Pakistan’s Accusations Are Baseless

It has been the standard state policy of Pakistan to accuse India for its domestic challenges whenever it faces turbulence. The hijacking of the Jaffar Express by the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) has rattled Pakistani establishment as the Balochis have intensified their struggle for independence due to exploitation of mineral rich Balochistan. Pakistan has offered Balochistan to China to please its “all weather friend”. The reason being that Balochistan figures prominently in the Chinese scheme of things in terms of its Belt and Road Initiative. Balochistan has been included in the $ 65 billion investment in China-Pakistan Economic Corridor initiated by the Chinese President Xi Jinping. The Rising Kashmir had anticipated in the previous editorial on the Balochistan train hijack that whenever Pakistan faces the internal crisis then it diverts the attention towards India to gain international opinion. That is what it has exactly done. At a weekly press briefing, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan accused India of sponsoring terrorism without directly implicating it in the Balochistan train attack and the hijacking of the train recently. To blow into smithereens Pakistan’s baseless allegations, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has asked Pakistan to look inwards for its own internal problems. It is pertinent to mention that since the Tuesday attack, Pakistan’s military, government and media have implicitly tried to put the finger of suspicion towards India, overlooking its military and intelligence failures. India needs to devise its foreign policy in accordance with the narrative floated by Pakistan to defeat its nefarious designs. This can be underlined from the statement made by its Foreign Office spokesperson. He has categorically stated that there will be no policy change towards India. It must be noted that the train hijackers were directed from Afghanistan as per Pakistan. This has rattled Pakistan and in this connection the spokesperson said, “We urge Afghanistan to hold perpetrators, organisers, financiers, of this reprehensible act of terrorism accountable and cooperate with the government of Pakistan to bring all those who are concerned with this attack, including the real sponsors of terrorism to justice.” It was here he asked about India and he communicated the real intentions of Pakistan’s policy towards India and said, “There is no shift in our policy. And again, the facts have not changed. India is involved in sponsoring terrorism against Pakistan. What I was referring to was, in this particular incident, we have evidence of calls being traced to Afghanistan. This is what I said.” This makes clear that Pakistan is bent to maintain hostility towards India at all costs. It is overlooking the continuous violation of human rights of Balochis and their mineral resources that it is indulging in. It must address the right to self –determination of Balochis who have been made hostages of Chinese imperialism and Pakistani military atrocities. Numerous Balochis are missing and their leaders are under Pakistani custody. Pakistan has become a genocidal state that devises its policies both internal and external by trampling the human rights of the people. Terrorism is the declared state policy of Pakistan. It has been patronising and sponsoring religious terrorism motivated by radicalisation to destroy peace and harmony in Jammu and Kashmir by instigating the ethno-religious conflict that has led to genocide of minorities at large scale on our side of the border. Balochistan freedom movement is the indigenous one, where Balochis have raised the banner of revolt against Pakistan to free themselves from decades old slavery. As the international community has recognised their genocide by Pakistani military junta, Pakistan has got un nerved and wants to divert the attention from the gross human rights violation it is inflicting on the Balochis. The international community must force Pakistan to stop atrocities against Balochis.