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Rt. Honourable Tony Blair
Prime Minster of Great Britain
10 Downing Street
London SW1 1AA
Subject: Extradition
of Baloch human rights and democracy activists
Dear Sir,
On behalf of
Baloch and Sindhi communities in the UK, we are writing to
convey our deep concern and anxiety about recent reports that
have appeared in the British media. On Wednesday 28 March
2007, the Guardian published a lead story reporting that British
Government is negotiating with the Pakistani government for
the extradition of a terrorist to be tried in the UK. It was
also mentioned in the same report that British Government
is considering a request from the Pakistani intelligence agency
(ISI) to hand over eight Baloch human rights activists to
Pakistan, including Mr. Mehran Baloch and Gazain Marri.
We do not understand why British Government and the representatives
of the British people would consider negotiating the extradition
of human rights activists to a military state known for exporting
terrorism. This news was shocking for the Baloch and Sindhi
communities in the UK, as they have traditional, historical
and emotional relations with their oppressed brethren in Balochistan
and Sindh.
We hope that it will not be a transgression of propriety to
mention some relevant facts:
1. Pakistan is run by its military and intelligence agencies
and has an appalling human rights record. The Pakistani military
has committed terrible atrocities against Baloch and Sindhi
people. In last two years alone it is responsible for the
killings of over 5,000 innocent Balochs, including women,
children and the elderly; and the army and its intelligence
agencies are responsible for the kidnapping, torture and extra-judicial
killings of hundreds of Baloch and Sindhi political activists
over the last few years.
2. The Baloch and Sindhi people have been oppressed, subjugated
and denied their fundamental human rights. Baloch and Sindhi
demands for democratic and human rights have always been answered
with ruthless military force by successive Pakistani governments.
3. In last couple of years hundreds of Baloch and Sindhi human
rights and democracy activists and leaders of political parties
have been forcibly kidnapped by Pakistan's intelligence agencies.
Amnesty International, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan,
leaders of many political parties, the Chief Justice of the
Supreme Court in Pakistan and numerous other national and
international civil rights groups and NGOs have voiced their
concerns about forced disappearances and inhumane torture
and extra-judicial killings of political activists in Pakistan.
4. The Baloch and Sindhi people are putting up a heroic resistance
for the achievement of their basic human rights against a
brutal, ruthless and fundamentalist army.
5. General Musharaf has repeatedly discussed the physical
elimination of Baloch nationalist leadership. On 26 August
2006, against the background of these declared aims, the Pakistani
army killed 80-year-old Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar
Bugti.
6. The aim to physically eliminate Baloch and Sindhi leadership
is the Pakistani establishment's method of resolving the Baloch
and Sindhi national question in Pakistan. The reported efforts
of the Pakistani government to extradite Baloch human rights
activists in Europe are part of that establishment's campaign
to silence any voice in support of the people suffering in
Balochistan and Sindh.
For the last several years, we have been trying to bring to
your attention the brutalities of the Pakistani government
against the Baloch and Sindhi people through various petitions.
We sincerely believe that British government should side with
the struggling democratic and secular forces in Balochistan
and Sindh rather then with a brutal repressing and fundamentalist
establishment headed by a rogue army, a known supporter of
international terrorism and religious fundamentalism.
We believe that
it is the obligation of British government, under its commitments
to the UN and European charter of human rights, to exert pressure
on the military regime in Pakistan for an immediate cessation
of human rights violations in Balochistan and Sindh.
The oppressed nations in Pakistan are expecting the support
of British people and government in their just struggle against
the exploitative and ruthless military establishment of Pakistan.
On behalf of Baloch and Sindhi communities in the UK, we request
British Government to raise the plight of Baloch and Sindhi
People in international forums such as European Parliament
and United Nations.
We look forward
to hearing from you.
Dated: 11 April 2007
World Sindhi
Congress
22 Newfields
Welwyn Garden City,
Herts. AL8 6YT
http://www.worldsindhicongress.org/
Balochistan Action Committee (UK)
E-mail: balochactions@yahoo.co.uk
Baluchistan Rights
Movement
Sindhi Baloch Forum
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