Phosphorous bombs use in Baluchistan alleged

WASHINGTON DC, Aug. 2, 2008: Two U.S.-based organizations, that have both Baluch and American members, have urged U.S. presidential hopefuls and senators Barack Obama and John McCain to turn a new leaf on Baluchistan and accused the Pakistan army and dreaded Intelligence Service Intelligence of waging a covert war to subvert democracy in Afghanistan and attack the International Security Assistance Force and Afghan troops there.

Ahmar Mustikhan, founder of the American Friends of Baluchistan, and Dr. Wahid Baloch, president of the Baloch Society of North America, in a joint letter Saturday to Obama and McCain, copies of which were sent to all 21 members of the senate foreign relations committee, cited the example of the December 14, 2007 escape of Rashid Rauf from an Islamabad jail as clear proof of Pakistan spy service Inter Services Intelligence involvement in Afghanistan, with the blessings of high officials, including Pakistan coup leader-turned- president, General ( Retired) Pervez Musharraf.

The letter was written in the backdrop of Pakistan Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani's visit to the U.S. earlier this week.

Gilani met both Obama and McCain.

"You can not expect a mother to kill its child," the statement said. "In the same way, in spite of receiving more than $10 billion in U.S. aid, including $5.6 billion in Coalition Support Fund, since 9/11 Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence continued to secretly nurture the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Rauf's escape from jail illustrates this point."

According to Abdus Samad Baloch, president of the Balochistan Action Committee, U.K, Pakistan army used phosphorous bombs and other chemical weapons to target the Baloch in the Kach, Uch and Gandhawa areas of Baluchistan two weeks ago. "The bodies were never returned to the relatives but buried in mass graves, to cover up women and children casualties," Samad Baloch said.

To drive home the point that some things never change, Mustikhan and Baloch drew an analogy between Pakistan army and I.S.I. belief in jihad with the views of two U.S. media hosts, Bill O'Reilly, who is a diehard conservative, and Keith Operman, who is staunchly liberal.

Following is the full text of their letter:

"We are quite sure in your meeting with Yousaf Raza Gilani, Pakistan's prime minister handpicked by Asif Ali Zardari, spouse of twice-premier the late Benazir Bhutto, earlier this week you might not have heard any mention of the area-wise largest Baluchistan state or the ethnic cleansing Pakistan army is conducting there.

Strategically located, Baluchistan is an economic power house and is of great importance to the world.

Briefly, Baluchistan is the Texas-sized region divided among Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan and forms the northern lip of the Straits of Hormuz. The area under Pakistani army occupation is slightly bigger than New Mexico. The area under Iranian mullahs is the size of Nevada, and that with our Afghan brothers is the size of West Virginia. The total Baluch population in these areas is 10 million, and more than 10 million Baluch live elsewhere in the world, including the Arabian Gulf.

We urge you to send a comprehensive, bi-partisan congressional fact finding mission to Baluchistan, where an army operation is going on, to visit with the Baluch families who lost their near and dear ones, and also those who have no clue whether if their loved ones are alive in Pakistan's torture cells or dead.

We are at the same time extremely concerned that Pakistan army generals have successfully double-crossed the world and the United States regarding Afghanistan, notwithstanding its public claim of being an ally of the United States.

We like to bring to your notice one example that makes it clear that the hands of Pakistani army generals are tainted with the blood of innocent Afghans and soldiers of the International Security Assistance Force. This case was the "escape" of high profile terrorist Rashid Rauf, 26, from a jail in Islamabad, engineered by the I.S.I. in December last year, just weeks prior to his extradition to the U.K.

Rauf was in direct contact with Al Qaeda's Ayman Alzwahiri in the aborted 2006 Transatlantic Airline Plot that sought to blow up airliners flying from U.K to the U.S. and Canada.

When a senior Pakistani journalist M. Ziauddin asked General Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistani coup leader turned president, about Rauf's escape at a Press conference in London early this year, Musharraf lost his cool. He accused Ziauddin of being "unpatriotic" and suggested to his countrymen in the U.K. to beat up such questioning journalists. This should leave no doubts Pakistan state and government were involved at the highest level in Rauf's flight from justice.

Jihad is the cornerstone of Pakistan's military philosophy, from the erstwhile East Pakistan [now Bangladesh], to Baluchistan, to Kashmir to Afghanistan, and beyond. To expect the Pakistan army to discard the concept of jihad is like expecting Bill O'Reilly or Keith Operman to change their world outlook. The Baluch people are among the foremost victims of this jihad being waged by Pakistan army and Frontier Corps.

On the other hand, you will be surprised Pakistan's Military Intelligence kidnapped a U.S. citizen from Yuba City, Calif., Dr. Safdar Sarki on Feb. 24, 2006 on a suspicion he is an American agent. Sarki was subjected to extreme torture in Gestapo-style dungeons for 20 months and was questioned about the assignment the U.S. had given to him for Baluchistan. Like Sarki's kidnapping, we are of the firm belief Pakistan's intelligence services were directly involved in the killing of Wall Street Journal's Daniel Pearl.

