Speech by Balach Marri in the Seminar on Positioning Pakistan in
“War Against Terrorism”

<sup>Role of Liberation Movements and Progressive forces with in Pakistan to Save Guard, Global Interests.

First of All I would like to thank Sindhi Baloch Forum to provide me an opportunity to moderate such an important topic of the Workshop. Let me define the first agenda of this session, which will be discussing, The Role of Liberation Movements and Progressive forces with in Pakistan to Save Guard, Global Interests. Before I put the agenda on the floor I would like to define the scope of the agenda, which means how Sindhi Baloch forum perceive this issue.

Let me tell you that the Sindhi Baloch nationalists including my self never supported the Taliban or their ideology because, Taliban are:
1. Creation of ISI (Inter Services Intelligence) of Pakistan and CIA.
2. Fundamentalist in views and way of governance.
3. Violator of Human rights

But on the other hand I don’t approve the gruesome killings and abuses of Human rights, of the Afghan people and the POW’s in Qalai Janghi and other places by the West and its allies.
The war in Afghanistan has directly effected Balochistan and Sindh in many ways and its effects are going to surface in years to come. The demography of the region is seriously threatened by the influx of refugees from Afghanistan, which is going to create conflicts of interest between the refugees and the native people of the Sindh and Balochistan (who are already deprived of their basic social and human rights in Pakistan), leading to unsuitability in the region.</sup>

^{Keeping this satiation in mind the International community should look in to the matter more seriously and address the problems of the indigenous people of Balochistan and Sindh. I think the USA should be more interested in the stability of the region if it really wants to fight a war against terrorism in this part of the World.}

^{Though the West calls it a war against terrorism, I think it is not a conventional war and it shouldn’t be fought in the conventional way, this should be more a war of prevention of terrorism then a war of curing it. International community should be looking into the reasons, why terrorism breeds and the reasons behind it, where the roots lie, instead of trying to cut its head. Bombing does not kill terrorism it breeds it.}

^{When there is unjust and people are continuously mistreated and deprived of their basic human rights and have no where to go and no one to ask justice from, this forces many people to go into depression, depression leads to anger and anger leads to retaliation. The weaker person is always branded as a terrorist. Such people are left with no other choices and have nothing to lose, they resort to terrorism, no one in a normal state of mind will resort to terrorism. “Terrorism is a weapon of the weak, but mostly used by the strong” as said by Prof. Chomsky. Therefore we believe the international community should support and pay attention towards peaceful struggle of the progressive forces in Pakistan who are standing for their rights.}

^{For last 52 years all the Nations in Pakistan “Terrorist State” have been oppressed and deprived of their basic rights by one Nation known as Punjab.}

^{Pakistan is a country, not a Nation and it should not be treated as a Nation. It should be treated as a country of many Nations and Nationalities, every Nation in Pakistan should have equal rights and representation. So called “Pakistani Democracy” is good to elect a Government of so called majority, but is no good to give equal rights and safeguard the interest of all the Nations in Pakistan. The democracy in the context of Pakistan, is not a democracy, when one province or a nation rules over others in the name of democracy.}

^{I shall repeat again saying of Prof. Chomisky in his recent Seminar in Lahore, “The crimes of 11th September are the history turning point, but not because of their scale, rather because of the choice of targets. It is the first time, almost in two centuries, the guns have been pointed in the opposite direction and this is a historic change.”}

<sup>If USA wants to fight its war against terrorism in Pakistan it should encourage and support the progressive forces within Pakistan who are the real voice and representatives of the masses. When these forces will decide their destiny - it will reduce the points of conflicts in the region. These Nations then can be able to concentrate on their developments, which eventually lead these nations far from any religious, cultural, racial, and corporate fundamentalism. If USA wants to fight its war against terrorism, it should curtail its hunger for power, which may lead them having slightly smaller share of the booty but it will help them to win the war against terrorism.

            Thank you

on Sunday, December 2nd, 2001

Organizers: World Sindhi Congress & Baloch Voice (Sindhi Baloch forum)</sup>

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