Barrick Gold colonel invites Baluch ire

The De Jure Ruler of Baluchistan, Khan of Kalat Suleman Daud, and
national hero Hairbyair Marri have expressed their deep resentments
over the remarks of a Pakistani army colonel working for Barrick Gold
Corporation against the Baluch struggle for their national rights.

The Khan's outburst came in the wake of an email sent out by Colonel
Sher Khan, public affairs manager and security in-charge at the
multi-billion Reko Diq gold-cum-copper project in Chagai, Baluchistan.
According to rough estimates, there are 12.3 million tons of copper and
20.9 million ounces of gold at Reko Diq.

Colonel Sher Khan in his email sent said the secret services of
Pakistan, namely the infamous Inter Services Intelligence and the
Military Intelligence, did not abduct or kill Ghulam Mohammed Mohammed
Baluch, 50, Lala Munir Baluch, 50, and Sher Mohammed Baluch, 35.

According to Press reports the three liberation activists were
kidnapped on April 3, 2009 from the office of their lawyer Kachkol Ali
Advocate, who was himself a former government minister and leader of
the opposition in Baluchistan assembly.

Kachkol Ali Advocate ran from pillar to post to have a case
registered against the personnel of the Pakistan secret services
without luck.

After their abduction, Pakistani military intelligence officials
shot them in the head and then dropped their bodies from a military
helicopter outside Turbat, family and friends of the slain leaders
said.

The United Nations and the United States condemned the killings of the three activists.

"Reko Diq is the property and national resource of the Baluch.
Foreign companies that have gone there are at their own risk. Tomorrow
whatever happens with them it will be their own fault," the Khan of
Kalat said from his home in Cardiff, U.K., expressing his anguish over
the Pakistani colonel's remarks.

"We Baluch do not want to harm the foreigners. But if they go into
the Baluch areas and continue their exploitation, they will be seen as
enemies and there will be no mercy for enemies."

He warned foreign companies venturing into Baluchistan to be ready for collateral damage.

"The Baluch have the right to oppose the exploiters in every way
they deem necessary," he said. "Those who are exploited have the right
to stop the exploitation. If the Canadians come into harms way, the
Baluch would not be held responsible. We have the right to defend our
national resources," he said.

According to press reports from Quetta, the colonel's email further
insinuated that the three Baluch liberation activists were killed by
their own men over a fight over the ransom.

"There was no question of ransom," the Khan of Kalat said.

Baluch national hero Hairbyair Marri, talking to this correspondent
from London, deplored that someone working for a multinational
corporation was echoing the propaganda of the Pakistani intelligence
setup.

"Foreign companies are ignoring the local people and their genuine
representatives and joining hands with the Punjabi rulers as all the
licenses everything is being given out to them by the Punjabi rulers,"
Marri said. "it is our stated position that foreign companies have no
right to do business in Baluchistan until the key issue of Baluch
sovereignty over their resources is settled."

Marri said foreign companies have joined hands with the Punjabi
oppressors. "When something bad happens they come running to the
Baluch. They should not expect good from us. Whether they consider this
as a threat or an advise it is up to them," he said.

Earlier, two presiding council members of the American Friends of
Baluchistan, Mohammed Ali Baloch from Philadelphia and Karim Bakhsh
Baloch from Atlantic City wrote to senior executives of the Barrick
Gold Corporation in Toronto to protest Colonel Sher Khan's attack on
the Baluch national liberation movement for peace, justice and
democracy.

The A.F.B. leaders deplored that the said official working with the
Barrick Gold Corporation was engaged in a mudslinging campaign against
the best sons of the Baluch soil who gave their blood so that the
coming generations could lead their lives in freedom.

"Canadian firms generally meet Western European and Scandinavian
standards when it comes to basic human rights, aspirations of the local
population, and concern for the environment when it comes to mining in
the virgin areas of the world," the two A.F.B. leaders wrote to Barrick
Gold vice presidents, Vincent Borg and Deni Nicoski.

The A.F.B. leaders asked Barrick Gold Corporation what kind of
safeguards have been put against environmental degradation at Reko Diq.

Copper-and-gold mining and extraction has extreme affects on the environment.

"We also like to know what steps Barrick Gold Corporation has taken
to ensure that at least 95 percent of all workers and managers are
ethnic Baluch?" they asked.

They urged Barrick Gold Corporation to set up a technical institute in
Chagai to train the local Baluch workforce. "If need be, these Baluch
youths may be brought to Canada for further training," they said

They demanded of the Barrick Gold Corporation to fire Colonel Sher
Khan immediately and threatened a hunger strike in front of the Barrick
Gold offices in North America.

A.F.B. noard member Rasheed Baluch said the Baluch and their allies
in the United States also plan to demonstrate in front of ML Resources,
LLC and ML Private Investments, LLC owned by Muslim Lakhani if Colonel
Sher Khan is not fired immediately..

Lakhani is a non-Baluch associated with Reko Diq and is also on the
prestigious Wilson Council that oversees the Woodrow Wilson
International Center for Scholars in Washington D.C. The center has the
ears of President Barack Obama.

Baluch sources pointed out that Lakhani is a bigtime campaign
contributor and contributed more than $82,000 in the last election
cycle; he was initially a supporter of Hillary Clinton but then swithed
over to become an Obama fan.

"Needless to say, we do not trust the Pakistani authorities at all," the A.F.B. leaders said.

Borg or Nicoski had not returned phone calls till the filng of this report.

Originally posted on June 5 on Newsvine.

• 104 Globalization
• 116 Human Rights
• 183 Environment