The Foreign Office on Thursday said that Brahamdagh Bugti’s request for asylum in India was indicative of Indian involvement in terrorism in Balochistan.
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There are some legal issues related to the asylum in India as things are not well defined.
Bugti, who is leader of Baloch Republican Party (BRP), said he held talks with top Indian diplomats here about his asylum as well as that of a number of other Baloch leaders now staying in Balochistan, Afghanistan and in some other countries.
The situation is so complex that the officials in the Home ministry are digging through 1959 records to check the process.
As per the United Nations, there are at least 6,480 asylum seekers in India but the government does not recognise them.
The Dalai Lama was granted asylum in the late fifties more as a “spiritual leader”, officials said.
However, sources said that the call to give political asylum will be taken at the highest level by Modi after weighing all pros and cons as it is a big policy decision that can open a new area of conflict with Pakistan.
Even the term “refugee” is not mentioned in any domestic law.
Brahumdagh Bugti is the grandson of wellknown Baloch leader and head of Bugti tribe, Nawab Akbar Bugti.
If granted asylum, Bugti could be given a long-term visa to be renewed every year. The Pakistani government had pressured Afghanistan to extradite him following which Bugti shifted to Switzerland in 2010. “Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif forcefully raised the Kashmir issue and the brutalities of Indian occupied forces in Indian-held Kashmir at the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly”.
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“You (India) can not say your terrorist is a terrorist but our terrorist is not a terrorist”, he was quoted as saying. “It is a very good move and we are hopeful of India’s continued support”, he had said.
