Tamil diaspora youth express solidarity with Baloch nation on Martyrs Day

On 13th November, the oppressed Baloch nation, both in the occupied homeland and in the diaspora, commemorates their heroes who have fought for the sovereignty and freedom of Balochistan. The Baloch martyrdom is traced from 1836 onwards, when the Baloch leader Mir Mehran Khan Baloch was killed alongside his followers while battling the Imperialist British forces who eventually brought the Baloch homeland under colonial domination. Subsequently the Baloch have fought the British, the Persians, the Iranian and Pakistani state in a bid to regain their lost sovereignty and to safeguard their national existence and rights.

On 11 August 1947, the Baloch Prince of Kalat declared independence of eastern Balochistan, three days prior to the creation of the post-colonial Pakistani state.

Disregarding the democratic aspiration and national sovereignty of the Baloch people, the following year M.A Jinnah ordered the military occupation of Balochistan and the dismantling of their national mobilization.

Pakistani army operations and genocidal oppression has characterized the state in Eastern Balochistan ever since, and every effort to build Baloch national unity and mobilization to regain freedom has been subjected to coordinated military crackdown.

The Baloch have since 1948 waged four national liberation wars against Islamabad with the 5th still ongoing since its commencement in the 2000’s. Each time the Baloch struggle had been militarily defeated yet the reproduction of the spirit of national resistance ensured the Baloch to rise in rebellion when historical possibilities emerged.

Since December 2013 large scale military operations have been deployed in Balochistan and state aided atrocities have been directed at the national resistance of the Baloch. This follows the historic awareness march (The long March for Missing Persons) conducted by Baloch activists of Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) in late 2013 covering over 2000 KM and 106 days from the Baloch capital of Quetta to Islamabad. In recent weeks dozens of bodies of abducted Baloch men have been found dumped in desolate areas of Balochistan with gruesome signs of torture.

The VBMP has reported that since 2004 over 18,000 Balochis have disappeared, and more than 1600 have been extra judicially killed, tortured and dumped in and around Balochistan. More than 1600 Baloch have also been assassinated since 2009, at the hands of state security forces and its proxy forces.

The Baloch people are nevertheless committed to national liberation and there have been held throughout the Baloch homeland and in Karachi commemorative events for the martyrs on 13th November. Likewise the Baloch diaspora held commemoration events in U.K, Sweden and South Korea.

The 13th of November was chosen as the Baloch martyrs day following the release of the historic Baloch Liberation Charter, composed of pro Baloch freedom leaders in the diaspora and the homeland last year it in a bid to unite the Baloch freedom movement under a common national political platform.

Taking the spirit of resistance from the Baloch martyrs since the colonial period, the Baloch commemorates all theirs fighters who have laid down their life in fighting foreign occupation in a bid to strengthen national unity, inclusiveness and cohesion on their Heroes Day.

In a similar vein, Eezham Tamils should draw inspiration from the historic resistance as displayed by the Tamil resistance fighters who fought Portuguese, Dutch, British, Indian and Sinhala colonialism and imperialism in a bid to reaffirm their commitment in the present to resolve the national question of Eezham Tamils, Tamil youth activists in Norway expressing solidarity with the Baloch people, said on Thursday.

In order to keep the national politics struggle-centric and to build an alternative political foundation of solidarity, there is the need for Eelam Tamils to forge alliances with other nations without states and to interact with their liberation struggles, the youth activists further said.

PDF: Respect, Salute and Solidarity From Eelam to Balochistan – TYO Norway

“We the Eelam Tamil nation, who shares with the Baloch nation, a great history of national resistance to imperialism, colonialism and national oppression, send our deepest greetings and solidarity to the Baloch nation on this very day when the great heroes of the Baloch are commemorated and their legacy continued upon,” said a statement issued by the Tamil Youth Organisation in Norway on Thursday.

TamilNet: 13.11.14 Tamil diaspora youth express solidarity with Baloch nation on Martyrs Day

[Full Coverage]

(For updates you can share with your friends, follow TNN on Facebook and Twitter )

Published
Categorised as News