Statements

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Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan

Allegations against Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan are offences under the law and a confession about the same can be made only before a court of law of competent jurisdiction. An extra-judicial confession made before an investigating officer or any other person cannot be made a basis for a conclusion that the accused has committed the offence. Till a voluntary confession is recorded in an open court, and the accused is convicted, such a person is presumed to be innocent and a question of a pardon does not arise. An article published in a respectable Daily, The International Herald Tribune, Zurich Edition, Switzerland, dated February 9, 2004, has revealed the circumstances which led to the confessional statement of Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan. It says that Dr. AQK had been told that the safety of the life of his daughter who was in London could not be guaranteed and that if Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan travelled abroad, he could be abducted by Israeli and American secret agencies. This proves that the confession was obtained under a threat. In these circumstances, both the acts of General Musharaf of declaring Dr. AQK to be a criminal on the basis of his alleged confession and than granting him a pardon are illegal and unlawful. And the same are liable to be set aside by the courts. The basic problems of the people of Pakistan are poverty, disease, unemployment and  THEREFORE  terrorism. In the eyes of the majority people of a country where mothers are compelled to commit suicide along with their innocent children due to poverty, where unemployed young men are pushed to become terrorists, a person like Dr. AQK, spending billions of rupees on secret ventures like making of atom bombs, is not a hero. It is a misconception that atom bombs, missiles and armies can save a country. If the red army and KGB with a pile of nuclear bombs and missiles could not prevent the break up of Soviet Union, the Pakistani generals and ISI with their few atom bombs and missiles will not be able to prevent the same of Pakistan. Only the people of Pakistan, if prosperous, can guarantee the defence of the country.The matter of Dr. AQK is being played up by the government and the religious political parties only to divert the attention of the people away from the basic issues facing the country like LFO, the usurpation of the office of President by General Musharaf, unemployment, poverty and the illegal occupation of Kashmir by Pakistan Army. (No doubt, the occupation by India is also illegal). People like Dr. AQK, General Musharaf and Atal Behari Bajpai who make, or who patronise and justify the preparation of nuclear bombs and missiles are responsible for the deaths of millions of people who die due to poverty and disease. Making of these weapons, which have caused mass destruction even before their use, is the main crime. All other crimes are only a consequence.

 

Shaukat Baloch, Advocate,

President,

Punjab Democratic Front,

 Switzerland.

 

 

   Violations of Human rights of Women in Pakistan

Inter-provincial sports are being held in Lahore from 13th to 15th of 

March, 2004. But this time the events of women have been excluded (ref. 

Daily Jang-Internet edition of today) which, 

previously were included. This is surrender by the authorities before the religious extremists.

 It is a disappointing response by the government to the International Women's 

Day commemorated just two days before and to the demands by the women organisations 

in their demos and meetings held all over Pakistan including Lahore. I hope the organisations working for the rights of women

 in Pakistan and all over the world will take a serious note of it. If such violations of fundamental rights of women, 

which to some people may not appear serious, 

are ignored, this will embolden the extremists and than 

they will come forward with more shameful and cruel demands. Such violations in 

Pakistan are equally harmful for the cultural rights of the women of Kashmir. 

Shaukat Baloch,

President,

Punjab Democratic Front
(Switzerland.)

March 10, 2004

DEMOCRACY                       FREEDOM                   JUSTICE

PUNJAB DEMOCRATIC FRONT

Shaukat Baloch, President, Punjab Democratic Front, has issued the

following statement on the issue of protests by Muslim fundamentalists in

Pakistan vis-a-vis Afghanistan.

The clergy and leadership of the fundamentalists feels overconfident due to

the reason that it thinks that a majority of the senior army generals comprises

of fundamentalists and is on the side of the civilian fundamentalist

leadership. This is true to some extent. Therefore, to weaken the

fundamentalists in the civil population, it is necessary that the

fundamentalists in the Pakistan army should be weakened first.

It is very simple to do so. General Musharaf should issue an order of  retirement of about half a dozen Lt. Generals, and who have fundamentalist

ideas, from the army. Along with this order of retirement, he should pass

another order of promotion of six major-generals believing in democratic

and liberal values to the rank of Lt. General, and appoint them as the corps

commanders on the field. Next day, he should retire another about a dozen

major-generals, who have fundamentalist ideas from the army and in their

place promote to the rank of major-general, brigadiers, who are liberal and

believe in democratic values.  The post of Director General ISI, Inter Services Intelligence, in the army, should be given to a army general who is not a fundamentalist and believes

in democratic values.

