13 June 2009

Geneva: national liberation of Baluchistan is the final solution: Mehran Baluch

GENEVA: MEHRAN BALUCH, of Interfaith International, said Baluchistan was a sovereign independent nation that was forcibly occupied in 1948 by neighbouring Pakistan. Since then the occupying power had used every method to enslave the Baluch, and had exploited and plundered Baluchistan’s resources. The level of international deception by the Occupying Power was not only regrettable but extremely shameful. The world had to acknowledge that the Occupying Power had been deceitfully marketing itself and its importance internationally at Baluchistan’s expense. The continued subjugation and oppression by the Baluch by the occupiers for over 63 years had brought even the weakest Baluch to the conclusion that national liberation of Baluchistan was the final solution.Text of Mehran Baluch's speech at UN Human Rights Council 11th Session
Interfaith International Human Rights Council 11th Session Item Agenda: 4, General Debate Intervention: By Mehran Baluch Dated: 8th June 2009Mr. Chairman, Baluchistan was a sovereign independent nation which was forcibly occupied in 1948 by neighboring Pakistan. Since occupation the Baluch have been struggling for their national liberation. Hoverer the occupying power has used every method to enslave the Baluch, exploit and plunder Baluchistan’s resources in order to sustain - “the occupying Nation”. Mr. Chairman, The level of international deception by the occupying power is not only regrettable but extremely shameful. I say this because it presents it-self in the international community as a strategically important and viable nation where as it’s neither without Baluchistan’s landmass and its resources. Mr. Chairman, The occupying power frequently boasts about its strategic position in South Asia. But what strategic importance does Punjab province have? Not much, because they are land locked, over populated and without any significant natural resources. Mr. Chairman, The world has to acknowledge that the occupying power has been deceitfully marketing itself and its importance internationally only on Baluchistan’s expense. Almost the entire cost line of Pakistan is Baluchistan. Resources such as gas, coal, gold and other natural minerals produced in Baluchistan is looted and plundered by Punjabi Pakistan. Almost 50% of Pakistan’s land is Baluchistan. Mr. Chairman. It is interesting to see that occupying power portrays us as anti-Islam to its own people where as it portrays us as Islamic fundamentalists to the west. Mr. Chairman, The continued subjugation and oppression of the Baluch by the occupiers for over 63 years of occupation has brought even the weakest Baluch to the conclusion that national liberation of Baluchistan is the final solution. The occupying Government has enjoyed a free hand in Baluchistan where it has carried out 5 major military operations over 6 decades , killed tens of thousands, abducted and tortured thousands, Yet it remains champion of Islam and advocate of human rights. Mr. Chairman, I was the first person to bring the case of gross human rights violations committed in Baluchistan by the occupying Pakistani Army, ISI and the establishment to the United Nations Human Rights Commission in 2001. Pakistan has tried to silence me by registering false criminal cases against me and my family. Pakistan through its notorious ISI has intensified an extensive propaganda campaign against Baluch human rights defenders worldwide. They have gone as far as threatening the Head of NGO that accredits me, presented false Interpol papers to international governments, tried to blackmail the British into extraditing me to Pakistan and as well as requesting the Swiss authorities on a number of occasions to arrest me on the false basis of terrorism. Mr. Chairman, The Pakistani establishment is doing its best to break the will of the Baloch for freedom and human rights but it is unstoppable, therefore it is promoting the policy of divide and rule with the promise of autonomy for the Baluch through its so-called democratic government and its agents, in order to disillusion the Baluch nation and the international community into believing that Pakistan is sincere in resolving the Baluch conflict. The struggle of liberty over oppression is the struggle of memory over forgetting. And we have not forgotten that once we were free. The Human Rights Council on 10 Jun 2009, concluded its general debate on human rights situations that require its attention and its general debate on human rights bodies and mechanisms, under which it heard the President of the Council present reports on his visits to Brazil and Bahrain in April and May this year.In the general debate on human rights situations that require the Council’s attention, a series of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) raised a number of issues about violations of human rights in specific countries and regions, and also highlighted thematic violations, including women and women’s rights, violence against women and honour killings, and the right to development and to self determination.The following NGOs took the floor: International Humanist and Ethical Union, Association for World Education, Hawa Society for Women, Lawyers Rights Watch Canada, Commission to Study the Organization of Peace, Colombian Commission of Jurists, Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (Forum-Asia), Permanent Assembly for Human Rights (APDH), North-South XXI, Interfaith International, World Muslim Congress, Centrist Democratic International, Mbororo Social and Cultural Development Association (MBOSCUDA), Liberation, Human Rights Council of Australia, Federación de Asociaciones de Defensa y Promoción de los Derechos Humanos, Baha’i International Community, International Institute for Peace, MINBYUN - Lawyers for a Democratic Society, Pax Romana, International Educational Development, Society Studies Centre, Charitable Institute for Protecting Social Victims, Organization for Defending Victims of Violence, Arab Commission for Human Rights, Union de l’action féminine, European Union of Public Relations, Cercle de recherche sur les droits et les devoirs de la personne humaine, Conectas Direitos Humanos, International Institute for Non-Aligned Studies, Commission to Study the Organization of Peace, Amnesty International, Indian Council of Education, Human Rights Council of Australia, in a joint statement with Asian Legal Resource Centre, and Baha’i International Community, International Service for Human Rights, and Arab Commission for Human Rights.Source: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil

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