Baloch rebel leader: Will welcome help from India

ISLAMABAD, September 29

The elusive leader of a major rebel group fighting for independence in Pakistan's Balochistan province said he would welcome cash and other help from India, words likely to alarm Islamabad which accuses New Delhi of stirring trouble there.

In his first video interview in five years, Allah Nazar Baloch, head of the ethnic Baloch group Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF), also vowed further attacks on a Chinese economic corridor, parts of which run through the resource-rich province.

The planned $46-billion trade route is expected to link western China with Pakistan's Arabian Sea via a network of roads, railways and energy pipelines.

"We wish that not only India, but the entire world  supports the Baloch national struggle diplomatically and financially," said Baloch, a doctor-turned-guerrilla believed to be about 50.

Baloch, leader of one of three main armed groups fighting for Balochistan's independence, said while he wanted support from India, the BLF had not received funding from the Narendra Modi government, or India's spy agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). 

Baloch is the only leader of a sizeable separatist group who is believed to be waging a guerrilla war from inside Balochistan; the other two leaders are in exile in Europe.

Brahamdagh Bugti, the Switzerland-based leader of the Balochistan Republican Party, another major separatist outfit, last week moved an application seeking "political asylum" in India.

Domestic news coverage of the Balochistan conflict is rare and foreign journalists are broadly forbidden from visiting the province.

Baloch answered questions in a video recording, which was sent electronically.

Chronic instability in the province, which has experienced waves of revolt by Baloch nationalists since it was formally incorporated into Pakistan in 1948, is a source of concern for China, which has appealed to Pakistan to improve security.

Baloch and other separatists fear that indigenous Baloch people, who are estimated to number about 70 lakh out of Pakistan's 19 crore population, will become an ethnic minority in their ancestral lands if other groups flock to the region to work on exploiting its natural resources. The rebel leader alleged that 1.5 lakh people had been evicted from the route of the trade corridor by security forces to clear the way for roads and other infrastructure. Charges of abuse have been levelled against rebel groups, including the BLF, which are accused of targeting non-Baloch citizens as part of their rebellion.

Baloch denied BLF killed civilians, but said his group did go after "traitors".

Asked if he would be open to negotiations with the Pakistani state, the rebel chief was clear: there would be no dialogue with what he considered "the biggest terrorist country". "There will be no negotiations with Pakistan without national independence and without the presence of the United Nations," he said. "Our destination is independence." — Reuters