Mehran Marri
The four are taken to a nearby office where they notify a document to the man, a document in a language he does not know. He is asked to sign, blindly, withput calling a lawyer or the Embassy. One of the children is ill, the mother is not allowed to open the luggage to take his medicines. Mugshots of the whole family, including the children, are taken. The four are kept for twelve hours without food and water and finally expelled from the country.
No, it is not yet another story from Pakistan or Iran, it does not happened at the US border to someone coming from Iran: we are in Zurich, and the family is the family of Mehran Marri,
Balochistan's representative fat United Nations Human Rights Commission.
The Swiss authorities have notified to Mehran a document banning him from Switzerland, and therefore denying him the opportunity to speak as usual to the United Nations Human Rights Commission, for the next ten years. Doing a favor, a great favor to Islamabad, clearly behind the measure in question.
A measure not only illegaly notified, but a measure that carries in every line the mark of Pakistani intelligence. The name, first of all: the measure is in the name of Mehran Baluch, born in Pakistan. Mehran Marri (and not Baloch) was born in Afghanistan, is a British citizen and Pakistan has nothing to do with him.
The above data is generally used by the ISI to try to put its hands on one of the most active and visible voices in denouncing the violations of legality and human rights in Balochistan. Mehran is accused of being at the head of a non-existent terrorist organization, even this in use to the fictional narrative of ISI.
He is accused of marrying the sister of Brahumdagh Bugti, considered by Pakistan a dangerous terrorist. Strange but true, however, no one is trying to expel Brahumdagh, who was fifteen years old for the last time he was in Pakistan: Brahumdagh Bugti has been living in Geneva for years and even tough his request of asylum has been refused, he has not been expelled by the country but only requested to stop his political activities.
Moreover, all the hotel bookings made on behalf of other Baloch leaders who were supposed to meet in Zurich to work on a common strategy to highlight the plight of Balochi and draw it to the attention of the West, had been canceled by the Swiss government. Balochistan is in fact another Tibet, ignored by most.
The truth is Pakistan is on the path of war because of the recurring campaigns that appeared on the walls of Geneva first and later on London's taxis and buses: Free Balochistan. Geneva had, unless London, rightly ignored Islamabad's protests in the name of freedom of expression. Europe is not Pakistan, right? But Islamabad and its military intelligence obviously have other arrows in their bow to convince the authorities of any European country to behave in their ways.
In the document sent to Mehran it is said that his presence could `affect good relations` between Switzerland and Pakistan. It would be interesting to understand how. But one thing is certain: acting in such patent breach of egality against four European citizens is not something to take lightly in any sense and create a dangerous precedent. Mehran's wife and children have been illegally detained and filed, as there were no charges against them. Keeping two small children for 12 hours without water or food is against any norm of decency and humanity, it is not just illegal.
Notifying a measure on unverified and incorrect information in an unknown language to the recipient and without the presence of a lawyer is contrary to any rule of law. Attempting to extradite to Pakistan a political oppositor of the government, somebody appointed to speak atUnited Nations on behalf of his people, not only violates international law, but means sending a human being to torture and then to death.
Recently, the Governor of Balochistan, elected by Pakistan, has stated that the only possible solution in the province is genocide: to exterminate all opponents so that they can have a free hand in the exploitation of the region. But a genocide has been in place for years, and it does not even stop in front of women and children.
Thousands of missing people, mass graves, tortured and abandoned bodies at the edge of the streets are just a few of the things that Mehran Marri has for years tirelessly denounced to the Human Rights Commission and to the entire world.
If we, Europe, accept to silence his voice and the voice of others like him, if we accept to remove the posters calling for free Balochistan from streets and buses, if we accept to make our standards in matters of legality and human rights 'flexible', if we look away from what happens in Balochistan or in other places of the world, we are not only silent witnesess but much worst: we are partners in crime.
