Taha Siddiqui applies for asylum in France; first Baloch speech at UN

Almost anyone who does objective journalism, research or lobbies for curtailing the ISI influence in Pakistan politics almost immediately becomes an unwanted person and either gets killed or flees Pakistan.

The latest to flee Pakistan is Taha Siddiqui, a journalist, who has applied for asylum in France. Taha Siddiqui spoke at the conference in Geneva and will again be speaking there in March, according to a reporter in Geneva.

Now in Western safety, Siddiqui tweeted Tuesday, "Pakistan Army needs to really decide if it wants to further iasolate Pakistan globally or stop sponsoring proxies."

Taha Siddiqui was also sympathetic towards the Baloch demanding freedom from Pakistan and escaped a kidnapping attempt by Pakistan secret services. Though the name of the ISI surfaces in most cases, another brutal organization targeting journalists and political activists is the Military Intelligence.

All fertile minds, whether local or foreign, are unwanted in Pakistan. One of the country's best diplomats and scholars, former ambassador to the United States Husain Haqqani is one of them. Americans unwanted in Pakistan include Professor Thomas H. Johnson, who recently joined the American Friends of Balochistan, Professor Christine C. Fair, both of who are critical of the ISI policy of backing Taliban and journalists such as Carlotta Gall and Declan Welsh, whose expose of Pakistan's secret dirty war put them on the wrong side of the ISI.

In recent years, a number of the best brains of Balochistan were forced to flee Pakistan, raising the slogan Pakistan say zindabaag (Run from Pakistan in one piece). These relatively new exiles include my good friends Kamal Ayub in Germany and Razzak Sarbazi in Sweden.

I look back to the time when I had arrived in USA and six months later became the first Baloch to speak for Balochistan at the UN Human Rights Comission, today called council. I feel like the state of Vwermont to be the first in many things: from being the first openly gay guy to being the first Baloch to speak at the United Nations on Balochistan.

Madam Chairperson, this is a fact not fiction, the Baloch woman who for the first time in her life sees the glow of bulb in her master's home and asks him, "Master what is this magic? Can I take t home for my children?" This Madam Chairperson is the darkness we face in this new millennium.

My speech that I delivered 17 years ago, I like to share with my readers. A day or so after i spoke, Mehran Baluch, who has now been declared an unwanted person in Switzerland, spoke there for the first time.

I spoke on Item 11, Civil and Political Rights during the 57th session of the United Nations Commission for Human Rights. he topic of my speech was Taliba'anization of Balochistan.

Here is my complete speech, delivered on or around March 10, 2001:

I am representing the World federation of Trade Unions and will be speaking on Item 11 relating to civil and political rights. I appreciate the serious efforts being made by the commission for humann rights to secure these rights for hapless people, like me.. the commission had set up a number of working groups against arbitrary detention, disappearances, and summary executions, denial of right of freedom of expression etc. I however regret to note that the terrible plight of my people did not receive the attention of the working groups.

I represent the unfortunate people of Balochistan, the over 40 percent land mass and illegally annexed south western province of Pakistan, who have been discriminated in every respect by the politically dominant Punjabi lobby.

Imagine Madam Chairperson, this is a fact not fiction, the Baloch woman who for the first time in her life sees the glow of bulb in her master's home and asks him, "Master what is this magic? Can I take t home for my children?" This Madam Chairperson is the darkness we face in this new millennium.

As if the butchery and savagery of the past bloody military operations were not enough, many of our political activists have been arrested and tortured.  Mir Abdul Nabi Bangulzai and Alam Parkani have been detained without trial for the past many months and tortured in Nazi-style torture camps. I myself had to flee the country to the safety of the West, where I am currently seeking asylum. the last over quarter century of continuous, unmitigated and rapacious plundering of the natural resources of Balochistan, has led to drought, hunger and poverty.

The Pakistani Coast Guards, civil armed forces and federally controlled militia have made life of the common man miserable by committing excesses on them on a daily basis. there is absolutely no avenue for redress as the military government had even pressured lawyers of Balochistan not to defend the regime;'s political opponents. They are denying us the right to life madam Chairperson and have violated man's contract with God and nature by testing.nuclear weapons on our peaceful lands. Our underground water resources have become polluted and the radiation levels there have not been checked (In fact, Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission forbade any environmental impact assessments, I later came to know.) . Camels of our nomads are dying and vegetables have lost their taste and our future generations may be born crippled.

