI, as though the IDF reports to someplace else. Habbakuk thinks that will fly because he’s not too bright and thinking is harrrd for him. But when you read the actual document, you see that it is organized at the top level by country. Here’s how lying Zionazi weasel Habbakuk is lying to you today.
The reason why he’s obsessively fixating on global research is to impugn it so you don’t go there and read the actual UN documents it provides. Zionazi weasels are terrified of UN documents, even when their disgraced pariah state doesn’t show up in them yet – like the document at issue here, A/68/878–S/2014/339,
https://www.un.org/ga/search/doc_top.asp?symbol=a/68/878&Lang=E
Now watch this contortion by lying weasel Habbakuk: he harps on a ridiculous distinction between the IDF and the GOI, as though the IDF reports to someplace else. Habbakuk thinks that will fly because he’s not too bright and thinking is harrrd for him. But when you read the actual document, you see that it is organized at the top level by country. When Israeli government genocidaires get their entry, it will have a big bold heading that says Israel. This is best that lying weasel Habbakuk can do, to hope that you don’t realize this. This is best that lying weasel Habbakuk can do, to hope that you don’t realize this.”
___________________________
The above response from “Schmendrik” (who he? A manifestation of one of the regulars?) displays the kind of rage one would expect from someone whose lies/misrepresentations have been brought into the open.
The fundamental point here is that the UN’s annual report identifies entities/groups/organisations (and not govts) it feels have been guilty of violating the rights of children.
The main section of the annual report contains identification of and commentary on violating parties and is in geographical sections; these geographical sections may correspond with the names of countries or may be other (eg: “Southern Border province of Thailand”, “Central African regions”, etc).
The list of parties which the UN condemns as violators (the “black list” if you will)is given in the Annex to the annual report, which is entitled “Annex I – List of parties that recruit or use children, kill or maim children, commit rape…etc”. That list is in sections, each section headed by a geographical identifier – eg, “Parties in Afghanistan”, “Parties in the Central African region”, and so forth.
CONCLUSION.
When “Schmendrik” writes
“When Israeli government genocidaires get their entry, it will have a big bold heading that says Israel”
this is false (see above) as far as the Annex is concerned and deliberately misleading as far as the main body of the report is concerned: any mention of Israel in the latter would be a geographical identifier and not an identification of the entire State of Israel as a violator of childrens’ rights.
QUESTION
Why is “Schmendrik” defending the lie that is being propagated by “Global Resaerch” and Russia Today (but not by Human Rights Watch, for sxample..) and relayed by Mary in here – namely that Ban Ko-moon has refused to condemn the State of Israel , whereas in reality it is the Israeli Defence Force he has refused to condemn?
Mr Scorgie
“I thought my nose was bleeding but its snot!”
________________
Trust you not to know the difference, Doug.
Or do your veins run with snot rather than blood?
Clark,
“The US sees itself as virtuous, so it sees its projection of dominance as benevolent.”
Maybe a large number of US citizens see their country that way. Exceptional and benevolent. I don’t believe for one minute that that’s the way their politicians see things. They see the US as powerful, and they want to wield that power – for the benefit of themselves and the United States. People don’t go to Washington to be benevolent to anyone. They do it to line their own pockets and the pockets of their cronies. They may blather about “protecting” this and that publicly, but I don’t think that’s at the heart of anything. And I don’t think they want to rule the ME for the good of the people there. Nope.
“Russia likewise sees itself as virtuous, so it regards its projection of power into Ukraine as “protection”.”
Not protection of Ukraine. Protection of Russia, surely. I don’t see why they should put up with a blatant incursion by the US into their backyard and do nothing about it. The US didn’t do nothing about the Cuban missile crisis. But I don’t believe there are large numbers of Russian troops in Ukraine. Or columns of tanks. There are a lot of fake photos, alright. From S Ossetia and photoshopped where necessary.
“The UK sees itself as virtuous, so it regards its attacks on Iraq and Libya as “humanitarian”.”
I think D Cameron is far more concerned about his own standing and his country’s relationship with the US to give tuppence about “humanitarian”. There are other MPs who would be more principled, possibly. But not him. He and David Miliband are cut from the same cloth. Vicious. (Yes, I said David, not Ed.)
“A remarkably similar dynamic seems depressingly common in interpersonal and family relationships. It reinforces group identity and causes polarisation of disputes and conflicts.”
This point holds more water I think. I have been criticised in my family for doing something which I consider the criticiser does more often and more vociferously than I do. They probably think the same. So the “mote in your own eye” thing is certainly relevant, whether it’s in families or on a blog like this.
“He’s probably aware that we know who he is and can out him at will” — Schmendrik
You know who Habbabkuk is and “can out him at will”?
Sorry but I don’t believe you.
RepublicOfSnotland
“The weasel is a truly amazing predator,watch as it takes on a Herring Gull out at sea,that’s right out at sea…..remarkable.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3k319DbHU80”
___________________
Yeah, right – far out at sea, nature at its most natural and all that.
Such a coincidence that there was a boat with an outboard motor close at hand with a bloke on board to do some filming, eh…?
But anyway, I do approve of people on here posting videos of wild animals killing other wild animals, it’s so sexually arousing, isn’t it (posting them, I mean).
I think Clark was being tongue-in-cheek. The brain (even that of bureaucrats and politicos) is used primarily to make excuses for what one has decided to do. No one wants to think of themselves as a bad person, so the input is filtered and made sterile for ease of consumption.
Dreoilin
“Sorry but I don’t believe you.”
_________________
That’s a challenge to Smear-nik, isn’t it? But if you’re curious, why challenge him, why not just say “tell us what you know”?
🙂
“The weasel is a truly amazing predator,watch as it takes on a Herring Gull out at sea,that’s right out at sea …”
It’s not out at sea. It’s Stoney Lake Ontario, if you’d bothered to read the text.
“Yeah, right – far out at sea, nature at its most natural and all that.
Such a coincidence that there was a boat with an outboard motor close at hand with a bloke on board to do some filming, eh…?
But anyway, I do approve of people on here posting videos of wild animals killing other wild animals, it’s so sexually arousing, isn’t it (posting them, I mean).”
_____________________________
Habb.
It’s not uncommon for weasels to boldly hunt other animals here you can see a weasel jump on the back of a woodpecker and remain on it during flight until the bird crash lands and escapes.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aL9c7418ZgU
As for sexually arousing,I had an idea than you had a warped sense of morality,but not such a perverse nature.
“That’s a challenge to Smear-nik, isn’t it? But if you’re curious, why challenge him, why not just say “tell us what you know”?”
I’m not that curious, to be honest. But I don’t believe he (or anyone else here) knows, or they’d have said who you were long ago. Mary is convinced you’re Charles Crawford, which I don’t believe.
“The brain (even that of bureaucrats and politicos) is used primarily to make excuses for what one has decided to do.”
Good comment, Ben.
RoS
Remarkable video, but I suspect it’s a mink not a weasel, despite the Youtube title. A weasel has white on its chest, plus this one seems a little too big.
Dreoilin
““The weasel is a truly amazing predator,watch as it takes on a Herring Gull out at sea,that’s right out at sea …”
It’s not out at sea. It’s Stoney Lake Ontario, if you’d bothered to read the text.”
__________________
Are you sure? There is now even a difference of opinion about whether it’s a weasel or a mink (cf post at 16h38)!
Anyway, out at sea or on a lake, who cares, it still seems to be staged.
Some people would kill their grannies if it made a good YouTube video.
Dreoilin Do not comment about what I say and what you think I believe. You are wrong in any case.