New Delhi: India has conveyed strong concern at reports of vandalism, defacement and destruction of invaluable Indian Buddhist heritage located in the so called “Gilgit-Baltistan” area of the Indian territory under illegal and forcible occupation of Pakistan.
This was stated on Wednesday, 3 June 2020, by Anurag Srivastava, official spokesperson of India’s Ministry of External Affairs
The official spokesperson has responded to queries in this matter by stating: “It is a matter of grave concern that the Buddhist symbols are being destroyed and the religious and cultural rights and freedoms are being trampled with impunity in the Indian territories under illegal occupation of Pakistan. Egregious activities of this nature which display contempt for the ancient civilizational and cultural heritage are highly condemnable.
We have sought immediate access for our experts to the area in order to restore and preserve this invaluable archaeological heritage.
We have once again called upon Pakistan to immediately vacate all illegally occupied territories and end gross violation of political, economic and cultural rights of people living there.”
25-year-old Mazdak Dilshad Baloch appears much more assured and confident than his age. Living in Canada since 2014, Mazdak and his wife arrived in India a few months ago to build public opinion in favour of freedom struggle for Balochistan. He spoke to Shitanshu Shekhar Shukla in an exclusive interview. Edited excerpts:
Are you in favour of talking to Pakistan?
No. We are opposed to talking to Pakistan as long as Balochistan is occupied by its army. Until we are an equal party, we will not talk. If the Pakistan army withdraws for a neutral force/power to monitor and oversee, we can talk to Pakistan and hold them accountable for their misdeeds.
China is investing huge in CPEC (China–Pakistan Economic Corridor). How do you look at it?
China is exploiting the resource-rich Balochistan. It is unacceptable to us. CPEC is a project that stands to connect China’s largest province Xinjiang with Pakistan’s Gwadar port in Balochistan. It has got China’s boots on our ground. Balochistan is endowed with rich but largely unexploited reserves of copper and gold.
Pakistan has deployed 15,000 personnel, mainly serving army soldiers, to secure the corridor. China has been helping Pakistan carry genocide in Balochistan since ‘50s. In return, Pakistan awarded China with CPEC to loot the resources of Balochistan to the tune of 16 kg gold every day. It is a military corridor to give China naval base in Gwadar port. Instead of empowering us, it is killing us. Our consent is must. Our resources should be in our possession. Our land should be in our hands. Nobody should take our resources. We are under occupation of Pakistan. 150,000 people had been evicted from the route of the trade corridor by security forces to clear the way for roads and other infrastructure.
Would you call upon China to immediately shelve this project?
We have asked China to stop this. Naela Quadri Baloch has written a letter to the mothers/women in China. Mothers are all of the same kind. She reached out to the mothers in China to stop the genocide perpetuated by their government. But it has fallen on deaf ears. It serves China’s interest to kill us.
Would you call upon India to intervene and free Balochistan from Pakistan in the same way as India freed Bangladesh in 1971?
Yes, we will be happy whichever way India wishes to help us get freedom: militarily or diplomatically or otherwise. We need help at all levels. We need India’s moral and diplomatic support. We need India to internationally lobby for us at UN forums. If India directly intervenes to liberate us, we will be too happy. We will ask for it, because we are dying.
Do you support India’s surgical strike in PoK?
Yes. PoK is illegally occupied by Pakistan in much the same way as Balochistan is. Kashmir is burning because of Pakistan’s proxies and jihadis. India is much entitled to surgical strikes. We will welcome India to extend the similar surgical strikes into Balochistan and save us. More and more people are kidnapped and killed there every day. But the world remains a mute spectator.
Do you think Pakistan is a terrorist state?
Pakistan is very much a terrorist state. It is a manufacturer and exporter of terrorism. Terrorism is central to their economy policy. Pakistan is just four districts of Punjab. Sind wants independence, so does Balochistan. Islamabad westwards is dominated by the Afghans. Only Punjab and the army are left of Pakistan. It is not a country but a concentration camp to hold different nations by force and brutal butchery. Pakistan is an artificial country. Why would it have got torn in 1971 otherwise? Bangladesh bore the brunt. One lakh women got raped in Bangladesh. It is not an organically evolved nation. Pakistan was conceived in Cambridge as a proxy by the British to rule the whole subcontinent. We had been independent when Pakistan came into being. Balochistan became an independent country on August 4, 1947 and the declaration was made on August 11, 1947, days before Pakistan was created.
But we were occupied because they wanted to exploit our rich resources, water and land.
Can Pakistan hold for long?
No, it can’t. The pressure is building up and Pakistan will soon blow up into pieces. The more force is used to suppress, the louder will be the reaction. The day the world stops their financial, diplomatic support and put sanctions against Pakistan, it will disappear from the world map. Pakistan had created local al-Qaida and ISIS groups in the region, in the same way that it had once created al-Shams and al-Badr in Bangladesh.
