Press Release
Governor Owais Ghani of Balochistan Comes to Washington
at the Center for Strategic and International Studies Washington:
(click
for
list
of disappeared persons in Sindh and Balochistan)
On Thursday
August 02, 2007, three members of the World Sindhi Institute, including Executive
Director, Munawar Laghari attended a discussion at the Center for Strategic and
International Studies in Washington with the Governor of Balochistan, Owais
Ghani.
Governor Ghani gave a twenty minute presentation on “Balochistan: Critical
frontier on the global war on terrorism”. He spoke the issues faced by Balochistan
in the present situation, the War against Global Terrorism, local insurgencies
and Al-Qaeda in relation to Balochistan. He also highlighted that the province
is undergoing economic and social development, in particular, education for
women. However, he failed to mention the root of the Baloch people's dissatisfaction
with the military regime: control over natural resources. Instead, he stressed
that the dissatisfaction stems from religious extremists.
The Governor's presentation
was followed by a Q/A session, in which he answered many questions. Munawar
Laghari asked him specifically about the issue of disappearances in Balochistan.
The Governor responded by saying that Mr. Laghari is “misinformed” and that
the only arrests done in that province are those of Alqaida terrorists who
flee from other provinces and take the route of Balochistan to enter Afghanistan.
He made reference to his meeting with Dr. Haye Baloch, the Chairman of the
Baloch National Movement (BNM) a year ago, in which Dr. Baloch asked the same
question. To this, Ghani had asked him to provide a list of the disappeared
persons in Balochistan, but was not presented with one. Mr. Laghari committed
to send a list of missing Baloch people to the Governor soon (please see attachment
for the list). When presented with other questions relating to issues of concern
to the Baloch people, Ghani stated repeatedly that the people in the room were “misinformed” and
suggested them to visit Balochistan in order to see for themselves, how that
province is prospering and is attracting foreign investments.
The discussion
wrapped up with the Governor shaking hands and meeting with people. Although
he conducted himself well during the presentation and discussion, he failed
to answer crucial questions on the plight of the people of Balochistan.
Following
are a few excerpts in reference to the point raised by Munawar Laghari:
Asian
American Network Against Abuse of human rights (ANAA) quotes the Human Rights
Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) as, “while disappearances were relatively rare
in Pakistan before 2001 - the year the twin pantheons of American free trade
were brought to the ground. They have since become rampant, even outside of
the 'war on terror' aegis”. An HRCP report
published in January 2006 noted that “the Interior Minister
of Pakistan acknowledged to the press that 4,000 persons
are arrested in connection with the Balochistan situation. The charges against
a number of these persons have not been disclosed to their families. In some
cases it is not known where they are being detained, and furthermore the government
has also not disclosed the identities of persons arrested during these operations.
Other government members have given contradictory accounts of the number of
persons arrested in Balochistan," it said. Amnesty International's Report,
2005 states that scores of people were arrested during demonstrations or for
allegedly belonging to banned organizations. Most were released after several
hours but some were held for prolonged periods in arbitrary and incommunicado detention.
Some remained “disappeared” for longer periods despite families' efforts to
trace them through the courts. Several journalists were held incommunicado for
exercising their right to freedom of expression. According to Daily Times, “Balochistan
continues to remain the hub of illegal detentions and mysterious disappearances
of political activists”. The extra-judicial arrests also include journalists
and relatives of political leaders. "Such tactics are applied by the government
to emotionally blackmail politicians and divert attention from their political
struggle," Kachkol Baloch, leader of the opposition in the Balochistan Assembly,
told Daily Times. BSO-North America, quoting a leading Pakistani newspaper,
expresses that over 3,000 political prisoners, mainly activists, relatives
of political leaders, ordinary citizens of Balochistan and political opponents
of General Musharraf, are being illegally detained in camps run by the Army
and Intelligence Agencies in Balochistan . Relatives of those detained usually
have no information on the whereabouts of their loved ones. The government
has also not registered any cases against the detained suspects. Some of these
suspects have been missing for years.
(click
for
list
of disappeared persons in Sindh and Balochistan)
________________________________________________________________________
Through nonviolent means, The World Sindhi Institute works relentlessly
for universal human rights and humanitarian law for the Sindhis of Sindh
, in southeastern Pakistan . For more information, contact Munawar Laghari, Executive
Director World Sindhi Institute at: wsihq@worldsindhi.org ,
202-223-1777 (w), 202-378-0333 (c), or visit www.worldsindhi.org
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