Americans to help end Balochistan tragedy

WASHINGTON DC —- Americans concerned over the ongoing brutal army operation, mass killings, arrests and disappearances in Balochistan have joined hands with the Baloch living in the United States to launch the American Friends of Balochistan.

The stated goal of the new organization is to create awareness of the need of a safe, independent, and secular peaceful Balochistan in southwest Asia . The organization will advocate for the establishment of an independent commission to bring the culprits involved in mass killings of the Baloch to justice.

The organization will be headed by Robert R. Selle, contributing Editor of the World & I, a publication of the Washington Times Corporation. Dr Wahid Baloch, a prominent Baloch activist, would be the general secretary of the American Friends of Balochistan. Balochistan is a Texas-sized region divided among Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan.

The new organization comes in the wake of the August 26 killing of former governor and chief minister of Balochistan, Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, the highest elected official to be killed by the Pakistan Army.

Since March 27, 1948 when Balochistan was forcibly annexed by Pakistan, many top Baloch leaders, including Baloch ruler Khan of Kalat Mir Ahmedyar Khan and Chief of Jhalawan Nawab Nauroz Khan were arrested and humiliated by the Pakistan Army. Thousands of Baloch freedom fighters and more than 3000 Pakistan soldiers have been killed in five army operations to crush the Baloch resistance movement.

The thee-member advisory board, along with the chairman and general secretary, will help with the day to day running of the organization. The advisory board members are Brother Irving Sylvia, Mir Maqbool Alianiand Ahmar Mustikhan.

The organization will focus on all occupied Baloch territories, specifically Pakistan and Iran and one of its main aims is to help the world end the nuclear programs of both Pakistan and Iran. "Nuclear testing
on the soil of Balochistan as practiced by Pakistan is against the wishes of its people," the new organization notes.

The organization's mission statement is to "Unite Americans and Baloch living in the U.S. into a non profit volunteer based organization, the goal of which is to create awareness of the need of a safe, independent, and secular peaceful Balochistan in southwest Asia."

Baloch in Pakistan and Iran fear they will lose their national identity if Pakistan and Iran's militaristic ambitions go unchecked.

The American Friends of Balochistan goals and programs would be to provide a continuous flow of information to the U.S. government, public, and non profit institutions about the situation in Balochistan which is occupied as a colonial possession of Pakistan
and Iran.

The organizations will help end the nuclear programs of both Pakistan and Iran. Nuclear testing on the soil of Balochistan as practiced by Pakistan is against the wishes of its people and must stop. The A.F.B. will counter the state-sponsored trend of promoting Talibanization and fanaticism in Balochistan by government of Pakistan.
Through public media, such as the VOA, sponsor programs that emphasize the age-old Baloch traditions of respect for all great religious traditions of the
world, especially Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism and sufi Islam.