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Terror
detainees are human rights activists
Baluchistan
activists remanded in custody on terror charges
Pakistani
bid to frame nationalists and silence critics?
Westminster Magistrates’ Court - London - 11 December
2007
“The evidence of terrorism against the Baluchistan
human rights campaigners Herbiyar Marri and Faiz Baluch is flimsy,
circumstantial and flawed,” said human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell.
“These terror charges are likely to have been at the
instigation of the Pakistan government, which has long sought to silence
critics of its repressive occupation of Baluchistan.
“President Musharraf is pressing Britain for the
extradition of Baluch nationalists exiled in London. If these men are
extradited they will never get a fair trial and they could face a death
sentence,” he said.
Mr Tatchell was commenting after attending Westminster
Magistrate’s Court in London this morning, when the two Baluchistan
freedom activists were remanded in custody on terrorism charges.
“I know both the detained men, “added Mr Tatchell.
“They are Baluchistan nationalists and human rights
campaigners. We worked together to expose Pakistan’s persecution of the
Baluch people. The defendants have never expressed to me any support or
sympathy for terrorism. All our campaigns have been lawful and peaceful. I
would be very surprised if either man was involved in any terror plot.
“Mr Marri is a former MP and government minister in
the provincial assembly of Baluchistan during the 1990s. A member of one
of the most distinguished and esteemed Baluch families, he is a rather
unlikely terrorist.
“Britain and Pakistan have been in secret negotiations
for a terrorist prisoner swap. The UK police want to extradite Rashid Rauf
from Pakistan. They are keen to question him in connection with the 2006
plot to blow-up transatlantic airliners. In return, the Pakistani
government is demanding to extradite from Britain several Baluch
nationalists, in order to silence their highly effective campaign which
has exposed Pakistan’s repression in Baluchistan. This repression
includes detention without trial, torture, extra-judicial executions and
the strafing of villages suspected of being sympathetic to the Baluch
independence movement.
“Herbiyar Marri and Faiz Baluch are campaigning for a
free and independent Baluchistan. Their homeland was a former British
Protectorate. It secured independence in 1947. Less than a year later,
Pakistan invaded and annexed the newly-independent nation. The Baluch
people have, however, never given up their struggle to reassert their
freedom.
“In court this morning, the prosecution claimed that
Marri and Baluch had incited acts of terrorism but the prosecutor provided
no evidence of who had been incited and how they were incited. None of the
documents read out in court constituted an incitement to terrorism. Most
were website press reports and news releases, many of which are available
on dozens of media websites.
“The allegation that Mr Marri possessed a weapon that
could be used for terrorist purposes has been questioned by a relative,
who claims it was a self-defence spray device that Mr Marri had acquired
because he feared violent attack by Pakistani government agents. His fears
are real and credible, given the kidnapping and assassination of Baluch
nationalists by the Pakistan authorities.
“The two defendants were arrested on 4 December in
London on suspicion of the ‘commission, preparation or instigation of
acts of terrorism,’ relating to alleged terror plots abroad, and were
yesterday charged with inciting terrorist acts.
“I urge the British government to not give in to
pressure from the Pakistani dictator, President Musharraf. The extradition
of these men would result in their arrest, torture, imprisonment and
probable execution.
“The Pakistan authorities have repeatedly arrested
peaceful Baluch nationalists and human rights campaigners on trumped up
charges.
“Earlier this year, there was an attempt by Pakistan
to secure the extradition from Britain of Mehran Baluch, the Baluch
representative to the UN Human Rights Council. The charges against him
were false.
See this Guardian newspaper report on the case, 28 March
2007:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,2044324,00.html
“Mehran’s brother, Balach Marri, was recently
murdered by the Pakistan army.
“These arrests look like another stitch-up
orchestrated by the Musharraf regime, which wants to crush those who speak
out against Pakistan’s murderous oppression of the Baluch people,“
said Mr Tatchell.
The lawyer representing Herbiyar Marri is Jim Nichol:
0207 272 8336.
The lawyer representing Faiz Baluch is Fadi Daoud: 020
7266 4333.
For further information:
Current news on the Baluch freedom struggle: www.balochvoice.com
and www.balochwarna.org
These are the websites that allegedly incite terrorism.
Background briefing
Read this Guardian article about Pakistan’s occupation
of Baluchistan:
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/peter_tatchell/2007/08/pakistan_celebrates_baluchista.html
Watch this internet TV interview with Mehran Baluch, the
Baluch representative at the UN Human Rights Council:
http://doughty.gdbtv.com/player.php?h=6047f4ff19c2da48b68fed7e067a3a5f
Baluchistan freedom struggle - Pakistan colludes with
Taliban
By Peter Tatchell
Baluchistan was a former British Protectorate. It
secured its independence in 1947. But less than a year later Pakistan
invaded and annexed the newly-independent state of Baluchistan. The Baluch
people have, however, never given up their struggle to reassert their
freedom.
After six decades of occupation and bloody repression,
Pakistan is once again escalating its war against the people of
Baluchistan, detaining without trial thousands of Baluchs and executing
hundreds more. Because Britain and the United States want Pakistan as an
ally in the “war on terror” they are arming Pakistan and acquiescing
with its suppression of the Baluch people.
Pakistan’s war against non-fundamentalist Baluchistan
and its moderate nationalist forces is strengthening the position of the
Taliban who have exploited the situation to establish bases in the region.
From these bases they seek to enforce the Talibanisation of Baluchistan.
The Pakistani government colludes with the Taliban’s murderous campaign,
on the grounds that it helps to crush the Baluch people and their movement
for independence.
Some Taliban leaders and fighters have hidden out in
Baluchistan, from where they plan and launch their military operations to
overthrow the democratically elected government of Afghanistan. Their
campaign to usurp power in Kabul is taking place with the tacit collusion
of key figures in the Pakistani government, military and intelligence
services. The Pakistan authorities seem to be allowing the Taliban to use
Baluchistan as a base for their war against democracy and human rights.
The international community is looking the other way,
allowing the Baluch people to be suppressed and ignoring their right to
self-determination.
ENDS
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