Transcribed from August 24, 2012, statement to media

Khan of Kalat Suleiman Daud

Transcribed by H. Baloch

The raising of the Pakistani flag by my son Muhammad Ahmedzai at Ziarat on August 14 is nothing more than an attempt to emotionally blackmail the Baloch people. The nation is not vulnerable to such mind games. The venue of the Pakistani Independence Day celebrations in Ziarat, where Muhammad Ahmedzai hoisted the flag, has its own history. It is the place where Mohammad Ali Jinnah [the founder of Pakistan] was kept in captivity under the guise of a vacation after Jinnah, regretful of the partition, was found to be in talks with the government of India regarding a reunion.

My son, Muhammad Ahmedzai, said in his speech at Pakistani Independence Day celebrations that his grand father, Mir Mohammad Daud Khan, told him two things: never compromise your faith and never betray your county. I am a witness to my father's words, but Muhammad Ahmedzai was only six years old at the time and he did not understand that by 'country' my father was referring to Balochistan, the historical homeland of the Balochs.

Like the vast expanses of Balochistan, the Balochs must broaden their minds and open their hearts. Balochistan is our honor and our soul; our forefathers gave blood for Balochistan. So are we following their rich tradition of self-sacrifice? Balochistan is our identity. The creators of Pakistan are the British and so they [Pakistanis] have inherited from them the legacy of colonialism and imperialism.

The Pakistani state is carrying out a systematic genocide of the Baloch. Hundreds of thousands are displaced. Thousands are missing and thousands more martyred. This is not something new; the Pakistani state has been pursuing its policy of ethnic cleansing of the Baloch since 1948. Some political forces, to please their masters, want to keep us Balochs chained to the shackles of Pakistani slavery. These people either are ill-versed in history or they have chosen ignorance, but they should remember that the land of the Balochs extends from Sindh and Punjab to Iran and Afghanistan. Balochistan belongs to the Balochs. Such politicians should rethink their attitudes or a fate similar to the Middle-Eastern tyrants awaits them. They will be swept away by a wave of change.

We Balochs have a code of honor, transferred from generation to generation, shared heart to heart--traditions that we abide by--unlike the constitution of Pakistan that the rulers in Islamabad amend without principles and at will. They are the ones who have a policy of divide and rule, of pitting brothers against each other and instigating tribal conflicts. The Balochs should rise above tribal politics and the selfish interests of individuals and strive for an independent Balochistan. Whether somebody likes it or not, we will win back our freedom; we will win back Noori Nasir Khan's Balochistan and we will not stop until the symbol of prosperity of the Balochs--the national flag of Balochistan soars high again.

Balochistan is home to all its residents, regardless of their ethnicity or faith. They may be Sindhi or Hazara or anyone--they have the same rights in Balochistan, but to earn it they must be committed to Balochistan. The Hazaras have resided in Balochistan for almost a century now, and have never been persecuted in Balochistan until now. Balochistan has contracted the disease of sectarianism from the Punjab. The Baloch will never endorse anything as heinous as genocide. There is no room for sectarianism, racism and narrow-mindedness in Baloch society.

God bless the Baloch. God bless Balochistan. And may our children grow up in the gardens of freedom and live our ideals.