Declare Pervez Musharraf a global terrorist, top Baloch leader writes to US

The US should designate former Pakistan dictator Pervez Musharraf a global terrorist, a top Baloch leader has told Donald Trump's secretary of state.

Naela Quadri Baloch, the head of the World Baloch Women Forum, cited comments Musharraf made in a television interview in her letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

Musharraf told a Pakistani news agency that he was the biggest supporter of Lashkar-e-Taiba. He said he LeT and the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) - an organisation run by 26/11 attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed - "liked" him. Saeed is a UN-designated terrorist. When his house arrest ended last week, the US warned of "repercussions for bilateral relations and for Pakistan's global reputation."

In her letter, Naela Quadri Baloch said Musharraf's statement on LeT and JuD "redirects our attention to the centrality of the Pakistani state to global terrorism."

"The former dictator, who callously butchered Baloch (a reference to the people of the Pakistani province of Balochistan) using weapons supplied by the US, should also be brought to book for crimes against humanity. He believes that "Those who stay in Pakistan, burn Pakistan's flag and raise anti-national slogans deserve to be butchered." Thousands were tortured and killed under his watch," she wrote.

Baloch asked the US to forbid the use of its weapons in Balochistan, and freeze Musharraf's "assets and interests" in America "and elsewhere."

Here's the full text of Naela Quadri Baloch's letter.

In an interview to Pakistani TV channel ARY News, Pervez Musharraf said, "I am the biggest supporter of the LeT [Lashkar-e-Tayyiba] and I know they like me and the JuD [Jamaat-ud-Dawa] also likes me." These two groups were founded by Hafiz Saeed, who was designated as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the United States Department of the Treasury in May 2008. Saeed was also individually designated by the United Nations following the November 2008 Mumbai attack in which 166 people, including six American citizens, were killed. The LeT and several of its front organizations, leaders, and operatives remain under both State Department and Treasury Department sanctions. The LeT was proscribed by the U.S. State Department as a "Foreign Terrorist Organization" in December 2001 and added to the UN Committee's Consolidated List in May 2005.

The latest statement of the former dictator of Pakistan, Retired General Pervez Musharraf, redirects our attention to the centrality of the Pakistani state to global terrorism. After this public admission, it is time the relevant agencies of the U.S. investigate his association with the LeT and other terrorist organizations during and after his tenure as Chief of Army Staff, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, and President of Pakistan. The investigations should include his role in assisting the LeT and other terrorist organisations spawned by the Pakistani state, in providing material and financial assistance, in recruiting terrorist operatives, gathering intelligence, and in conducting covert terrorist operations.

The former dictator, who callously butchered Baloch using weapons supplied by the US, should also be brought to book for crimes against humanity. He believes that "Those who stay in Pakistan, burn Pakistan's flag and raise anti-national slogans deserve to be butchered." Thousands were tortured and killed under his watch. An example of the misplaced priorities and perverted logic of the Pakistani state during his tenure (that persists until this day) is in order. The same dictator who continues to show fondness for proscribed terrorist groups, which have killed hundreds of people from different countries, had no compunction in ordering the murder of the 79-year old Akbar Bugti along with several of his family members and followers on 26 August 2006. Akbar Bugti served as Governor and later as Chief Minister of the Pakistani province of Balochistan. Bugti stood for peaceful and principled resolution of the longstanding conflict in Balochistan. Baloch activists will relentlessly expose Musharraf and others on all international platforms and educate people around the world about their role in the continued massacre of the Baloch people.

It is high time, the U.S. reconsidered its policy towards Pakistan and, more specifically, imposed the condition of "no use of US weapons in Balochistan" and halt further sales of weapons to prevent the ongoing genocide of the Baloch People. The U.S Department of State should designate the former dictator of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGTs) under Executive Order (E.O.) 13224, for associating with US designated terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT). It should take appropriate steps to freeze all his assets and interests in the United States and elsewhere. He should also be tried for his involvement in genocide (Rome Statue, Art 7) and crimes against humanity (Rome Statue, Art 8) targeting the Baloch people.

We further urge all members of the United Nations, particularly the members of the Security Council, to actively expose, isolate, proscribe, and punish such individuals associated with the Pakistani military and intelligence agencies to preserve global peace and security.

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