Sinister Indian moves on Balochistan, CPEC

The Indian government has established the Hind-Baloch Forum in India, a development that was rather expected. Pawan Sinha  is the President of the forum while Swami Jitendranad Sarswati is its General Secretary. On June 20, 2017, the forum organised its first event, a seminar titled "How Indians can play a role in the freedom struggle of  Balochistan" at Hotel Howard Plaza, Fatehabad Road, Agra. The forum is now planning more such activities, giving a new dimension to the existing Indian animosity towards Pakistan. 

Speakers on the occasion included Maj Gen (retd) G 0 Balohi, ex RAW director Col RSN Singh, Pushpendra Kulshrestha, bureau chief of a local TV channel, and Govind Sharma, Gen Secretary, Ganga Mahasabha, who tried their best to raise the  Indian stakes in the region. 

A new upping of the ante came when US Congressman Dana Rohrabacher visited MQM (London) office and met with founder of the party. A special arrangement was made whereby dissident Baloch nationalist Khan of Kalat also joined Rohrabacher for photo session. This is a clear reflection of US collaboration with anti Pakistan elements in exile in some Western capitals. The Indo-US collaboration has one major target i.e. CPEC. On the other hand, Pakistan has lodged a protest with the Swiss government for letting a banned-outfit, the Balochistan  Liberation Army (BLA), operate from its soil to spread ‘free Balochistan’ propaganda.

In a letter to Ambassador Valentin Zellweger, the permanent representative of the Swiss government at the United Nations, Pakistani envoy to Switzerland Farukh Amil has taken up the matter of posters raised in the area around Rio de Ferney in Grand Sacconex, Geneva, terming the incident as a belligerent attack on the “sovereignty and territorial integrity of Pakistan” by giving calls for ‘free Balochistan’.

Farukh Amil also drew the attention of the ambassador towards the failure of the Swiss authorities in taking action against  terrorists of BLA, a group of Baloch separatists listed by Pakistan, the United Kingdom (UK) and other states as a terrorist  organisation.

The envoy said the BLA had been using its Geneva hideout, the Balochistan House, to attack the sovereignty and  territorial integrity of the state of Pakistan, despite the fact that attack on the sovereignty of any state is a violation of the UN  charter.

“Any notion of free Balochistan is a flagrant attack on sovereignty and territorial integrity of Pakistan. The fact that such attack  emanated from Switzerland is deeply regrettable. Excellency you may kindly note that Balochistan House, which apparently  sponsored these posters, is an affiliate of Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA),” the letter reads.

“The mutually overlapping leadership of Balochistan House and BLA have committed grave crimes against security forces and  civilians in Pakistan, including attacks against women and children. These included targeted assassinations as well as bombings to execute mass killings,” the envoy stated. Ambassador Farukh Amil added that the BLA was also involved in religious and sectarian violence, including attacks against Christians and Shia Muslims in Pakistan.

The envoy also  urged the Swiss government to proceed against the local accomplices of the BLA and deal with those individuals/companies like APG SA advertising agency who wittingly or unwittingly support BLA. The envoy noted that the BLA is a listed terrorist organisation under the laws of Pakistan and other countries, including the  United Kingdom. The US State Department has also categorised several of its activities and actions as acts of terrorism, the  letter adds.

Admitting to the calculus of Indian interference in Balochistan, an Indian commentator commented in his blog last year: "It is no secret that India has been supporting the separatists in Balochistan in their fight again Pakistani military without openly  admitting it. Baloch activists have repeatedly admitted of receiving India’s ‘moral’ support and a representative of Balochistan Liberation Organisation (BLO) has been living in New Delhi since 2009.

"Pakistan has been regularly accusing India for using its consulates in Jalalabad and Kandahar to fund, train and arm Baloch  militants. A decade back, senior officials of Pakistan had even alleged that 600 Baloch tribals were being trained by India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) in Afghanistan to handle explosives, engineer bomb blasts, and use sophisticated weapons."

It is very much likely that India will use such forums like the Hind-Baloch Forum to gain support of anti-Pakistan elements,  create unrest in Balochistan and project the Balochistan issue at the international level to create impediments for CPEC projects. As an effort to move the Balochistan issue centre-stage, Baloch separatist leaders mostly visit New Delhi and Kabul where they are hosted and taken care of. 

It is no secret India is now openly supporting the Separate Balochistan movement by spreading anti Pakistan propaganda on electronic, print and social media. Raising the issue of Balochistan, India's larger strategic game is unlikely to succeed both in short and long terms. It also shows ineptness in foreign affairs by the Modi Sarkar.