WHAT: The cases of Turkey & Kurds; Pakistan & Baloch; Spain & Basques; Sri Lanka & Tamils

WHERE: ROOM 3B, 3RD FLOOR, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON UNION (ULU), MALET STREET, WC1

WHEN: SUNDAY 18 MARCH 2012, 1-6pm

Activists from different international solidarity campaigns will come together to discuss and share experiences about the impact of state repression on the various struggles for self-determination in which they are involved. The seminar will address common strategies for resisting repression and strengthening solidarity across nationalities in the common struggle for a fairer and more just world.

The focus of the discussions will be on both international and national circumstances which provide the support for state repression.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Subject: Pakistan – security forces abducted 10 members of same family including three children

Dear Sir/Madam

We are writing this letter on behalf of Mr. Rauf S/O Meer Jan Marri. He informed us from Balochistan, Quetta that ten members of his family have been abducted by Pakistani police and FC on the night of 1st March 2012.

Following is the narration of Rauf Marri: “My name is Rauf Marri son of Meer Jan Marri. On the night 1st March around 1 AM they (Pakistan) security forces raid our house and knocked the gate. When grandfather, Amir Khan Marri, opened the gate, the security forces flooded into our houses and started to arrest all men. Our children and women were woken by the commotion and they started shouting and screaming. The police and FC personnel harassed the women and ordered them to be silent and do not interfere. They spared me only because I cannot walk properly as I am disabled from one leg.

Washington DC: The Canada co-ordinator of International Voice for Baloch Missing Persons, Mr Aziz Baloch, has attended the US congressional hearing on Balochistan.

Mr. Baloch has handed over a letter, on behalf of IVBM, and a list of Baloch victims by the “kill and dump” policy of Pakistani security agencies in Balochistan. The letter and list were handed to Scott Cullinane Committee of Foreign Affairs staff Associate, Mr. Dana Rochrabacher the Chairman of Committee, Christine Fair a witnesses Assistant professor of Georgetown university and Mr. Ralph Peters military analyst and author, a Representative of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Aziz Baloch also gave the letter and list to Naseer Kakar a staff of Voice of America and other participants of at the hearing.

Karachi: The Baloch Human Rights Organisation brought out a rally from the Arts Council of Pakistan to the Karachi Press Club on Friday afternoon and denounced forced disappearances of Baloch activists, including women and children.

“My 11-year-old sister, Madeena Baloch, has been missing since January 20, 2007,” Sazin Baloch, 21, vice chairman of the group, told The News. “We live in Kohlu in Marri area. Madeena, a pupil of Class VI, was returning home after attending her school when she went missing,” she added. “We appeal to the print and electronic media to highlight our plight so that human rights organisations and the United Nations understand our problem,” she stressed.

Occupied Balochistan: Pakistani security forces have abducted four Baloch men, four women along with six children on Friday evening.

According a statement released by Baloch Women Panel, four Baloch men, four women along with six children have been abducted by the Frontier Corps (FC) and secret agencies of Pakistan while they were travelling from Marwar to Quetta by a passenger Pickup.