Washington DC: (April 17, 2009) A highly successful protest rally in front of the Pakistan Embassy in Washington DC demanded complete pullout of Pakistani troops and intelligence services from Baluchistan and granting the blood-torn region their right to self determination.
The rally organized by Baluch human rights activist Maqbool Aliani and American Friends of Baluchistan (AFB) leaders Nabi Baloch, Laurie Deamer and Mohammed Ali Baloch condemned Pakistan for genocide and state terrorism in Baluchistan.
Maqbool Aliani opened the rally by remarking that the Baluch struggle is no longer for autonomy or provincial rights but for total independence. "We have tried dialogue and democracy with Pakistani establishment but death and destruction is all we get in return", he said. He said that the Baluch have been pushed to the point of no return and demanding anything less than independence would be a disservice to the entire Baluch nation.
The protest rally was organized to mark the killing of three notable Baluch activists from Mekran Ghulam Mohammed Baluch, Lal Munir Baluch and Sher Mohammed Baluch. The three were abducted from their lawyer's office on April 3, shot in the head the very same day and their bodies dropped from a military helicopter in the desolate foothills of Piadarak, outside Turbat, their friends and family said.
Speaking at the rally, Baluch notable Zain Magsi, whose maternal grandfather Agha Abdul Karim led the first revolt against Pakistani occupation of Baluchistan in March 1948, condemned the loot and plunder and killings in Baluchistan for six decades now.
Zain Magsi said Baluchistan is under occupation right now after being colonized.
"Its resources are being exploited in the interest of the Pakistani military and civil establishment. It is a series of tragedies that have been happening for well over half century. A constant barrage of atrocities and injustices committed by the state of Pakistan. If things would have been done properly the Baluch nation would not have risen up in arms."
He said like any free people on the face of earth the Baluch have the right to determine their own future. "The Baluch people have taken initiatives in various ways so that their plight can be noticed by the world community."
Nabi Baluch, presiding council member of the AFB, said the assassinations of Baluch leaders and political workers were an attempt to create despondency among the masses. "The looting of Baluch national resources and ethnic cleansing of indigenous Baluch people are part of this tragedy that is the story of Baluchistan. We would not let this continue any more and we hope that the direction Pakistan is heading to will expedite the disintegration of the country as a whole," Nabi Baluch said. He continued on to say that countries can never be run on religious ideologies. "However, Pakistani leaders neglected to take a note of this stupidity on their part and today Pakistan can undermine the well-being of the entire world." He said the AFB admires Barahamadgah Bugti, Hairbyair Marri, Akhtar Mengal and Hasil Bizenjo as the harbingers of change in Baluchistan who will carry the torch of freedom to its logical conclusion. "We urge American policy makers to help us and save us from the atrocities of the Pakistani military," the AFB leader said.
Mir Akram Baluch, a notable from Kharan who was a close friend of slain Ghulam Mohammed, said the life of every Baluch is insecure in Pakistan. "Is this what Islam has taught them, to kill innocent people? If this is their teaching then the Baluch would reject Islam and become Christians or adopt any other faith," Mir Akram Baluch said.
AFB leader Laurie Deamer paid tributes to the three martyrs and expressed her anguish over the continued atrocities in Baluchistan. A firm believer in social justice and an independent statehood for Baluchistan, Deamer thanked everyone for the successful gathering showed the Baluch people were determined to realize their dream of freedom.
Tomohiro Yokokawa, a Japanese social analyst, condemned Islamabad for trying to portray the legitimate struggle of the Baluch leaders as a terrorist movement. "The state of Pakistan is itself committing terrorism in Baluchistan," Yokokawa said.
U.S. citizen and native of Washington, DC, David Vurdelja, said he was present at the rally to support his Baluch friends in their hour of need. "It's tragic and disturbing that these acts create fear for Baluch people in their day to day life. I know the Baluch have been engaged in a long drawn struggle to retain their historic identity and get fair treatment as a national entity."
Waja Karim Bakhsh Baloch, a devout nationalist formerly from Qatar, drove all the way from Atlantic City to caution the world against Pakistan state machinations. Speaking in his native Baluchi language, he said the Pakistani government was trying to mislead the world that there was no difference between the Taliban and the secular Baluch nationalist movement. "To the contrary, the Baluch present the most formidable force to counter the Taliban."
Well-known Sindhi intellectual Professor Jawaid Bhutto, paying glowing tributes to the three martyrs of Baluchistan and said the struggle waged by the Baluch people had produced a galaxy of martyrs including Nawab Nauroz Khan and Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti.
The protesters led by Maqbool Aliani, Nabi Baluch and Akram Baluch later handed the resolutions adopted at the rally to an official of the Pakistan embassy and lodged their protest with embassy officials.
Others who spoke on the occasion were World Sindhi Institute board member Ayesha Babar, Sindhi intellectual Khalid Hashmani and Hakim Baloch.
Later at an informal luncheon meeting, AFB leader Mohammed Ali Baluch said the services of the slain Ghulam Mohammed Baluch were recognized by both the United Nations and the U.S. government. He added Pakistan has committed a crime against humanity by its execution of world acclaimed Baluch leaders who played a key role in winning freedom for John Solecki, UN High Commission for Refugees.
TEXT OF THE RESOLUTION
This rally of American, Baluch, Sindhi and other human rights activists in front of the Pakistan Embassy on Friday April 17, 2009 condemns the Pakistan army and its intelligence services, notably the world infamous Inter Services Intelligence and Military Intelligence, for the Nazi-style execution of three prominent Baluch leaders Ghuam Mohammed Baloch, Lala Munir Baloch and Sher Mohammed Baloch after their abduction by the said intelligence sleuths on April 3, 2009.
This rally notes that the state of Pakistan is flagrantly violating human dignity through killings of Baluch patriots and has made a mockery of the writ of law in Baluchistan primarily because of its own military, paramilitary and intelligence agencies continued genocide of the Baluch people and unbridled state terrorism.
This rally condemns Pakistan army and its intelligence services, all of who are rogue and terrorists, for inflicting war crimes on the people of Baluchistan and elsewhere, including Afghanistan and India, and holds them responsible for endangering the future of humanity by supporting religious extremists against the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.
This rally believes the announcement of Interior Advisor Rehman Malik that Pakistan will reward Rs 5 million for information leading to the arrest of the killers of Ghulam Mohammed Baloch, Lala Munir Baloch and Sher Mohammed Baloch is not only an eyewash but adds insult to injury and further proves the rogue nature of the Pakistani state as each and every human in Baluchistan knows that killers are the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Military Intelligence (MI) agents.
This rally calls for immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Pakistan's armed forces, Frontier Corp, ISI and MI from Baluchistan and stationing of international peacekeeping forces under UN aegis to ensure the basic, birth and democratic right of the people of Baluchistan, including their inalienable right to self determination.
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