LONDON: Britain has quietly granted refugee status to noble Baloch figure Khan Suleman Daud, the 35th Khan of Kalat. In granting him refugee status, Britain accepted that Khan had a well-founded fear of persecution if he returned to Pakistan. Khan, who first applied for asylum in July 2007, claimed in his application that he feared of persecution at the hands of the Pakistani establishment. He cited the killings of senior Baloch leaders, the disappearance of hundreds of Baloch and the displacement of thousands, especially from the Marri and Bugti tribes, as a proof that his life was in danger too. According to the UK’s asylum rules, Khan had to surrender his passport - which addressed him as His Highness - along with those of his family members.His asylum claim was refused initially and Khan filed an appeal against that decision. He threatened to fight his case all the way but the UK government relented and granted Khan refugee status under the provisions of the 1951 UN refugee convention. It is believed that the United Nations officials pressed the British government on behalf of Khan of Kalat before he was granted sanctuary in Britain. He has also now been issued a refugee travel document which allows him to freely travel across the world with the exception of Pakistan. The Khan of Kalat confirmed to The News that currently he holds the UN travel document and is entitled to travel freely. The refugee status enables him to the full spectrum of welfare benefits including free housing, free education for his children and monthly allowance in case of being unemployed. It will be almost 6 years from now before the Khan of Kalat is able to get the British passport but the UN travel document is equally good for travelling around the world. After making the picturesque Cardiff his home, the Khan of Kalat vowed that he will take Pakistan to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for committing human rights violations in Balochistan and for trampling upon many a pact the centre had signed with the elders of the Kalat hierarchy. But some Baloch leaders among the diaspora and observes living in exile in the European countries and in the Middle East have questioned why, despite being able to travel out of the UK, the Khan has yet not made any headway at the international level to highlight the situation in Balochistan. Baloch sources mutter that Khan of Kalat could have been a unifying force for the various Baloch factions engaged in activism against the establishment but he has failed to help pave the way for a common platform for a sizable number of Baloch settled outside Pakistan. It is felt that the international effort against the mighty establishment has been left to the sons of veteran yet defiant Baloch leader Nawab Khair Baksh Marri. Hyrbayar Marri, who is living in exile in London with his family, Mehran Baloch, who is based in Dubai with his brother Gazain Marri, and Noordin Mengal, a young exiled leader and a grandson of both Sardar Attaullah Mengal and Nawab Khair Baksh Marri, are the only ones to run the show. As a consequence of their constant campaigning, both Hyrbayar Marri, who spent time in Belmarsh prison, and his brother Mehran Baloch, who came close to being extradited to Pakistan and exchanged with British born Al-Qaeda operative Rashid Rauf, have faced numerous difficulties and they say they are still being hounded. Hyrbayar Marri has not had his passport returned since June 2007 when he applied for extension of visa for himself and his family. His visa was extended but then it was revoked after Hyrbayar Marri and Faiz Baloch were arrested during a high profile night raid in December 2008 and he has been living in Britain without passport since then. Widely admired in Baloch nationalist circles, especially amongst the new generation for his hard stance, Marri remains stuck in Britain as he has been unable to get back his passport despite his best efforts involving legal means. Faiz Baloch, a key figure in the Baloch diaspora community, who was also picked alongside Hyrbayar Marri and exonerated later when the British government was forced to drop all charges, remains in limbo since he applied for asylum in 2002. The Khan of Kalat denied that he had become complacent or was in negotiations with the Pakistani government as suggested in the media recently. He said he had plans to take the case of Balochistan to the international level but it needed to be done in a proper way and at the right time. “I am already in touch with the people who matter and I am highlighting the case,” he said without revealing what kind of action plan it was and who were his interlocutors at the world stage. The Khan of Kalat said, citing media reports that Pakistani establishment was ready to broker a deal between Karzai and Jallaludin Haqqani network in Afghanistan, he didn’t need to do much campaigning as Pakistan’s true role as a militancy-supporting country was unravelling before the world. Before leaving Pakistan, the Khan of Kalat was tasked by the representative Baloch jirga, soon after the killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti, to take the case of Balochistan to the International Court of Justice. But his role came into serious questioning when he launched the Council for Independent Balochistan in August lat year without completing the original task of going to the ICJ. He was also questioned for not taking into confidence the key exiled Baloch figures, whose following remains strong in the strife-hit Balochistan, before announcing the launch of Council for Independent Balochistan. Nearly a year on, the Baloch sources complain, the council has not done anything worthwhile on the Balochistan issue and the grand objectives the council set forth have been cast aside in favour of some inexplicable reticence and non-campaigning. “Balochistan is burning. The dark forces are openly eliminating the first and second tier leadership without any fear. It is the duty of every Baloch to resist this onslaught through every means possible. “Those who fail to come to the side of their people today will be condemned in the history books,” commented Mehran Baloch, Balochistan’s representative to the UN who has campaigned indomitably at the world forum for many years now.
