Balochistan

Renowned Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid recently described the battle in Balochistan as "Pakistan's other war. The interview focused on the left-wing secular Baloch nationalist movement that seeks a separate Baloch state, worsening human-rights conditions and increasing challenges for journalists seeking to cover the conflict. Below are excerpts... from our interview. Balochistan has been the epicenter for regional warfare and rivalries. How was Balochistan when you were growing up? I grew up in Balochistan during 1980s and '90s. It was a peaceful time for Balochistan as the province recovered from the worst military operation of 1970s, which claimed thousands of Baloch lives. But we lived in poverty, and a lack of basic facilities. There was also an ongoing realization among the people of my generation that the Pakistani federal government exploited our province's mineral wealth and we received nothing in return. We did not feel properly represented in any domain of life in Pakistan. You worked for a long time in Pakistan, as the youngest bureau chief of Pakistan's leading newspaper Daily Times for five years. You lived in Balochistan and filed many stories on pressing issues for several years. Can you tell us about your experience working as a journalist in Pakistan? Working as a journalist in Balochistan is different from working elsewhere in Pakistan. One feels like the very news organizations that you work for sides with the federal government by default. Balochistan is Pakistan's largest province, but it receives the least amount of editorial space in the mainstream national media. Editors censor the stories filed by Balochistan-based correspondents under the pretext of "national security. For a reporter covering Balochistan, it is often frustrating that your editors and publishers censor so much of your reporting that the government no longer needs officials to perform this job [of censorship]. After all the years working and reporting in Pakistan, what made you flee to the United States? I did not ...Read More