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| India-Pakistan |
| US conference calls for independent Baluchistan |
| 2009-11-26 |
| [Al Arabiya Latest] As the Pakistani government hastily presented a Baluchistan package in parliament in its last ditch effort to appease the estranged people of the insurgency-hit province, a group of Baluchi officials held a conference in Washington, where they demanded an end to occupation by Pakistan and Iran. The conference, organized by the American Friends of Baluchistan, who called for the establishment of an independent Baluchistan state protected by the United Nations for an interim period, was attended by several prominent Baluch leaders from Pakistan and Iran as well as activists for the cause of Kashmiris and Sindhis. A resolution adopted by the conference charged that both Pakistan and Iran were committing systematic genocide of Baluch people and appealed to the world community to force Pakistan and Iran to announce a timetable for withdrawing their. The resolution claimed that thousands of Baluchi men, women and children had been murdered, while thousands of others were abducted and put in jails, where they disappeared without a trace. The group demanded those responsible to be tried at the International Criminal Court (ICC). Other people in attendance at the conference were Selig Harrison, the Asia Director at the Center for International Policy, former US government officials, second secretary of Norwegian embassy in Washington and former leader of Mukti Bahini, the guerilla movement that fought a war of independence for Bangladesh, former East Pakistan. Founder of American Friends of Baluchistan, Ahmar Masti Khan, expressed his joy over the fact that the conference proved far more successful than he expected. Herbiyar Marri, a Baluch separatist leader, also addressed the conference through video link. Other prominent speakers at the conference included former president of Baluch Students Federation, Aziz Baluch, the supplier of stinger missiles to Afghan Mujahedin on CIA's insistence, Andrew Iva and the former president of World Sindhi Congress, Sagheer Sheikh. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #4 Pluperfect Hell? That sounds dire. And very, very correct. |
| Posted by: trailing wife in Buffalo 2009-11-26 23:27 |
| #3 Interesting point, Moose, but the Baluchis could solve that by saying to the Chinese, "help us become independent and you can have your deep water port. Our treat. Heck, we'll throw in an airfield and landing rights." |
| Posted by: Steve White 2009-11-26 12:14 |
| #2 Inshallah. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2009-11-26 09:05 |
| #1 I think the expression is "No way in pluperfect Hell is there going to be an independent Baluchistan." Mostly for two reasons. One is the Chinese built, strategically critical, deep water port at Gwadar. The other is that Baluchistan has minerals vital to the nuclear programs of both Pakistan and Iran. That being said, both Pakistan and Iran would rather kill every single Baluchi instead of part with those lands. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2009-11-26 09:00 |