Balochistan victim of foreign aggression

Interior Minister

Letter to Editor

Interior minister Rehman Malik’s general impression is probably wrongly painted as that of an agent of the enemy. Sometime what he talks in public or on the floor of the house, his statement doesn’t match any other leader who is considered to be the most patriot. Senator Rehman Malik revealed in the Upper House on August 2 that the Indian establishment had asked Pakistan’s separatist Baloch leader Brahamdagh Bugti during his New Delhi visit not to meet Mr Malik in Tajikistan. He said despite agreeing to meet in Tajikistan, Brahamdagh reneged on the commitment after the Indian establishment warned that he would be killed if he met him.   As the debate on Balochistan continues in the Pakistan Senate, it is clear that the Indian hand behind the insurgent movement in the province is now an established fact. Look at the one-line sentence Malik uttered. He said, “Balochistan is a victim of foreign aggression”. It seems he had many more to reveal as he complained of not being given an opportunity for the in-camera session he had been requesting for over 18 months to brief the upper house on some hard facts about Balochistan. This is really not surprising as one of the Supreme Court judges has already on-record observed that “there is clear evidence that the foreign hand is involved in the Balochistan trouble.” What is surprising the most, is the fact that the Pakistan government, despite evidential claims, has not been able to present before the world and the New Delhi the dossiers showing the evidences of Indian involvement. This is despite Pakistan’s then prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, told his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh at Sharm el-Sheikh that Islamabad would provide to India all the evidence. It is now years have passed, this has not been provided. It means that either the people at the helm of affairs are indifferent to what is going on in Balochistan or they are themselves want it to reach the boiling point.

It is advisable that something concrete on national level and on urgency basis should be done as immediately as possible to save Balochistan. And the demand, as some of the columnists have floated, of a civil-military dialogue, especially on Balochistan should be debated thoroughly and positively.

F Z Khan, Islamabad