Baloch nationalists readying for major offensive against Pak army
eral villages across the district. Mukul Roy, senior BJP leader, told The Sunday Guardian: “All of these people who have joined the BJP today were active members of the TMC in Cooch Behar and most of them are elected members of the gram panchayat. They have joined the party today under the leadership of Nishith Paramanik. They will all work for the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections and help the party secure the Cooch Behar seat.”
TMC’S youth leader Nisith Paramanik led these 300 party workers to join the BJP. He was believed to be close to senior TMC leader and national president of the TMC’S youth wing, Abhishek Banerjee, the nephew of Mamata Banerjee. It is also believed that it was Paramanik who was instrumental in securing the maximum number of seats for the TMC in the local body elections held last year.
Nisith Paramanik told The Sunday Guardian, “Around 350 people from Cooch Behar joined the BJP today and these are people who won the panchayat elections on a TMC ticket. However, we have all decided to quit the TMC and join the BJP because of the lack of democracy in Bengal. The government and the TMC are being run on the whims and fancies of pisi and bhaipo (aunt and nephew). TMC has become like a private limited company. We all believe that if anybody can help West Bengal and the country, it is Prime Minister Narendra Modi and we are certain that the BJP will win the Cooch Behar seat in the Lok Sabha elections.”
Paramanik is expecting a ticket for himself in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from the BJP; however, The Sunday Guardian could not get any confirmation from the party on whether he would be given a ticket from this constituency.
Sources in the Bengal BJP indicated that some senior leaders from the TMC, including some sitting MPS, were waiting to join the BJP, but would take that the step only after the elections were declared.
A senior BJP functionary said, “We are in talks with several TMC leaders who are willing to join the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, but they are just waiting for the right time. Some were scheduled to join on Thursday along with these people from Cooch Behar, but now they will join after the elections are declared. Even some Congress leaders are waiting to join the BJP in Bengal. They are afraid to go public now, because of the present situation in Bengal. Let the elections be declared and you will see how many join the BJP in Bengal.”
AAthree Baloch armed groups—baloch Liberation Army, Balochistan Liberation Front and Baloch Republican Guards—were well prepared to launch a massive military operation against the Pakistan army, which is stationed in the region. The possibility of facing war-like engagements on two borders, simultaneously, has the Pakistani military top brass in a tizzy.
According to these sources, BRAS was formed in November 2018. One of the reasons behind the unification of these groups, according to security experts, was the massive increase in the number of “forced disappearances” of local Baloch nationals, who were killed by the Pakistan army or later never found. Since 2000, Baloch leaders claim that more than 6,000 local Balochs have gone missing without a trace. And in almost all cases, they were picked up by Pakistani agencies and were never seen again.
Fearing an increase in the number of attacks on its military installations, the government of Balochistan, on 27 February, issued an order cancelling all kinds of leaves and even imposed a ban of granting leaves till further notice.
According to some Baloch activists this newspaper spoke to, Pakistan was moving a section of its army personnel stationed in Balochistan, towards the border with India. They said, “This movement is not visible in Gwadar. But troop movement from other regions is happening.” The activists also claimed that BRAS had “taken out” at least 10 Pakistani army personnel on Thursday, but it was not reported in the local media due to restrictions.
The Pakistani army had gathered information that these armed groups were planning to launch its military operations at the same time when India formally declared war, if that happened, the sources said.
“We are well prepared to start an all-out operation against the Pakistani army, which has been killing our unarmed citizens mercilessly for years. We have been taking out the occupying Pakistani forces in large numbers, regularly but this news does not reach the people as this is a very guarded region. The three districts of Panjgor, Turbat and Awaram are totally against Pakistan and we will not require much time to claim them in due course of time,” a BRAS activist said.
According to Khalil Baloch, general secretary of Baloch National Movement (BNM), one of the biggest Baloch nationalist political organisations, in some of the most restive parts of Balochistan, the Pakistani army had set up checkposts every 1.5 km. “It is hard to estimate the actual number, but it can be safely said that there are more than 70,000 troops posted in Balochistan.”
“However, as of now (Friday morning), only two main camps are functioning, as most of the army personnel who were deployed here, are being moved to the Indian border. Their primary aim is to protect the Punjab province. Balochistan is more or less gone from their control. We have been fighting for an independent Balochistan for more than 70 years now,” he added.
“BRAS killed more than 200 Special Security Officers deployed in Balochistan last year, hence the Pakistan army was called in. But they too are losing a number of their men,” Khalil told this correspondent from an undisclosed location.
“China is building a massive naval base here and we are opposing it tooth and nail because once it is constructed, Balochistan will become a vassal of China. India is a democratic and secular country and we are looking up to India to help us in securing freedom from this ‘unnatural’ state of Pakistan, which relies on proxies in both Kashmir and Balochistan to spread terror,” Khalil added further.