Below is a Joint Member Resolution as presented and adopted before the IX UNPO General Assembly held during 16-17 May 2008 in Brussels, Belgium:

   IX UNPO General Assembly

16 - 17 May 2008, Brussels Belgium

Member Resolution

introduced by:

Balochistan and Sindh

Whereas the Baloch and Sindhi Nations are the indigenous and original owners of the regions known as the provinces of Balochistan and Sindh in the state of Pakistan, their rights and privileges as true owners of these lands has never been recognized by the government of Pakistan. Since 1947, when the state of Pakistan was established as a federation, the military and civilian bureaucracies have centralized power into a unitary state, ignoring and dismissing the fact that Pakistan was established as a federation. 

Over the last six decades the military of Pakistan has morphed into an enormous corporate conglomerate that rules over the Baloch and Sindhi nations with impunity. Employing a highly armed state apparatus and using state terrorism through its intelligence agencies the government of Pakistan has sought to silence all Baloch and Sindhi voices that seek to establish fundamental human rights for their people. 

Balochistan and Sindh have vast quantities of natural resources that are exploited by the government of Pakistan to benefit the majority province of Punjab and other urban centers of Pakistan like Islamabad, Peshawar and Karachi. Wheras the urban centers of Balochistan and Sindh where the indigenous Baloch and Sindhis have been turned into a minority through official policy of resettlement of non-Baloch and non-Sindhis. 

Due to these highly discriminatory policies, the Baloch and Sindhi nations have been deprived of their legitimate rights for decades. Whenever and wherever political activists or members of civil society have attempted or sought to raise awareness or protest against these acts of exploitation and oppression, they have been treated worse than ordinary criminals and have been incarcerated and tortured. 

Balochistan has suffered five military operations and Sindh too is highly militarized with the presence of the military in the form of checkposts, bases and cantonments spread all over Sindh. The government that replaced the military regime in Pakistan earlier this year started negotiations to end the military operation against the Pakistani Taliban and other extremist groups and it has widened and intensified its military operation against the Baloch People. 

Resettling and appropriating land from native peoples has been one of the most powerful tools used by colonists to obliterate resistance and mitigate indigenous identity and concomitant claims. The government of Pakistan acts as a colonist and has pushed the peoples of Balochistan and Sindh against a wall and left them with no choice but to attempt to exercise their inalienable rights to self-determination so that their future generations may live in peace and dignity enjoying the fruits of their resources.

Note:

To download the Member Resolution, please click here . (PDF format, 100kb)