Humanists International publishes some of the best
international coverage on the rights violations and abuses of the humanist
population in the world. The main or flagship report is the Freedom of Thought Report each year.
Another put out this year is the Humanists
at Risk: Action Report 2020 covering some of the gaps in the secularism
principle for governments, or the separation of religion and government.
Nations highlighted in the reportage on the Humanists at Risk: Action Report 2020 were Colombia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka. Humanists International covered a wide range of tactics used by start actors to restrict freedom of conscience, religion, and thought, or association, assembly, and expression of atheists, humanists, and non-religious people.
Some of the privileges for the religious or limits on rights for the humanists included various legal provisions in the form of blasphemy and apostasy laws, a variety of injuries, attacks, and killings based on social reprisals, the discrimination by the state to limit access to certain public services and positions, and the well-known and thoroughly documented bullying, discrimination, social isolation, and ostracism.
Even in online spaces, many humanists and atheists
fear arrest, intimidation, prosecution, and threats based on posts to various social
media. The protection of the lives, the attainment of respect and
acknowledgment, and the change of legislation for more equitable status for the
secular around the world are some of the main items needing doing now – for the
sake of generations of humanists and atheists after us.
Humanists international stated, “Stories from India portray the most brutal form for
violence humanists and rationalists face. Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare,
M.M. Kalburgi and H Farook were all shot and killed for opposing superstition,
criticizing idol worship or religion (read about more cases on page 24 to 26).
Failures in the investigation and prosecution of such cases leads to a climate
of fear, which may stifle the voices of otherwise outspoken individuals.”
With an assessment of the eight target countries, Humanists International, they have put (Humanists International) have put forward a series of recommendations for each country regarding the things that they can do to improve the situation and the contexts for “humanists and non-religious people.” Tied to this, they aim for the furtherance of the protection of the freedom of conscience, religion, and thought, or association, assembly, and expression.
Based
on the assessment made on the eight target countries, Humanists International
has put forward recommendations for each country intending to improve the
situation for humanists and non-religious people and to protect the freedom of
thought, conscience, and religion and the right to freedom of expression,
association and assembly.
“For
too long humanists and other non-religious people have been invisible in the
eyes of their own governments and international organizations,” Chief Executive
of Humanists International, Gary McLelland, stated, “This report shines a light
on the targeted violence, continued harassment and social discrimination faced
by humanists in many countries and opens the door to conversations on how best
to protect humanists worldwide. What is clear is that all laws and policies
which criminalize ‘blasphemy’ should be repealed.”
Humanists International emphasized the importance of
OSCE states to repeal laws criminalizing the proliferation of ‘fake news’ and
misinformation and to respect the fundamental right to the freedom of
expression.
They made the call at the OSCE Supplementary Human
Dimension Meeting II (SHDM) on Freedom of Expression, Media and Information held
online from June 22 to 23. Advocacy
Officer for Humanists International, Lillie Ashworth, took the time to explain
the importance of freedom of expression in moments of crisis and extremity in which
governments should, as Humanists International reported, “ensure transparency and access to quality, diverse and
independent sources of information as a precondition to protecting public
health.”
Repressive laws criminalizing the spread of fake news have
been used to arbitrarily detain, arrest, and harass critics of governments,
health professionals, and journalists. All this is in violation of the
fundamental right to freedom of expression on the part of state forces who
should be the first forces to protect and enshrine the rights rather than
oppress individual citizens using them.
Most of the cases have been false accusations of
individuals accused of “spreading panic” while, in fact, they were at the
forefront of reporting on the failures to contain the spread of the coronavirus
by state actors or heads of government. They could point out a lack of
ventilators, or PPE and intensive care beds.
Within the OSCE region, Armenia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and other state actors have been rather oppressive in these domains, for these reasons, in restriction of the fundamental human right to freedom of expression. Humanists International released a statement on the issue covering the idea that criminal law is not an appropriate manner in which to combat “rumours and misinformation,” while these merely serve to revoke the freedom of speech rights from individual speakers (akin to the aforementioned); thus, this keeps the wider population in a struggle to maintain verbal autonomy and expression of popular and unpopular opinions equally.
“Only by upholding
an environment free from punitive censorship laws are individuals empowered to
think critically and practice safe self-governance in a manner consistent with
public health,” Humanists International stated, “When it comes to fighting fake
news and misinformation narratives during the Covid-19 crisis, Humanists
International’s approach has consistently been to emphasise access to clear and
accurate information, and to encourage critical thinking and a healthy degree
of scepticism when encountering information online.”
Indeed,
at the Closing Session for the SHDM, Humanists International’s call was taken
up, as a discussion on the construction of OSCE guidelines was put forward for tackling
disinformation with concomitant respect for the freedom of expression.
The Cultural and Secular Jewish Organizations reported on the news coming out of the Supreme Court.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited workplace discrimination and then protected the rights of lesbian, gay, and transgender workers. Justice Gorsuch wrote for a majority 6 to 3 ruling.
“Today, we must decide whether an employer can fire someone simply for being homosexual or transgender. The answer is clear,” Gorsuch stated. The language from the 1964 law banned any discrimination in employment on the following factors: national origin, race, religion, and/or sex.
