حزب مردم بلوچستان  Balochistan People’s Party  بلوچستانءِ اُستمانءِ گــَل

Baloch Leader Hyrbair Marri Arrested in London

04-12-2007

Dear All,

I would like to bring to your attention a very serious and potentially dangerous situation which has arisen today. Baluch Patriot Herbiyar Marri has been arrested by British authorities, his house and neigbourhood in London has been cordoned off. The property is being searched and his family has been evacuated. This incident has been prompted by the Pakistani authorities to pressurise and curb Baluch human rights workers. We, the Baluch appeal to the British authorities not to become a party in the process of unjustifiable persecution and victimization of the secular Baluch diaspora. We urge all Baluch and others to persuade the British government and other democratic foreign countries to take a stand against the injustice and victimization of
the Baluch rather than taking instructions from the corrupt Punjabi army, ISI and MI led by Musharraf.

The Musharraf-regime has been lobbying and persuading the British government to extradite Baluch human rights workers in order to eliminate their opposition. The British must not fall into this trap by obliging Pakistan and overiding its democratic norms. It is pertinent to mention that Herbiyar's brother, Balach Marri was targeted and killed by Pakistani armed forces in Baluchistan less than a fortnight ago. This is no co-incidence that Herbiyar Marri has been picked up by British agencies at a time when the Baluch nation is still in a state of mourning. We urge, appeal and request the British Government not to hand over Herbiyar Marri to Pakistan because Musharraf's regime had repeatedly made it very clear of what they want to do with Nawab Akbar Bugti, Herbiyar, Balach and other Baluchs who have taken a stand for the rights of Baluch people.

Thank you

Yours Sincerely,

Mehran Baluch
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Letter to the British Ambassador in Geneva from Interfaith International

INTERFAITH INTERNATIONAL
c.p. 32, 1246 Corsier, Geneva, Switzerland
Tel: 0041 22 751 23 45; Fax 0041 22 751 23 48
e-mail:charlesgraves@vtx.ch;web-site: www.interfaithonline.org
Special consultative status with United Nations ECOSOC

3 December 2007
H.E. Nicholas Thorne
Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom
and Northern Ireland to the United Nations Geneva
Fax : 022 918 23 33

Your Excellency,

Our organisation is most seriously concerned about the fate of Mr. Herbiyar Marri brother of our active member Mehran Baluch. Mr. Herbiyar Marri (who has been under threat of extradition from the United Kingdom to Pakistan), was arrested today at his London home by British authorities and his house has been cordoned off. His property has been searched and his family evacuated. We understand that Mr. Herbiyar Marri is a Pakistan national and not a British subject.

This action has no doubt been provoked by the Pakistan government which has been actively harassing members of Mr. Marri’s family and recently was no doubt responsable for the assassination of Mr. Herbiyar Marri’s older brother Balach Marri on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area a fortnight ago.

Earlier this year the Pakistan representatives in Geneva threatened our organisation that if we allowed Mr. Mehran Baluch (brother of Mr. Herbiyar Marri) to continue speaking of the rights of the Baluch people, Pakistan would take steps to expel our organisation from consultative status in ECOSOC. At that time I told the Pakistani auhorities that I would take a moratorium on Mr. Baluch speaking (in the name of our organisation) before the
United Nations Human Rights Council for one year (to June 2008). I have kept my promise. But I made a formal complaint to the High Commissioner on Human Rights that the proof of Mr. Mehran Baluch’s criminal record provided me by the Pakistani authorities was an INTERPOL paper which apparently had nothing to do with Mr. Mehran Baluch. Ms. Azma Jihangir helped me draft the letter to the High Commissioner.

Also, Pakistan is requesting the extradition of this same our member Mr. Mehran Baluch, who is a U.K. citizen and has been involved in no military or other criminal activity vis à vis Pakistan. Your authorities, Mr. Ambassador, have been up to now seemingly protecting our human rights activist Mr. Mehran Baluch and we are grateful for all the help which can be provided to him. The Marri family, as a leading Baluch family, has been under harassment for some time and such harassment seems to be increasing.

We ask Your Excellency to intervene as you believe possible to protect human rights activists such as members of the Marri-Baluch leading Pakistan family. This family holds the keys to the future of a democratic Pakistan. If the U.K. authorities bend to the request of Pakistan for the extradition of either Mr. Herbyar Marri or Mr. Mehran Baluch, this would seem to be favouring an un-democratic Pakistan.

We ask for your understanding and action to protect Baluch human rights workers and their legitimate defence of the rights of Baluch people within Pakistan.

With highest regards to Your Excellency,

Yours sincerely,
Charles Graves, D. Theol. Secretary General
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Pakistan Criticized in the European Parliament for arrest and killing of Baluch Nationalist Leaders

URGENT PRESS RELEASE

Wednesday 5th December 2007, Brussels, Belgium, European Parliament

In an urgent meeting held at the European Parliament by the "South Asia Peace Forum" an initiative of the Members of the European Parliament to discuss about the recent arrest of Herbiyar Marri by the British Authorities on behest of Pakistan and killing of his brother Balach Marri. Both sons of Leader of Balochistan Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri.

