The fundamental human and civil rights of the people of Balochistan have been violated since the creation of the state of Pakistan. Beginning in 1948 the Pakistan Army has conducted five major repressive campaigns in that province. Under the latest of these ‘operations’ which started with the military takeover of General Parvez Musharraf and continues to date, there has been introduced a new tool of repression, forced disappearances, a practice which has been declared a crime against humanity by the International Court of Criminal Justice.

Estimates of the total number of persons who have been ‘disappeared’ in Balochistan over the last decade run into thousands. According to the BBC news of 10 February 2010, the Home Ministry of Balochistan has itself disclosed a list of 992 persons missing currently. Even women and children are not being spared. The Quetta based, ‘Voice of Missing Persons’, lists 148 women and 168 children as victims of disappearances for connections to alleged separatists.

Under this blatantly inhuman practice victims are taken into custody by the agents of the state, their detention is denied, their whereabouts are concealed, and their fate consigned to limbo. Cut off from the world and placed outside the protection of the law, many are never seen again. They are not only subjected to mental and physical torture but their relatives and loved ones endure the agony of not knowing whether the disappeared person is dead or alive. Sometimes the victim’s dead body is found thrown in a ditch or on the roadside.

The Committee of Progressive Pakistani Canadians (CPPC) strongly condemns the inhuman practice of forced disappearances of people in Balochistan being carried out by the agents of the state and deplores the inability of the elected government of Pakistan to put an end to this crime against humanity.

It is self-evident that not only will state terror fail as in the past, but will actually add fuel to the fires of separatism in Balochistan. The only rational way to prevent the further disintegration of Pakistan is to learn from experience and address the social, economic and political causes of the pain and alienation widespread among the numerically smaller nations of Pakistan.

The Committee of Progressive Pakistani Canadians adds its voice to all those demanding an immediate end to these disappearances. We, too, support the call for the establishment of an independent commission of inquiry to identify the names and numbers of those who have been disappeared, expose the brutalities committed on the victims and punish all those found guilty of perpetrating them. Last, but not least, the Government of Pakistan must financially compensate the victims and families of all those who have suffered from this inhuman practice.

September 16, 2010

We, the undersigned Canadians of Pakistani origin,
strongly condemn the massacre of over eighty, and
the wounding of many more Ahmedi citizens of
Pakistan assembled in their mosques in Lahore to
offer Friday prayers on May 28, 2010.
Our heart-felt sympathies and condolences go to the
loved ones of those killed and injured in the brutal
and unprovoked attacks.

The harassment, persecution and killing of Ahmedis
which began in the early 1950s – and has come to
include Christians, Zikris and Shias in the intervening
six decades – is partly an attempt to divide people
and partly to divert their attention from the pressing
issues of poverty and inequality and denial of
national rights fostered by an undemocratic and
exploitative setup.

We deplore the escalating trend in Pakistan to
promote hatred and religious bigotry against the
Ahmedi community through the media of mass
communication, press and pulpit.

We condemn the negligence at all levels of the
government of Pakistan to restrain and prosecute
under law all those who openly incite violence
against the Ahmedi, or any religious community,
through their inflammatory speeches, sermons and
fatwas.

As the Asia Human Rights Commission points out,
Ahmedi citizens of Pakistan do not have the right to
vote under the eighth amendment of the 1973
Constitution and have no freedom to practice their
faith, belief, practice or worship. In spite of its claim
to be a democracy the government of Pakistan has
shown no inclination to repeal its disgraceful laws
and regulations against the Ahmedis.

We demand that the present democratically
elected parliament of Pakistan remove from the
constitution of the country and all statute books
discriminatory clauses and regulations referring to the
religious beliefs and institutions of minority citizens, and
withdraw forthwith the much abused ‘blasphemy law’.

We urge the present government of Pakistan to take
full responsibility for the protection of life and liberty
of all its citizen, irrespective of their religious beliefs,
national or ethnic affiliation or political creed, and
stop hiding behind phony assertions of “foreign
hands.”

We demand that the political leadership of Pakistan
return to the golden rule enunciated by Quaid-e-
Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah that “religion has no
place in the affairs of the state.”

May 29, 2010
Abbas Syed (Committee of Progressive Pakistani-
Canadians)
Abdul Hamid Bashani (South Asian People’s Forum)
Anwar Ahmad (Society of Pakistani Professionals
and Academics)
Frank Saptel (The Left Institute)
Haider Nizamani
Hassan Nawaz Gardezi (Committee of Progressive
Pakistani-Canadians)
Khair Mohammad Kolachi
Munir Pervaiz (Saami)
Nadeem Ahmed
Nazeer Chaudhry
Omar Latif (Committee of Progressive Pakistani-
Canadians)
Pervaiz Salahuddin (Family of the Heart)
Syed Azeem (South Asian People’s Forum)
Tariq Amin Khan
Zahid Makhdoom
Zulfiqar Gilani (Pashtun Peace Forum)