There are protections for American citizens based on the advancement in these domains of identification. The ruling protects them in an important livelihood context in which discrimination negatively impacts life prospects and income. Indeed, there is discrimination and harassment in the areas of education, hours, and healthcare too. The Equality Act from 2019 codified civil rights protections for the LGBTQ citizens of the United States.
The Senate has not acted on this so far.
With files fromCultural and Secular Jewish Organizations.
Dying With Dignity Canada has
been celebrating its 40th anniversary as one of the premier secular
and human rights organizations in Canada. It’s premised on the idea of the
right to choose when and how we die in a dignified manner, e.g., in the cases
of some incurable or inoperable disease.
As a mostly secular oriented organization, its premise differs from some in the religious communities founded on different principles and ideas. One of those is the idea of the god owning the body of the individual, i.e., the individual does not own their own body.
Within this, the idea of a
suicide, or, rather, a rational suicide, becomes anathema to the states of
faith in much of the country. To take one’s own life in its end into one’s own
hand is to take that which, ultimately, does not belong to you, the individual,
your life belongs to the deity.
On its 40th
anniversary or in the wake of its celebration, Dying With Dignity Canada had a
fundraising goal and is celebrating reaching over the $20,000 target for the
raising of funds. Based on an anonymous donor, it is going to be matched dollar
for dollar.
The donor will be matching, now,
up to $40,000 until July 8. The Dying With Dignity Canada community of
supporters is stated to span as far as 65,000 supporters in Canada.
The Dying With Dignity Canada
CEO, Helen Long, stated, “Actually, our team had been in conversation about
cutting back on some of our plans for 2020, since COVID-19 related disruptions
have unfortunately had a negative impact on our recent fundraising. But this
overwhelming response from supporters like you means we can be even more ambitious
in the next six months.”
They want to utilize this boost
in what was expected to be a fundraising downturn for “province-specific
Advance Care Planning Kits.” The funding would permit the kits to be used more
widely. The informational kits can give factual information to Canadians to
ensure their knowledge of the rights and the end of life options for them.
“Additional funding would also
make it possible to share our message about fairer access to assisted dying
with new supporters, and advance some of our urgent campaigns that seek to
break down barriers and fix flaws in the current legislation,” Long stated, “Even
after 40 years, and some very significant advancements, I know we can — and
must — have even more impact on expanding the right to a peaceful death. We are confident that these additional
funds will enable us to go even further, faster.”
According to
the National Center for Science Education, Idaho’s state science education
standards are going to be revised again. They report this from Idaho
Education News. As with other educational curricula updates noted by the
NCSE, there has been a focus on a singular topic of the time in climate change.
There are counter moves to the proper education of the public. Some include the Intelligent Design movement. Others involve constructions including the Ark Encounter of young-earth creationists found in the likes of Ken Ham and others.
The Idaho House
of Representatives between 2016 and 2018 had some legislators who “attempted to
block the adoption” of updates to the science standards, based on the treatment
of climate change. They failed.
In 2020, there
were further efforts to try this, as reported by the NCSE. With the failure, yet again, there was another
call for a revision to the standards in which there would be a “balance in
standards” that became “politicized” when discussing “positive and negative
aspects” of the various energy sources. This is based on documentation from Idaho
Education News.
A legislator of the revision committee, Dorothy
Moon (R-District 8), opposed the science standards because these placed the
businesses of Idaho in a negative light. The standards came from a recognition
and concern over anthropogenic climate change.
The NCSE
concluded, “A revised version of the standards is expected to be evaluated by
the state board of education in October 2021. If the board votes to adopt the
new standards, they will still be submitted to the legislature for its approval
in 2022.”
With files from the National Center for Science Education.
Pakistan struck once again at Harnai in occupied Balochistan, killed four family members and have forcefully abducted two other men from this family. Sources in occupied Balochistan told News Intervention that Pakistani security forces raided the house of Qaisar Chilgari Marri at Nishpa in Harnai on Monday and murdered Qaisar along with his daughter, daughter-in-law and the 6-year old grand daughter Naz Bibi. The family’s two other men, Mohammad Ali Marri and Gul Dad Marri were then forcefully abducted and taken to an undisclosed location. There whereabouts are still unknown.
Local Baloch residents said that the entire family has been wiped out and there is no one left to provide further details.
While it’s still not clear what sparked the raid but activists and human rights organisations allege that civilians are targeted by Pakistani forces whenever they are attacked by the Baloch armed revolutionaries.
A local activist, on condition of anonymity said that collective punishment has been a routine in Balochistan and Pakistani security forces’ “callous and senseless brutality” at Harnai is just another addition to the long list of human rights violations and brutal raids on the Baloch people.
The Central Spokesman of the Baloch National Movement (BNM) condemned the barbarism of the Pakistani Army in Harnai and said that the Pakistani Army attacked Qaiser Chalgari’s house in Nishpa area of Harnai. In the attack, Qaiser Chalgari and two children got martyred, including his six year old granddaughter Naz Bibi. Apart from this, two young sons of Qaiser Chalgari have also been forcibly disappeared by the army.
