March 7th, 2008
I've received news this day that Hyarbyar Marri has been released on bail by the British authorities who had reportedly been holding him for extradition by the Pakistani government.
I'm now waiting for confirmation and details.
>^.Karl!
********************************* Update Rec'd March 8th;
Dear Karl:
Thanks to highlight this news on your web site, but I am sorry to say that I was informed by a friend just now that this news was premature.
There was a demand for cash by the court which has been submitted by our friends in London. Since today and tomorrow is holiday he may be released on bail on
Monday.
I will let you know about other details as soon everything is clear.
__________________ __________________
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Evidently bail has been set and met, but we stilll wait for confirmation as to his release.
>^.K!
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Monday, March 10th;
I've received notice that the bail money is actually being deposited today and that there will still be a few days delay before his release by the British authorities.
Perhaps I can get a little more tangible evidence regarding his upcoming release - I will inquire and post what result I get on this page.
Respectfully,
Karl Stuart Kline
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Wednesday, March 12th
Sorry, no further news yet, but I have asked for copy of his bail or release papers to be scanned and sent to me, so that I can pass along the news with some authority.
Meanwhile, the best laid plans of mice and men "aft do gang agley!"
>^.K!
March 18, 2008
Still no more news on any impending release. I've done some Internet searches for "Hyrbyar Marri" and for "Hyarbyar Marri" to see if some alternative news was available and I got a few hits each for both spellings. Unfortunately, there was no news that would support the contention that the arrests were on trumped up or artificially inflated charges. Neither was there any news that bail or any other kind of release was pending other than some optimistic statements that were related to my original source of information.
There were also a couple of news articles touting the arrests of "terrorists" in England, but I noticed that those were from Pakistan, presumably from the Musharaf controlled press, so they are difficult to credit seriously as honest journalism.
Karl Stuart Kline
03/31/2008
This has been forwarded to me as a copy of the letter that was recently presented to the British Prime Minister during the recent demonstration at his residence at 10 Downing Street, commemorating the sixtieth anniversary of Pakistan's takeover of Balochistan.
Note that in the final paragraph there is an indirect reference to the Balochi that were arrested and impisoned - perhaps unjustly and without due cause - at the request of Musharraf's government. furthermore, their release is requested, so obviously they have not yet been released:
Rt. Honorable Gordon Brown Prime Minister of Great Britain 10 Downing Street London SW1A
Subject: Forcible annexation of Balochistan by Pakistan
Dear Sir,
Members of the Baloch and Sindhi communities in the UK have gathered here today to register our anger and utmost disgust on the continued occupation of Balochistan by Pakistan. We are here to request for urgent moral and diplomatic intervention on behalf of her majesty’s government to end the 60 years illegal rule of Pakistan over Balochistan.
Let we briefly present the historical background to this issue. In accordance to clauses of the 1876 treaty between the Kalat State and the British Empire, the independence of Kalat was announced by the then ruler of Kalat, Mir Ahmad Yar Khan, in 1947 prior to the creation of Pakistan. After the partition of India and the creation of the religious state of Pakistan, the newly independent Baloch State came under tremendous pressure both from Pakistan and the colonial authorities in India for merger of Kalat with Pakistan. However, both the houses of Parliament of Kalat (House of Commons and House of Lords) unanimously voted not to join Pakistan and resolved to retain its independence. Ultimately, when the Pakistani government could not bend the Baloch will to remain independent by sabre rattling, Pakistan Army invaded the Kalat State to get the merger statement from the Khan of Kalat at gun point. It is also interesting to note that the leased areas of Kalat State were annexed by Pakistani authorities under the shadow of an illegal and immoral referendum from only a municipality of the province of British Balochistan.
People of Balochistan have never accepted the illegal occupation of their country by the religious state of Pakistan which is dominated by the Punjabi nationality and have waged a genuine democratic national resistance. Since its annexation, except few brief periods, Balochistan has been under military occupation and siege. The natural resources of Baloch people have been looted criminally and cruelly. The Balochi Language and culture have been suppressed in a crude colonial style.
Pakistan’s military dominated establishment has been cruel, ruthless and have committed gross atrocities and serious war crimes against the Baloch population. A ruthless military operation has been going on in Balochistan since last 5 years. The military operations in Balochistan has resulted in the loss of life for thousands of the Baloch people including children, women and elderly and has resulted in displacement of hundreds and thousands of civilian Baloch population. The national leaders of Baloch have been in prisons without trials, humiliated and target killed by Pakistani civil and military authorities. Thousands of political activists have been kidnapped, tortured and killed.
