No plan yet to shelter Brahamdagh: India

NEW DELHI: India has denied reports about giving asylum to the exiled and wanted Baloch activist Brahamdagh Bugti who had requested the Indian government for issuing him a passport and identity card enabling him to carry out his anti-Pakistan activities abroad.

“We have no such intentions at present,” a senior government source was quoted by the Times of India on Saturday.

In an interview from Switzerland where he lives, Bugti said he had not made any formal request for asylum to the Indian government though he indicated he would come to India if he could.

“Right now I’m here but I face problems regarding my travel. So if I get an option to be in India I will definitely go there,” he told an Indian news agency in an interview arranged by the Indian embassy.

“Our people in Balochistan and Afghanistan are in a very difficult situation. Very few are able to come to Europe while the rest are living there. So we want that the Indian government should open its doors to them and provide them with access including myself,” Bugti said, adding that he would take a decision at an internal meeting on September 19.

If I ever get a chance to move to India I will definitely go there, Bugti said.

Asked why he was seeking asylum in India, Bugti said: “In Europe even if a government or the immigration department knows the problem the people don’t. But in India the people know about our problems; we will have their support. We share the same culture.

We will be closer to our people and our people can easily seek asylum there and it is easier for them to reach there with their families.”