The brutal raid of Pakistani security forces was was widely condemned on social media and many activists urged international groups to intervene.
Condemning the brutality at Harnai in occupied Balochistan, Dr Allah Nazar Baloch the leader of Balochistan’s independence struggle said: “Pakistani barbarism and brutalities continue unabated in Balochistan.”
Pakistan Army and its intelligence agency ISI have inflicted a rein of terror across occupied Balochistan in order to crush the independence movement of Baloch people. Forced abductions, late night raids, targeted killings, enforced disappearances, kill and dump the Pakistani deep state is trying everything to suppress the independence struggle in Balochistan. Over 30,000 Baloch people have gone “missing” due to Pakistan’s forced abductions and more than 10,000 Baloch people have been killed in cold blood. Monday’s attack on a hapless family at Harnai was just a continuation of Pakistan’s policy. This will continue till the international community takes note of these atrocities by Pakistan on occupied Balochistan.
Khalil Baloch, Chairman Baloch National Movement said: “The martyrdom of Qaisar Chalghari & his six-years-old granddaughter & the disappearance of his two young sons at the hands of the Pakistan Army are continuation of the atrocities. The Baloch are being collectively punished & the silence of int’l Orgs is causing an increase in it.”
“This is neither the first nor the last because we are occupied by a state whose history is full of oppression and violence against subjugated nations. Pakistan wants to rule over our land forever by eradicating the Baloch people through genocide and pogroms but history has shown that nations cannot be annihilated in this way,” said the Central Spokesman of BNM (Baloch National Movement).
The BNM spokesman further explained that the Pakistan Army has been pursuing an aggressive strategy of collective punishment for many years. “In this policy of collective punishment, on the one hand, the occupying army is directly targeting the people, on the other hand, it is creating new tactics of oppression through its Death Squads across Balochistan. Hundreds of incidents like that of Dannuk and Dazin are happening. The Harnai incident is the continuation of the same barbarism. The only difference between the two incidents is the Death Squads in military uniforms and without uniforms. In Dannuk and Dazin, Death Squads killed Malik Naz and Kulsoom, while in Harnai, the army shot and killed an old Baloch and a young girl in front of their family.”
The BNM Central Spokesman added that Pakistan was strictly adhering to the policy of collective punishment across Balochistan. “Tasneem Baloch, who was martyred at the Karachi Stock Exchange last week, his three brothers and father have been abducted from Dasht and two brothers of Shaheed Siraj from Shapak have been forcibly disappeared. These are the worst examples of collective punishment. In this regard, it is the responsibility of the international community to curb this rogue and terrorist state and play its role in preventing human tragedy and humiliation in Balochistan.”
On 6 July 2020, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, turned 85. I scanned the entire Net looking for mention of this extremely important event – but in vain! There was mention of the birthday of actor Ranveer Singh (who ?) – But absolutely nothing about the Dalai Lama and Tibet.
Does India and the BJP government of Narendra Modi understand the extreme importance of that event? The Dalai Lama may be the last chance for India to regain a friendly border between herself and the Chinese enemy – and the time is running out. You do know, I hope, that out of the 40,000 or so km of border with China, nearly 3300 belongs to Tibet! Tibet was always a friendly and peaceful buffer between the two giants of Asia. When Jawaharlal Nehru allowed China to take over this tiny nation, he committed one of his biggest blunders – and India is still paying the price for it.
The Chinese, who are most ruthless and intelligent, are just waiting for the Dalai Lama to die, to nominate their own puppet Dalai Lama, the way they named a Panchen-Lama. Then it will be not only the end of the possibility of free Tibet, but from a geostrategical point of view, India will have to face in the coming decades not only a hostile border with China, without the buffer of Tibet, but also the disadvantage of China swooping down from the heights of Tibet onto India’s valleys as it did in 1962. Did you also know that according to the CIA, China has placed many of its nuclear warheads in Tibetan caves, where they escape the scrutiny of satellites and that many of them are pointed towards Indian cities? We also know that most of South Asia great rivers are born in Tibet and that China is building many dams upon them, depriving India and many other countries of this precious water.
Thus the importance of a free Tibet has never been so crucial to India – specially at the time of extreme tensions with China on many fronts, whether Ladakh, Bhutan, Arunachal Pradesh, Kashmir, or even on sea, in the Indian Ocean. But do you think that the bureaucrats of India can understand that? No, not at all. Their minds are frozen in the Nehruvian thinking that one must compromise with China at all costs! It was so in the 50s, it was in the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and unfortunately it is still true even today. They have not learnt that the Chinese always pretend to negotiate, while preparing for war.
Who will then grasp that the 85 year old Dalai Lama, a Nobel Peace Prize recipient, is India most powerful weapon against China? Firstly, his very name makes the Chinese shake with anger and they lose — for once — all common sense; secondly, India should respond tit for tat: China says that Kashmir is a disputed territory; China claims Arunachal Pradesh; China has taken over swaps of Indian territory, whether the Aksai Chin or bits and bits here and there in Assam, Ladakh, Sikkim or Bhutan. Then why the hell can’t India say that Tibet is a disputed territory??? Why cannot the BJP government of Narendra Modi allow for instance the Dalai Lama to do a teaching in Ladakh, where he has thousands and thousands of followers – right under the nose of the Chinese?
