Toronto, June 12, 2011 – Baloch Human Rights Council (Canada) participated in the Al-Ahwaz Day of Martyrs, organized by the Al-Ahwaz Democratic Popular Front in Toronto. Representatives of the Kurdish organizations, Turkomans, Azeri Turks, Baloch, and Al-Ahwaz Democratic Popular Front addressed the gathering at the Library Auditorium of the North York Civic Centre. A large number of the Diaspora from Iran’s oppressed nationalities took part in the event to pay their respects to the martyrs of Al-Ahwaz. The delegates addressed the audience in English, Arabic, and Persian. BHRC (Canada) and Baluchistan People’s Party (western Balochistan) represented Balochistan at the Martyr’s Day event. Zaffar Baloch, President, BHRC (Canada) and Mohammad Ali Baloch, representative for BPP in Canada spoke on the occasion and praised the martyrs of Al-Ahwaz movement for sacrificing their lives to the greater cause of the nation. Mohammad Ali Baloch also is the Secretary General of BHRC (Canada).In his address to the gathering of the oppressed nations of Iran, Mohammad Ali Baloch highlighted the anti-people policy of the Iranian authorities based on discrimination and massive human rights violations in Balochistan. He condemned the arbitrary arrests, torture, and public hanging of innocent Baloch youth, now numbering in thousands. He stated that the Iranian state occupied Balochistan in 1928 after slaughtering hundreds of tribal elders including Mir Dost Mohammad Khan Baranzai who succeeded in uniting the Baloch nation to rise up against the Qajar rule. He also expressed his solidarity with the Al-Ahwaz people and claimed that the martyrs of their movement will always be remembered in Balochistan as the blood of our own people sacrificed for the same cause.Zaffar Baloch spoke on the occasion and condemned the Iranian state’s policy of cultural and physical genocide of the oppressed nationalities in Al-Ahwaz and Balochistan. He specifically explained the gross human rights violations by the Pakistani military and paramilitary death squads in the eastern Balochistan. [color=000099][For details, [url=http://www.bygwaah.com/uploads/xnews/attached/561bfa76-de45-955a.pdf]check the Full Text[/url] of the speech].[/color]Mr. Abu Sharif, President of Al-Ahwaz Democratic Popular Front in Canada spoke in Arabic and Persian and thanked the participants and guests for taking part in the event. Mr. Sharif described the brutal nature of the Iranian state and praised the heroic struggles of the Al-Ahwazis, Kurds, Baloch, Turkomans, and Azeri Turks against the hegemonic policies of Tehran. He stated that ninety percent of Iran’s wealth is generated from the oil & gas fields of Al-Ahwaz and yet we are among the poorest in the country. “The only way that our people can have control over their lands, natural resources, and destiny is by gaining independence from Iran and becoming a sovereign nation on the map of the world,” said Mr. Sharif. Representatives of the Kurdish, Turkoman, and Azeri Turks also expressed their solidarity with the Al-Ahwaz people and their struggles against the totalitarian state of Iran. The leaders of the oppressed nationalities and movements paid their respects to the martyrs of Al-Ahwaz and elaborated upon the peoples’ struggles against injustices, discrimination, religious extremism, and human rights abuses against women, languages, cultures, and freedom of speech committed by the theocratic state.Zaffar Baloch,President, BHRC (Canada)
