On Thursday, February 19, to mark the first official visit of U.S. president Barack Hussein Obama to Canada concerned members of the South Asian community and their supporters from throughout the Lower Mainland plan to publicly express their protest against the continuing drone attacks on the sovereign territory of Pakistan and the continued occupation of Afghanistan.
Whatever "change" and "hope" Barack Obama promised to bring to the people of the USA and of the world, when it comes to Afghanistan and Pakistan, it is only a continuation of the drastic and irresponsible policies followed by George Bush.
During the last six months of his presidency, the Bush administration extended the occupation of Afghanistan by carrying out 30 air strikes on Pakistani soil, killing 220 people. And within days of assuming his presidency, on January 23, Barack Obama ordered another air strike on Pakistan. As a result, two separate Pakistani villages were attacked by drones, killing 22 people, most of them women and children.
Clearly this is an undeclared war against a sovereign country. The drone attacks have continued despite publicly expressed denunciations of this violation of sovereignty by the Government of Pakistan, as well as by a vast
majority of Pakistani people.
Many innocent people have been killed and maimed, mirroring the fate of Afghan civilians across the border. U.S drone attacks have devastated tribal areas such as Bajaur on the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan, further
impacting families already separated by the Durand line.
The drone attacks by the U.S. have contributed to increasing the instability and tensions within communities in that region with the bombing of mosques and schools, and the indiscriminate killings of scores of civilians.
The U.S led war on terror has also resulted in the disappearances and detentions of thousands of civilians in Pakistan. The cases of these disappeared people have still not been brought to trial despite years of work by their families and human rights activists. This expansion of the American war into Pakistan will only destabilize the entire South Asian region, with serious consequences for the whole world.
Bombs do not bring peace:
As the Canadian Peace Alliance has recently stated: "Mr Obama was elected because of a desire for peace and change. The people of Canada and, indeed, the people of the world, urge him to remember that and to cancel plans to
expand the wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan."
We, the people of South Asian origin demand peaceful negotiations if there are conflicts to be resolved. And we say NO to the imperialist interventions and occupations: in Pakistan and the whole South Asian region, in
Afghanistan, in Iran, and everywhere else. Terrorism cannot be eradicated by bombs and occupations but only by addressing the structural inequalities and conditions of oppression that are faced by the majority of people in
Pakistan and Afghanistan and by respecting the needs of the people and their desire for independence and sovereignty.
We also understand that our struggle cannot be waged in isolation and that we must also speak out against the injustices faced by other communities. We stand in solidarity with our Indigenous sisters and brothers fighting for
justice both here and around the world. We also express our solidarity with all the other peoples of the world
fighting for liberation and justice from Sri Lanka to Iran to Gaza to the Philippines and beyond.
We ask all peace and freedom loving people to join us and stand in solidarity with the Pakistani and Afghan people to collectively send a message of "hope" and "change" to Ottawa during Obama's visit on February 19th:
Obama, can you stop the bombing of Pakistan?
Obama, Harper, can you end the occupation of Afghanistan?
YES, YOU CAN! YES, YOU CAN!