Pakistan was criticized for its illegal and indirect ways to pressurize and curb Baloch Human Rights workers living outside Pakistan by pressuring them to stop activities for welfare of the citizens of Kingdom of Balochistan, having them arrested by local government, stopped at the customs and searched for hours even though citizen of the local country and making forged police cases against the Balochi's living abroad.

The MEPs (Member of the European Parliament) condemned the targeted killing of Baloch Patriotic leader Balach Marri by the Pakistani Punjabi Army and urged the British Authorities not to hand over the Herbiyar Marri to the Pakistani army, as the Pakistan had repeatedly made it very clear of what they want to do with Nawab Akbar Bugti, Herbiyar, Balach and other Baluchs who have taken a stand for the rights of Baluch people.

The MEPs also supported a cause for organizing a meeting on Balochistan and report on the actual situation of Balochistan prepared by the European Parliament.


Release from the Office of


Mr. Marek Aleksander Czarnecki
Member of the European Parliament

Member of Group of South Asia
Tel 32 2 284 7194 Fax 32 2 284 9194

Email: marekaleksander.czarnecki@europarl.europa.eu / prwire.ep@gmail.com
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Radio Balochi FM express concern about the fate of Baloch patriot Mr. Herbiyar Marri in London

Your Excellency,

We in Radio Balochi FM express our extreme concern about the fate of a certain baloch patroit Mr. Herbiyar Marri. He was arrested 3rd of December at his Home in London by British authorities. Furthermore, his home address has been cordoned off, his propperty searched and his family evacuated. Mr. Marri, who is carrying Pakistani nationality and not British, has been under threat of extradition from U.K to Pakistan.

Considering the fact that Pakistani government actively has been harassing members of Mr. Marri?s family, it is our definite understanding that the action has been provoked by Pakistani government. Additionally, we have no doubt that Pakistani government is responsible for the recent assassination of Mr. Herbiyar Marri?s older brother Mr. Baloch Marri on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border area. Therefore it is not a coincident that Mr. Herbiyar Marri has been picked up by British authorities.

We urge you to persuade the British government and other democratic foreign countries to take stand against the injustice and victimization of the Baloch convicted by Pakistani regime.

We would like to ask Your Excellency to intervene as you believe possible to protect human rights activists such as members of the Marri-Baluch leading Pakistan family. This family holds the keys to the future of a democratic Pakistan. If the U.K. authorities bend to the request of Pakistan for the extradition of either Mr. Herbyar Marri or Mr. Mehran Baluch, this would seem to be favoring an un-democratic Pakistan.

Furthermore, we ask for your understanding and action to protect Baluch human rights workers and their legitimate defense of the rights of Baluch people within Pakistan.


Thanking you in advance


Yours sincerely,

Managing board in Radio Balochi FM - Sweden
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Two Baloch rights activists arrested in London

London, Dec.6-2007; http://www.topnews.in

Two exiled human rights activists from Baluchistan were arrested on Tuesday by the Metropolitan Police in an operation code-named Operation Super Sweep/Swift.

Faiz Mohammed Baluch and Nawabzada Herbiyar Marri were allegedly arrested on terrorism-related charges and taken to the Paddington Green police station. At the moment, he has no legal representation.

Police took Nawabzada Herbiyar Marri, also known as Herbiyar, from his home in Ealing, London W13, at around 5 a.m. on December 4. Since his arrest, the police have taken over his property, evacuated his family from the property, and the entire area has been cordoned off. The mobile phones of his children have been confiscated.

According to unconfirmed information, he has been transferred to Paddington Green police station for interrogation.

Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said: “I know one of the detained men, Faiz Baluch, and have worked with him on campaigns against Pakistani human rights abuses in occupied Baluchistan. In all the work that I have done with him, he and other exiled Baluch activists have been engaged in an entirely lawful, constitutional struggle for the independence of their homeland.

“These arrests are likely to have been at the request of the Pakistan government, which has long been seeking the extradition of Baluch nationalists exiled in London. If these men are extradited they will never get a fair trial and they could face a death sentence.

“I urge the British government to not give in to pressure from the Pakistani dictator, President Musharraf. The extradition of these men would result in their arrest, torture, imprisonment and possible execution.

“The Pakistan authorities have repeatedly sought to frame peaceful nationalists and human rights campaigners, both inside Baluchistan and abroad.

“Earlier this year, there was an attempt by Pakistan to secure the extradition from Britain of Mehran Baluch, the Baluch representative to the UN Human Rights Council. The charges against him were false.

“Mehran’s brother, Balach Marri, was recently murdered by the Pakistan army.

“These arrests look like another fit-up orchestrated by the Pakistan government to silence critics of Pakistan’s tyrannical, murderous oppression of the Baluch people.

The Pakistani authorities are secretly colluding with the Taliban to suppress Baluchistan,“ said Tatchell.

