Baloch and Pashtoon Nationalists call for strike as Musharraf visits Balochistan today

www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp

Staff Report

QUETTA: Baloch tribal leaders and Baloch and Pashtoon nationalist parties called for a province-wide shutter down strike as President General Pervez Musharraf embarks on his first visit to Balochistan today (Thursday) following the killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti.

“Musharraf is not welcome in Balochistan. He has alienated the people of Balochistan. A shutter down strike would demonstrate how much he is resented among the Baloch,” said Rehmat Baloch, a leader of the National Party, which gave the call for the strike.

The Pakhtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party has announced that it will support the National Party.

Nationalist parties distributed pamphlets across the province asking people to make the strike a success, and denounce mega projects and the military operation in the province.

The government has arranged tight security for the president’s one-day visit to Gwadar. Government sources said the president would inspect the pace of work on projects there.

Ban on Sindhi TV channel deplored
www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp\11\16\story_16-11-2006_pg7_8
WASHINGTON: The World Sindhi Institute has protested against the ban on Sindh TV, a Sindhi channel that beams its programmes from Singapore which are said to have a sizeable viewership in Pakistan.

The banning orders were issued by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) on 8 November. The Sindhi rights group, based in North America and the United Kingdom, said it condemns this restrictive action and demands that the ban be lifted immediately. The implications of such “unreasonable, authoritative restrictions” are grave, it added. Closing down the channel will eliminate a reliable source of news, entertainment and cultural expression of a people who are already “under siege”.

Reporters Without Borders has also called on PEMRA to rescind the orders, as well as voiced concern about threats said to have been made against Pervaiz Narejo, a Sindh TV correspondent. He is supposed to have earned the ire of an MMA figure who was shown on the Sindhi channel hitting a policeman on duty in the town of Dadu.

With Headquarters in Bangkok, Sindh TV has been broadcasting through satellite and cable since October 2004. khalid hasan

Balochis and Azeris rally against Iran's executions

www.ahwaz.org.uk/2006/11/balochis-and-azeris-rally-against.html

Balochi and Azeri groups have united behind the campaign for a halt in Iran's campaign of executions and ethnic cleansing against Ahwazis.

The Balochistan Peoples Party will participate in the demonstration outside the Iranian Embassy in London on Saturday from 1pm. Like the Ahwazis, the Balochis - a mostly Sunni nation located on either side of the Iran-Pakistan border - are facing mass executions as the Iranian regime attempts to quash a growing rebellion in Balochistan. During the last two years the Iranian intelligence agencies, particularly the Mersad group, appear to have followed a policy of "shoot and kill" instead of arresting young Baloch accused of being members of the Baloch resistance movement. The Iranian regime has launched a series of military operations and "war games" in Balochistan, using both helicopter gun-ships and air strikes. According to government's own media sources, the regime has shot, executed or hanged, more than 200 Baloch individuals over the past few months, relying heavily on accusations of drug smuggling, anti revolutionary activities, and cooperation with the United States and Great Britain.

Balochis have been preyed upon by the Iranian regime. On 23 August 2006, the Marsad Group attacked a village near Zahidan, the provincial capital of Balochistan, and killed two young men in front of women and children. They were forced out of their homes, to search for the members of resistance movement and weapons. The two young men had protested against the ill treatment of the women. On the 24th of August Amir Hamzeh Eidouzehi, a young man, was hanged in public in Baloch town of Khash, and another young men, Ali Jan Moradi, was hanged in IranShahr on 27 August 2006, both were accused of instigating public trouble and drug trafficking, a sentenced without trail. On the 24th of September three men identified as Ali Karimi, Gholam Koohkan, and Khodamorad Lashkarzadeh, were hanged in prison in provincial capital Zahedan. These dissidents were also executed on charges of drug smuggling and convicted without trial.

Azeri Turks, comprising around a third of the Iranian population and also subject to racism in Iran, have also backed the campaign to halt the execution of Ahwazis. The Azerbaijani Youth Association is lobbying the European Parliament and European governments to take action. A representative wrote to the British Ahwazi Friendship Society (BAFS), saying: "It is with great concern that I have heard about Ahwazis in Iran facing execution. When it comes to life we make no difference on if they are Arabs or Turks. We must show solidarity with each other and together fight against these fascists."

Balochistan opposition backs call for strike

www.dawn.com/2006/11/16/top15.htm
By Our Correspondent

QUETTA, Nov 15: Opposition parties have backed the National Party’s call for observing a shutter-down strike and a black day on Thursday in district headquarters of the province to protest against President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s scheduled visit to Gwadar.

In separate statements issued here, political parties, including the Jamhoori Watan Party, People’s Party Parliamentarians, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, Awami National Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-N, and the Baloch Students Organisation asked businessmen and general public to cooperate with them to make the strike a success.

In another statement, National Party chief Dr Hayee Baloch hoped that people and traders would observe a black day and a strike on Thursday to condemn the military operation in Balochistan and the killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti.

He said hundreds of innocent people had been killed in the operation and many more political workers arrested by agencies.

President Pervez Musharraf is due in Gwadar on a two-day visit on Thursday.