QUETTA: Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan Alyani and leaders of several political parties announced on Wednesday that the people of Balochistan stood by Kashmiris as their frontline allies.

Speaking at a public meeting organised jointly by the ruling Balochistan Awami Party, Awami National Party, Hazara Democratic Party, Balochistan National Party-Awami, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and Pakistan Peoples Party at the Railway Hockey Ground, they expressed concern over silence of the United Nations, western countries and human rights organisations over brutalities faced by the people of occupied Kashmir.

People from across the province attended the rally to show solidarity with Kashmiris.

The leaders called upon the international community to force India to implement the UN resolutions and give Kashmiris the right of self-determination, for which they were struggling for the last 72 years.

The chief minister said that today’s huge gathering had given a clear message to the people of Kashmir that the people of Baloch­istan would not leave Kashmiris alone and would defend the motherland in case of any aggression by India.

He said that the Modi government, through its extremist thinking, atrocities against Indian Muslims and genocide of the Kashmiri people, had proved that the two-nation theory was still alive.

Mr Alyani said that a group of people in Balochistan were lured by India and its intelligence agency and they picked up arms against the state.

“The Indian government was still trying to spoil peace in Balochistan by sitting in a neighboring country, but today India’s reality has been exposed across the world,” he said.

“A specific mindset had opposed the creation of Pakistan, but the fascist Indian regime has now proved that the Quaid-i-Azam and Allama Iqbal had rightly read India’s anti-Muslim designs,” the chief minister said.

He slammed the United States and the European Union for remaining silent over Indian atrocities against innocent Kashmiris. The so-called defenders of human rights, he said, had also turned their faces from the oppression being perpetrated in occupied Kashmir.

“Narendra Modi and his regime have been brazenly violating human rights of the people of Kashmir, but western countries were not breaking their silence,” he said, adding that Pakistan had been raising the Kashmir issue very sincerely and would continue to support the struggle of the people of Kashmir.

Mr Alyani called upon the youth to stand up for the country and keep its flag flying high.

Balochistan Assembly Speaker Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo, Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Qasim Khan Suri, provincial ministers Zamarak Khan Piralizai and Abdul Khaliq Hazara, Senators Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar, Mir Sarfaraz Bugti, Malik Naeem Khan Bazai and Ms Bushara Rind, Balochistan PPP President Mir Ali Madad Jattak and Balochistan PTI President Dr Munir Ahmed and MPA Danish Kumar also spoke at the public meeting.

Meanwhile, national flag-hoisting ceremonies were held on Wednesday in all the 33 districts of Balochistan to celebrate the Independence Day.

The main flag-hoisting ceremony was held on the lawns of the Balochistan Assembly.

The ceremony was attended by Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan Alyani, Speaker Mir Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo, Deputy Speaker of National Assembly Qasim Khan Suri, senators, provincial ministers, high-ranking military and civil officers and a large number of people. The chief minister hoisted the national flag at around 8am.

Flag-hoisting ceremonies were also held in 32 districts of the province. These ceremonies were performed by deputy commissioners of these districts.

In Kohlu, Commandant of Mewand Rifles, Frontier Corps, Balochistan, Colonel Humayun Aslam and father of martyr Haq Nawaz Marri, Nabi Daad Marri, hoisted the national flag.

Flag-hoisting ceremonies were also held in Mastung, Kalat, Khuzdar, Kohlu, Dera Bugti, Sibi, Dera Murad Jamali, Kharan, Chagai, Noshki, Jaffarabad, Sobatpur, Jhal Magsi, Zhob, Loralai, Ziarat, Pishin, Qila Saifullah, Qila Abdullah, Gwadar, Turbat, Panjgur, Washuk and other district headquarters.

People took out rallies carrying national and Azad Kashmir flags.

Published in Dawn, August 15th, 2019