Pro-independence Baloch team leaving for Geneva

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Charles Graves

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A team of five well-known pro-independence Baloch-American activists is reaching Geneva next week to attend the 13th session of the U.N. Human Rights Council meeting on the invitation of Mehran Baluch of the Interfaith International.

The team includes Laurie Deamer {Philadelphia] , Malik Baloch [Houston], Zaffar Baloch [Toronto], and Aziz Baloch [Vancouver].

Deamer and Malik Baloch are presiding council members of the pro-independence American Friends of Balochistan, while Zaffar Baloch and Aziz Baloch are members of the Baloch Human Rights Council, Canada.

During their stay in Geneva, the team will apprise the international delegates about the ongoing liberation struggle in Balochistan. Pakistan and most western media call the struggle an insurgency, but Baloch patriots call the unending trail of blood and tears as the Fifth War of Liberation.

The A.F.B. firmly believes in the independence of Pakistani and Iranian-occupied Baloch territories, while many of the B.H.R.C. cadres also think on the same lines.

The North American team visit to Geneva comes in the wake of the suspension of the consultative status of the Interfaith International on the bidding of Pakistan and its imperial master, China.

Deamer will present Dr. Charles Graves, general secretary of the Interfaith International, an award of the American Friends of Balochistan named after Baloch martyr Ghulam Mohammad Baloch, who was killed by the Pakistani military intelligence alongwith two of his comrades, Lala Munir Baloch and Sher Mohammad Baloch, in April last year.

In a rare move, the U.S. embassy in Islamabad had condemned the killing of the three leaders.

Called "Shaheed Ghulam Mohammad Baloch -- A Profile in Courage Award" the award will be given to public figures and NGO representatives who raise the profile of the Baloch struggle at the U.N. Human Rights Council.

"We thank the governments of the United States and United Kingdom  for vehemently opposing the move by the worst violators of human rights to get the consultative status of Interfaith International canceled for good," the A.F.B. said in a statement. "However, we wished they should have done more."

The A.F.B. also thanked all those states and governments who defended the Interfaith International.

"We are pleased to confer this award on Dr. Charles Graves, general secretary of the Interfaith International for his meritorious and dedicated services for not only the Baloch people languishing in the Occupied Territories, but many other nationalities in South Asia, including the Sindhis and Kashmiris," Deamer said in her statement.