Many Pakistani news outlets have been propagating the absurdity that nearly every other country on earth is responsible for the ongoing human rights violations in Balochistan except for, of course, Pakistan.
Countless Pakistani journalists have posited that, for years now, the intelligence wings of the U.S., India and/or Israel have managed to successfully insert assets within Balochistan dressed in Pakistani military garb, who have whisked away Baloch bystanders to holding cells in India and/or Afghanistan, where the kidnapped are tortured and killed before being dumped back onto the streets of Balochistan at the most opportune of moments.
They would also have us believe the aforementioned shadowy operations have been executed with such fiendish and cunning efficiency they’ve somehow gone wholly undetected -- a scintilla of evidence not to be found. Sound like a far-fetched conspiracy theory? Well, that’s because it is.
The revving of the Pakistani press’s conspiracy mill was triggered by a resolution issued in the U.S. House of Representatives last week which recognized the Baloch right to self-determination.
A diatribe printed in one of the country’s more popular conservative news sites, The Nation, provides a prime illustration of the Pakistani media’s reactionary line of thinking. Ashraf Mumtaz reports that the U.S., CIA, XE Services (the new name of erstwhile Blackwater), India and Israel are basically responsible for not only terrorist attacks within Balochistan but also “patronize” the terrorist outfit Jundullah and somehow inveigle it to wreak havoc inside Iran.
Mumtaz’s article, mind you, is not considered an op-ed piece because findings are based on what “military sources” have conveyed. And the military’s word is gold in Pakistan and shan’t be challenged, hence no actual supporting evidence is required.
And the reason these foreign agencies are so desperate to drive a wedge between Pakistan and Iran, according to Mumtaz, is due to their opposition to the Gwadar port development project. But why do they oppose? Because, Mumtaz asserts, the project could bring prosperity to Balochistan. Come again?
Mumtaz seems to scoff at the notion the state might be responsible for launching any military operations against the Baloch. Instead, the Frontier Corps only used force of arms to retaliate “when they were attacked by terrorists and miscreants.”
Within the very same paper on Thursday in a piece that at least fell into the opinion section, Azam Khalil actually makes a rather strong case against the U.S. resolution, which he deems interference in Pakistani affairs, by pointing out a heinous double standard on America’s part given the annexation of Texas and race murder of Native Americans.
The author rightly asks if Texans and American Indians have the same inherent right to self-determination that American lawmakers claim the Baloch possess. To which I personally would say “yes, they do”, but that isn’t the point. His point is the U.S., before taking another’s inventory, ought to examine and come to terms with its own baggage and sordid history. Fair enough.
However, Mr. Khalil undermines the strength of his case and throws his credibility to the wind by making the following unnecessary and unsubstantiated charge:
Also, USA’s encouragement and Indian interference are the main reasons for the unrest in Balochistan. The Indians are operating insurgent camps in Afghanistan to train and fund Balochi dissidents.
Khalil throws this sentence into the mix almost as a matter of reflex because it is so ingrained within Pakistan’s collective psyche – a defense mechanism both malicious and self-defeating which bears the mark of a typical demagogue intent on fueling angry protests.
These types of accusations only serve to “dirty the waters”, so to speak, and inhibit a clear and objective investigation of the matter. In fact, in the eyes of the world community the constant weaving and promulgation of like tales bear resemblance to the diversionary tactics of a guilty conscience.
When human rights organizations, including Pakistan’s own, produce firm evidence implicating RAW, the CIA and Mossad in the killing and dumping of Baloch nationalists, just as said rights groups have done to indict the Pakistani state, then allegations of this sort will be worthy of mention and consideration. But until then – or until at least some proof is presented – no reasonable and intellectually honest person can take such bunk seriously.
Read more articles about geopolitics and Balochistan at www.michaelhughesassoc.com
Michael Hughes is a journalist and human rights advocate who works on behalf of the Baloch Society of North America and the New World Strategies Coalition (NWSC).
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