Ahmar Mustikhan, Baltimore Foreign Policy Examiner
One of the youngest Baloch freedom fighters and president of the Balochistan Republican Party has made it clear that 99 percent of the Baloch people want nothing short of independence and has reiterated his commitment to the freedom ideal for which his grandfather and former governor and chief minister of Balochistan, Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, sacrificed his life.
In the first international interview since leaving Afghanistan last year "Tiger of Balochistan" Brahumdagh Bugti told the New York Times, the most influential U.S. newspaper read by American leaders including President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, more Baloch are turning towards militancy as Islamabad has closed its doors to peaceful struggle in Balochistan by killing political activists.
Upwards of 250 Baloch political activists, who were forcibly disappeared, have been tortured and executed by Pakistan's Military Intelligence, Inter-Services Intelligence and Frontier Corps since July 2010. Their bodies were dumped in the wilderness for wild animals to eat in a worst form of crime against humanity that has been condemned by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances (AFAD).
The piece on Balochistan was written by NYT's internationally acclaimed correspondent Carlotta Gall, who understands Balochistan inside out, as she was beaten up by Pakistan's secret services while in Quetta on a reporting assignment some years ago.
Gall went to Geneva to interview Bugti along with an NYT team.
The pro-independence American Friends of Balochistan welcomed Brahumdagh's Bugti's statement and said he inspires hope among 20 million Baloch people all over the world the Baloch would succeed in their David-and-Goliath struggle against the Pakistani occupation forces.
"Pakistani secret services have made numerous attempts on the life of our honorable leader even when he was in Afghanistan," the A.F.B. said in a statement Wednesday. "Along with Hyrbyair Marri and Dr. Allah Nazar Baloch, Brahumdagh Bugti represents the Balochistan independence triumvirate and we are confident the three young but dynamic leaders with unity and cohesion will take the Baloch nation to the destined goal of independence," the D.C.-based organization said.
Bugti grandfather Nawab Bugti, 79, was killed on the instructions of Pakistan coup leader General Pervez Musharraf. Musharraf had arrived in Pakistan as an immigrant from India after the 1947 partition holocaust.
Bugti's brother-in-law Mehran Baluch is the Balochistan representative at the U.N. Human Rights Council.
http://www.examiner.com/foreign-policy-in-baltimore/bugti-tells-new-york-times-review
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