Baluchistan was a former British Protectorate. It secured its independence in 1947. But less than a year later, Pakistan invaded and annexed the state of Baluchistan. The Baluch people have, however, never given up their struggle for freedom.

After six decades of occupation and bloody repression, Pakistan is once again escalating its war against the people of Baluchistan, detaining without trial thousands of Baluchs and executing hundreds more. Because Britain and the United States want Pakistan as an ally in the “war on terror” they are arming Pakistan and acquiescing with its suppression of the Baluch people.

Pakistan’s war against non-fundamentalist Baluchistan and its moderate nationalist forces is strengthening the position of the Taliban who have exploited the situation to establish bases in the region. From these bases they launch terror attacks against the Baluch people and seek to enforce the Talibanisation of Baluchistan. The Pakistani government colludes with the Taliban’s murderous campaign, on the grounds that it helps to crush the Baluch people and their struggle for independence.

Some of the Taliban leaders hide out in Baluchistan, from where they plan and launch their military operations to overthrow the democratically elected government of Afghanistan. Their campaign to usurp power in Kabul is taking place with the tacit collusion of key figures in the Pakistani government, military and intelligence services. The Pakistanis are allowing the Taliban to use Baluchistan as a base for their war against democracy and human rights.

The international community is looking the other way, allowing the Baluch people to be suppressed and ignoring their right to self-determination. (ANI)
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STOP THE EXTRADITION OF BALOCH HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS TO PAKISTAN

Nawabzada Herbiyar Marri and Faiz Mohammad Baloch have been arrested by British authorities, likely on behest of Pakistan. The Government of Pakistan has long been seeking the extradition of Baloch nationalists exiled in Britain to suppress the voice of the secular Baloch people.

We request all individuals and organisations who believe in the upholding of human rights to join the demonstration to protest the arrest and harassment of Baloch activists and urge the British government not to give in to pressure from the corrupt Pakistani military establishment and immediately release those detained.

The extradition of these peaceful activists who have have been engaged in an entirely lawful and constitutional struggle for the rights of the Baloch nation, would result in their arrest, torture, imprisonment and possible execution without a fair trial.


Event Information:
Sunday 16 December
From 2-4 pm
In front of 10 Downing Street
Nearest Tube: Westminster and Charing Cross

Organisers and Contacts:

Balochistan Action Committee
Samad Baloch - 07825087032, Mir Hussain Baloch – 07506696954

World Sindhi Congress
Haleem Bhatti - 07939177286, Lakhu Luhana 07912219471

Sindhi Baloch Forum
Ambreen Hisbani - 07930397082, Rahim Baloch - 07770771100
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Decision time on Iran nearing, Livni says

'Tehran close to crossing technological threshold after which it will be able to secretly produce nuclear weapons without supervision,' foreign minister says during NATO conference in Brussels

Roni Sofer Published: 07-12-07, http://www.ynetnews.com

Iran is close to crossing a technological threshold after which it will be able to secretly produce nuclear weapons without supervision, Tzipi Livni said Friday at the NATO foreign ministers conference in Brussels, Belgium.
"The time to reach a decision (regarding Iran) is near," the FM said, adding that Israel would continue to urge Western countries to maintain a firm stance against Tehran.
Livni, who is scheduled to meet US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice later in the day, lauded the decision to uphold the sanctions policy.

"The American intelligence report on Iran should not change the tough position taken against its nuclear program," she said.

Livni is expected to tell the NATO foreign ministers that "the world must unite to prevent Iran from attaining nuclear arms."

The foreign minister, who is also set to meet with her counterparts from Germany, France and the UK, hopes that the European Union will back the Bush administration's call for continued pressure against Tehran.

"If this happens, then the diplomatic process in which the Western world conveys a tough policy toward Iran will be complete," Livni is expected to tell the conference.
'Iran remains a threat'
Germany and France said on Thursday that Iran's nuclear program was still a threat and the search for more UN sanctions should go on despite the US intelligence report saying that Tehran was no longer trying to build an atomic bomb.

Speaking at a joint news conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the existing dual track policy of preparing sanctions against Tehran while leaving the door open to negotiations should go on.

"I think that we are in a process and that Iran still poses a threat," Merkel said, adding that talks between mediator Javier Solana and Iran's top nuclear negotiator should continue.

Sarkozy said he fully agreed with Merkel, adding: "What has made Iran move until now is sanctions and firmness."
Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht told reporters that the ministers accepted the Bush administration's argument that Iran remains a threat and needs to be treated as such.

"On Iran, everybody around the table agreed we should not change our position," he told reporters after a dinner at which Rice presented Washington's position.


Reuters contributed to the report
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Release Yaqoob Mehrnehad from Iranian prison

Appeal for Urgent action

To, 20.11.2007

Amnesty International
International Secretariat,
United Kingdom,
London

Yaqoob Mehrnehad founder and leader of Sedaye Edelat, a youth association in Balochistan in Iran is under arrest since 27 April 2007 with out any charge.

Source: http://www.taftaan.blogfa.com