Indeed, India without knowing it, has with his Holiness, not only a friend, but also a Yogi, the spiritual and temporal head of Tibet, as an important ally – and its high time that the Prime Minister Modi uses that dharmic weapon against China. We may quote here Sri Aurobindo, India’s great revolutionary, poet, philosopher and avatar who was also a prophet who wrote in 1949: “The significance of Mao’s Tibetan adventure is to advance China’s frontier right down to India and stand poised there to strike at the right moment and with right strategy… We must burn it into our minds that the primary motive of Mao’s attack on Tibet is to threaten India as soon as possible.
Happy Birthday your Holiness. May God grant you a long life! May Tibet become free again, so that India regains a peaceful neighbour and that will be a buffer between her and the Chinese dragon. Are you listening Mr Prime Minister?
Deng Xiao Peng, the architect of modern China, speaking at the special session of the United Nations on 10th April 1974, said: “China is a socialist country, and a developing country as well. China belongs to the Third World. Consistently following Chairman Mao’s teachings, the Chinese Government and people firmly support all oppressed peoples and oppressed nations in their struggle to win or defend national independence, develop the national economy and oppose colonialism, imperialism and hegemonism. This is our bounden internationalist duty. China is not a superpower, nor will she ever seek to be one. What is a superpower? A superpower is an imperialist country which everywhere subjects other countries to its aggression, interference, control, subversion or plunder and strives for world hegemony. If capitalism is restored in a big socialist country, it will inevitably become a superpower. The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, which has been carried out in China in recent years, and the campaign of criticizing Lin Piao and Confucius now under way throughout China, are both aimed at preventing capitalist restoration and ensuring that socialist China will never change her colour and will always stand by the oppressed peoples and oppressed nations. If one day China should change her colour and turn into a superpower, if she too should play the tyrant in the world, and everywhere subject others to her bullying, aggression and exploitation, the people of the world should identify her as social-imperialism, expose it, oppose it and work together with the Chinese people to overthrow it”.
These are important words by Deng Xiao Peng to think about, given the positioning China in the world today.
President Xi Jinping, who has positioned himself in the same exalted status as Chairman Mao and Deng Xiao Peng, should be a worried leader and under serious pressure.
His traditional play book strategies are not working. The world leaders are not bowing down to his pressure tactics. World’s citizens are willing to shun the Chinese products like never before. The carefully crafted image of the man and his machines is beginning to tarnish rapidly. China is left with their all-weather ally Pakistan and North Korea, both of whom will do as their master instructs.
Over the past year, there have been a series of challenges faced by the Chinese economy. 1. Wuhan Virus (Kung Flu as per President Trump), that has created devastation in the world. No one knows how many people have died in China. 2. The Chinese economy is in trouble partly because of the shut down and partly because of the anti-China sentiment among buyers around the world. 3. Challenges within the CCP, especially after Xi’s “President for Life” amendment of their “constitution.”
The other significant
piece of the equation is Xi’s dream project, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)
which is the cornerstone of his policy of economic colonisation using debt as a
major tool. Almost every country that signed up with China for the BRI has now
found out that there is nothing in it for them. China’s cheque book diplomacy
is facing serious resistance.
One major section of the BRI goes through Balochistan (China-Pakistan Economic Corridor–CPEC), which is in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. The rebels in Balochistan will do whatever it takes to ensure that this CPEC project is not completed. This will hurt both China and Pakistan.
The most well accepted form of diverting attention, from time immemorial, is to start a war / create trouble with neighbours to draw attention away from internal problems, in the hope that nationalistic feelings will divert the attention of citizens. This is what we see to be happening with all 14 countries that have borders with China or with those that share international waters with China. From Bhutan (for an animal reserve) to Russia (for the entire Vladivostok region), from Mongolia to Japan, from Australia to Myanmar. China has reopened old issues everywhere.
All countries, affected by China, are now speaking up. South East Asian countries too, that have traditionally kept quiet, have now spoken up against China for the South China Seas.
India has had a long-standing dispute with China on our 3488 km long border. The British had defined a border between India and Tibet in 1914 called the “McMahon Line” which is called the Line of Actual Control (LAC). After annexing Tibet, China refused to recognise this agreement. Therefore, China keeps claiming various parts of India including the entire North East of India (7 states of India) as its own.
In the past, Indian
politicians supported by their able bureaucrats, for various reasons, did not
challenge China but preferred to “let things lie” in the hope that somehow,
good sense would prevail. They knew that China was incorrigible, but it is
always easier to sweep uncomfortable situations under the carpet. This led to
large land areas of India being taken over by China and now claimed as their
own. India has supported Hong Kong and Taiwan at the UN and is asking for an
investigation into the cause of the virus. It should be a matter of time before
India raises the matter of the autonomy of Tibet.
