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| India-Pakistan |
| Baloch separatists call Balochistan an 'occupied land' |
| 2008-08-17 |
| Two Baloch organisations claimed at a press conference at the National Press Club on Friday that there are 700 checkpoints in Balochistan, which they called "an occupied land" littered with military cantonments. In answer to a question, Wahid Baloch of the Baloch Society of North America asserted that there is nothing wrong with the Sardari system and the Baloch sardars have never hurt their own people, but done their best for them. He ascribed all such allegations to Pakistan "government propaganda". Minority: Another expatriate Baloch leader Ahmar Mustikhan said that the Baloch people are afraid of being turned into a minority in their own land. He also asserted that Balochistan was never a part of Pakistan and that the treaty signed by the Pakistan government with the ruler of Kalat was signed under coercion. He also called the Pakistan army a "jihadi" force deployed against the Baloch people. He charged that Pakistan was involved in the 9/11 attacks, besides holding it responsible for the upheaval and fighting in Afghanistan. But for the sanctuaries Pakistan provides to the Taliban and Al Qaeda, there would be peace in Afghanistan, he declared. Wahid Baloch told the thinly-attended news conference that the Pakistan army is "Taliban in uniform holding US arms". He also questioned Pakistan's sincerity as a US ally in the war against terrorism. Terror campaign: He called Pakistan the main source of terrorism. He said the Pakistani and Iranian "jihadi" armies cannot fight the Indian and Israeli armies, but are carrying out a terror campaign against defenceless Balochi civilians. "The genocide of the Baloch nation is continuing on both sides of the border. The US F16s and Cobra gunship helicopters given to Pakistan to hunt down Taliban terrorists are being used in Balochistan against innocent, secular Balochi people. He accused the army of having attacked a village in Dera Bugti last week and killing 48 people, while arresting hundreds, who were later taken to a military camp and "summarily executed in Nazi style". Their bodies, he alleged, were dumped in mass graves. He said just because the majority of Baloch people is Muslim does not give Iran and Pakistan the right to continue to occupy their lands, plunder their resources and kill them at random. He said Pakistan had carried out its 1998 nuclear test in Balochistan without the consent of the Baloch people. The American Friends of Balochistan and the Baloch Society of North America, were joined by Dr Nazir Bhatti, editor of the Pakistan Christian Post, who demanded an end to the "killings of Christians" and adequate representation in parliament after an unbiased population census. "There were five elected members in Pakistan Assembly of 1948, in house of 48 and which are decreased to four seats when house constitutes with 342 members in 2008. A transparent census is very important issue in for the Christians to get their due share," Bhatti said. He called on US Congress to place an embargo on all military supplies and equipment to Pakistan until it grants the Baloch people the right to self-determination, hands over terrorists like AQ Khan, Osama bin Laden, Ayman Alzwahiri, Daud Ebrahim and Rashid Rauf to the US and rolls back its nuclear weapons programme. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #8 [McZoid has been pooplisted.] |
| Posted by: McZoid 2008-08-17 20:15 |
| #7 Who exactly has the right of independence? Our Declaration of Independence settled that issue back in 1776 - "all men are endowed with certain unalienable rights, that among them are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure those rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." The problem is to have the capability to defend that government against those that would oppose it. We had that acted out this past week as Russia crushed the Georgian nation as Georgia tried to impose its writ throughout its territory. Georgia may end up losing considerable territory and population because Russia opposes Georgia's freedom. If you're going to declare independence, you need to be willing and able to defend it. The politicians of the United States learned that in 1776, but seems to have forgotten it lately. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2008-08-17 16:02 |
| #6 It's quite possible to have local self-rule within national borders. The Native American reservations have that, as does California. They just don't make their own international policy or have standing armies, and if they disagree with federal policy with regard to highways or education, they need not take federal funds, unless an issue regarding Constitutional rights is involved. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-08-17 12:39 |
| #5 Well I think its a curious question now that the Kosovo situation is settled, and still in the dust up over S.Ossetia. Who exactly has the right of independence? Anyone who claims it? We've taken the cork out of the bottle so to speak, expect about a hundred separatist movements to flare up now. And I see what you are saying McZoid, if you think about it for more than 2 seconds it makes sense. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2008-08-17 10:00 |
| #4 Sherry, thought he is somewhere in Ontario, no? |
| Posted by: Spike Uniter 2008-08-17 07:16 |
| #3 MZ, pray remember how the democratic Athenians treated their dissidents. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2008-08-17 06:13 |
| #2 McZoid --- you must be givin' text to Obama's talks off teleprompters, cause you string together three and four syllables words together that sound brilliant, but make absolutely no sense. My reading comprehension skills allow me to speculate, that like Obama, following Kerry, you just stated, "I actually did vote for it before I voted against it." You devil you, state a contradicting statement, then challenge us with "And don't contradict me here." None here at Rantburg are really that dumb. My vote? I vote you off the island. You can do better than this.... Too much Saturday nite up there in Vancouver? |
| Posted by: Sherry 2008-08-17 02:24 |
| #1 I support the territorial integrity of Pakistan and self determination for the Balochis. And don't contradict me here. |
| Posted by: McZoid 2008-08-17 01:52 |