Baloch leaders call for end to military operations in Balochistan

Quetta, Feb.9 (ANI): The Balochistan All Parties Conference (BAPC) has called for an immediate end to military operations in Balochistan and the immediate release of nearly 6000 missing persons, who they claim have been languishing in torture cells for years.

The demand was made at a meeting in Quetta. Representatives of the Hazara Democratic Party, the Balochistan National Party, the Awami National Party, the Jamiat Ulema Islam, the Jamhoori Watan Party, the Jamaat Islami and other political groups attended the meeting.

The demand comes a week after top retired Pakistani military officials urged the Yousuf Raza Gilani Government to register cases against former President Pervez Musharraf and bring him to justice for imposing emergency in 2007 and ordering an army operation against the radical Lal Masjid.

The Pakistan Ex-Servicemen's Association adopted a unanimous resolution in this regard, which also called for legal action against Musharraf for the killing of Baloch nationalist leader Akbar Bugti in an army operation in 2006.

Pakistan's crimes against the Baloch people are not new. Pakistan's forceful occupation and illegal annexing of Balochistan and exploitation of Baloch resource are the root causes of Baloch insurgencies. The Baloch people have fought and are still fighting against the illegal occupation of their land and exploitation of their resources (gas, oil and gold), which Pakistan has been looting for the past 58 years, leaving for Baloch people nothing but backwardness, torture, execution, military operation and genocide. Here are few examples of Pakistan's crime and human right violations against Baloch people in Balochistan. (ANI)