Seven years after an India-Pakistan joint statement mentioned Balochistan and led to an outcry over the then UPA government’s Pakistan strategy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi put it back on the agenda Monday, bringing it up in his Independence Day address to corner Pakistan on human rights violations in its own backyard.
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Deputy Speaker Sardar Farooq Tahir, Member Assembly Dr Bashir Mustafa, Member Kashmir Council Pervez Awan and others were also present on the occasion.The prime minister and other speakers expressed solidarity with the oppressed people of Kashmir.
Indian schoolchildren dressed in the national colors perform a routine during India Independence Day celebrations in Shimla yesterday. “But by bringing in Balochistan, you are ruining our case”.
The main opposition party, however, asked the government to raise the issue of alleged atrocities in Balochistan and PoK in bilaterals with Pakistan as also at worldwide forums.
While the Indian leader, who belongs to the hardline Bhartiya Janata Party, delivered the speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort in Old Delhi, deadly violence flared in Kashmir where people observed a black day to protest Indian rule on Monday. When innocent people are killed in terrorist attacks, they celebrate… what type of terrorism-inspired life is it, what type are these creations of terrorism-inspired governments?
Modi referred to messages of support he had received from people in regions of Pakistan, including the restive province of Baluchistan, drawing a rebuke from Islamabad which accused him of fomenting terrorism there.
Aizaz called on the Indian High Commissioner to Islamabad and handed over a letter addressed to Jaishankar highlighting the worldwide obligations of Pakistan and India with regards to resolving the Kashmir dispute in accordance with United Nations Security Council resolutions, said Pak Foriegn Office spokesman Nafees Zakaria.
In a first for any Prime Minister in an August 15 address, Modi referred to human rights abuses in Balochistan and the part of Kashmir Pakistan controls.
This came after gunmen shot and wounded at least 10 police paramilitaries in two separate attacks in the main city of Srinagar on Monday.
He took on Pakistan over its recent utterances on Kashmir and its “move to glorify terrorists” like Hizbul Mujahideen’s Burhan Wani who was killed on July 8. Two militants were killed in the ensuing shootout, police said.
Bugti is the founder of the Baloch Republican Party, a Baloch nationalist group that favours Balochistan independence and is hence banned in Pakistan. “I appeal to both countries that this line dividing Kashmir should be made irrelevant”, Mufti told a thinly attended gathering at a sports stadium in Srinagar.
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He said that there is constant curfew and complete media blackout for the past 37 days in occupied Kashmir. Basit celebrated Pakistan’s Independence Day at its embassy in the Indian capital. Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Sirajul Haq especially participated in the gathering.
