Serious blunders on politics and history of Balochistan have been spotted in a report submitted to the U.S. House of Representatives.
The report entitled "Baluchistan and Baluch Nationalism: the U.S. Interests" was submitted to the Oversight and Investigations Sub-committee of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs Wednesday afternoon.
The hearing was chaired by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican from California.
At the history making session five leading U.S. congressmen Rohrabacher, Russ Carnahan, Brad Sherman, Ted Poe and Louie Gohmert all demanded right of self-determination for the Baloch people of Balochistan.
"The Baluch envision a federal state whereby the central or federal government will be responsible only for national defense, foreign affairs, currency and national planning. All other powers will be preserved for the federating units or states," Dr. M. Hossein Bor, the author, said in the report, which is totally untrue.
Hosseinbor's report also carries a warning against the success of the freedom movement.
"The growing insurgency in Baluchistan, if not resolved peacefully could spill over into Afghanistan, Iran and the neighboring Arab Gulf states with large Baluch population. If the insurgents are successful through their own efforts or through direct foreign military intervention, their stated goal is an independent Balochistan. This, in turn, could have major political, military, economic, and diplomatic ramifications for the regional powers as well as for the U.S. policies toward the region," Hosseinbor's report to the U.S. Congress reads.
The best presentation as far as the popular aspirations of the Baloch people are concerned was submitted by Lt. Col (Retd.) Ralph Peters. Peters made an impassioned appeal, "Pakistan's borders make no sense and don't work," and said Pakistan was not a friend of the U.S.
Bor's report reads, "The future of Pakistan as a modern and progressive state could be guaranteed only through participation of all national groups including the Baluch, Pashtoons, Punjabis, Sindhis and other ethnic and religious minorities with equal voice in a federal state."
Most Baloch look upon Pakistan as a state that occupied their homeland.
There is a historical blunder also. The report talks about four insurgencies while there have been a total five insurgencies 1948, 1958, 1962, 1973 and the fifth one that peaked in 2005 but is still continuing.
Bor's report completely left out the mention of the 1962 guerilla movement called the Parari movement that was launched by Sher Mohammad Marri, nicknamed General Sheroff by slain Pakistan premier Z.A. Bhutto.
Bor is from Western (Iran) Balochistan. He and his London-based brother Dr. M. Hassan Hossein Bor are staunch supporters of dead Jondullah leader Abdolmalek Regi (see video). Jondullah is an al Qaeda type Wahabi organization and its slain leader Regi was shown on youtube cutting the throat of his brother-in-law like a sheep on a charge he was an agent.
New light has been shed by Mark Perry in a recent story on Jondullah activities in London.
The Baloch have always been proud of their secularism, but Bor's paper has repeated mention of Sunni Islam and says "overwhelming majority of Baluch adhere to Sunni school of Islam" an assertion which is likely to undermine the secular credentials of the Baloch movement in the eyes of the U.S. Congress; the Baloch do not want to involve Islam in any discussion of politics.
Moreveover one in every five Baloch is from the Zikri sect and there are also shias plus splinters of other faiths like Hindus and atheists among the Baloch.
In the past, Bor avoided speaking at Eastern (Pakistan) Balochistan events as he said his firm Entwistle & Cappucci LLP has a client base in Pakistan and he visits that country often. Bor now says the situation has changed. In a phone talk, he said he drafted the report in a great rush as he was told to prepare his paper late on Sunday night.
Bor had given a testimony to the U.S. Congress on March 13, focussing on Iran. In that testimony he did not devote even a single paragraph to Eastern Balochistan.
Full testimonies of the panelists can be read at:
M. Hosseinbor, Ph.D.,http://foreignaffairs.house.gov/112/HHRG-112-FA-WState-HHosseinbor-20120208.pdf
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