Only 3 per cent people participated in last elections held in 2013 in Balochistan. How much support does it mean for the Baloch freedom movement? There is a government in the province after all. How much support do you enjoy among the common people?
It is not a tribal movement but a political movement led by the masses. The common man identifies himself with this movement. Three per cent participation is an axiomatic truth. People who participated in the 2013 polls had nothing to do with the freedom movement. They drew benefits from Pakistan. But 97 per cent people didn’t even cast their votes. If Pakistan had even an iota of faith in democracy, it would have granted us freedom. Democracy allows the dissenting people to choose their land. Brexit is an example. Europe is truly democratic. But we are held by force. We have been a free country, free nation for 705 years.
How can the world be sure of your claim to enjoy support of Baloch people for the freedom movement?
No international media or international inspection team is allowed by Pakistan to enter into Balochistan. That is a big handicap. People are allowed to travel only up to Karachi or Lahore. So, we have only our struggle and movement to prove the point. Three per cent people participated in the last elections held in Balochistan in 2013. It adds to the evidences. That is why Pakistan and China have joined hands in desperation to crush our movement. But they will fail and we will win. We have grown stronger without any support from anywhere of any kind.
Majdak Dilshad Baloch (R) with Shitanshu Shekhar Shukla
Historically, whom do you blame for your slavery and dependence?
Muhammad Ali Jinnah, of course. He backstabbed us in 1948 even though Balochistan had paid Jinnah as much gold as he weighed against his fees as a legal counsel for getting back the areas of Balochistan under lease with the British. When the Balochistan approached India’s first Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru for help, he refused to help. Still, Balochistan refused to join Pakistan, only to be attacked. That attack has since continued till now.
Brahamdagh Bugti, the Switzerland-based leader of the Balochistan Republican Party, another major separatist outfit, has approached India for political asylum? Should India accept to undo the mistake committed by Nehru?
The leaders are different and so are the political circumstances. Political asylum should be a matter of policy and not a favour to an individual. I request India to formulate an asylum policy for Baloch freedom fighters. It will build a formal bridge of friendship between India and Balochistan. Always a friendly country, India is known for helping the people in distress. First Baloch leader in 70 years to come to India, Naela Quadri Baloch publicly asked India for help for freedom of Balochistan.
Did she meet PM Modi or Home Minister Rajnath Singh for help?
I don’t know. But she has been meeting several political leaders in India. India and independent Balochistan are in a win-win situation. Free Balochistan will be secular, democratic, peace-loving, nuclear free, terror-free, pluralistic, and gender-balanced. India needs an independent Balochistan. An independent Balochistan will be a friend of India and will serve India’s interests. Unlike Pakistan, we want to see a strong and prosperous India. We don’t want to see Pakistan at all. PM Modi has been kind to us. He has listened to us and spoke about us from the ramparts of Red Fort on August 15. Sushma Swaraj followed it up in the UN. His team is working on it. As for Bugti’s asylum plea, it is between him and India to decide.
Pakistan accuses India of funding your movement through RAW, IB. Is it true? Who funds you?
I have never heard of it. I don’t know of any such help. If we had received any kind of help from India, we would have been free long ago. We have not yet got any help from India. But our leaders have come to India for the first time, publicly asking for help. We hope India will help this time. We are asking for help openly, publicly. We are not hiding. Pakistan tries to snub our movement by putting several tags on us. But we will openly admit if India lends any help. It is our right to ask for help. Whoever supports us, we will publicly welcome.
Is there going to be a Balochistan government-in-exile? How soon will it take the shape?
A couple of days ago, Naela Qadri and Baloch leaders in Afghanistan met in Kabul over this issue. They have agreed to form a Baloch government-in-exile wherever it is possible, terming it as need of hour. Besides, they also called upon Afghanistan to join India to help Balochistan become independent. Much depends upon who supports our government-in-exile. Because support will also mean standing up to the Pakistan, the terror capital of the world. Pakistan plays on fears of the world. Bluff is central to their policy.
This Diwali, before using the option of lighting up your houses with Chinese decoration lights or bursting cheap and smuggled Chinese crackers, at least remember that by doing this you would be helping a country that has once more blocked India’s move to declare Masood Azhar as an international terrorist. Azhar is the founder of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). This terror outfit, held responsible for the 2001 terrorist attack on Indian Parliament, wants to separate Kashmir from India and is behind so many terror attacks in Kashmir. China also warned that it will curtail the flow of Brahmaputra when India started talking of reviewing the Indus Waters Treaty signed between India and Pakistan in 1960 at the initiative of World Bank after last month’s terrorist attack on the Army base camp at Uri in Kashmir. China should be taught a lesson on these counts and also because it is going full steam ahead with the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor passing through Pak occupied Kashmir (PoK).
