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The Baloch or Baluch are a nomadic, pastoral, ethnic group which speaks the Western Iranic Baloch language and is native to the Balochistan region of South and Western Asia, encompassing the countries of Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan. There are also Baloch diaspora communities in neighbouring regions, including in Central Asia, and the Arabian Peninsula.
Bashir Noorzai is a convicted former Afghan drug lord. He was an early supporter of the Taliban movement and later worked as an undercover agent on behalf of the U.S. government. Despite being among America's most wanted drug traffickers, he agreed to come to New York City for a debriefing after being promised by his handlers that he would not be arrested. He was arrested ten days after his arrival. In the aftermath of the take over of the country by the Taliban, the group demanded that the US release him in exchange with an American engineer, Mark Frerichs, who was kidnapped by the group in January 2020.
Nimruz or Nimroz is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the southwestern part of the country. It lies to the east of the Sistan and Baluchestan Province of Iran and north of Balochistan, Pakistan, also bordering the Afghan provinces of Farah and Helmand. It has a population of about 186,963 people. The province is divided into five districts, encompassing about 649 villages.
Zaranj is a city in southwestern Afghanistan, which has a population of 160,902 people as of 2015. It is the capital of Nimruz Province and is linked by highways with Lashkargah and Kandahar to the east, Farah to the north and the Iranian city of Zabol to the west.
The Khanate of Kalat was a Brahui Khanate that originated in the modern-day Kalat region of Pakistan. Formed in 1666 due to the threat of Mughal expansion in the region, it controlled the wider Balochistan at its greatest extent in the mid-18th century, extending from Kerman in the west to Sindh in the east and from Helmand River in the north to the Arabian Sea in the south. The Khanate of Kalat lost considerable area to Qajar Iran and the Emirate of Afghanistan in the early 19th century, and the city of Kalat was itself sacked by the British in 1839. Kalat became a self-governing state in a subsidiary alliance with British India after the signature of the Treaty of Kalat by the Khan of Kalat and the Brahui Sardars in 1875, and the supervision of Kalat became a task of the Baluchistan Agency. Kalat was briefly independent from 12 August 1947 until 27 March 1948, when its ruler Ahmad Yar Khan acceded to Pakistan, making it one of the Princely states of Pakistan.
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Abdul Karim Brahui is a former politician in Afghanistan. He last served as Governor of Nimroz Province from 2010 to 2012, and before that he served as a minister in the Cabinet of Afghanistan. From February 2009 to August 2010, Brahui served as Minister of Refugees. In 2004, Brahui was appointed as Minister of Borders and Tribal Affairs.
Muhammad Rasul was the leader of the High Council of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, a Taliban dissident group in Afghanistan, until the group's dissolution in 2021. He was a Taliban-appointed governor of Nimruz Province, Afghanistan. Rasul exerted pressure and suppression on Pashtun factions unpopular with the Taliban, and made a considerable fortune controlling cross-border drug-smuggling through Nimruz.
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Human rights abuses in the province ofBalochistan refers to the human rights violations that are occurring in the ongoing insurgency in Balochistan. The situation has drawn concern from the international community, The human rights situation in Balochistan is credited to the long-running conflict between Baloch nationalists and Pakistani security forces.
On September 19, 2022, a prisoner exchange was conducted between the United States and Afghanistan, led by the Taliban-controlled government, in which Mark Frerichs, an American contractor was released in exchange for Bashir Noorzai, an Afghan tribal leader close to Mullah Omar, the founder of the Taliban.
The Islamic Republic of Pakistan has been accused of genocide against Baloch People in Pakistani Balochistan during the Balochistan insurgency. There have been reports of death squads as well as the discovery of mass graves since 2014. Baloch activists and scholars label the Pakistan Armed Forces as the main culprits for the genocide. Actions labelled as genocidal actions include indiscriminate military attacks, kidnappings and forced disappearances, as well as detention with trial, torture, assassination and extrajudicial killings. Members of the Pakistan Armed Forces have also been accused of the rape of Baluch women and engaging in sexual slavery. The Pakistani State has continuously denied any accusation of genocide.
References
- ↑ Walsh, Declan (August 16, 2008). "Flower power". The Guardian .
- ↑ Risen, James (December 11, 2010). "Propping Up a Drug Lord, Then Arresting Him". The New York Times . p. A1.
Now, plea negotiations are quietly under way. A plea bargain might keep many of the details of his relationship to the United States out of the public record.
- ↑ McGirk, Tim (August 2, 2004). "Terrorism's Harvest". Time.com. Archived from the original on January 13, 2005.
- ↑ "HAJI JUMA KHAN ORGANIZATION". sanctionssearch.ofac.treas.gov. Retrieved 2022-09-09.
- ↑ "Inmate Locator".
- ↑ Dwyer, Jhonny. "The U.S. Quietly Released Afghanistan's "Biggest Drug Kingpin" From Prison. Did He Cut a Deal?". The Intercept.