| Baloch Body condemn ISI threats to physically harm Pakistan human rights leader Asma Jahangir |
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 05, 2012
WASHINGTON DC: Founder of the first-ever Baloch organization in North America has condemned an alleged plan by Pakistan’s
military and its Inter-Services Intelligence Agency (ISI) to physically harm Asma Jahangir, the first woman president of the Supreme
Court Bar Association.
Dr. Wahid Baloch, president of the Baloch Society of North America, in a statement Tuesday expressed his anguish over real threats
to the life of Asma Jahangir, who was one of the main founders of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.
“Asma Jahangir was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize as part of the 1000 Women for Peace project. She is an “International
Nightingale of Human Rights” from the Third World and is widely respected in the U.S. for her services for the voiceless people,
religious minorities and oppressed nations including the Baloch in Pakistan,” Dr. Baloch said in his statement.
Dr. Baloch said that the I.S.I. appears to be irked by the historic conference convened by the Supreme Court Bar Association where
key leaders in Pakistan expressed their deep concerns regarding the deteriorating human right situation in Balochistan and
suggested a 15 point resolution on how to solve the Balochistan problem.
“Instead of being grateful to Mohtarma Asma Jahangir, it’s a shame they want to go after her life,” he said.
He said Ms. Jahangir has not only been a human rights missionary in Pakistan’s context, but her service as U.N. special rapporteur
on extrajudicial killings are recognized world over.
“The State Department must declare Pakistan a terrorist entity if the I.S.I. carries out its plans to harm Mohtarma Asma Jahangir,” Dr.
Baloch said. “In the past twice-premier Benazir Bhutto had warned about such threats to her life from the men in uniform and
specifically named Brigadier Ejaz Shah, but it is a shame that Shah was neither arrested nor tried because of the clout intelligence
agencies enjoy in Pakistan.”
“The plan to kill Mohtarma Asma Jahangir is especially ominous in the backdrop of Pakistan’s secret dirty war in Balochistan which
has claimed the lives of hundreds of Baloch political and student activists, doctors, lawyers, journalists and people from different
walks of life.
Dr. Baloch praised the sane minded people of Pakistan for rallying together to save the life of Mohtarma Asma Jahangir.
A day earlier top leaders of Pakistan’s civil society, expressed their serious concern and alarm at the information-leak from a
responsible and highly credible source that there is a serious threat to the life of the country’s leading human rights activist and one
of the most influential leaders of the bar.
Signatories to the joint statement said “What makes the reported conspiracy to liquidate Asma Jahangir especially serious is, firstly,
the environment of target-killings, in which dissident persons’ dead bodies are being dumped all over, and, secondly, the fact that the
finger of accusation has been pointed at the extraordinarily privileged state actors.”
Along with Justice Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim, I.A. Rahman, Ahmad Rashid, Ali Ahmad Kurd, the petitioners included Lt. General Talat
Masood and Air Marshal Zafar Chaudhry, Dr. Wahid Baloch deplored that the Pakistani secret services have a track record of killing
open-minded leaders, including the country’s prime minister, which has made the South Asian nation one of the most messy and
tragic in the world today.
As part of his efforts to create awareness about Balochistan, Dr. Baloch has met U.S. vice president Joe Biden, among other top
American leaders.
################
Media Contact:
Baloch Society of North America (BSO-NA)
Suit 300
Washington D.C.,
Tel:
Fax:
e-mail:
Website: bso-na.org/
Related Links:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 05, 2012
WASHINGTON DC: Founder of the first-ever Baloch organization in North America has condemned an alleged plan by Pakistan’s
military and its Inter-Services Intelligence Agency (ISI) to physically harm Asma Jahangir, the first woman president of the Supreme
Court Bar Association.
Dr. Wahid Baloch, president of the Baloch Society of North America, in a statement Tuesday expressed his anguish over real threats
to the life of Asma Jahangir, who was one of the main founders of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.
“Asma Jahangir was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize as part of the 1000 Women for Peace project. She is an “International
Nightingale of Human Rights” from the Third World and is widely respected in the U.S. for her services for the voiceless people,
religious minorities and oppressed nations including the Baloch in Pakistan,” Dr. Baloch said in his statement.
Dr. Baloch said that the I.S.I. appears to be irked by the historic conference convened by the Supreme Court Bar Association where
key leaders in Pakistan expressed their deep concerns regarding the deteriorating human right situation in Balochistan and
suggested a 15 point resolution on how to solve the Balochistan problem.
“Instead of being grateful to Mohtarma Asma Jahangir, it’s a shame they want to go after her life,” he said.
He said Ms. Jahangir has not only been a human rights missionary in Pakistan’s context, but her service as U.N. special rapporteur
on extrajudicial killings are recognized world over.
“The State Department must declare Pakistan a terrorist entity if the I.S.I. carries out its plans to harm Mohtarma Asma Jahangir,” Dr.
Baloch said. “In the past twice-premier Benazir Bhutto had warned about such threats to her life from the men in uniform and
specifically named Brigadier Ejaz Shah, but it is a shame that Shah was neither arrested nor tried because of the clout intelligence
agencies enjoy in Pakistan.”
“The plan to kill Mohtarma Asma Jahangir is especially ominous in the backdrop of Pakistan’s secret dirty war in Balochistan which
has claimed the lives of hundreds of Baloch political and student activists, doctors, lawyers, journalists and people from different
walks of life.
Dr. Baloch praised the sane minded people of Pakistan for rallying together to save the life of Mohtarma Asma Jahangir.
A day earlier top leaders of Pakistan’s civil society, expressed their serious concern and alarm at the information-leak from a
responsible and highly credible source that there is a serious threat to the life of the country’s leading human rights activist and one
of the most influential leaders of the bar.
Signatories to the joint statement said “What makes the reported conspiracy to liquidate Asma Jahangir especially serious is, firstly,
the environment of target-killings, in which dissident persons’ dead bodies are being dumped all over, and, secondly, the fact that the
finger of accusation has been pointed at the extraordinarily privileged state actors.”
Along with Justice Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim, I.A. Rahman, Ahmad Rashid, Ali Ahmad Kurd, the petitioners included Lt. General Talat
Masood and Air Marshal Zafar Chaudhry, Dr. Wahid Baloch deplored that the Pakistani secret services have a track record of killing
open-minded leaders, including the country’s prime minister, which has made the South Asian nation one of the most messy and
tragic in the world today.
As part of his efforts to create awareness about Balochistan, Dr. Baloch has met U.S. vice president Joe Biden, among other top
American leaders.
################
Media Contact:
Baloch Society of North America (BSO-NA)
Suit 300
Washington D.C.,
Tel:
Fax:
e-mail:
Website: bso-na.org/
Related Links: