Series of Protests in U.S. Mark Pakistan’s I-Day as ‘Black Day’
Protesters in front of the Pakistan Embassy in Washington, D.C. (Twitter photo via IANS)
WASHINGTON – The Expose Pakistan Campaign Committee has said the U.S. and its allies should impose sanctions on Islamabad for occupation, terrorism and genocide.
The participants of the auto-caravan in Washington reiterate that Pakistan’s support for banned terrorist organizations to occupy Afghanistan and Indian Kashmir, and cultural and racial genocide in occupied Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan, Sindh and Pashtunistan, and support to communist China to expand CPEC for economic marginalization of indigenous communities and apartheid warrants trade sanctions, placement on FATF’s Black List and expulsion from the UN Human Rights Council.
It said the growing nexus between China-Pakistan-Iran will promote colonialism in Afghanistan with irreparable consequences for women and children. Pakistan military’s interference in Afghanistan is a concern for U.S. national security interests that needs immediate redress.
On Aug. 14, the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement-USA, Balochistan National Movement, Jeay Sindh Freedom Movement, Human Rights Congress for Bangladeshi Minorities and Kashmir/Gilgit-Baltistan Institute co-organized an auto-caravan in front of Pakistan’s Embassy in Washington, D.C., followed by a series of protests, to mark Pakistan’s Independence Day as ‘Black Day’.
While respecting social distancing, about 100 participants with banners, flags and placards joined the moving protest and circled the 30-block radius to seek U.S. support to sanction Pakistan’s government and military for using terrorism as foreign policy tool and instrument of statecraft.
Participants accused the Pakistani military of colonial treatment of indigenous communities in Sindh, Balochistan, Pashtunistan and Gilgit-Baltistan and “unabated state-led genocide of religious communities like Christians, Hindus, Ahmadis and Shias.”
“August 14 is not a day of Azadi (freedom) but the day Pakistan forcefully occupied Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan. It is the day when cultural genocide and ethnic engineering started in Sindh. It is the day when Islamic terrorism was imposed on Pashtuns and Afghans to destroy their cultural identity. It is the day when Hindu citizens lost their right to religious freedom and life. This protest is organized by the direct victims of Pakistan’s brutal domestic and foreign policy and we are here to seek support of international community against the barbarism,” explained the co-organizers about the significance of choosing Pakistan’s Independence Day for the protest.
The protesters warned that besides blood of thousands of U.S. army men who fought Pakistan-sponsored terrorists in Afghanistan, the Taliban-Pakistan-China-Iran-Turkey axis will continue to be a danger for the democratic world for years to come.
Participants in the series of events, that spanned the entire day across different parts of Washington, D.C., shared their indignation about the way Pakistan is openly funding the Taliban which is on list of UN-banned terrorist groups.
This is violation of the UN Charter and the international community should place a ban on sales of weapons and military hardware to Islamabad and impress upon FATF to move Pakistan to the black list.
Further, the U.S. and its allies should impose trade and commerce restrictions on China, Iran and Pakistan for supporting terrorism and genocide.
Last but not least, the UN should remove Pakistan and Iran from the Human Rights Council, they said.
The Committee works to sensitize Americans about rights violations and growth of terrorism in Pakistan.