Balance of bilateral trade heavily tilts in favour of China
India’s total export to China has dipped from US $ 305,963.92 million in 2011-12 to US $ 262,290.13 million in 2015-16. The balance of trade between the two countries has tilted heavily in favour of China as India’s total import from that country has soared from US $ 55,313.58 million in 2011-12 to US $ 61,706.83 in 2015-16.
For a complete picture let us look at the data pertaining to balance of bilateral trade, which tilts heavily in favour of China. In 2011-12 it was US $ -183,355.57 million. This rose to US $ -190,336.07 million in 2012-13, US $ -135,794.49 million in 2013-14, US $ -137,694.93 million in 2014-15 and US $ -118,716.50 million in 2015-16.
If the Indian Government succumbs to global pressure or has no choice but to maintain the status quo in terms of tariffs on goods imported from China due to bilateral commitments or the WTO’s new Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), which India ratified earlier this year to meet the lofty goal of increasing merchandise exports or further boosting the country’s economic growth by “reducing trade costs and supporting its integration into the global economy” as summed up by WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo, the people of India can come forward and play a pro-active role by resorting to en masse boycott of Chinese goods. In this way the people of India will be sending a strong message to China that it should not be blinded by its narrow economic and strategic interests. For the sake of global peace and its own internal security, China would be best advised to wake up and address the issue of global terror in the right perspective. The message should be loud and clear that the people of India, if they wrest the initiative, they have the power to swing the balance the other way.
Chinese versus the traditional
The China apologists in India may argue that China is among the largest trading partners of India. They will certainly point out that boycott of all Chinese stuff sold off shelves and online besides decoration lights and crackers that get smuggled into India in massive quantities from China , is no solution rather it will hurt the Indian economy and cause a spiralling adverse impact if China decides to squeeze the export of cotton, gems, precious metals, ores, organic chemicals, salt, sulphur, stone, cement, machines, engines, pumps, plastics, raw hides and so on. The pro-China lobby should know that China would be hit harder if India resorts to go into the overdrive mode to revolutionise the domestic production sector, especially Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME s), coupled with a blanket ban on import of goods from China. Even if the Indian Government drags it’s feet in this matter, the vast majority of Indians should refuse to pick Chinese goods. They should act immediately and turn their back to every Chinese product that would be flooding the Indian market during the current festive season. If that happens, the message would be loud and clear and even the Indian Government will be compelled act and shut its doors to the Chinese finished goods like electronic equipment, machines, engines, pumps, organic chemicals, fertilizers, iron and steel, ships, boats, plastics, medical and technical equipment. This will send shock waves that the Chinese economy will not be able to absorb.
New Delhi/Islamabad: After last night’s surgical strike on launch pads in Pak Occupied Kashmir by Indian Army to neutralize terrorists, Pakistan today afternoon in a message to India said that “any such aggression will not go unanswered or unpunished”.
Pakistan is ready to defend its people and territory from “any Indian aggression or Indian State sponsored terrorism” on Pakistani soil, Pakistan has said. This after an all-party meeting at North Block in New Delhi was briefed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Director General of Military Operation about the successful military operation inside Pak Occupied Kashmir last night. In this first post-Uri response by the Indian Army, seven terror camps were destroyed and 38 terrorists along with two Pak soldiers were killed.
Pakistan has reacted to the surgical strike by India by stating it “strongly condemns unprovoked ceasefire violations at LoC by Indian forces.
Meanwhile Indian satellites have started monitoring Pak airspace. Indian Air Force, fighter jets have begun intensive combat patrol in the western sector and the border villages have been evacuated. The entire western border stretching from Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir has been put on high alert and additional troops have been rushed to this area. Vigil by BSF has also been stepped up.
New Delhi : National Conference President Farooq Abdullah revisited his experiments with freedom of expression a day earlier, and took it a step forward today when he said that the Indian forces, in his opinion, do not have the defence capability in them to shield an armor against terrorists and militants on the prowl. A day earlier, on Friday, Abdullah had stated that PoK (Pakistan occupied Kashmir) was with Pakistan and that war was not an option. Today, he made an effort to add clarification to his yesterday’s remarks, but spoke in the direction of same chain of thoughts. In his exact words, this is what the Former J and K CM stated — PoK will be a part of Pakistan, J&K will be a part of India. It is not something new that I have said. All of India’s forces can’t defend against terrorists and militants.
While political opinions across the board slammed Abdullah’s remarks, the Senior Abdullah found support from his son, Omar, the former J and K CM, who defended him saying that this was the long-standing belief of his father. Further, Abdullah added that the interaction between people across borders should be increased, instead of focusing on territorial disputes. He said, ‘People to people contact is essential. That is how fear is fought.’
India and Pakistan have fought three wars since independence and partition in 1947, two over Kashmir. The disputed frontier is one of the world’s most heavily militarized regions.Border clashes and ceasefire violations at the Line of Control also pose a constant risk of escalation of tension between the two countries.
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