Is Pakistan's worst nightmare of 'Jew-Hindu plot' coming true?
It may be what Americans call a double whammy for Pakistan Army generals. To the delight of the Baloch and the anguish of Pakistan, Islamabad’s nightmare about a Yehud o Hunood sazish or “Jewish-Hindu Plot” to undo the Islamic Republic may finally be taking shape - not as a sinister cloak-and-dagger plot but as state policies of two democracies, announced to the world public.
After India, it is most likely that Israel will support the freedom of Balochistan, developments in Europe and North America in the last week of August showed.
As a manifestation of tikkun olam - an article of faith that spurs Jews to take action to repair the world - Israelis and Jews are increasingly voicing support for the freedom of France-sized Balochistan, where Pakistan is allegedly committing crimes against humanity.
For example, in the last week of August, Yehudah Glick, member of Knesset, and Michael Mendelsen, president of Israel’s Voice, at two separate events in Leipzig, Germany, and Washington DC vowed they will help raise the voice for freedom of Balochistan in Israel, the only secular democracy in West Asia.
The two Jewish gentlemen, with US and Israeli connections, spoke at events to mark the 10th anniversary of martyrdom of Balochistan statesman Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, former governor and chief minister of Balochistan. Nawab Bugti was assassinated on the orders of Pakistan coup leader and military dictator General Pervez Musharraf.
India-friendly Nawab Brahumdagh Bugti, Swiss-based political successor of the slain leader and president of the Baloch Republican Party, speaking on the occasion, said: “In addition to the US, I also call upon NATO countries and Israel to help defend human lives in Balochistan by upholding R2P (responsibility to protect).” Bugti profusely thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his support to Balochistan.
Glick promised he will do everything he can within the Israeli Parliament to help the Baloch people obtain freedom. “We of all people have to recognise that the Balochi people are suffering under the oppression of the Pakistani government,” he spoke by skype to a seminar organised by Jawad Baloch, president of Baloch Republican Party's Germany chapter, to honour slain Nawab Bugti, 79.
“We in Israel identify with the suffering of the people of Balochistan,” Glick said, adding: “Many people have been killed by the inhumane behaviour of the Pakistani government. I think it is time to tell the Pakistani government that they have no right to threaten other people. They have no right to terrorise other people. We in Israel identify with your suffering and we call upon the world not to ignore the suffering of the peoples in Pakistan…”
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| Swiss-based Nawab Brahumdagh Bugti is president of the Baloch Republican Party. |
Glick cited American historian Prof. M Chris Mason who says Baloch ruler at the time of the 1947 Partition of India, Mir Ahmadyar Khan, was seeking the help of India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru to thwart Pakistani military aggression. Balochistan was granted independence separately from India and Pakistan and The New York Times reported the event.
Glick, who is a rabbi, said: “I want to share with you the true love of the prophets of Israel. The age of freedom will come because you deserve it. You deserve independence.”
He emphasised: “The Pakistani government should end the occupation. We will eventually share with you the freedom that you deserve. I will call upon the Israeli government to support the people of Balochistan."
Jawad Baloch, who organised the Leipzig event and has been busy seeking Indian and Israeli voices of support, said he was awe-inspired by Glick's honest love for Balochistan. "I believe he has felt our pain because he was also a victim of terror," he said. The Knesset member had survived an attempt on his life by Islamists.
Israel’s Voice president Mendelsen, who came from Miami all the way to Washington DC along with his beautiful Israeli wife Shoshi Marciano to address 'Americans Remember Shaheed Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti', quoted from an article titled 'Kurds, Baloch and Israelis' written by Elisa Greenberg.
She said: “Just as the Jewish people were left without a Jewish state for thousands of years and occupied by others, from the Romans to the Byzantines to the Ottomans, the Kurdish and Baloch people are also nations without a country. The land of Kurds is divided between Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and parts of Syria, Armenia and Azerbaijan, while the Baloch reside in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran. Just as the Jewish people never gave up on the Jewish state of Israel, the Kurds and Baloch have never been willing to give up their dream” of having their own free countries, where they could be masters of their own destiny without outside coercion.
Mendelsen, whose son works for the Israel Defense Forces, said Greenburg further writes and he concurs that: “In 1948, Pakistan attacked Balochistan, occupied the land, looted its natural resources , and suppressed the Balochi language and culture in classic colonialist style. Under the Pakistani occupation, thousands of Baloch people have been massacred, hundreds of thousands made refugees, and thousands more have disappeared or been tortured and jailed, often without trial. Details of Pakistan’s human rights abuses in Balochistan are well documented by Pakistani and international human rights groups, including the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.”
Mendelsen said Pakistan is one of the countries that are in the forefront when it comes to anti-Semitism. “While it sheds tears over Kashmir and Judea and Samaria aka West Bank, Pakistan security forces' atrocities against the Baloch have few parallels in recent times,” he asserted.
Jewish media has been recently focusing on Balochistan’s freedom movement. It was the first time in Balochistan's history that the stage was shared by an important Baloch freedom leader Bugti with an Israeli member of parliament belonging to Likud Party and an NGO activist.
As both Glick and Mendelsen staunchly support Benjamin Netanyahu, it is expected the Israeli premier will announce support for a free Balochistan shortly.
Last month, Modi announced support to the Baloch people and said Pakistan will have to answer to the international community for its crimes in Balochistan.
In fact, former Afghan president Hamid Karzai backed Modi's views on stopping Pakistan's atrocities in Balochistan, and the Sheikh Hasina Wajid government in Dhaka also concurs with Modi.