United Nations, Sep.21 (ANI): Baloch leaders and activists held a protest rally in front of the United Nations headquarters in New York to demand international intervention to resolve the Balochistan crisis.
The rally was organized by the Washington-based Baloch Society of North America (BSO-NA), the Balochistan National Congress (BNC) and the Moscow-based Baloch Unity Organization, and was attended by representatives of Baloch, Sindhi, Pashtun and Hindu communities living in North America.
Dr. Jumma Marri, the President of the Baloch Unity Organization, came all the way from Moscow to attend the protest.
"The ongoing Pakistani and Iranian military aggression, gross human right violations, war crimes and Genocide have surpassed all limits", a statement issued by Baloch Society of North America said.
Dr. Wahid Baloch, the President of BSO-NA and chief organizer of the rally, called upon United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki moon and other world leaders to intervene in Balochsitan in order to save Baloch lives.
"Balochistan was never a part of Pakistan or Iran, but an independent sovereign state, and was illegally occupied, divided and forcefully annexed into these countries against the Baloch will and consent. Both Pakistan and Iran are in violation of international law by occupying Balochistan illegally against the Baloch will and consent," claimed Dr. Wahid.
He added "We want an end of the illegal occupation and re-unification of our land Balochistan. We are one Nation as Baloch. We have been divided by artificially drawn borders, which we do not recognize. These artificially drawn borders are separating us from our friends and families", he continued.
Dr. Marri called upon the United Nations to put pressure on Pakistan to comply with conventions on enforced disappearance and torture it brazenly refuses to sign.
"This attitude has encouraged Pakistan to flout all laws and norms regarding human rights and civil liberties in Balochistan", said Dr. Marri.
He added," The situation in Balochistan is no secret, because even the Chief Justice of its Supreme Court laments the human right abuses and extra-judicial killings by the premier intelligence agencies, the Army and the Frontier Corps. He, on record, has blamed them and summoned them to court, but the abductions, killing and subsequent dumping has not only continued, but increased substantially."
The protest rally was also addressed by several prominent Sindhi, Pashtun and Hindu community leader and activists.
Mashal Khan Takkar, the Founder of Great Afghanistan Movement (GAM), in his speech said that all Pashtuns stand by their Baloch brothers in their quest for freedom and justice.
He said that the Baloch-Pashtun have had strong bonds of brotherhood for centuries.
Dr. Ghulam Nabi Unar of Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz and Habib Bhutto, the central acting president of Jeay Sindh student Federation, deplored Pakistan's atrocities and human right violations in Sindh and ask for a full U.N. investigation of their leader Bashir Ahmaed Qureshi's murder by Pakistan agencies.
"The U.N. must pressure Pakistan to respect the rights of Hindus and the rights of all other minorities in Pakistan and provide them full safety and security", he demanded.
Arshad Umrani, the president of Balochistan Strategy Forum, USA (BSF), who came from Chicago with Hammal Baloch and Qurratulain Umrani to join the protest, denounced Pakistan's state terrorism against the Baloch and Sindhi people in Sindh and Balochistan and reiterated his full support for Baloch people.
The protest in New York coincided with the ten-day long visit of a five member U.N. Working Group on Enforced Disappearances comprising Olivier de Frouville, the Chair-Rapporteur in Pakistan.
After meeting political leaders in Pakistan and the family members of missing persons in Quetta, U.N. Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances pressed the government and the judiciary to fulfill their duty to thoroughly investigate the enforced disappearances and bring the perpetrators to justice. (ANI)
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