Word: quetta
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...sign of spring in Baluchistan's provincial capital of Quetta, as sure as the white blossoms bursting in the groves of almond trees, is the procession of caravans making its way up from the south. Through the 60-mile Bolan Pass in the Brahui mountains they come, nomadic families with their camels, sheep, donkeys, the beasts of burden laden with all their possessions. They march by day and camp at sundown while the animals graze on the stony, barren soil. Many will settle around Quetta for the summer: raising sheep, taking day jobs weeding the cultivated fields...
Life among the Baluch is in many ways the same as it was in the days of the British raj, although camels are now less prevalent than the gaily painted trucks and triwheeled scooters that chug asthmatically around the streets of the province's capital, Quetta (pop. 250,000). Purdah (seclusion of women) and arranged marriage are accepted practices in this strict Islamic society. The chief source of relaxation is bung, a finely ground concoction of high-powered local marijuana that is chewed like tobacco or drunk as a herbal infusion. Tribal values revolve around honor, which the Baluch...
...Baluch feel that their land is being colonized. Every year hundreds of settlers from the Punjab and Sind are assigned to the province's bureaucracy. Of the twelve provincial secretaries in Quetta, only one is Baluch. There are no Baluch on the staff that administers martial law. Among 1,120 students at the provincial university, only 269 are members of Baluch tribes...
...India. Since then, continued martial law has provided a focus for the historic nationalism of the warlike Pathan and Baluch tribesmen. Russian-supplied automatic rifles are being smuggled across the frontier from Afghanistan, evidently destined for the 6,000-strong Zalme Pakhtoon (Pathan Youth). A bloody riot erupted in Quetta, a city in Baluchistan, after Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto appointed governors for the two provinces from his own party, despite the fact that the National Awami Party holds majorities in the provincial assemblies...
With some official encouragement-a government grant of 1,200 rupees a month, plus daily transcripts of Radio Pakistan news-seven of Quetta's publishers agreed to try. Soon they were producing Quetta's first homespun daily, which had seven names: Tanzim (Order), Kohsar (Mountain), Bagh-o-Bahar (Garden in Spring), Qand (Sweetness), Nara-e-Haq (Voice of Truth), Zamana (Times) and Sadaqat (Righteousness). Last week they laid bold plans to float a bigger government loan, hire a pool reporter and three stencil cutters, organize group circulation and sales crews. Observing from afar, Governor Husain sent congratulations: "Bound...