With the recent clash on June 15, 2020 in the Galwan Valley, the Chinese had thought that they would keep “creeping” towards India like they had done in the past. Under PM Narendra Modi, this was not only stopped but rebuffed as well. While 20 Indian soldiers were killed, I have heard senior officials that over 75 Chinese soldiers were killed by an enraged India Army who sought retribution after they saw their Commanding Officer killed. Stories of one Sikh soldier killing 12 people with his “kirpan” before being martyred are doing the rounds. This is how myths are born, and rightly so.
The Chinese are not
used to being pushed back.
They have survived with their self-created myth of being the world’s largest and most powerful Army. Can an Army, which is probably being run by the power of the gun and Communist ideology battle against the world’s best trained Indian Army who treat their land as their mother and are willing to happily sacrifice their lives to defend it?
In the past, our politicians had tied the hands of the Indian Army behind their backs. Prime Minister Modi has given freedom to the Army to respond as they deem fit. Mr Modi’s comment in Ladakh, that India knows how to play Lord Krishna’s flute and knows how to use His Sudarshan Chakra clearly indicates the complete change in India’s foreign policy vis-à-vis China. Not only do we know how to make an aggressor dance to our tune, we also know how to use the deadliest weapons to protect ourselves.
It is interesting to see how most countries have come out in support of India. France has also offered to send their ground troops to support India! Russia is expediting the delivery of 21 MIG-29 and 12 Sukhoi aircraft as well as the world’s most advanced S-400 surface-to-air missile systems. USA has positioned 3 aircraft carriers in the waters around India to Japan and is expediting the dispatch of helicopters on priority.
Opening up so many flanks at the same time is either a well-crafted strategy of President Xi Jinping or this could be regional satraps within China starting to flex their muscles independently. If the latter, then the world needs to worry. Whether this would lead to the balkanisation of China, similar to USSR is anybody’s guess?
Are the days of
President Xi numbered? Will he be given a face saving exit? Is there another
group of ambitious and aggressive young leaders within the party who are
plotting to claim the “Dragon Throne”, to give a different direction to the
country?
Is it time for the leadership of China to go back to the prophetic words of Deng Xiao Peng and learn to live with the World instead of trying to control it?
The old saying about there being no smoke without a fire stands vindicated because the continuous flow of news trickling from across the bamboo curtain regarding ongoing religious persecution of ethnic minorities that has ultimately galvanised the otherwise reticent international community to complain against Beijing’s highhandedness. The major area of global concern were reliable reports that Uighur Muslims of Xinjiang Autonomous Region (XAR) were being interned in ‘detention camps’, of infants being separated from their parents and how besides being physically and mentally abused, the detenues were also being forced to do things that were proscribed in Islam.
There are credible reports of how Uighur Muslims are being forced to eat pork and consume alcohol; about men not being allowed to keep beards and women prohibited from wearing hijab (head covering worn in public). Fasting during the holy month of Ramzan is discouraged and the Chinese national flag and portraits of Xi Jinping are required to be displayed in mosques and every Muslim household. Forced sterilizations and insertion of contraception implants against the victim’s will as well as reports of Uighur women being lured to marry Han men through material inducements are rampant. Even a simple thing like usage of the term ‘Halal’ (permissible under Islam) labelling for food products is criminalised.
So, in July 2019, when a statement signed by 22 countries submitted a notice to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) expressing concerns over widespread surveillance and repression in China and called upon Beijing to “refrain from the arbitrary detention and restrictions on freedom of movement of Uighurs, and other Muslim and minority communities in Xinjiang” many believed that China would be forced to end repression of its minorities. But as is its wont, Beijing not only refused to oblige but instead, displaying its characteristic arrogance, decided to brazen it out by going on the counter-offensive.
Playing the
game by the same ground rules, Beijing countered the complaint against it by delivering
a powerful riposte. After just four days, it handed over a letter to OHCHR
that mentioned China’s “remarkable achievements in the field of human
rights”. Signed by 37 countries, this communication went on to state that “Now
safety and security has returned to Xinjiang and the fundamental human rights
of people of all ethnic groups there are safeguarded.” But even though Qatar
subsequently withdrew its support, Beijing was busy adding more signatories in
its favour.
When this letter was resubmitted during the same month, 13 new states as well as the Palestinian Authority had come out in support of Beijing, bringing the total number of signatories to a whopping 50! But the irony here is that none of the 22 signatories who had demanded justice for the persecuted Muslim Uighurs were Islamic nations, but amongst the 50 countries that abandoned the oppressed people of their own faith by giving Beijing a ‘clean chit’ included almost two dozen states that boasted being Islamic nations or had a predominantly Muslim population.
The most shocking part is that the list of Beijing’s supporters also included self-proclaimed leaders and heavy weights of the Islamic world like Saudi Arabia and Pakistan; the two countries that keep waxing eloquence about their unconditional and consummate dedication to alleviate the suffering of ‘ummah’ (entire community of Muslims bound together by ties of Islam)! But this comes as no surprise because both the international community (in general), as well as Muslim countries (in particular) are well aware of this duplicity that plagues the ‘House of Saud’ and ‘Land of the Pure’ on this issue!
