India's Baloch connection

Momin Iftikhar

Reference to Balochistan in the joint communiqué at Sharm el-Sheikh has raised quite a furore in India where experienced observers have begun calling it Manmohan Singh's Balochistan Blunder. Understandably in Pakistan it is a welcome development where since long there has been increasing complaints concerning an Indian hand in raking trouble in Balochistan through Afghanistan.

India is feverishly pumping money and weaponry of all kinds to troublemakers in Balochistan; becoming the patron saint of the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA). Runaway Baloch dissidents, including Brahamdagh Bugti, are based in Kabul and are well known among the defence and intelligence circles in New Delhi. India's consulates in Iran and Afghanistan are actively involved in stirring insurgency in Balochistan and FATA. According to Christine Fair of RAND Corporation, "having visited the Indian mission in Zahedan, I can assure you they are not issuing visas as the main activity! Moreover, India has run operations from its mission in Mazar (through which it supported the Northern Alliance) and is likely doing so from the other consulates it has reopened in Jalalabad and Kandahar along the border. Indian officials have told me privately that they are pumping money into Balochistan".

According to Foreign Policy magazine, quoting a former intelligence official who has served in both countries, "the Indians are up to their neck in supporting the Taliban against the Pakistani government in Afghanistan and Pakistan...The same anti-Pakistani forces in Afghanistan, also shooting at American soldiers, are getting support from India." All this is happening under the gaze of the US and NATO, and apparently with their tacit knowledge. The resultant "collateral damage" to US/NATO servicemen is getting beyond acceptable limits and there is a diminishing acceptance of the manner in which the Indian operation in Balochistan and FATA/NWFP seems to be causing unintended consequences. Through mention in the Joint Communiqué the Indians may be acknowledging their failure in botching an operation that has begun to bleed the acquiescing spectators for whom the unintended pain has crossed the threshold of forbearance. Indian interference in Balochistan and FATA is an established phenomenon by now, known to all and sundry. Why not accept the ground reality that is no longer a secret and use it ("some information on threats in Balochistan and other areas") as a bargaining chip in parleys with Pakistan, the Indians seem to be postulating.

India is already deeply involved in organising a sizeable and well orchestrated vitriolic campaign to drum up support for the terrorist and anti-state activities of a clutch of Baloch terrorists, using Harbiyar Marri as a figurehead. With placing of Balochistan in a bilateral context we can expect strengthening of the propaganda from India seeking to internationalise the cause of the vested interests in Balochistan. It is instructive to note that during 2006 the Indian government did make uncalled-for comments while the security forces were involved in internal security operations in the province.

Ever since the blueprints for Gwadar development went to the drawing boards the strategically located province has seen the evolution of a maelstrom of conflicting foreign interests, seeking a foothold to promote their respective interests. Needless to say, with Indian protégées ruling the roost in post-Taliban Afghanistan, it has acquired a commanding presence and an attendant potential to brew trouble in Pakistan. By putting Balochistan in the bilateral context, the Indians may be tacitly acknowledging their well exposed interference in the province. But on the other hand they may be contriving to shift focus from the human rights abuses in Kashmir by drumbeating about the handling of the security situation in Balochistan where India is relentlessly manoeuvring to set alight the fires of instability and violence.

The writer is a freelance contributor.