[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 129 (Friday, September 21, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1628]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        THE ETHNIC BALOCH PEOPLE

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                         HON. DANA ROHRABACHER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 21, 2012

  Mr. ROHRABACHER. Mr. Speaker, the Ethnic Baloch people live in an 
area of South Asia now claimed by Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan. In 
Pakistan in particular, they comprise an important segment of the 
population and live in the least developed province, despite an 
abundance of natural resources. Until the arrival of the British 
Empire, the Baloch people organized themselves in a confederation with 
local tribal chiefs holding power. When India and Pakistan were 
partitioned the Baloch people desired to return to their own sovereign 
state, but were prevented by the Pakistani military led government. 
Baloch aspirations for independence have been checked by force and 
their basic human rights have been denied by the Pakistani state. The 
Pakistan government and military is dominated by members of the Punjab 
ethnic group.
  The first major Baloch uprising occurred in 1973 and was crushed two 
years later. The Baloch again resisted their Pakistani Punjabi 
occupiers by force beginning in 2005. A low-level insurgency continues 
to this day. Pakistan's elite refuses to release their grip on the 
strategic coastline or the natural riches of Balochistan which they and 
their ally, Communist Chinese exploit.
  The Pakistani security services, which are overwhelmingly made up of 
Punjabis, use violence against civilians to intimidate the Baloch 
population. One particular grotesque method of intimidation is called 
``kill and dump.'' That is when the body of a man or woman who has 
disappeared is later dumped in a busy section of a town for all the 
people to see. Many of the bodies show extreme signs of torture and are 
badly mutilated.
  I submit for the Record a document titled, ``Some of the Souls in 
Traumata'' which reputedly documents 2,251 Baluchis who have been 
``disappeared'' by the Pakistani security services or who died while in 
custody.
  This abysmal human rights record of the Pakistani government is 
shameful. It is even worse because American foreign and military aid 
money contributes to strengthening the security forces which kill 
innocent Baluchis. The Baluch people have a right to self-determination 
and not to live under the control of Islamabad, if they choose.
  Mr. Speaker, a copy of this report can be viewed at: http://
gwank.org/Some%20of%20 the%20souls%20in%20traumata.pdf.

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