These retirements and promotions will give a strong message to the clergy

leading the protests that it has lost the game. After this, the clergy would

stop instigating its followers and the protests would slowly come to an end

within days. In this regard, General Musharaf will not face any problem of his orders mentioned above, being disobeyed, if his orders have the blessing of the

United States. General Musharaf can go ahead with these retirements and promotions, with  full confidence, also, for the reason that a big majority of the Pakistan army officers, other ranks and the 140 million population of Pakistan, is against fundamentalists in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The number of fundamentalists in Pakistan is not more than one per cent. Therefore, the fundamentalist generals cannot have the courage to disobey the orders of their retirement.

The said process of retirements and promotions can be completed within a week.

Next, Musharaf, as the President of the country, should pass an order asking all the citizens to deposit their arms in the police stations temporarily. This procedure of depositing of the arms is not new in Pakistan. It has been carried out in the past several times, peacefully without any objection by the people. The deposit of these arms would ensure that any problem of law and order does not arise in the country. With the majority of the army generals on their side, and the arms having been deposited at the police stations, deadly weapons being in the possession of only the fundamentalists, the liberal and democratic forces in Pakistan and Kashmir, would also feel confident and they would come on the streets, against the fundamentalists.

This is the quickest way to stop the agitation of the fundamentalists in Pakistan. But what has been stated above, is possible only if General Musharaf is serious in taking an action against the fundamentalists. However, it is doubtful that he is serious about it.

September 23,200 1                                                                             Shaukat Baloch

 

Pakistan,India,Kashmir and their parasites.

 

To find a permanent solution to the problem of terrorism, and to solve the problems of the people of Pakistan and Kashmir, we will have to reconsider the present geographical boundries of Pakistan, India and Kashmir. The whole world knows that the present government in Afghanistan, led by the Talban, is a creation of Pakistan. There are, many camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where military training is given to fundamentalists.lt is these people who are carrying out terrorist activities all over the world,in co­ordination with terrorists from other countries. Pakistan government, which is always controlled by the military generals,is providing funds and fascilities for military training which it extracts from the economy of a huge country of Pakistan, comprising of 140 million people. This means, that a large strong Pakistani army, with control over the economic resources of a big country of 140 million people, is the cause of the strength of the fundamentalists in Pakistan. These fundamentalists are a danger to the democratic  forces in Kashmir and Pakistan. A huge Pakistani army has always been a threat to democracy in Pakistan. Repeated dismissal of elected governments by the army is a proof of that.The democratic forces are always helpless before the power and influence of this large army. The huge Pakistani army is a parasite for the economy of Pakistan. A very large part of the resources is drained into maintaining this large army. No funds are left behind for education, medical aid, and other development programmes. This results in unemployment, corruption and all other social evils in the country. The unemployed youth is automatically pushed towards the clutches of the fundamentalists. There is only one way to get rid of the huge Pakistani army. Present Pakistan should be divided into five independent countries of Punjab, Sindh, Pashtoonistan, Balochhistan and Kashmir consisting of Giligit, Baltistan and Azad Kashmir. Later on Indian Jammu and Kashmir would also join. Each new country thus created will not have the sufficient resources to maintain a large army as at present. The new country of Punjab will again require to maintain a big army if it has a big country of one billion like India on its border. This problem would be solved with the division of India into smaller countries on the basis of language. This would also be in the interest of the people of India, who like Pakistan have their own parasite in the form of a huge Indian army.

To further inculcate friendly relations among the new countries of South Asia, a confederation of all the independent countries of South asia can be formed,on the lines of European Union. After both, Pakistan and India are divided into smaller countries, these new countries will have no aggressive designs against their neighbours.They will not have any need to maintain big armies. All the resources of these countries would be spent on the development of industry, commerce, creating more jobs and strenthening of the democratic institutions. The experience of the last 54 years of belligerent history of Pakistan and India has taught us that there is no other way for the solution of the problems of the people of Pakistan, Kashmir and India, except to get rid of the parasites of the armies and the fundamentalists,by the formation of smaller countries in place of the present ones. These smaller new countries would not pose a threat to other democratic countries of the world. Consequently, the developed countries of the world would be ready to invest in the new countries of South Asia. This, also, would result in the fast progress of these new countries.

Dated -September 20,2001                                                

  Shaukat Baloch, Advocate,

President,

Punjab Democratic Front,

Kaegenhofweg 2

4153 Reinach  BL,  Switzerland.

E-Mail- blochch@yahoo.com Tel- 0041 76 549 42 53