FRANKFURT: Saturday, a Baloch political party demanding independence for the France-sized territory from Pakistan, said Balochistan has been plunged into a bloodier turmoil since the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping two months ago but vowed that the Baloch people will never surrender their ports and resources to communist China.
Nawab Brahumdagh Bugti, president of the Baloch Republican Party, addressing participants of the Baloch conference in Frankfurt on Skype said, “I would also like to shed light on the recent visit of Chinese president (Xi Jinping) to Pakistan and the deals between China and Pakistan regarding the so-called China Pakistan Economic Corridor and Gwadar port. Let us make it clear to the world that the Baloch do not accept the Chinese intervention in Balochistan and their evil designs which not only lack Baloch consent but are also aimed to oppress the Baloch people and exploit their land and resources.”
The BRP Germany chapter, which is headed by Ashraf Sherjan, organized the conference in Frankfurt to highlight Pakistan’s war crimes, human rights abuses and atrocities against Baloch people in occupied Balochistan. Sherjan said that Pakistan was suppressing the Baloch people in order to plunder their resources. He specified that Pakistan’s deal with China over Baloch resources have put the Baloch people in a tense situation and military operations, abduction and killings have accelerated. He added that scores of Baloch have been killed, injured and abducted in recent weeks, after the Pakistan visit by the Chinese president.
President Xi was in Islamabad in April and signed 50 MoUs, totaling nearly $50 billion to primarily meant to connect the Balochistan port of Gwadar on the Straits of Hormuz with Kashgar.
A number of German human rights advocates participated in Saturday’s conference, including Bakir Lashkari, Mashal Khan Takkar, Tobias Huch, Claudia Heidelberg, Juliane V Pidde, Christiane B. Ott, Sigrid Herrmann-Marschall, Udine Eul, Christina Schwuchow and Brigitte Brave Maier
Bugti, grandson of Baloch statesman Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, 79, whose assassination on the orders of military dictator General Pervez Musharraf rejuvenated the Baloch struggle to regain their lost statehood, paid tributes to the martyrs of nation and saluted those who are bearing inhuman torture in the hands of Pakistan. Balochistan nationalists insist Pakistan forcibly occupied Balochistan on March 27, 1948.
He said, “Today, the Baloch suffer on its own homeland and the occupying Pakistani state has been committing worst war crimes to suppress the democratic struggle of the Baloch masses for the restoration of their sovereignty which has been forcefully usurped by the Pakistani state for the past 67 years”.
Bugti said that massive human rights violations like military operations, bombardments on Baloch civilians, enforced disappearances, mass graves and kill and dump were being regularly carried out by the Pakistani forces in Balochistan. In addition to the forceful oppression of the Baloch masses, Pakistani forces have been using different tactics to counter the secular Baloch movement. “Religious extremism was being injected into the secular Baloch society,” he said.
Bugti’s grandfather, the slain former governor and chief minister of Balochistan, was also totally secular and famously rejected the idea of the virgin angels, young boys and wine promised to pious Muslims. “I don’t believe that stuff…. Prostitutes, little boys and wine. Very special prostitutes and boys,” he told Emma Duncan, author of “Breaking the Curfew: A Political Journey through Pakistan.“ The slain Bugti statesman ridiculed the idea and said, ”They have no openings.”
The young Bugti in his speech said, “Extremist groups are being trained and supervised by the state military and intelligence institutions to target religious minorities in Balochistan. A systematic genocide of Shia Hazaras in areas like Quetta and Mastung by Lashkar-e-Jhangvi which is headquartered in Punjab, is taking place. Other similar groups have been targeting Christians, Hindus and Zikris which is aimed to confuse the international community and malign the secular Baloch movement and to label it as religious terrorism.”
He said duplicity of Pakistani security establishment in the war against terrorism was quite evident. “Pakistani military had been receiving billions of dollars and heavy military equipment in aid from the western countries particularly the United States but instead of fighting terrorism, Pakistani forces had been using that aid to crush the democratic and political struggle of the Baloch people.”
Bugti reminded the audience about the statement of former Pakistani ambassador to the United States (Husain Haqqani), who on record, said that he has strong reason to believe that the aid against terrorism has been and is being used against the Baloch. “Pakistani double game in war against terrorism was exposed when world number one terrorist Osama Bin Laden was found and killed within miles of a Pakistani military academy in Abbottabad.”
Bugti said the only solution to the Pakistani state terrorism against the western world is the restoration of the secular Baloch state which would not only put an end to the sufferings of the Baloch and counter the Jihadi ambitions of the Pakistani security establishment but it would also guarantee long-lasting peace and stability in the region. He regretted that China was a party to Pakistan’s barbarism in Balochistan.
Bugti said human rights groups, international media and NGOs should play their role in highlighting the Baloch genocide by the Pakistani forces and help raise awareness about the secular movement. “As a democratic and political solution to the Baloch problem, we suggest the international community to hold an independent referendum in Balochistan under the supervision of the United Nations to let the Baloch decide for their future which is certainly safe, secure and bright in a free, democratic and secular Balochistan.” Nawab Brahumdagh Bugti urged.
Addressing the conference, German politician Tobias Huh said that not only the Baloch but the whole region would suffer if Pakistan continue its war crimes against the Baloch people. Founder of “Great Afghan Movement”, Mr. Mashal Khan Takkar, also addressed the participants and expressed solidarity with the Baloch struggle. Pakistan accuses India of bankrolling Nawab Bugti’s and BRP activities, but the young chief of the Bugti tribe said he inherited $100 million from his late grandfather and is self-sufficient to run his party. Lack of support to writers and intellectuals working to stop the Chinese communists in Gwadar is a major problem.