They are denying us the right to life madam Chairperson and have violated man's contract with God and nature by testing.nuclear weapons on our peaceful lands. Our underground water resources have become polluted and the radiation levels there have not beeCamels of our nomads are dying and vegetables have lost their taste and our future generations may be born crippled.

In spite of this holocaust, state terrorism is in full swing on my ancestral state with much-dreaded security forces innocent people for raising their voice against injustice caused to them personally and collectively.  emands for impartial and independent probes have fallen on deaf and arrogant ears. The premier Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Balochistan chapter, in its last year's resolutions had expressed concerns over the deteriorating law and order situation, falling education standards, increasing unemployment, child abuse, corruption and presence of private jails in the province.

the commission condemned the killing of Justice Mohammed Nawaz Marri and criticised the police for not making serious efforts to to bring te real killers to justice. As if to add insult to injury, leading Baloch nationalist Khair Bakhsh Marri (now deceased) has been falsely implicated in the case, jailed, harassed and security forces have moved into his village to take control of prospective oil wells. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan also highlighted seriousness of the diabolical problems of child abuse through their kidnapping and smuggling to Gulf countries for camel races.

In fact they seem poised to once again redden our beautiful mountains with the blood of the best sons of our soil. All this si because the defense establishment sees wild and weird dreams of their country flag unfurled on foreign lands.  

The commission also demanded closure of the training camps of the militant organizations in the province. these organizations have been established in recent years with direct support of seucrity forces and have been taking away children from schools and homes for their so-called jihadi activities in places like Afghanistan, Kashmir, Sinkiang, Chechnaya and where not.

I have absolutely no doubts in my mind that certain omnipotent lobbies (Deep State) have a vested interest in the resultant universal bloodshed and madness. The scene is ominous and goose-pimpling as under the state's massive tutelage Talibanization is underway in Balochistan, endangerings not only our society but also human sanity, decency and world civilization and culture.

I have absolutely no doubts in my mind that certain omnipotent lobbies (Deep State) have a vested interest in the resultant universal bloodshed and madness. The scene is ominous and goose-pimpling as under the state's massive tutelage Talibanization is underway in Balochistan, endangering not only our society but also human sanity, decency and world civilization and culture.

The commission's call for taking corrective measures have so far not moved the Musharraf army regime ruling Pakistan. In fact they seem poised to once again redden our beautiful mountains with the blood of the best sons of our soil. All this si because the defense establishment sees wild and weird dreams of their country flag unfurled on foreign lands.

The junta chief (Musharraf) in his speech at Quetta, capital of Balochistan last year, confessed that all previous governments had ignored Balochistan, creating a sense of deprivation among its people. Nothing has changed our soldiers sans frontiers continue with the same old iron-fist tactics and measures.

Balochistan, like the other provinces NWFP (now Khyber Pashtunkhwa) and Sindh, was deprived of its political and economic rights. The military government has further strangulated the people's voice. The recent holding of local council elections was nothing but a farce to deprive the provinces of whatever was left of their powers. in these elections, 80 percent of the candidates have returned unopposed  and there were no elections in 26 out of the 32 union councils. Our people have been agitating for long for free, fair and impartial elections for a constituent assembly to frame a new constitution for te country in which all the numerically big and small units will enjoy equal powers and representation.

All the governments so far have ignored these demands. at the point of gun, the old equations in regard to provincial powers have further been eroded by eliminating some of the districts and making changes in the boundaries of others arbitrarily by the governor. Shamelessly, all this is happening in the name of devolution of powers as if this huge wide world is deaf and blind.

Political and economic deprivation spanning over half century, coupled with the may 1998 nuclear blasts, have all left us in abject poverty, hunger and disease. People are being denied medical care and Baloch doctors have been arrested on false corruption charges. Last year (2000), two million people were affected by a killer drought. We are facing a similar situation this summer too but the government is not taking any measures to alleviate the situation. the Punjabi lobby thwarted all attempts for equitable distribution of water resources, thereby placing other provinces at a disadvantage. 

Madam chairperson on behalf of my people I request the commission to give directions to concerned working groups to investigate the political and economic deprivation of our people and convince the government of Pakistan to take immediate corrective steps to wipe away the tears from the faces of my people and grant us the right to life, at least.

Pakistan to take immediate corrective steps to wipe away the tears from the faces of my people and grant us the right to life, at least.