Daily Times

As is well known, and has been also acknowledged by former US secretary of defence Chuck Hegel and former US commander in Afghanistan Gen McCHrystal for the past many years that India has used Afghan soil to destabilize the Balochistan province of Pakistan. India has been working to destabilize Balochistan in two ways; by sponsoring terrorism using Afghan soil, and, by inciting and supporting the Baloch dissidents to carry out a movement for the province’s separation from Pakistan.

In the above context, according to an article by Shailaja Neelakantan that appeared in a leading Indian daily newspaper earlier in 2019, the Indian government was approached by Brahumdagh Khan Bugti [the founder of the Baloch Republican Party (BRP) outlawed in Pakistan], and several of his followers, self exiled and living in Switzerland since 2010 in political asylum, to grant them Indian citizenship.

India’s activities in sponsoring terrorism in Balochistan were confirmed, when Pakistan arrested an Indian spy, a serving officer of the Indian Navy, Kulbhushan Singh Yadav, in Balochistan on March 2016, who is still in Pakistan’s custody. In a televised statement, he confessed openly that he was tasked with destabilizing Balochistan by supporting terrorists, and that is the primary reason he was in the province.

India’s involvement in sponsoring terrorism in Balochistan and other parts of Pakistan is also evident from the statements of Indian PM Nanendra Modi and other senior BJP leaders. According to the Hindu, dated 16 August 2016, in a significant shift in policy on Pakistan, Narendra Modi made a reference to the Baloch freedom struggle in his Independence Day speech, saying the people in Balochistan, and also in Gilgit and Azad Kashmir had reached out to him. Pakistan responded by saying the statement “confirmed” India’s role there.

To deter India from using terrorism as a foreign policy tool against us, and committing genocide in held Kashmir, Pakistan should pursue a robust anti terror strategy, and a comprehensive political plan to address Balochistan’s political issues

According to the Economic Times on April 23, 2017, BJP MP Subramanian Swamy said that India should recognise Balochistan as a separate country if Pakistan went ahead with the execution of Indian nationality, Kulbhushan Singh Jadhav, in custody of Pakistan. He stated: “Pakistan should be taught a lesson by recognising Balochistan if it executes Jadhav”.

As per the QUARTZ, India, dated 16 August 2016, India’s hawkish national security advisor AK Doval almost issued a threat to Pakistan, when he said that India’s troublesome neighbour could lose Balochistan if there was a repeat of the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. “You do one more Mumbai, you lose Balochistan,” Doval said in 2014.

According to Global Village Space (GVS) dated 9 May 2020, notably, two days ago, on May 6, 2020, a clip from an Indian talk show went viral. During the talk show, a retired major of the Indian Army Gaurav Arya openly hurled threats at Pakistan and predicted a terror incident in Balochistan ‘in 10-15 days’.

According to Baaghi TV dated 6 May 2020, retired Major Gaurav Arya also said, “I am in touch with all the separatists in Balochistan. He told Pakistanis participating in the programme that if not today, then after ten years, Balochistan will be a separate country and you will have to go there with a passport.”

Then, on 7 May 2020, an incident of an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attack occurred, as the device hit an FC vehicle along the Pakistan-Iran border, where a Pakistani Major and five FC soldiers embraced martyrdom. The Pakistan military spokesman said that the attack took place in the Kech district of Balochistan on 7 May 2020.

Then, as per the Baaghi TV news dated 10 May 2020, retired Major Guarou Gowaru Arya confessed on an Indian TV channel on 8 May 2020 that Handwara attack (Kashmir) was avenged in Balochistan, as on 7 May 2020, in an improvised explosive device (IED) attack by terrorists in the Baleda area of Ketch, six youths, including a major, were killed.

From the above discussion it is quite evident that retired Indian Major Gowaru Arya, who has threatened Pakistan and confessed to supporting terrorism in Balochistan, has the blessings of the Indian Establishment. This implies that India is giving clear signals to Pakistan that to counter its Kashmir policy, it will continue to destabilize Balochistan.

To expose India for sponsoring terrorism in Pakistan and the region, and its state terrorism in India-held Kashmir by clamping lockdown and curfew there since 5 August 2019, and carrying out the Kashmiris’ genocide, the Pakistan’s permanent representative in the UN, Mr Munir Akram has done well in briefing the UN members about India’s bad conduct in the region. It is, however, an unfortunate happening that the UN member countries have still supported India to become a non permanent member of the UNSC.

In view of the above situation, to deter India from using terrorism as a foreign policy tool against us, and committing genocide in held Kashmir, Pakistan should pursue a robust anti terror strategy, and a comprehensive political plan to address Balochistan’s political issues. Moreover, it should also diplomatically expose India’s designs by working closely with the OIC and major powers, and should give a tit for tat military response to India’s military threats.

The writer is a former Consultant and Research Fellow of Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI), Islamabad and Senior Research Fellow of Strategic Vision Institute (SVI), Islamabad