Three months later, another letter signed by 23 countries was
handed over to OHCHR, which called upon China to “uphold its national and
international obligations and commitments to respect human rights,” as
well provide international monitors access to Xinjiang. But once again, Beijing
had the last laugh when its ally Belarus came out with a statement on behalf of
54 countries that concluded with the “appreciation that human rights are
respected and protected in China in the process of counter-terrorism and deradicalisation.”
Though the Belarusian statement claims support of 54 countries, its text includes the names of only six states. But while this may have been necessitated by a need for brevity, the order in which these names appear in the text are “Pakistan, the Russian Federation, Egypt, Bolivia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Serbia.” Listing Pakistan first is intriguing as it doesn’t make any sense, either from the alphabetical indexing or international standing status point of view. But diplomats don’t make careless mistakes and a bit of correlation does provide a plausible reason for this.
Readers would recall that just a week before the ‘Belarus statement’ was issued, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, while delivering his UNGA address took upon himself the onerous task of speaking up against Islamophobia on behalf of the global Muslim community. His passionate and lengthy discourse probably gave him the halo of what he subsequently referred to as “enlightened moderation” and so, putting Pakistan’s name even before the Russian Federation while expressing solidarity with Beijing makes sense, because the leading light of the Islamic world backing China adds ‘weight’ to the statement!
But it was Khan and his government’s crafty ‘A-B-C’ (A-avoid, B-bypass, C-confuse) approach towards the religious persecution of Uighur Muslims that proved to be his undoing. During an interview with Financial Times on March 28, 2019 when asked about China’s ill-treatment of Uighur Muslims, Khan simply chose to “avoid” the question by saying, “Frankly, I don’t know much about it.” Even when the interviewer reminded him that Pakistan’s close ally Turkey had termed Chinese atrocities against Uighurs as a “great shame on humanity,” Khan once again avoided answering by saying, “If I had enough knowledge about it, I would comment, but I don’t.”
In September 2019, there were news reports that during his meeting with Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Yao Ping, Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Noorul Haq Qadri told him that “The placement of restrictions (on Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang) increases the chances of an extremist viewpoint growing in reaction.” However, just two days later, Qadri too showed his great ability to “bypass” the Uighur ill-treatment issue, when he quashed all speculation by saying that “This (topic) was not discussed.”
But ultimately, it’s Khan’s three-in-one ‘ABC’ response to
the Uighur crisis given to Foreign Policy Magazine in January this year that
takes the cake. When asked why he’s hyper about ill-treatment of Muslims in
India and elsewhere but completely silent on the persecution of Uighur Muslims,
Khan avoided, bypassed and finally confused the question. He ‘avoided’ the
query by saying, “frankly, I don’t know much about it,”; then, by adding “whatever
issues we will have with China, we will deal with them privately. We will not
go public,” he ‘bypassed’ the reply, and finally, by opining that “it (the
Uighur crisis) is nothing compared to what is happening in Kashmir,” Khan cleverly
‘confused’ the whole issue.
However, by saying “China came to help our government when we were at the rock bottom. So, we are really grateful to the Chinese government,” Khan has made it amply clear that his pain for the oppressed ‘ummah’ isn’t all-pervasive. Au contraire, it’s highly subjective and completely subservient to Pakistan’s ‘sweeter than honey’ friendship with China, and since the cricketer turned politician doesn’t dare rock the boat, he wants the world to believe that all is well with the Uighur Muslims of Xinjiang!!
Several impostors have begun to lay claim over the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) in their desperate effort to derail the Balochistan’s freedom movement. One of them is Hyrbyair Marri who is making bogus claims about BLA.
It
was Monday, June 29, when news first poured in about the attack at Pakistan
Stock Exchange in Karachi. This was ‘Breaking News’ and was promptly flashed
across all television news channels, portals and news agencies. But in a zest
to race ahead of their competitors, journalists across the world, especially those
in India made a blunder. Even before there could be any confirmation about the
perpetrators of Karachi attacks the headlines started screaming: “Terrorists
attack the Karachi Stock Exchange,” followed by similar tweets, memes and Facebook
posts, all of which said that terrorists have turned against their masters in
Pakistan.
A
few hours later it emerged that the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) had attacked
the Karachi Stock Exchange to protest against the daily killings, enforced disappearances
across occupied Balochistan. With this attack the BLA wanted deaf Pakistan Army
Generals sitting at Rawalpindi to hear Balochistan’s plight and to tell the
world about ongoing Pakistani atrocities and human rights violations across
occupied Balochistan. However, even after BLA took responsibility of attacks
the headlines about “terrorists” striking the Karachi Stock Exchange stayed on
and tweets continued to be floated all around. In fact, ‘terrorists attacking
Karachi’ was Pakistan’s narrative that the gullible media had quickly bought in.
This narrative could have sailed through if not for timely intervention on
social media and new media platforms that wrote detailed analysis about the
basic purport of BLA’s attacks and the freedom struggle for Balochistan from
Pakistan’s illegal occupation.
A
large number of Baloch people, the Baloch diaspora and revolutionaries
intervened with their side of the story that the Karachi attack was on
Pakistani and Chinese establishments and that the attackers were revolutionary
freedom fighters who had taken the extreme step to sacrifice their lives for
Balochistan’s freedom movement.
