HYDERABAD, Feb 8: The World Sindhi Institute, in collaboration with the Sindhi Association of North America, World Sindhi Congress, Global Pushtun Institute, Baloch Society of North America, Baloch Human Rights International and the Torture Abolition Survivors Support Coalition International, held a demonstration outside the Pakistani embassy in Washington DC.

According to a press release issued by the WSI and information provided by the Awami Tehrik and the Sindh National Council, the demonstration was held to record protest against the ongoing army operation in Balochistan and the government’s resolve to go ahead with construction of big dams on the Indus River.

Speaking on the occasion, Walter Landry, director of the Think-tank of Self-determination, said every nation had the right to exercise self-determination.

Wahid Baloch of Bosnia said the operation in Balochistan was not against three Sardars as claimed by Gen Pervez Musharraf but it was a war between the Pakistan army and the people of Balochistan.

He said people right from Makran to Kehan, from Kharan to Awaran and from Dera Bugti to Quetta, and all Balochs within Pakistan and abroad were united against the military dictatorship.

Dr Malek Towghi said Balochs had been struggling for their rights since 1947, adding that the Gwadar port and Balochistan’s natural resources belonged to them.

The general secretary of the People’s Party Parliamentarians, Washington DC chapter, Basir Chand, said the common man of Punjab did not want to go against the wishes of Sindh because they believed that a decision about construction of dams should be taken by a representative government.

He condemned the army operation in Balochistan.

Awami Tehrik chief Rasool Bux Palijo, who is on a visit to the US, said Sindh had joined Pakistan on the basis of the 1940 resolution which envisaged that the centre would control defence, foreign affairs and currency and other subjects would remain in the domain of the provinces.

He said the situation in Pakistan was fast approaching that of 1971.

The others who spoke on the occasion included Munawar Laghari of the World Sindhi Institute, Saleem Samad, journalist from Bangladesh, and Humera Rehman of the WSI.