Rally for Rights Toronto, Canada

March 10^th 2006:  On  a cold and windy Toronto morning scores  of sindhis, seraikis, baloch  and pushtun as well as other  progressive Pakistanis  gathered outside the building that houses the Pakistan consulate at 240 Duncan Mills  road. Holding up banners that said “let the Indus river flow freely for Sindhis” “stop military rule” and “ generals are corrupt”  people gathered from all over the GTA and other towns in Ontario to voice their protest.

Children, men and women, young and old had left  homes, schools and jobs for the day to show solidarity and unity with the struggle against dams in Sindh and against the military operations in Balochistan.

The purpose of this rally arranged and organized by the World Sindhi Institute and endorsed and supported by the World Sindhi Congress, the Baloch Society of North America, the Sindhi Association of North America, Friends of South Asia, Baloch Human Rights International  and Baloch Action Committee of  Canada was to draw the attention of western public and  media to the gross human rights abuse and violations taking place in Sindh and Balochistan. Since general Musharaf’s regime is propped up by western tax dollars  the rally participants  felt it was important to bring this fact home to ordinary Canadians

The first speaker Mr Zulfiqar Khwaja, representative of WSI  in Toronto said that Sindh joined the federation of Pakistan on the basis 1940 resolution. Instead of the freedom and autonomy granted by this covenant we received   only broken promises, he said . Even now blatant lies are being presented as truth . Our people who speak out against dams and demand basic human rights are  arrested without reason or on false charges  like Samiullah Kalhoro and then tortured to death. Recently a sindhi American  (Safdar Sarki) on a visit to Karachi was picked up , beaten bloody and then carried away to an unknown destination . Nobody knows where he is. The army shows bravery by terrorizing and  raping innocent civilians , but when they are on the battle field like in the1971 war they surrender like cowards.

Ibrahim Nasar, general secretary of Pushtun Cultural Center  also spoke in favour of  Pushtun rights and against military government.

Niaz Salimi expressed solidarity with the Sindhis and Baloch on behalf of the Center for Thought, Dialogue and Human Rights in Iran .

Mr Facado  Ebba of   the Oromo people (Ethiopia) himself a survivor of torture spoke out against human rights violations and military rule. At this point the slogans raised were “no more torture”. Mr Atif Mehmood  a Punjabi student spoke in support of baloch and sindhi cause and said ordinary Punjabis were sympathetic to the plight of the Baloch and  Sindhis 

Dr. Wahid Baloch of Baloch society of North America also condemned the  5th military operation being carried out in Balochistan .We baloch and sindhi are united against military cantonments and mega dams and demand an end to military rule , he said. 

Ms . Raheela Khwaja a  young doctor from Sindh speaking to OMNI TV said all sindhis are against dams and we want control over our own water resources. Since 60 years we are getting less and less water in Sindh. 

Nadir Baloch  speaking on behalf of   Baloch Action Committee of  Canada said that the Baloch people are very tired. They want peace. They don’t want   bombardment and missiles,  they want development , education and health as well as jobs. Gwader port belongs to baloch people not to non balochis . He condemned the proposed  Kalabagh dam . He raised the slogan of  Baloch Sindhi unity and shouted long live Baloch Sindhi struggle.

Humaira Rahman spoke against more dams on the Indus and said Sindh is getting desertified while general Musharafs government carries out back room negotiations with International Finance Corporations so that lands under army control can be irrigated by new reservoirs. Under international water law no dam can be built without the permission of the lower riparian . Sindhis are totally united on this issue and we will not allow the death of our land or our river to take place. Speaking about the erosion of women’s rights she mentioned the case of Dr Shazia Khalid a young sindhi woman doctor raped by an army captain. “Dr Shazia’s case is symbolic of the respect  of  pakistan’s  military towards its female citizens”.

Zahir Baloch  from the Baloch Society of Canada condemned  the army operation in Balochistan.  He said that  when the pakistan military kills an innocent civilian they label to come and observe for themselves whether the persons were terrorists. Why are these areas so restricted to the press?  I request the international media to come and investigate for themselves . As we know and CBC aired this documentary , just to cover up the rape of an innocent woman the government went on an offensive against the Bugtis when they protested the rape of a sindhi doctor by a member of the military.

Munawar Laghari  said that it seems the Pakistan military hasn’t learnt lessons from the 1971 war in Bangla Desh ; today’s rally has proved that the sindhi, baloch, seraiki, pushtun as well as the oppressed of the Punjab are all united in their struggle against military dictatorship ; the time has come for the military to go back to the barracks.

For more information, please call 202-223-1777 or email us at wsihq@worldsindhi.org. Visit www.worldsindhi.org for more information.