But
then Pakistan’s propaganda machinery remains quite strong. It pulled its
strings and a group of people sitting pretty at London came out openly against
the Karachi Stock Exchange attack. They made bogus claims that they “own” the
Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) and that the BLA was not involved in this attack.
One of them is Hyrbyair Marri.
Unfortunately, rather than question the likes of Hyrbyair Marri about the basis of his statements, a large section of media remained blindfolded, bought his story and walked straight into the propaganda trap laid by ISI.
Hyrbyair Marri is the son of Late Nawab Khair Baksh Marri. However, due to Hyrbyair Marri’s dubious activities the Late Nawab Khair Baksh Marri broke all ties with him and said that Hyrbyair Marri is no longer a Baloch revolutionary.
The
world must know. The struggle for Balochistan’s independence is going on since
March 27, 1948 when Pakistan illegally occupied and annexed an independent
nation– Balochistan. The current phase of Baloch freedom struggle gained
momentum since 2002. And now after the BLA’s June 29 attack on Karachi Stock
Exchange, Balochistan is at least being talked about across the world.
Apart
from BLA, the other frontline revolutionary organisations in Balochistan
include the Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF), Baloch Republican Army (BRA)
and the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA). These different armed revolutionary
groups have created a joint platform Baloch Raaji
Aajoi-e-Sangar (BRAS) to synergise their efforts. BRAS has carried several
attacks on Pakistan Army in the recent past. This is testimony to the unity of
different Baloch revolutionary groups.
The Majeed Brigade (self-sacrificing/fidayeen) squad
like the four Baloch revolutionary freedom fighters who attacked Karachi Stock
Exchange were from the BLA.
History of Baloch Liberation Army (BLA)
Baloch revolutionaries say that the BLA (Baloch Liberation Army) was established in 1996 by a well-known Baloch revolutionary leader Nawab Khair Baksh Marri along with other Baloch revolutionaries. Khair Baksh Marri was a very well-known Baloch nationalist during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s who made several sacrifices along with his comrades to win Balochistan’s independence from Pakistan.
When
BLA was formed its operational activities were being handled by Khair Baksh Marri’s
son Balach Marri, while BLA’s public relations activities abroad were handled
by Khair Baksh Marri’s elder son Hyrbyair Marri. This arrangement worked quite
smoothly for some time. Later on when Balach Marri was martyred during his
operations against the Pakistan Army, then BLA’s operational activities on
ground were taken over by other Baloch leaders that included Aslam Baloch,
Hamid Shahin, Amir Baksh Lango, Ali Sher Khurd and others.
Aslam
Baloch and other revolutionaries along with Nawab Khair Baksh Marri put BLA’s
activities on a fast track but then suddenly several functionaries of the BLA
such as Amir Baksh Lango, Ali Sher Khurd, Ghaffar Lango, Hamid Shahin were
killed by the Pakistan Army. Several Baloch sources explain that this happened probably
due to the involvement of Hyrbyair Marri, who has now started speaking against
the BLA’s involvement in Karachi Stock Exchange attack.
Background of Hyrbyair Marri
It
all started in 2007 when Hyrbyair Marri was arrested in London on charges of
inciting “terrorism” in Pakistan. Hyrbyair Marri was charged with plotting terrorist
activities in Pakistan and for inciting Balochistan’s independence movement. Around
this time an al-Qaeda terrorist Rashid Rauf was also arrested by the ISI in
Pakistan. Rashid Rauf was from Birmingham and was wanted by the British
government in terrorism related charges in UK. A prisoner swap agreement was
signed between Pakistan and UK such that Pakistan would send Rashid Rauf to UK
and in return get the custody of Hyrbyair Marri.
And then the events took an unexpected turn. Pakistan suddenly announced that Rashid Rauf had escaped from their custody and the prisoner swap between UK and Pakistan was held back. A few months later Pakistan announced that Rashid Rauf was killed in a drone attack. Hyrbyair Marri soon became a free man in London. Interestingly, Hyrbyair Marri stayed back in London after this saga as a “Pakistani citizen” and thus began his second innings as “Baloch activist”. Surprisingly, Pakistan stopped pressing UK government for Hyrbyair Marri’s extradition and he soon formed a company Bolan Limited that was registered in England & Wales. The two Directors of Bolan Limited are Hyrbyair Marri and Ali Syed Gallani both of whom are Pakistani citizens as per the registration documents of the company.
Hyrbyair Marri writes his nationality as “Pakistani” in the records of his company “Bolan Limited” that is registered in England & Wales. Hyrbyair Marri continues to retain his Pakistani Passport and Pakistani citizenship even today, and his Pakistani passport is renewed promptly.
Hyrbyair
Marri still holds a Pakistani passport that is promptly renewed by Pakistan and
now has three different houses at different locations in London. It’s ironic
that the same Hyrbyair Marri who was wanted by Pakistan for terrorism charges and
inciting Balochistan’s freedom struggle can now promptly get his Pakistani
passport renewed. And then he continues to call himself a Baloch revolutionary!
