Office of Khan of Kalat, London

Presentation to the House of Lords

24.10.2007

Democracy, election, selection, freedom of press, and rule of law

A nation is constituted by a shared sense of bonding and a heritage of common traditions. There is no such sense of bonding in Pakistan. That is the reason that the Pakistan's army kills its people without feeling regret. Pakistan constitutes of six different and unrelated nations: Baluch, Pashtun, Sendhis, Punjabis, Sirakis, and Kashmiris. These are the sons of the soil.

Mohajirs are the seventh group who migrated from India when Pakistan was created. They constitute only 6% of population but they never tried to integrate in the new society. They are the main administrators of Pakistan.

The state's official language is Urdu; an alien language to most sons of the soil. It has been developed at the cost of native languages of the land.

It is very sad that I have to say these things today as this is what has happened in Pakistan. This is the country that has been made not for the people of Pakistan but for the army, bureaucracy and judiciary which have been partners in ruling and destroying it.

The first thing is that, it is the country in which its founding father died in a mysterious way in an ambulance without petrol on Drig road in Karachi. This is a country which has for 60 years have not made us feel Pakistanis. Instead of attracting us, it has alienated us. Instead of empowering us, it has made us poor, helpless and desperate.

This is the country that killed its first selected prime minister, Liaqat Alikhan. This is the country which hanged its first elected prime minister, Z.A Bhutto. This is the country that did not have a constitution for 26 years from 47 to 73. This is the country that had a constitution for only four years from 73 to 77. This is the country that dismissed its second selected prime minister, Jenajo. This is the country that dismissed its two elected prime ministers on charges of corruption and sent them in exile.

It is the country which planned to murder the leader of the biggest political party, Miss Benazir Bhutto , as the whole world saw it on television.

This is the country that imported two prime ministers who even didn't have ID card to rule Pakistan.

What can I say about Freedom of press and rule of law?

The press is more pressed than free. The press have never been free and they will never be free.

Rule of the law in Pakistan is martial law or no law. Pakistan had 34 years of martial law and 10 years of bureaucracy law in its beginning. As far as the judiciary is concerned, the Chief Justice of Pakistan was terminated with a stroke of a pen. Wherever the Chief Justice went he said the army chief cannot have two offices under the constitution. The same judiciary threw the petitions against two offices away to legitimise it later. This is the two faces of our judiciary.

The army is not accountable to the Parliament and people. It controls 85 percent of the country's budget. Only 13 to 15 percent of the national income is allocated for the government to run the country.

Pakistan is ruled by the law of force and not by the force of law. The military rulers have been terrorising the people and our neighbours. They have become a source of terrorism through the fundamentalist shield of Mullahs. The military has made terrorism a growing business.

War on terror has become war on people.

There were 8000 Madrasas in the country before the military took over. There are 21000 Madrasas now; and they are growing. They have grown nearly 300 per cent because there is a huge market for their services.

Pakistan has been listed as a failed state for several years. It is among the most corrupt countries. Its leaders are among the most incompetent rulers. This is the country that has lost every opportunity to provide welfare and prosperity for its people.

Tody the Pakistan 's army is bombarding its own territories in Baluchistan to control the Baluch nation's mineral resources. Pakistan's state murdered Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti who was a great statesman and Parliamentarian.

At the same time it commits atrocities against women and children. Several thousand political workers have disappeared. Thousands have been displaced. Saradar Akhtar Mengal is in jail.

In such circumstances, the people of Baluchistan have become victims of incompetence and failure of Pakistani civil and military rulers.

The government of Pakistan intimidated Baluch leaders and forced my grandfather to sign an agreement of union. The purpose of the union was to bring two independent sovereign states together as the model of European Union today. But the Pakistani governments started violating the agreements and colonised the independent sovereign state of Baluchistan.

Since then, the Baluch people have campaigned consistently against this unlawful annexation.

Pakistan had 60 years to prove its capability for establishing fair and just relations with the state of Baluchistan. The Baluch people gave every opportunity to Pakistan to go for the policy of inclusion and not exclusion, for the policy of equality of opportunity and not discrimination, for fair distribution of national and regional income; but Pakistan used every opportunity to peruse a policy of discrimination, oppression, suppression and corruption.

Pakistan is only 60 years old. Baluchistan is 10,000 years old. It has an old civilisation. It has a great nation with its specific characteristics of decency, honour, integrity, truthfulness, nobility, graciousness, commitment to promises and fair play. These values are against the Pakistani traditions of deception, discrimination and oppression. Pakistan as a country is a failed country that has turned against its people and itself. Sixty years is enough to know that the present setup in Pakistan just doesn't work regardless of who is the ruler.

They have campaigned regularly years after years to restore their sovereignty and they will continue this campaign to the end.