Brazen and barbaric acts carried out by the army, ISI in aegis with China on the ethnic communities and indigenous groups in Pakistan call for immediate attention, on part of international institutions and governments
New Delhi: Excoriating the Pakistani government for its abysmal treatment to the minority groups, human rights activists and regional experts called upon the international community to step up and act decisively to help end the systemic clearing of ethnic communities carried out by Islamabad under the cloak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Speaking at an international webinar organized by the Alliance for Persecuted Peoples World Wide (APPWW) on 14 June, activists and experts alongside several exiled minority community leaders chastised the Prime Minister Imran Khan-led government for carrying out sustained discrimination, long-term marginalization and intermittent human rights abuse across Sindh, Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan and other Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) regions.
Break Pakistan’s back
In his keynote address to the webinar – Oppression of Pakistan’s Indigenous People – Pakistani-Canadian journalist and author Tarek Fatah described Islamabad as a ‘genocidal Islamic state’, which is carrying out inhuman acts across PoK lands to render Beijing’s territorial expansion.
“The indigenous communities will lose their identities if these inhuman acts are not stopped immediately. All these acts are carried out by the Pakistani military, which is an industrial mafia that controls everything,” Fatah said.
He directed that the political re-alignment of Gilgit-Baltistan with India, and independence of Balochistan as a free state are cardinal for disintegrating Pakistan.
“Pakistan’s back will be broken if this happens. However, India will have to unwind Pakistan, cut this nation into three to four parts. Pakistan is not a state, but a mere state of mind. These measures must also be taken, if India wants to stop China’s aggression and spread,” Fatah added.
Sino-Pak bandwagon
Picking up from Fatah, Director of Institute of Gilgit-Baltistan Studies, Senge Hasnan Sering said that the Pakistani army in aegis with Chinese forces is using the pandemic to carry out demographic changes and land grabs in the region.
In his brief talk, Sering said that the medicinal supplies and funds donated by China for COVID-19 relief, which are received by the Pakistani army has never reached the regions of Gilgit-Baltistan, Balochistan and other PoK territories.
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Attacking Imran Khan’s decision to open the lands of Gilgit-Baltistan for tourism amid the pandemic, Senge said that minority communities were never a priority for the Pakistani government.
“There are no COVID-19 centers, hospitals, medical institutions or any healthcare facilities in Gilgit-Baltistan. The region lacks political administrative setup, as there is no uniformity or consistency in policy from the Pakistani government,” Sering said, adding that the land and people of Gilgit-Baltistan would tremendously flourish and retain their true identity under the Indian political system.
Calling the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as an instrument of invasion, he drew attention towards the war-footing work carried out by the joint armed forces of Pakistan and China to increase their scope of operations in the Afghan region. “They are beefing up the number of soldiers and positioning heavy military equipment along Afghanistan-China border, which points towards a possible invasion into Afghan lands as well,” he said.
Responding to a question raised during the discussion, Sering castigated China for politicizing the pandemic, after failing to handle the outbreak. “Pakistan also joined the Chinese bandwagon to pin the pandemic on the west. From the fear of getting reprimanded, Beijing is politicizing the spread, instead of taking responsibility,” he replied.
Pandemic and puppet Khan
Baloch National Movement leader, Nabi Baksh Baloch in his address pinned the Pakistani General Qamar Javed Bajwa-led army and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of running death squads and kidnapping of academicians, students, journalists, and activists from Balochistan, in midst of the pandemic.
“Baloch people and lands are struggling with national identity. Instead of providing COVID-19 relief, supplies, and funds, they are prosecuting and arresting young doctors. Openly killing anyone who would voice against these atrocities,” Baloch said citing the recent brutal incident, which saw the murder of a Baloch woman and injuring her four-year-old daughter Bramsh, in Turbat at Kech district of Balochistan.
Calling the Pakistani Prime Minister, a ‘puppet’ he said that Khan has played no significant role in the welfare of the citizens of Balochistan. “Every Muslim country has disowned him in his fight for Kashmir. Pakistan does not care for Balochis and continues to brazenly carry out the genocide of my people,” Baloch said, as he openly appealed Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene and help free the Baloch lands from the vice grip of Islamabad.
Ethnic groups near extinction
Meanwhile, shedding light on the growing Chinese footprint in Sindh area, representative of the Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz, Zafar Sahito said that over 13 lakh-acres of land in the province has been already engulfed by Beijing.
“This land bank was handed over by the Pakistani army to China for their CPEC projects. These lands do not belong to Islamabad, but were given away without consent and more outrageously by kicking out the indigenous people,” Sahito said.
In his spirited talk at the session, Sahito referred to the United Nations report on the growing poverty index and starvation in the region of Sindh. He said that, while the province of Sindh contributed 85 percent of the total GDP of Pakistan, it only receives 15 percent of government funds. Claiming that the Sindh province was already sold to China, Sahito drew pointed remarks on the military spending of Islamabad.
“While the world is spending funds on fighting the virus, Pakistan is increasing its defense budget this year. It clearly shows the intentions of Pakistan which is purely militaristic and not humanitarian. Sindh has the maximum number of children affected by COVID-19, but instead of helping them, Pakistan is adding war tools,” Sahito said.
He requested international governments and human rights bodies to assist the people of PoK in their fight against oppression carried out by Pakistan.
“The ethnic communities surviving in Pakistan will vanish very soon from the face of the earth if no help is extended. The UN and other world bodies must take cognizance of our plights,” he stressed.
Echoing with Sahito, Rehan Ibadat of the Muttihada Quami Movement (MQM) summed Pakistan’s master plan against the minority groups in three words – expansion, exploitation, and extinction.
He said that the ISI under its religious prosecution tactics carries out forceful interreligious marriages and forced conversions to Islam. The Pakistani government, which Ibadat claimed to be ‘remotely operated’ by the intelligence unit is using the money meant for COVID-19 relief for sponsoring and supporting terrorist organizations and operations.
“The government is incompetent and run by the ISI. The pandemic is just an excuse to support terror acts in ethnic lands of the PoK and the Indian Kashmir. They have been terrorizing these lands since the day of their inception as a state of Pakistan,” Ibadat said, as he demanded the UN to pull up Pakistan and question it over its relentless efforts to erase the indigenous people.
