Viva Obama; Biden urged to help end Baluch oppression: By Shehmir Gorgej

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WASHINGTON DC, NOV 5: The American Friends of Baluchistan has expressed delight over the victory of President Barack Obama and said his victory has raised the hopes of enslaved nations seeking international justice.

In a missive to Vice President Joe Biden, veteran journalist and AFB founder Ahmar Mustikhan pointed out that Pakistan's rogue army is one of the most dangerous force in the world today and the new U.S. administration should help downsize it. He regretted in the past Pakistani military despots enjoyed U.S. blessings and urged Biden to initiate direct talks with the De Jure Ruler of Baluchistan, Khan of Kalat Mir Suleman Daud Ahmedzai. Copies of the letter were also sent to House Majority leader Steny Hoyer, Senators Bob Casey and Barbara Mikulski, and Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley. Following is the full text of Mustikhan's letter: Like the rest of humankind, I heaved a huge sigh of relief Tuesday night when the victory of honorable Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States was announced on television. In celebration, I kissed the land of the United States one more time in College Park in Maryland just as I had done on disembarking from an airplane at the JFK airport in New York more than eight years ago , on the thought of living a life free of fear and shame. Not to flatter you, your historic win is the triumph of American reason over the forces of bigotry, as if the breaking of dawn after eight long years of a world enveloped by darkness, fear, terror, hatred and insecurity. Your victory is also a big leap forward towards completing the unfinished agenda of the American Civil War. I was interviewed by a journalist Tuesday night and I said the results have shown there is no room for racism in the United States. “I am proud to be in the U.S.,” I told the journalist. For many months now my favorite slogan has been Viva Obama and I raised the same slogan on Tuesday night in downtown Washington D.C. to the thunderous applause of young Americans of different racial backgrounds—whites, blacks, Asians, Hispanics. Under your able leadership, now is the time for healing on Mother Earth, a time for the U.S. to undo past wrongs and re-establish its moral authority in the world. The enslaved, tormented and brutalized people of the world, like my own ethnic Baluchistan people in Pakistan, have pinned great hopes on you to make amends for the harm done to us by successive U.S. administrations since the close of World War II. For more than half of its independent existence, Pakistan has been ruled by military despots, who enjoyed U.S. blessings. The country's army, which should be an organ of the state in any civilized country, promoted itself into a ruling “institution” destroying democratic polity and civil society. Unless and until this rogue army of Pakistan is significantly downsized, the entire world, including the Pakistanis themselves, will continue to suffer. The area wise largest Baluchistan province has been at the receiving end of this ruthless army since it never wanted to become part of Pakistan in the first place. You might be knowing, for more than seven months after the British left India divided Baluchistan was not a part of Pakistan but was an independent nation. In March 1948, it was forced into annexation with Pakistan at gunpoint. This historic injustice must now be undone. For nearly six decades, U.S. arms were used to let lose a reign of terror against the secular Baluch people. In recent months, U.S. F-16s and Cobra helicopters were used against the Baluch resisting the exploitation of their natural resources. In recent months, Baluch freedom fighters were burnt alive by the Pakistani army. Pakistan had also conducted nuclear tests on Baluchistan soil against the wishes of the Baluch people, who are totally opposed to nuclear weapons. But now with your victory there's a hope all this will change. We are all the more happy because none knows better than President Barack Obama what slavery entails for the human race. We are delighted at the thought you have been a strong advocate of balkanization of artificially created, unnatural states which can breed nothing but hatred, terrorism, strife and instability for entire nations. The Baluch have fought five wars of liberation against Pakistan army, which is today the fourth largest army in the world and equipped with nuclear arms. Highly popular political leaders like the former governor and chief minister of Baluchistan Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti and state assembly member Nawabzada Bala'ach Marri were killed extra judicially by the Pakistani army during the last two years. All this must now come to an end under your able leadership. Just because people of different ethnic background belong to one religion can never be a guarantee of sound statehood. The oppressed Baluch minority have nothing in common with the dominant Punjab, which is the bastion of Pakistan's military. Just because the myopic British drew artificial boundaries, leading to enslavement of the Baluch people in Pakistan and Iran, does not mean the world, especially the U.S., should close its eyes towards our plight. Just two days ago, there was a historic rally in Quetta , capital of Baluchistan, where people raised slogans in favor of independence. This was, by and large, a Baluch referendum against Pakistan. I urge you to promote Baluchistan as a priority issue for the new U.S. administration's Asian policy. I must assure you this is a surefire way of dealing with the Al Qaeda in Pakistan. Thankfully, your honorable self knows better than any other U.S. politician that Pakistan army had hoodwinked the U.S. that it is their ally in the war on terror, while secretly supporting the Al Qaeda. The U.S. must curtail the powers of the Pakistan army and support the right of self-determination of the Baluch people, both in the interest of world peace and in its own enlightened self-interest. Towards that end I urge you to initiate direct talks with the Baluchistan leadership, including the De Jure Ruler of Baluchistan Khan of Kalat Mir Suleman Daud Ahmedzai, who is now in self-exile in the United Kingdom. I have had the privilege to work as a journalist in the pciture-pretty town of St. Mary's in Maryland and some of your colleagues including honorable House Majority leader Steny Hoyer, honorable Senator Barbara Mikulski and honorable Governor Martin O'Malley have known me personally. Likewise, I have been in touch with honorable Senator Bob Casey on Baluchistan issues and I am sure he can vouch on my behalf. It is unfortunate some U.S. legislators look upon Pakistan as a sacred cow, completely ignoring Baluchistan, and I am confident you will be able to change this flawed outlook. I urge you now is the time to turn a new page on Baluchistan. I look forward to your kind personal interest in securing the right to self-determination for the people of Baluchistan. I am a Buddhist, but just for today let me say God Bless the USA.”

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