We request urgent intervention from the government of Great Britain to use its influence internationally in favour of the genuine demands of Baloch nation. In the face of a policy of genocide, insanity and deliberate disregard for basic human rights being pursued by the Pakistani establishment, we plead for the urgent action from Her Majesty’s Government. We genuinely believe that it is the moral duty of Great Britain to assist the Baloch people in ending the illegal occupation of their country as per the treaty of 1876 between the Great Britain and the State of Kalat (Balochistan).
We also would like to take this opportunity to request you to look into the matter of Balochs arrested and persecuted in the UK due to misinformation provided by Musharaf regime.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely, His Highness Suleman Ahmadzai ( Khan of Kalat)
Mohammad Akbar Baluch
Balochistan Action Committee UK
balochactions@yahoo.co.uk
Dr. Haleem Bhatti World Sindhi Congress Dated: March 30, 2008 4/19/08
Hyrbyair Marri free on bail!
Finally!
This bit of news has developed over the last couple of days and I've been waiting for sufficient confirmation to post the news.
Following this is an excerpt from Peter Tatchell's excellent article on the subject and it can be seen in full on his website at www.petertatchell.net !
London court releases Baluchistan human rights activist Former Baluch Government Minister charged with terror offences Pakistani bid to frame nationalists and silence critics? London – 18 April 2008 An ex-MP and government minister from Pakistan, Hyrbyair Marri, has been released on bail after spending four months in London’s high security Belmarsh Prison. Bail was granted by High Court judge, David Calvert-Smith QC, and Mr Marri was able to return to his west London home on Wednesday night, 16 April. Mr Marri is due for trial in London at the Central Criminal Court in October, on charges under the Firearms Act and the Terrorism Act 2000. He is pleading not guilty and is currently under-going a series of pre-trial hearings. Mr Marri is a former MP and was the Minster for Construction and Works in the provincial assembly of the Pakistan region of Baluchistan from 1997 to 1998. He fled to Britain, fearing arrest, torture and possible assassination by the Pakistani dictator, Pervez Musharraf. Mr Marri’s father was invited to London for the Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation. His uncle is Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, the current UN Special Representative to Sudan and the former Pakistan Ambassador to the United States. His wife is the grand daughter of the first Prime Minister of Iraq in the 1920s. His brother, Balach Marri, was murdered on 21 November 2007 by the Pakistan army. His other brother, Mehran Baluch, who lives in London and is the Baluch Representative to the UN Human Rights Council, was the subject of an extradition attempt by Pakistan last year on trumped up charges. “The actions against these three brothers look like a systematic attempt to target this family and crush three major voices of Baluch dissent,” said human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell. Mr Tatchell is supporting Mr Marri and his co-accused, another Baluch human rights activist, Faiz Baluch, who remains in Belmarsh Prison pending the finalisation of his bail conditions... ...These arrests look like another stitch-up orchestrated by the Musharraf regime, which wants to crush those who speak out against Pakistan’s murderous oppression of the Baluch people,“ concluded Mr Tatchell. 4/29/2008
This is a letter that I posted to a Baloch culture group on the Internet today and it clarifies a point of confusion that has given me some frustration over the past several months whenever I've been trying to use the Internet to find some background information on Hyrbyair Marri.
>^.Karl!
************************************************************* Gentlemen,
Over the past several months Mr. Marri has quite understandably been an ongoing subject of discussion. I am pleased that he has been finally released, but these discussions have often been confusing because of the many different spellings of his name that I have seen. That further complicates matters, because if you want to search the Internet for some background information, having the wrong spelling will severely limit what information you can find. Hyrbyr, Hyarbyar, Hyrbyar and Hayerbayer were some of the variations that I have seen and recently I saw Peter Tatchell use the spelling "Hyrbyair." Following that, I wrote to Mr. Tatchell asking if there was a single correct spelling for Mr. Marri's first name. He responded, telling me that it was the spelling used in his court papers, so he had assumed that it was correct. I then asked him about assumptions and asked him if he truly trusted the government to get it right? (That or anything else!) I think that my question gave him pause, because he then checked directly with Mr. Marri himself as to the correct spelling of his name. Mr. Marri confirmed that "Hyrbyair" is indeed the correct spelling of his name. I think that we give Mr. Marri a measure of respect by trying to consistently use the correct spelling of his name and we will also have an easier time of finding background information or news updates if we are also aware of the correct spelling. Respectfully, Karl Stuart Kline
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