Balochistan needs to be declared a conflict zone
A memorandum for United Nations
We want to bring in your notice that grave acts of human rights violations are being committed by the Pakistani Army and secret agencies in Balochistan. Since the unlawful occupation of Balochistan in 1948, successive Pakistani governments — both civilian and military — have ruled the once independent country like a nineteenth-century colony. Every imaginable mean of oppression has been used to continue the illegitimate and unconstitutional rule.
On the other hand, the Baloch have never accepted Pakistani rule and have been fighting for their independence since the initial days of unconstitutional merger. The present Baloch uprising is the fifth in the series. To suppress the Baloch voice, Pakistan has committed major ‘crimes against humanity’.
- After the military operation in Dera Bugti and Kohlu, at least 120,000 people, as reported by national and international media and human rights bodies, were displaced, who have migrated to safer places in the Punjab and Sindh. Not to mention Pakistan government, even the United Nations or its bodies have not taken practical measures to rehabilitate these internally displaced people (IDPs).
- According to independent sources, including the Asian Human Rights Commission, some 6,000 Baloch are missing and are in secret detention of Pakistan secret agencies.
- Military operation in various parts of Balochistan, particularly in Dera Bugti and Kohlu, has made the life miserable there. These areas are virtually ‘no-go areas’ and media persons are not allowed to visit the conflict zones to ascertain actual facts.
- Arrest warrants of almost all the Baloch political leadership have been issued and hundreds of them are languishing in Pakistani torture cells. Recently, the most senior leaders of the Baloch Republican Party were abducted from different areas. Whereabouts of party’s secretary general Dr Bashir Azeem, information secretary Jalil Reki, member central committee Chaakar Baloch and Wahab Baloch are still unknown.
In view of this, we demand to the United Nations to play its role in at least putting pressure on Pakistan to stop acts of human rights violations in Balochistan. The world body should also declare Balochistan a conflict zone and appoint an observer to find the actual situation in the region. We urge the United Nations to:
- Visit Dera Bugti and Kohlu areas to witness acts of state terrorism itself.
- Facilitate rehabilitation of the 120,000 displaced Baloch
- Take the matter of enforced disappearances seriously, and declare a state of human rights emergency in Balochistan.
Baloch Republican Party
Baloch Republican Students Organization
Dated: February 20, 2009
