ISLAMABAD – Apart from the current uneasy relations between Pakistan andthe US, there are broader issues at play in the US to harm Pakistan’sterritorial integrity. India in this regard seems to be closely workingwith the successive US governments and its members of Congress to influencethem in its favour.
In this context, India is struggling to exploit the prevailing geopoliticalenvironment. Being a close defence partner of the US in the post-cold warand post-9/11 era, it feels that by exploiting the US interests linked withIndia, it can gain the US support in pursuing its anti-Pakistan agenda aswell. In this game, India seems to be succeeding in getting the support ofsome US congress members, although not of the US government as yet.
Recently, two anti-Pakistan US members of Congress, Dana Rohrabacher andBrad Sherman, spoke against Pakistan during a meeting of the US House ofRepresentatives. Sherman talked about the human rights violations in Sindh,while Rohrabacher claimed that the Muhajir community in Karachi is facingpersecution, similar to that faced by the people of East Pakistan before itemerged as Bangladesh.
He also asked for the support of the US to the Baloch’s and Sindhi’s, whoare alleged to be persecuted mainly by the Pakistan Armed Forces and theISI. He also criticised that the control of the government is with thePunjabis and Pashtuns.
That members of the US Congress are discussing an independent Balochistanand human rights violations in Sindh is a dangerous development which mustbe addressed
Earlier also, in February 2012, Republican congressman Dana Rohrabacher hadintroduced a resolution, calling for an independent state for the Balochpeople. The resolution said, “the people of Balochistan have the right toself-determination and their own sovereign country, and they should beafforded the opportunity to choose their status among the community ofnations”. These congressmen words appear to be Indian fed, as thesepropaganda themes were extensively aired by India in 1971 before attackingEast Pakistan.
In the first year of Modi’s government, Indian administration had announcedits decision to provide shelter to the secessionist Baloch leaders. It wasstated that India wanted the Baloch leaders to apply for asylum formally,which would be granted in a matter of a few weeks.
This move was meant to create misperceptions in the minds of the US andother world leaders that the majority of the Baloch people wanted toseparate from Pakistan. Although such steps by India amount to interferingin Pakistan’s internal matters, Modi would still pursue this policy to harmPakistan. However, in this context, Modi is grossly misguided if he thinksthat India under his premiership can really repeat the situation of thethen East Pakistan, in Balochistan or Sindh.
However, it was encouraging to note that the Obama administration hadflatly refused to go along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s stand onBalochistan.
The then state department’s spokesperson, John Kirby, had said,“the USrespects the unity and territorial integrity of Pakistan, and we do notsupport independence for Balochistan”.
But in a bid to establish India’s hegemony in South Asia by harmingPakistan, Modi administration will continue to negatively influence the USmembers of Congress on Balochistan by feeding them biased intelligenceabout the province to ultimately pressurise the US government to supportIndia’s stance on Balochistan. In this context, India appears to bebuilding considerable influence over some of the critical US members ofCongress.
In the third week of August 2017, Congressman Sherman had sent a letter toAlice G. Wells, the Acting Assistant Secretary for South and Central AsianAffairs and David Hale, the US Ambassador to Pakistan, expressing strongconcerns about human rights in Sindh. In this, Sherman was joined byRepresentatives Barbara Comstock, Trent Franks, Carolyn Malone, EleanorHolmes Norton, Dana Rohrabacher, and Adam Schiff. The letter raisedconcerns about enforced disappearances, religious extremist attacks, andforced conversions.
The US of members Congress talking about the separation of Balochistan andhuman rights violation in Sindh and India’s involvement in wronglyinfluencing the US government are dangerous developments which must becountered.
In this context, Pakistan should focus on befriending US members ofCongress through concerted diplomacy and intense lobbying, that is legallyallowed in the US. In this regard, Indian efforts to mislead the US and itsponsoring terrorism in Balochistan must also be exposed.
By: Colonel (R) Muhammad Hanif