Ajit Kumar, India’s ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations (UN), said on September 14, “This is a country (Pakistan), which has systematically abused and violated the human rights of its own citizens, including in Balochistan.”
With this statement, India has for the first time ever raised, the Balochistan issue at the UN—officially including it in the country’s foreign policy arsenal. For us here at home, Balochistan and Kashmir have no parallel. While Kashmir is a disputed territory, Balocistan is a province of a sovereign state. But the subtleties of local politics are lost on the world outside that sees the situation in binaries, sucked in by India’s charisma, and PM Modi’s celebrity status. Now that India has provoked Pakistan on the Balochistan issue, Pakistan is busy giving clarifications and the focus from Kashmir is diverted. What if a Pakistani diplomat was to go to the UN and raise a voice over India quashing separatist movements in Assam, Nagaland and Tripura? Would it not be unacceptable and considered and internal matter of India by the UN? Just because Pakistan is a weaker and poorer state it is always on the surgical table being probed for proofs.
If Modi and his advisors really believe that the Balochistan threat will make Pakistan withdraw its moral support for Kashmir’s right to self determination, they haven’t learnt much from the past. Pakistan's military establishment does not succumb to Indian threats and uses threats to gather more power for itself. India’s direct support to the East Pakistan liberation movement did not succeed in changing the perception of Pakistani agencies but made them more aggressive and paranoid.
India’s policy in Balochistan will only lead to a new international conflict opening up. Without a common border, India is dependent on Afghanistan to provide more support. This is not easy as India is struggling to get enough security to protect its own assets, much less Afghan and Baloch agents. India’s engagement in Balochistan might also create an Iran-Pakistan axis as Baloch nationalists have not only pitted themselves against Pakistan but against Iran as well.
It is no secret that India has been supporting the separatists in Balochistan and a representative of Balochistan Liberation Organization (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. Though Pakistan has failed to provide much proof about Indian involvement, according to 2010 WikiLeaks cables, US and British intelligence cautiously agreed with the Pakistani accusations.
At lease some sense prevailed in Washington, where the US State Department spokesman John Kirby on Friday said that the US government respected the unity and territorial integrity of Pakistan and did not support independence for Balochistan.