NEWSLINKS US EDITION SOUTH ASIA COLUMNISTS DIARY SPECIALS INTERVIEWS CAPITAL BUZZ REDIFF POLL THE STATES ELECTIONS ARCHIVES SEARCH REDIFF
Sujit Chatterjee in Durban
Charging Islamabad with violation of human rights in Sindh and Baluchistan, movements from the two Pakistani provinces have appealed to the United Nations to take immediate action "to stop arbitrary arrests and extra-judicial killings".
"When a state fails to safeguard the basic human rights of its people, it should become everyone's concern," Muttahida Quami Movement leader M Anwar told reporters on the sidelines of the World Conference Against Racism in Durban on Wednesday.
"The UN, by its charter, should take prompt and immediate action," he said.
"The mohajirs want to be allowed to live as ordinary citizens with equal rights and justice and without any fear of arbitrary arrest and persecution," Anwar said.
"The UN should make the Pakistani authorities understand that their treatment of mohajirs falls well short of the one expected from a civilised country," he added.
The Baluchistan Rights Movement asked the world community to support its "quest for freedom from bondage and enslavement of the Punjabi rulers of Pakistan".
BRM general secretary Mehran Baluch cited the example of Nawab Khair Baksh Marri, a 75-year-old veteran politician and tribal chief, who was languishing in a Quetta jail since January last year, although no specific charge had been levelled against him.
Baluch said in Baluchistan, basic fundamental rights of the people had been "totally usurped" and the "demand for basic amenities is responded to with bullets".
Maintaining that the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan provided for royalty for Baluchistan for exploitation of natural gas reserves at Sui, he said, "The tyrannical and colonialist Punjabi rulers have not implemented that provision."
"Exploitation of natural resources of Baluchistan for the benefit of Punjab is continuing unabated, depriving the Baluchs of their right to ownership of their wealth," he said.
On the plight of the mohajirs, Anwar said, "The community has been suffering all kinds of human rights abuses, racial discrimination and xenophobic behaviour of the Punjabi establishment."
"Even after 54 years of independence, the freedom to exercise fundamental human rights is yet to be witnessed," Anwar said, adding that since 1992 over 15,000 mohajir men and women had been tortured, extra-judicially killed or maimed for life by enforcement agencies.
"Besides, a large number of women are being raped by security forces and their support groups," he said.
PTI
Tell us what you think of this report
