Pro-independence Baloch leader and the leader of Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF), Dr. Allah Nizar Baloch has appealed to the Baloch nation to stay at homes in order to avoid Coronavirus infection. “In case if this disease spreads across Balochistan, it would be uncontrollable. Balochistan, which lacks basic amenities of life including healthcare and the people of Balochistan, who in this modern age, are already dying from curable diseases like malaria, would be affected irrecoverably. Such a situation is not new for the enslaved and colonized people, as the history of imperialism reverberates with the fact that colonizers are interested only in the land and resources of the colonized people. For the last seventy years, the occupying forces have plundered the resources of rich Balochistan by selling them for a pittance; in return, the indigenous sons and daughters get atrocity, poverty, and humiliation from Pakistan,” Dr Allah Nizar Baloch said in his statement.
Dr. Allah Nizar added that the pathetic situation of healthcare in Balochistan can be imagined by the fact that there are only four ventilators available across Balochistan.
Ventilators are basic health infrastructure requirement to treat critical patients of Covid-19. In Balochistan, only Sheik Zayad Hospital has the facility of isolation rooms which are not more than a dozen. In such a situation, self-imposed precautions are the only way to avoid contraction for the oppressed people. “The majority of our population dwells in villages and hillsides and their lives mostly depend on agriculture and livestock. Amid these growing cases of Coronavirus infection they should either opt to stay at home or try to limit their movements and don’t expect and wait for help from the state of Pakistan; because for Pakistan, Baloch lives are not only expendable but it is also using this disease as a biological weapon against the Baloch nation,” said Dr Allah Nizar.
Dr. Allah Nizar Baloch further explained that we believe that the Pakistan Army would use the COVID-19 outbreak to expand its occupation and stranglehold over Balochistan while continuing its atrocities and genocide of the Baloch. Slogans, such as the development of Balochistan, the 18th Amendment including Concurrent List are well-established conspiracies to expand the colonization of Balochistan. The disaster at quarantine center in Taftan (Pakistan-Iran border town) which is run by Pakistan Army is a clear example. The Pakistan Army is deliberately spreading the virus in Balochistan by keeping around one hundred infected patients of Coronavirus together with the four thousand non-infected people on the pretext of so-called quarantine. Now, this disease is continuously being spread throughout Balochistan in order to annihilate already oppressed people of Balochistan.
“I appeal to the Baloch nation that they should understand the machinations of Pakistan and prefer to stay in their homes and rely on preventive measures,” Dr Allah Nizar Baloch made a fervent appeal to the people of Balochistan.