Det er vel og bra å feire Pakistans nasjonaldag, men det ville gitt en bedre balanse om mediene var mer opptatt av hva som skjer i landet. Feks. de politiske forsvinningene. To representanter for minoriteter har det gått ille. Igår ble leder for opprøret i Baluchistan, Nawab Akbar Bugti, drept da soldater forsøkte å storme hulen hvor han holdt til.

Bugti tilhørte landets toppsjikt. Han har vært innenriksminister og forsvarsminister i en kort periode. Satt åtte år i fengsel. Han var guvernør i hjemprovinsen Baluchistan, men gikk av i protest. Bugti gjorde Baluchistans rettigheter til sin kamp, og det falt i dårlig jord. Provinsen er Pakistans største og tynnest befolkede, men har gassfelt som utvinnes. Folk mener de ser lite til pengene. Kampen har pågått i mange år. I 1973 ble 3.000 mennesker skutt og drept. I mars i 2005 brøt det ut nye uroligheter og 90 mennesker ble drept. Bugti valgte for et år siden å slutte seg til den væpnede oppstanden. I desember i 2005 landet raketter like i nærheten av president Musharraf. Baluchistan ligger strategisk plassert grensende til Iran og Afghanistan. Også på iransk side av grensen finnes en gerilja.

Den andre talsmann for en minoritet som det har gått ille, er Safdar Sarki (42), som har kjempet for rettighetene til Sindh-befolkningen. Sarki var blitt amerikansk statsborger, men dro tilbake og forsvant fra Karachi i februar. Vitner sier politibiler kom til leiligheten hvor han bodde. Nå er forsvinningen blitt en sak mellom USA og Pakistan.

Mr. Sarki, a Pakistan-born American citizen, disappeared in Karachi in February, two days before he planned to fly home to El Campo, Texas. For years, Mr. Sarki had been an advocate for Sindhis, the indigenous residents of a southeastern province of Pakistan, who claim they have suffered political and economic discrimination since the 1947 creation of India and Pakistan.
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During Mr. Sarki’s most recent trip to Pakistan, he had resumed his activism on behalf of Sindhis, with activities including organizing peaceful demonstrations.

His friends and family say they believe Mr. Sarki was abducted by Pakistani law-enforcement officials in response to his protests against the government.During Mr. Sarki’s most recent trip to Pakistan, he had resumed his activism on behalf of Sindhis, with activities including organizing peaceful demonstrations.

His friends and family say they believe Mr. Sarki was abducted by Pakistani law-enforcement officials in response to his protests against the government.
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On the day he was abducted, Mr. Sarki had arranged a meeting at his sister’s apartment, where he had been staying about six months, according to Muneer Sarki, a relative who was serving as his driver. Muneer Sarki told family members that before Safdar Sarki’s visitor arrived, he left to buy groceries, and when he returned, six vehicles, including two police vehicles, were on the street in front of the apartment. Muneer Sarki says he saw «agency people» beating Mr. Sarki and his guest — a man whom neither family members nor eyewitnesses recognized.
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Mr. Sarki, 42 years old, is one of hundreds of political activists who have gone missing in Pakistan over the past decade. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, a nongovernmental organization that tracks human-rights issues, says 57 political activists have «disappeared» in the past two years, including prominent figures such as Asif Baladi, a young scholar, and Nawaz Zaunr, a journalist and poet.
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The State Department earlier this year issued a report stating that Gen. Musharraf’s «human-rights record was poor, and serious problems remained.» The document listed practices such as «arbitrary arrest, and lengthy pretrial detention,» as well as «extrajudicial killings, torture, and rape.»