Pakistan's status as "one of the most allied ally of the United States" changed overnight with the start of the Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan in 2001. Islamabad's state interests-- as perceived by the jihadist army generals there--, came into direct conflict with the vital security interests of the Free World. Before the U.S. drove out Taliban from power, Pakistan army generals were calling Afghanistan their fifth province.

The people of Baluchistan find themselves in double jeopardy because they have no interest in Pakistan but still have been at the receiving end of Pakistan army jets, choppers and guns--mostly supplied by the U.S.-- for more than 60 years now. Thousands of Baluch citizens have been killed in five army operations over the last six decades.

If the nationalist forces are defeated at the hands of Pakistan army, the way will be paved for the Talibanization of Baluchistan, a cherished goal of the Pakistani generals.

Please do not let this happen.

Prime Minister Gilani must not have told you that Baluchistan was never part of Pakistan, that it was granted independence separately from India and Pakistan by the British, and that it was an independent state for seven and half months after the British departure from India.

Baluchistan was annexed by Pakistan through deceit and under the point of gun on March 27, 1948. Over the last six decades, Nazi-style brutalities have been used by Pakistan army to silence the people of Baluchistan. These include rape, sodomy, cutting off of genitals, throwing off Baluch freedom fighters from flying helicopters and nailing them on the cross to extract information about the resistance.

More than 4,000 Baluch are still missing because of an on-going army operation, while more than 250,000 Marri and Bugti tribesmen have been evicted from their homes and driven to destitution.

Just in the last 10 days, out of sheer frustration Pakistan army and militia killed more than 100 people, mostly women and children, and many of the bodies kept lying in the Dera Bugti area unattended.

The newest military operation started in 2005 and is the fifth in Baluchistan' s blood-checkered history since Pakistan's forced annexation of our homeland. The victims include Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, 81, former chief minister and governor of Baluchistan and chief of the Bugti tribe. His last remains were not returned to his family, who have demanded an international inquiry into his brutal slaying.

Such things are unimaginable in the civilized world, but Musharraf congratulated Pakistan army for carrying out the assassination of Nawab Bugti on Agust 26, 2006. Musharraf used slurs such as "pygmy"against the Baluch leaders who are against Pakistan's rapacious exploitation of Baluch natural resources. It's a shame the U.S. has lionized and propped up Musharraf for seven years now.

Islamabad owes Baluchistan $15 billion in unpaid dues for natural gas that comes from the Bugti tribal territory and this was one of the main motives for Nawab Bugti's assassination.

In this context, we would like to draw your attention to a statement by the Vice-president of the ruling People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) Mir Baz Mohammad Khan Khetran that was published in Pakistan's oldest Dawn newspaper on July 27, 2008. Khetran said the genocide of the Baloch people was still continuing in spite of the recent change of government.

The killing of the Baluch and the loot and plunder of their resources are going hand in hand. In this connection, reports have trickled about massive corruption by the dominant Punjabi and Mohajir groups in the world's fifth largest copper and gold project, worth $65 billion at Riko Diq in Baluchistan.

Earlier, in May 1998 Pakistan tested its deadly nuclear bomb in Baluchistan against the wishes of the natives. Hundreds of square miles of Baluch territories have been laid waste for good and the Baluch nomads have lost their livelihood. There is reportedly outbreak of unheard of skin diseases in the area and premature death of nomadic livestock. The Congressional Fact Finding Mission must also visit Chagai to find out from the local people how the nuclear tests have impacted their lives

It's a strange paradox: Baluchistan is extremely rich but the people are extremely poor; the enslaved state also has the highest infant mortality rate in the world.

To solve the matters peacefully in the interests of all stakeholders, the De Jure Ruler of Baluchistan "Beglar Begi"--a historic title for the Baluchistan sovereign that means Prince among Princes-- Khan of Kalat Suleman Daud Ahmedzai is seeking justice for the Baluch people at the International Court of Justice at the Hague. He was given this mandate at a historic jirga, or traditional tribal assembly, soon after Nawab Bugti's slaying. The jirga was attended by nearly 500 chieftains and notables and 1,000 other delegates representing all walks of Baluch social and political life.

We urge you to throw your weight in support of the Baluchistan case at the I.C.J. and in any future dealings with Pakistan, insist on the right to self-determination for the people of Baluchistan.

In a related development, an online poll shows as much as 97 percent of Baluch people want the International Security Assistance Force under General David McKiernan to replace the Pakistan army in Baluchistan.

A secular, democratic and independent Baluchistan state can ensure peace in Afghanistan. Under no circumstances can the Taliban and Al Qaeda be allowed to defeat the resolve of the world for peace and sanity in Afghanistan. We strongly condemn Pakistan's military generals in Rawalpindi for covertly waging an undeclared war through its proxies like Maulvi Jalaluddin Haqqani against Afghanistan' s democratic government.

If you reach out to the people of Baluchistan, you will in fact be doing a great service to the Star-Spangled banner, the people of Afghanistan and the world at large.

We pray you may turn a new leaf on Baluchistan, " the statement concluded.