Press Release:
Pakistan responsible for killing, says Khan
of Kalat
LONDON, JULY 17: The De Jure Ruler of Baluchistan,
the Khan of Kalat Mir Suleman Daud Ahmedzai,
has blamed the Pakistani establishment for killing
his close relative at his hometown of Kalat on
Tuesday in the smokescreen of aerial firing.
Ahmedzai, who is now in exile in the United
Kingdom, said Pakistani Press had incorrectly
reported that his close relative Agha Nauroz
Khan, son of prominent Baluch nationalist Prince
Musa Jan, was killed accidentally when he
was hit by stray bullet while people
were observing Baluchistan Martyrs Day in Kalat
and firing in the air.
"This was a targetted killing by the Pakistan
establishment and its cronies," Ahmedzai told
the the Online News service on phone from London.
He said the Pakistani establishment has lost
its nerves after failing to crush the Baluch
movement and was now using brutal tactics
to bully the Baluch struggle by targeting children
of national leaders.
"I warn the establishment and its lynchpins,
including the provincial ministers, that they
too have children and they should be ready for
a natural retaliation."
Ahmedzai, who is the highest Baluch official
ever to seek exile and is revered by the Baluch
all over the world, is knocking at the doors
of the International Court of Justice to expose
the injustices meted out to his people since
the forced annexation of Baluchistan by Pakistan
in March 1948.
Baluchistan became a free country when
the British departed from India in 1948.
"The Baluch are paying a price for the defence
of their motherland. The killing of Agha
Nauroz Khan is part of a sequence that
saw the earlier assassination of Nawab Nauroz
Khan Zarakzai, Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti and Nawabzada
Bala'ach Marri."
Ahmedzai said the killing of Agha Nauroz Khan
will give a further boost to the Baluch national
struggle by strengthening the resolve of the
Balouch freedom lovers.
Baluch people have religiously observed July
15 as Baluchistan Martyrs Day since the hanging
of seven sons and nephews of Nawab Nauroz Khan
Zarakzai in 1960 by the Pakistan military under
General Ayub Khan .
Nawab Zarakzai had risen up in an armed
revolt after Pakistan army attacked Kalat,
destroyed a mosque there, and jailed the
the Khan of Kalat, Mir Ahmedyar Khan, grandfather
of the present Khan of Kalat.
After a deceptive ceasefire, Zarakzai was
offered amnesty on a promise of safety on the
Muslim bible, called Quran, but when he gave
himself up all his seven sons and nephews were
hanged by the miltary junta.
Meanwhile, Baluch living in the United States
have roundly condemned the slaying of Agha
Nauroz Khan.
"We are with the Khan family and the rest
of Baluchistan at this sad moment in our national
history," said Dr. Wahid Baloch , president of
the Baloch Society ofNorth America. "The world
must condemn this killing in cold blood in the
strongest possible terms," he said.
Baloch blamed Pakistan's spy agencies, including
Inter Services Intelligence, for the barbaric
act of killing young Agha Nauroz Khan. "If they
think by targetting a young member of his family
they can deter the Khan of Kalat's determination
to approach the International Court of Justice
at the Hague, they are sadly mistaken."
Baloch recalled that the Khan of Kalat was implicated
in a fabricated case of being involved in
a bomb blast soon after he convened a historic
jirga in Kalat to take stock of the continued
injustices towards Baluch people in the wake
of the killing of former governor and chief minister
of Baluchistan, Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, in August
2006.
Nearly 100 powerful tribal chieftains and 400
notables gathered in Kalat on Ahmedzai's
call and agreed to seek international justice
for Baluchistan.
Ahmar Mustikhan, founder of American Friends
of Baluchistan, in his condemnation of the assassination
said, "Since March 1948, the Pakistani establishment
has done its best to target the
Khan family. Over the decades, they have
suffered the most at the hands of the Punjabi-Mohajir
ruling clique. Killing of Agha Nauroz Khan
is but a crude attempt to silence the
present Khan of Kalat, who is thankfully out
of harms way in London. "
Mustikhan said he is fully confident the Khan
of Kalat's case at the International Court of
Justice will be a stunning success and will help
bring peace to southwest Asia.
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