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From Tehelka Archives
January 23, 2002
BNF chief to Kofi Annan: New Pak-sponsored

terrorist camps in Northern Areas

Balawaristan National Front chairperson Abdul Hamid Khan’s letter to UN Secretary General
Kofi Annan charges that although offices of terrorist groups have been closed down, training camps
have not and not a single terrorist has been arrested, reports v k shashikumar

eneral Pervez Musharraf, in his eral manager of the co-operative bank, was istan (POGB) in the first week of January 2002.
January 12 speech, banned Pa- providing funds to these terrorists with the I also appeal to your honour, the UN, the UNSC
kistani terrorist organisations instruction and guidance of the Inter-Services (United Nations Security Council) and the civi-
Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and Intelligence (ISI),” Khan wrote in his letter to lised world that the will of two million people
G Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), which the UN secretary general. of this disputed and most deprived part of
have been involved in largescale terrorist vio- Khan says the Pakistan Army has been ter- J&K; should be asked before any solution is
lence in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K;). However, rorising the people of POGB, especially those imposed,” the letter says.
he did not ban the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen who have been demanding independence Khan wants the UN to intervene and set
(HuM), a key member of Osama bin Laden’s Al from Pakistan. the guidelines for peace talks between India
Qaeda. He says that instead of taking action and Pakistan. He says the J&K; issue should be
According to sources in Gilgit and Bal- against the terrorist groups, the army and ISI resolved by determining the will of all its five
tistan, Pakistan-sponsored terrorist train- have “kidnapped a nationalist political leader regions. “Neither Pakistan nor India should
ing camps are still active in different parts of Sadiq Ali, provincial president of the BNF, and be allowed to tackle this issue along sectarian
Pakistan-occupied Gilgit and Baltistan (PoGB). all members of his Cabinet from Skardu sub- or religious lines,” he says. The five regions of
HuM camps are still in operation in Tan- J&K; are:
gir of Diamar District, and there are a Balawaristan (POGB), which is seven
number of camps in Astore near J&K;, times larger than Pakistan-Occupied
Ghowadi in Baltistan, Skardu city, Juglote Kashmir (PoK) and more resource-rich.
and Konodas in Gilgit. Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir
Abdul Hamid Khan, chairperson of Ladakh/Kargil
the Balawaristan National Front (BNF) Jammu
has written a letter to the United Na- Kashmir
tions Secretary General Kofi Anan, say- The BNF wants the UN to ensure
ing there are “12,000 Kalashnikovs in that no single region of the undivided
Skardu city”, which is in the possession J&K; should be given the right to decide
of Pakistan-sponsored terrorist groups. the fate of the other regions. The BNF
The BNF is spearheading a movement is fighting for the political and human
for a free and independent Balawaristan, rights of the nearly two million people
comprising the regions of Gilgit and Bal- of this disputed region since 1992. The
tistan, which are popularly known as the Pakistan Government has also deprived
Northern Areas. the people of Gilgit and Baltistan of eco-
Khan, in his letter to Anan, says the nomic, cultural and legal rights. There is
police have not closed down terrorist also no freedom of speech or right to free
camps or impounded their vehicles. “After urb because they were demanding freedom movement.
Musharraf’s speech, only the offices of these from the occupation of Pakistan.” Khan highlights the repression in POGB
terrorist groups have been closed, but not a The BNF chairperson claims that the Pa- by pointing out that not a single person in In-
single terrorist has been taken into custody in kistani Army does not allow anti-Pakistan dia is facing sedition charges despite an open
this disputed part,” the letter states. political activity in POGB, and has followed a separatist movement in Indian J&K.; This not
Khan has also revealed that the Pakistan policy of heavy repression and a covert policy only speaks volumes about the democratic
Government has set up a number of camps in to eliminate pro-independence activists. He nature of the Indian polity, but also demol-
the valleys of Yasen, Ishkomen and other parts has appealed to Anan to intervene and save ishes much-bandied about charges of political
of “POGB that are adjacent to Afghanistan, for the life of Sadiq Ali. repression in the Indian J&K.; Khan says, “The
the Taliban and the Al Qaeda. Muzaffar Hus- “I appeal to your honour, the civilised Indian government is providing security pro-
sain, a local assistant inspector-general of po- world and all human rights activists to save tection to the anti-Indian leaders of its held
lice and Raji Rahmat, deputy superintendent the lives of Sadiq Ali and others members of part of J&K.”
of police, have been deputed to facilitate the BNF, who are missing ever since the Pakistan
Taliban and Al Qaeda. Sher Jahan Mir, a gen- Army kidnapped them from Skardu, Balawar- LETTERS@TEHELKA.COM

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