September 14, 2008	Sunday	Ramazan 13, 1429

LONDON, Sept 13: The UK-based Balochistan Human Rights Council (BHRC), in an open letter to President Asif Ali Zardari, has asked him to amend the Constitution so that the three smaller provinces are given the right to own and exploit their own resources.

The letter, released to the media on Saturday, urged the president to propose an amendment to the Constitution that would allow a federating unit to secede from the Federation in the event of a military action.

The council also asked the president to order the army to return to the barracks and dismantle the cantonments in Balochistan; bring to book all the violators of the present or past constitutions; unconditionally release tens of hundreds of Baloch activists and ordinary people who have been made to “disappear” and tortured; bring to justice all those who have been responsible for human rights violations in Balochistan and; bring back hundreds of thousands of ordinary people who have taken refuge in the neighbouring provinces as a result of the brutal army operations and rehabilitate them.

“We do recognise the fact that you face enormous challenges; however, we fervently hope that you will afford Balochistan your utmost priority,” the BHRC’s letter to Mr Zardari said.

The BHRC appreciated President Zardari’s stand on Balochistan and welcomed his efforts to address the ‘historical grievances’ of the Baloch.

The council further said that Islamabad’s ‘tyrannical policies’ had alienated Balochistan, alleging that the province had been turned into a huge laboratory for human rights violations.

“Consequently the people of Balochistan rightly feel that their province has been turned into an occupied territory where state terror has become the norm.”