Baloch movement is not for secession, don’t strengthen separatists, Hasil Bizenjo tells New Delhi conference

The Baloch Hal News

NEW DELHI: A seminar on “Pluralism and Democracy in South Asia; A case study of Balochistan”was held Venue: India Islamic Cultural Center auditorium on 15^th December 2009.

S.K Tulsi, Introduced the subject. Unfortunately he did not have enough knowledge of the historical context of the Balochistan issue and had been given the speech of (downloaded from Balochvoice) Mehran Baloch, son of Nawab Khair Baksh Marri, which he had given at the UN Human Rights Council Conference on Balochistan held at Washington last month. Historical facts were contradicting reality and the Baloch were depicted as  marauders and even the political struggle of the Baloch for their national rights was not in context.

B.M. Kutty gave a brief on the handwritten Urdu notes of Mir Ghous Baksh Bizenjo which he had translated into English, edited and compiled as Mir sahib’s autography as it is all in the first person narrative. He quoted some relevant paragraphs on the geo-regional political thoughts and events that Mir sahib had witnessed and written about. (It should be remembered here that Mir sahib was an astute statesman, politician who believed in Gandhian non-violence and Marxism). The book was launched and all 40 copies sold. Mr. Kutty also corrected some of the misrepresentative remarks passed by Mr. Tulsi.

Sh. Asad Rahman started by debunking the misconceptions and incorrect historical context presented in the introduction by Mr. Tulsi. After a short dissertation on the Baloch quest for nationality rights, he spoke about the national security threat not only to Pakistan but the whole SAARC region including Afghanistan and Iran in the dialogue having explained the connection of Afghanistan/Iran in the present and historical geo-regional context of Balochistan. He said that the whole region was in turmoil because of the colonial past and legacy; with neo-colonialism and Imperialist US so-called strategic interests taking precedence over the national interests of the region at present. He categorically emphasized that both India and Pakistan are actively wooing the US, although in the past India had been a leader of the non-aligned nations. It was a pity that India had also fallen into the trap of the US military industrial complex driven US administration and was competing with Pakistan to become the favorite.

He said that if the people of the SAARC region were to come together and pressurize their respective governments to cut back their defense spending they could tackle the threat of terrorism and religious fanatics by putting the money to good use in poverty alleviation, their people’s human and development rights and good governance. He ended with a call to all SAARC people’s to unite against external imperialistic powers that were destabilizing the region for their own nefarious economic and hegemonistic interests.

Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo, speaking in Urdu and English, spoke about the misperception that the Baloch movement was for secession and warned that if this misconception is given too much coverage it would only strengthen the hands of the separatists who at the moment are misguided youth with only minority support. This element is frustrated with the undemocratic and dictatorial rulers and civil-military establishment of Pakistan. Our party, the National Party of Balochistan, stands for a strong Federation which can only emerge if the provinces have their nationality rights, provincial autonomy and control over their natural resources to develop their people’s economy and culture through non-violent means and dialogue. He also spoke about the allegations of external help that these militant groups were getting and debunked the notion.

He said that Baloch militant groups are different from the Taliban who are getting aid from all sorts of quarters. He further said that the terrorism that Afghanistan and Pakistan are facing today will not stop at the doorstep of India for terrorism recognizes no borders. India should join hands with Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and China to fight this menace which I believe is sponsored by imperialist powers who wish to see many small weak countries in the region so that they can establish their hegemony over the region. If Balochistan is forced to secede it will have a domino effect to breakup all the countries of the region including India. He also called for all the people of the region to unite and fight imperialism.

H.E. Shahid Malik spoke about the dialogue and attempts of the present Pakistan government to address the injustices done to the people of Balochistan. He talked about the “package” that had been recently announced as a measure to address the situation.

Mr. Mani Shanker then opened the forum for questions and answer session. This session lasted for about an hour.

He thanked all the participants and panelists for such an enlightening and vibrant discussion.