This
was a shrewd move by the ISI. As per the deal Hyrbyair Marri was to anyhow
usurp the ownership of Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) and in return he could stay
back in UK on a Pakistani passport, which would continue to be renewed at
periodic intervals.
Soon
after this BLA got involved in several internal tussles as Hyrbyair Marri made
attempts to control the functioning of BLA. In 2012, concerted efforts were
made by the Hyrbyair Marri-led faction to discredit the Baloch revolutionary
movement and especially Dr Allah Nazar Baloch, the leader of Balochistan
Liberation Front (BLF). Smear campaigns were run against Dr Allah Nazar Baloch
who at that time was working to streamline the Balochistan’s freedom struggle
and spreading the freedom struggle movement to every nook and corner of
Balochistan. Dr Allah Nazar Baloch popularity was rising amongst Baloch people
and he had become an eyesore for Pakistan Army and ISI. Yet Dr Allah Nazar Baloch,
the iron man, kept up the momentum for freedom struggle and continued to rope
in common people into Balochistan’s independence movement.
Very
soon the ISI’s underhand dealings with Hyrbyair Marri were exposed and Late Nawab
Khair Baksh Marri broke all ties with his elder son Hyrbyair Marri and said
that he is no more a revolutionary.
Truth
prevailed and Aslam Baloch along with other Baloch revolutionaries further exposed
the dubious propaganda being run by Hyrbyair Marri. Aslam Baloch took the
command of BLA. This was in the year 2017. It was at this time that Aslam Balcoh
along with Dr Allah Nazar Baloch and several other comrades forged tie-ups with
other Baloch revolutionary groups and formed the joint revolutionary front BRAS
(Baloch Raaji Aajoi-e-Sangar) by stitching
together an alliance of the Baloch Liberation Army, Balochistan Liberation
Front, Baloch Republican Army and the Baloch Republican Guard in order to jointly
fight for Balochistan’s independence.
A
year later in 2018, Aslam Baloch was martyred in a suicide attack by
Pakistan-backed Taliban faction that was carried out soon after the BLA’s
attack on Chinese consulate in Karachi. After this BLA’s command was passed on
to a young leader Basheer Zeb who at one point of time was trained by Dr Allah
Nazar Baloch during his time as a student activist at the BSO (Balochistan
Student’s Organisation). Basheer Zeb is very well read and youth leader of the
BLA. As the leader of BLA, Basheer Zeb has put Pakistani Army in a tight spot
with back-to-back attacks on their facilities.
It’s
under Basheer Zeb’s able leadership that the BLA freedom fighters have successfully
carried out the attack on Karachi Stock Exchange on June 29. But the impostors
who had earlier tried to sabotage BLA and the Baloch revolution for their own
personal gains have become active once again. It’s sad that media has begun to
quote such people as the leaders of BLA.
After the success of June 29 attack, Dr Allah Nazar Baloch categorically said that the Baloch youth are sacrificing themselves to crush the colonial arrogance of the occupying enemy and not for fame and glory. “The attack on Karachi Stock Exchange was a warning to Pakistan and China to quit Balochistan. Pakistan has cheaply mortgaged Baloch lands to China. China’s presence in Balochistan has become a threat not only to the Baloch national survival but it poses a danger to the entire world. We believe that the world is still unaware of China’s intentions and that the Baloch people are the only ones fighting this modern imperialist monster. The attack on the base of Chinese moneylenders in Karachi after the attack on the Chinese base in Gwadar is a continuation of the attacks on its strategic assets. The Baloch will continue it, no matter what the cost,” Dr Allah Nazar explained with a firm determination.
BLA’s
attack on Karachi Stock Exchange struck at the Pakistan’s economy and has also taken
Balochistan’s freedom struggle to every corner of the world. People around the
globe are now discussing how Pakistan Army is running a massive military
campaign replete with heavy artillery, sophisticated machine guns and
helicopter gunships across occupied Balochistan against the common Baloch
people.
“If the deaf are to hear,
the sound has to be very loud,” said Shaheed Bhagat Singh at the trial for
bombing the Central Legislative Assembly on April 8, 1931 during India’s
struggle for independence.
BLA freedom fighters Salman Hamal, Taslim Baloch, Shehzad Baloch
and Siraj Kongar who were martyred after the Karachi attack said similar words.
“We want to make it clear to the upholders and champions of human rights like
UN, EU or US State Department that you have failed to take notice of the Baloch
genocide and exert pressure on Pakistan to stop this genocide. You have failed
to hear the voice of Baloch nation therefore we have been left with no option
but to go to this extreme,” said the BLA freedom fighters in their recorded video
message.
The world must appreciate that BLA freedom fighters who
attacked Karachi Stock Exchange did not target the innocent common people of
Karachi rather they chose to kill the immoral money lending syndicate of
Pakistani and Chinese nationals who have turned the Pakistan Stock Exchange
into their den. Just as Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt hurled bombs to draw
world’s attention to British colonialism in India, the BLA freedom fighters have
attacked the Karachi Stock Exchange to make the world take note of Pakistan’s atrocities in occupied Balochistan.
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