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Pakistan is protesting against the alleged Indian involvement in the Baloch insurgency in a careful, calculated and “limited manner.”
Why is Manmohan Singh under fire in India? Many Indians, including the Opposition, are not happy about the reference to Balochistan in the joint statement released at Sharm-El-Shaikh, Egypt, after the meeting between Dr. Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yusuf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned summit. Some feel Dr. Singh stabbed them in the back by accepting the claim that India interferes in Balochistan. There are reports that Mr. Gilani pressured Dr. Singh at Sharm-El-Shaikh by handing over a dossier of evidence alleging Indian involvement in cross-border terrorism in Balochistan and that was how the Prime Minister was forced to accept the reference to Balochistan. I was present at Sharm-El-Shaikh. Many Indian journalists were shocked on reading the joint statement. They asked me why Balochistan was mentioned in the statement. In fact, many of them, like many common Indians, were not aware of what was going on in Balochistan. Within a few hours, I started receiving calls from many Indian television channels asking what evidence Pakistan showed Dr. Singh of the alleged Indian involvement in Balochistan.
While Mr. Gilani did mention Balochistan to Dr. Singh, he never handed over any dossier. The situation in the province came in for detailed discussion during the first meeting of the Foreign Secretaries at Sharm-El-Shaikh in the evening of July 14, two days before the meeting of Dr. Singh and Mr. Gilani. Pakistani Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir told his Indian counterpart, Shiv Shankar Menon, that India must delink the composite dialogue process from action on terrorism, otherwise Pakistan would be forced to produce before the international media at least “three Indian Ajmal Kasabs” who were directly or indirectly part of the terrorist activities in Balochistan. He added that Pakistan would easily establish that the Indian Consulate in the Afghan city of Kandahar was actually a control room of terrorist activities organised by the separatist Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA). The three Indian nationals were arrested in Pakistan in the last few weeks. According to Pakistani officials, they have undeniable evidence of the links of these Indians with Baloch militants.
Mr. Bashir told Mr. Menon that Pakistan and India could not afford a blame game. If Pakistan were to come out with evidence of India’s involvement in the attack on Chinese engineers in the Gwadar port city, not only would India’s credibility be damaged but also more anti-India feelings would spread in Pakistan. The extremist forces would be the ultimate beneficiaries, Mr. Bashir said.
One must understand why the Pakistani authorities are very careful in exposing the alleged Indian involvement in Balochistan. First, this new blame game will only help the extremist forces who successfully organised the attacks in Mumbai on November 26, 2008 to derail the India-Pakistan peace process. Secondly, it will harm Afghanistan-Pakistan relations. The U.S. does not want tensions between Islamabad and Kabul at this stage because the NATO forces are trying their best to conduct a presidential election in Afghanistan in a few weeks. Thirdly, the PPP-led coalition government is aware that Balochistan is not a serious dispute like Jammu and Kashmir; it is a problem of provincial rights. Instead of internationalising the issue, therefore, Islamabad should address the problem realistically. It cannot get away by blaming India alone for the unrest in the province. It has engaged many Baloch militants in talks behind-the scenes. Good news is expected soon.
Pakistan is making noises about the alleged Indian involvement in the Baloch insurgency in a careful, calculated and “limited manner.” The U.S. magazine, Foreign Affairs (March 2009) published the report of a roundtable discussion on the causes of instability in Pakistan. Christine Fair of RAND Corporation said, “having visited the Indian mission in Zahedan, Iran, I can assure you they are not issuing visas as the main activity. Indian officials have told me privately that they are pumping money into Balochistan.”
Where is Zahedan? It is the capital of the Irani province Sistan-o-Balochistan bordering Pakistan. More than two million Balochis live on the Iranian side of Balochistan. Iran is building a big port of Chabahar in the same area with active help from India. Top Iranian leaders have repeatedly alleged that the Central Intelligence Agency is supporting the Iranian Balochis to destabilise the Islamic Republic. American journalist Seymour Hersh admitted in July 2008 that the Bush administration gave millions of dollars to the separatist Iranian group, Jandallah, which is responsible for violence in the Iranian part of Balochistan.
