Report from Toronto, Canada

Toronto, Canada: The first anniversary of the assassination of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti by Pakistan's military was commemorated at an event organized jointly by the World Sindhi Institute and Balochistan Human Rights Council of Canada on 26th august 2007 at the offices of the World Sindhi Institute in Toronto.

After a brief introduction and opening remarks by WSI Canada, Dr. Zafar Baloch of the Balochistan Human Rights Council gave a detailed and well researched presentation on the historic relationship between Balochistan and Pakistan as well as the current crisis ensuing from the military operation initiated by the Pakistani establishment against the baloch peoples. Comparing Akbar Bugti to the legendary Baloch warrior Chakar Khan, he said that Nawab Bugti's death is symbolic in many ways.

Dr. Baloch went further on to state that Balochistan's conflict has political, economic and military dimensions which started with the creation of Pakistan when an independent Balochistan was forcefully annexed into Pakistan in 1948. Since then Balochistan has been treated as a colony without any equal representation in the instruments of political power. Balochistan was plundered as a colonized nation through political, economic and military dominance.

The present day development plans of General Pervez Musharaf are simply a form of internal colonization in which the whole of the mega development projects are being controlled from Islamabad through a strong presence of the armed forces in the province from Gwadar to Dera Bugti. Balochistan's natural gas reservoirs are being exploited with no benefits returning to the people of Balochistan. According to some estimates the cumulative royalties from gas exploited in Balochistan amounts to US $ 114 billion every year. The 5 gas wells in Sui presently meet 38% of Pakistan's domestic and commercial energy needs but only 5-6 % of Balochistan's population has gas connection. Almost 83% of the gas produced in Balochistan is provided to other provinces for industrial and household use where as piped gas is available to only 4 of the 28 districts of Balochistan. Compared to this gas is supplied to almost every village in Punjab . This is the reason why oil and gas explorations in the Marri area of Kohlu was resisted and now has become a hot spot of military operations.

The current and the fifth insurgency ongoing in Balochistan at present is a chain of events that links all the four previous armed uprisings in the past since 1948. But so far this one seems to be more widely spread with popular support among the masses. It is the enemy who has chosen the military solution to political and economic problems; therefore the choices for the resistance movement are very limited.

More than 80,000 tribal people have been displaced from their ancestral lands and become refugees in their own country. Around 4000 political activists have been picked up by the security forces and are now languishing behind bars and in torture cells.

There is a stark parallel to the 1971 situation currently existing in Pakistan . Where will this situation lead us to is an open question to all. Will the army withdraw its vested interests and let the people make their own choice? Does the current political leadership posses the will to challenge the current military regime? These questions will be answered by the people in the near future but national independence is only the first step to the long road to national liberation.

Maqbool Aliani of Baloch Society of North America also spoke at the event highlighting that the Baloch movement is not a separatist movement, but that of an independence movement because Balochistan was never part of Pakistan and was forcibly annexed after nine months of its independence. He suggested that restoration of democracy is only part of the solution for Pakistan because there are many other ongoing issues. Firstly, Pakistan needs to hold free and fair elections. Free and fair elections in 1971 resulted in the break-up of the country; hence more elections could result in more break-ups.

Most importantly therefore what Pakistan needs is a new constitution which emphasizes decentralization, demilitarization and de-islamization. He also recommended that the best way to honor Khan Bugti on his first anniversary is to honor his call for unity. All Baloch nationalists should unite on a single platform in order to safeguard the Baloch lands in both occupied Iran and Pakistan . Baloch coasts and resources otherwise will be lost in history. People's spirit cannot be destroyed by killings; they remain restless, even resentful. This restlessness and resentment lead the people to their ultimate goal, which is freedom. In Nawab Bugti's martyrdom, the Baloch people have lost a great leader but a great nation will move forward in its footsteps to achieve our objectives ? nothing less than freedom. He concluded his talk with a poem by Ghulam Rasul Mullah which says, "Balochistan is my heart, my soul, a cure for all conceivable pains of life: why should I not sacrifice or hesitate to suffer indignities of confinement; when my motherland is facing poisonous bullets."

His talk was followed by an address by Paul Kellogg, from the Coalition Against the War in Toronto , who said he was pleased to be here with the Baloch community to learn more about what is not known by most Canadians. This includes more information on Gwadar which is among the areas that are rich in resources, the returns of which don't go to the indigenous people of land. He stressed that the Baloch people's demands are fair and simple which all Canadians should support because it is a just cause. He said it is vital that people understand that Canada is at war in Afghanistan and that puts Canada in alliance with Musharraf and the oppressive Pakistani military regime. He returned the invitation by inviting the attendants on Sept. 9th for a meeting that was part of building a movement against the war. He asked that Baloch members bring their issues to Canadians.

After Paul Kellogg's speech, Abdul Ghaffur Charyaan from the Turkoman spoke in solidarity with Baloch people and expressed the painful feeling resulting from the brutal killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti. He stressed that Turkoman and Baloch people are brothers in their struggle of freedom. In Iran , Turkoman share the same destiny as Baloch people, who are also disenfranchised. WSI also welcomed the presence of Hani from the Al-Ahwaz community (another oppressed nation of Iran ) in Toronto . The speeches were followed by discussion and included brief comments by Ali Akbar Zehri. Zehri gave first hand accounts of working with Pakistani government on development projects in Balochistan which benefited the military rather than the people. Imtiaz baloch, Abbas Syed and Omar Latif also shared their views.

(Please see pictures of this event on the WSI website)

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The World Sindhi Institute (WSI) is committed to achieving human rights for the people of Sindh in southeastern Pakistan through a nonviolent advocacy, activism, and academic campaign. WSI brings together Sindhis (people of Sindh) of all religious and geographical backgrounds and their supporters in a proactive, progressive movement whose purpose is to inform others of the human rights and environmental atrocities occurring in Sindh. WSI initiates and welcomes collaborative projects with other governmental and non-governmental organizations and individuals seeking positive, nonviolent change in South Asia and elsewhere.  

For more information, contact 1050 17^th St. N.W., Ste. # 700 , Washington , DC 20036 , phone # 202-223-1777 or visit www.worldsindhi.org