Jeay Sindh Freedom Movement chairman Sohail Ahmed Abro told the Balochistan conference in Geneva that Balochistan was a free and sovereign state for centuries and was occupied by the Pakistani army on 27 March 1948, as happened with Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and other parts of the subcontinent.
He was addressing the 12th Balochistan International Conference organised by the Baloch National Movement. He has represented Sindh at UN Human Rights Council events in Geneva.
Sohail Abro said Balochistan is a land of sorrow, even though it has uranium, minerals, the Saindak project, the Reko Diq project, the Dadhar project, the Dalbandin project, coal mines, gas and a vast coastline. Pakistani imperialism cares not about the people of Balochistan but about its minerals and land.
He said more than thirty thousand Baloch are forcibly disappeared and their genocide continues. More than eight thousand Baloch have been killed over the years. Recently the Pakistan Air Force carried out bombing in Surab.
He said Sindhis, Baloch, Pashtuns, Kashmiris, Gilgiti-Baltis and Saraikis are all subjugated nations under the occupation of Punjab and Pakistan.
Since all have the same enemy, he proposed international coordination, a joint strategy, a joint struggle and joint cooperation among all the subjugated nations, “so that we can reach in good time the destinations of Sindhudesh, a free Balochistan, a free Jammu and Kashmir, a free Pashtunistan, a free Gilgit-Baltistan and Saraikistan.”
On this occasion he asked the United Nations to hold and organise referendums on the right to self-determination and freedom in Sindh, Pakhtunkhwa, Jammu and Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and the Saraiki Waseb as well as Balochistan, “so that we can emerge as sovereign countries and become members of the United Nations.”
He ended his speech with a saying of Sain G. M. Syed: “Freedom is our right, freedom is possible, and one day we will win freedom.”
