Pakistani elections in Balochistan will prolong Baloch slavery and state brutalities: Hyrbyair Marri

LONDON: Baloch national leader and head of Free Balochistan Movement (FBM) Hyrbyair Marri has urged the people of Balochistan to boycott the Pakistan general elections.

In a statement, Marri said, “The Balochs should boycott Pakistani elections like the previous one in Balochistan because through these polls, Pakistan will prolong its brutalities and slavery on Balochistan.”

Marri further said that refusing to vote would be the voice of freedom of the Balochs before the world, and urged them to do their utmost to refrain from taking part in the polls.

“If anyone is forcibly dragged to the polling station by stooges of state, then instead of voting for so-called Baloch nationalists the vote should be destroyed. So that your vote, instead of strengthening the Baloch slavery, can weaken it,” he added.

Marri said that the Pakistani military and intelligence agencies have been committing crimes against the Baloch people in the past seventy years and that the Pakistani media and judiciary have always protected their brutalities.

“The Pakistani media never reports about Pakistani army’s atrocities against Baloch people nor does the judiciary ever asks the army general, who are involved in Baloch genocide, to appear before the court of law. Colonising Balochistan is Pakistani state policy and all Pakistani political parties, media and judiciary support this state policy [colonisation of Balochistan]. The media fully supports Pakistani Army’s crimes in Balochistan and the judiciary gives legal protection to war criminals,” he said.

He further said whether it is the discovery of mass graves from Khuzdar and Panjgur, the case of 20,000 enforced disappearances or the issue of kill and dump policy, the Pakistani judiciary has protected the Army and ISI.

“The so-called judicial commissions have decreased the number of thousands of missing Baloch to only few hundred to save Pakistan army from international pressure for their crimes in Balochistan,” he added.

The Baloch leader recalled, “In 2012, Pakistan FC abducted three Baloch youth from Serena Hotel Quetta and their CCTV footage was given to the court by the police, but on the second day of the court order to produce the three Baloch youth, they were killed and their dead bodies dumped in Quetta. When the IG FC was summoned to the court to answer about this incident, he refused to appear before the court and the judiciary closed the case against FC.”

He said that during the current tug of war between the Punjabi elite and military, Justice Shaukat Siddiqui, a Pakistan High Court judge, openly confessed that the ISI advised the judiciary to keep former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz in jail till the elections, and added that ISI is involved in the selection of judges for the judicial investigation benches.

“Justice Siddiqui’s confession supports the stand of the Baloch freedom struggle that Pakistan’s political, legal and other institutions are controlled by the Army and the media, judiciary and military are equally involved in Baloch genocide,” Marri continued.

He further said that the people of Baloch have faith in international courts and hoped that they will bring the Pakistani military generals to justice.

Marri concluded saying the international military intervention is the only solution to stop Baloch genocide by the Pakistan Army.