If Pakistan plays the India card in Balochistan, many anti-U.S. forces in Pakistan will demand to know why it is silent on the CIA’s role in Balochistan.
Keeping in view the sensitivity of the problem, it is difficult for India to openly support the Baloch insurgency because it may harm its relations with Iran. If Indians come out openly in support of the BLA, anti-Indian elements in Pakistan will quickly bracket New Delhi with the alleged great game of the U.S. against Iran.
The Balochis are Kurds of South Asia. The Kurd population is distributed in Iran, Turkey and Iraq, while the Balochis are spread over Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan. Separatist groups in Pakistan and Iran want the Baloch areas unified. This is not acceptable to both countries. Balochistan has huge quantities of natural gas and unexplored oil reserves and is the largest Pakistani province in terms of area, covering almost 48 per cent of the country. But it accounts for only five per cent of the total population. A tribal society, it is the most underdeveloped province.
The first military operation in Balochistan was launched by General Ayub Khan in the late 1950s. The second was launched in 1974 when Iraq tried to destabilise Iranian Balochistan with the help of pro-Soviet Afghan ruler Sardar Daoud in collaboration with some Pakistani Baloch leaders. Daoud tried to exploit the slogan of independent Balochistan, on the one hand, and Pashtunistan, on the other. Afghanistan’s interference in Pakistan forced Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto to use Ahmad Shah Massoud and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar against the Kabul regime. The two Afghan rebels became guests of the Pakistani security forces in 1975. Later, General Zia-ul-Haq used them against the Soviet forces in Afghanistan.
Pervez Musharraf gave Gwadar to the Chinese for development in 2003. Three Chinese engineers were killed and nine injured on May 3, 2004 in a remote-controlled car bomb attack. Two months later, Pakistan claimed for the first time that India was involved in the attack. Locals were not happy over the employment of non-Balochis in the main development projects of their province. They also wanted a fairer share of royalties generated by the production of natural gas. Instead of addressing their grievances, the Musharraf regime launched a third military operation against them in 2005, further aggravating the situation.
Why must India discuss Balochistan with Pakistan? For, it will be the transit route of at least two multinational gas pipelines — one from Turkmenistan to Pakistan via Afghanistan and the other from Iran to Pakistan. India could be a beneficiary of both pipelines, which could be extended from Multan to New Delhi. A stable Balochistan will, thus, ultimately benefit India.
Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, China and India should join hands, and stop proxy wars in Kashmir and Balochistan. They can then change the fate of the whole region.
RAW: INDIA’S INTELLIGENCE SERVICE AND ITS INVOLVEMENT IN PAKISTAN’S UNREST
MARCH 22, 2014 BY BRENT PIERCE
India’s intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) is extensively involved in Pakistan’s, and neighboring countries’, affairs along with other foreign spy agencies such as the Israeli Mossad and the Afghani NDS. Based on the principle of conducting uncover battles through well-trained agents, RAW has assumed a significant role in Indian foreign policy since its inception in 1968.
RAW’s operations include the use of espionage, ethnic divisions, sabotage, terrorism and propaganda campaigns through the establishment of a massive network in target countries. The RAW leaders obtain critical information to satisfy Indian strategic interests and classify the data with the assistance of advanced technology and computer networks. Lately, RAW has been held accountable for being involved in Karachi and Balochistan unrest along with the assistance of foreign intelligence agencies.
RAW’s involvement in Karachi: confirmed
More than 1 million weapons are imported to Karachi by the foreign intelligence agencies, contributing to violence and broader unrest in the area. The CIA, Mossad, and RAW are jointly working towards the ethnic division of Karachi by providing funds to military groups to conduct terrorist activities and destroy Pakistan’s nuclear assets. Through the establishment of a collective network in Pakistan, the foreign spy agencies give the local population financial incentives, thus promoting their strategic interests in the area.
The poor, unemployed youth of Karachi is an easy target for the foreign secret agencies that recruit criminals, journalists, and security personnel and train young agents to execute targeted killings. Also, RAW supports Indian Muslims who join the Taliban regime in order to enhance religious schisms in Pakistan.
Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has evidence of RAW’s involvement in unrest in Karachi. After conducting terrorist activities, militants went to RAW’s offices to collect their fee and get further directions. Friends and relatives of Maulana Fazlullah (a Pakistani Taliban) frequently meet with RAW leaders at the Indian Embassy in Afghanistan and collect money to support terrorist acts in Pakistan.
RAW’s Involvement in Balochistan: very likely, yet not confirmed
Pakistan views India’s growing diplomatic involvement in Afghanistan as an effort to cover for RAW’s undercover operations toward Pakistani destabilization. Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) accused RAW of training and arming nationalists in Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province in the Afghan border, to conduct terrorist attacks and cause havoc in the area.
India denies the accusations, but strong evidence suggests that RAW cooperates with NDS, Afghan intelligence agency, to provide weapons to the Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF), Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), and other Baloch militant groups. Several sources confirm that secret agents receive training from Afghan national forces and RAW to conduct terrorist activities. BLA and BLF are involved in sabotage activities and targeted killings, are terrorizing citizens and are spreading propaganda against the central government, the Army and the ISI to the Baloch youth. With the assistance of the Afghan government, Baloch separatists are hiding in Kabul, Nimroz and Kandahar training camps in Afghanistan under the protection of NDS and are provided with fake passports and travel documents for moving to India, UAE and Western countries. RAW organizes Baloch language courses with Baloch teachers in India for agents who possess the skills to create further unrest through terrorist activities in Balochistan. Besides, RAW provides financial support to Baloch feudal & militants both in Afghanistan and Balochistan.
Experts at the Council on Foreign Relations say:“It is very likely that India has active intelligence gathering in Afghanistan, but it is difficult to say whether it is also involved in covert operations.”
On the other hand, the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) confirms that, throughout the Afghan War, RAW has orchestrated terrorist activities against Pakistan to discourage Islamabad from supporting the Afghan liberation movement against the Soviet Union, Pakistan’s strong ally. Additionally, nearly 35,000 RAW agents have entered Pakistan in the from 1983-1999 to work at terrorist camps. Today, nearly forty terrorist camps are under RAW’s Special Service Bureau (SSB) in Kashmir, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, East Punjab and others. So, it is highly unlikely that RAW is not involved in unrest in Balochistan.
Additionally, Senior Vice-President Shah Muhammad Owais Noorani Sidiqui of Jamiat-e-Ulema-Pakistan (JUP) openly accused the CIA for the missing persons in Balochistan. Noorani said that “the JUP had evidence that the US CIA, India’s RAW, and Israel’s Mossad were jointly conducting subversive operations in Balochistan, including sectarian killings, to create dissension in the province and soften the ground for their subversive activities.”
RAW and CIA: close relations
Where does RAW find millions of US Dollars to pay its secret agents?
Stephen P. Cohen of Brookings Institution claims that “the CIA has assisted in the creation of RAW” although their relations were established even before RAW was formed. In 1962, just after India’s war with China ended, the CIA trained an undercover organization with Tibetan refugees in India to execute terrorist activities in China. On these grounds RAW was formed in 1968. And apparently, the relations of RAW and the CIA extend beyond the operational level.
Additionally, there has been a boost in India’s undercover operations after 9/11 terrorist attack in New York. India became a strong supporter of the USA against the Muslim world and the USA opened the doors for India’s intelligence services. The CIA facilitated the entry of RAW militants in Pakistan with the aim of destabilizing the region. Since 2008, targeted killings in Karachi and Balochistan have created the grounds for the emergence of a nationalistic movement, with the help of the Western allies, USA, UK and Germany, but also Afghanistan and Israel.
The oxymoron is that the CIA trained both agents of the ISI and RAW to use terrorism against an enemy. However, RAW’s agents have received better and more sophisticated training than their Pakistani peers.
Bottom Line
Balochistan and Karachi unrest demand that political parties and the media stop exploiting various disparities at the country’s expense. Pakistan already faces multiple crises and the ISI is coping with the terrorist attacks of militant groups in the tribal areas. At the same time, RAW’s involvement in the unrest is clear. Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik confirms “We are investigating the role of the Indian intelligence agency in creating unrest in Balochistan as RAW’s involvement cannot be ruled out.”
