New Delhi (NVI): Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s bluff on Kashmir has been called by a prominent Pashtun leader and MP Mohsin Dawar and echoed by Baloch leaders and activists.
Dawar was addressing a massive rally against the Pakistan army in Peshawar when he questioned whether Khan would offer referendum and right to self-determination to Pashtuns, Sindhis and Baloch people like he is demanding for the people of Kashmir.
“Our puppet Prime Minister (Khan has) claimed that Pakistan will respect the decision of Kashmiris if they seek referendum…. The Baloch people are demanding independence. Will you give it them? Under the UN Charter, all countries have the basic right to self-determination… Will you grant this right to Sindhis, to Pashtuns?… Make the same announcement for the different countries which are under Pakistan,” Dawar said to the cheers all around.
He was commenting on Khan’s remarks made at a rally in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on February 5 where he said, “I want to tell the Kashmiris on both sides of the divide that after you will decide in favour of Pakistan (in a plebiscite), you will be given a right by Pakistan to choose whether you want to remain as a part of Pakistan or as an independent nation… This will be your right.”
Pashtuns (the populace of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), the people of Balochistan and citizens of Sindh have been struggling for independence from Pakistan for seven decades. The Pakistani establishment has been crushing their aspiration for freedom with an iron hand. The Pakistani agencies indulge in killings, torture, rapes and enforced disappearances to crush these freedom movements.
