India does well to raise PoK, Balochistan at UN
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was questioned by sceptics when he raised the issue of human rights violations in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and Balochistan, during his Independence Day speech.They said it was an attempt to divert public attention from the Government's ‘failure' to contain the unrest in Kashmir; a mere tit-for-tat for Pakistan's constant needling of India; and that it would damage India's case internationally on Kashmir. In short, they claimed Prime Minister Modi was paying lip service to the cause of Balochistan and PoK. This has turned out to be misplaced criticism. The Government of India has taken the next step in what is a clearly-defined strategy to invoke the plight of the people of the two regions, by raising the matter at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
By telling the Council that Pakistan was using state power to suppress the aspirations of people (in Balochistan and PoK), India envoy Ajit Kumar has shown the mirror to Islamabad. He blunted the constant refrain from Pakistan over alleged human rights violations by Indian security forces in Jammu & Kashmir, by remarking, “It will be in the fitness of things if Pakistan focuses its energies on improving the human rights situation within Pakistan and PoK.” We can reasonably be sure that this is just the beginning. India appears determined, and rightly so, to up the ante and name and shame Pakistan in future on these twin issues, at every possible global forum.
It is on firm ground here, since the people of PoK and Balochistan have openly rebelled against Islamabad's authoritarianism. There is no comparison between the developments in J&K and in Balochistan and PoK. Jammu & Kashmir has a democratically elected Government through a fair and transparent process which has been acknowledged the world over. It has a robust mechanism to tackle grievances of the people. There is no such system prevalent in Balochistan and PoK. Residents of PoK recently took to the streets to protest against rigged elections, while those in Balochistan have never been truly integrated in the Pakistani mainstream.
This strategy should have been shaped and implemented years ago. The previous Congress-led UPA Government was too meek to adopt such a bold deviation from a well-trodden path that had led us nowhere. Countering Pakistan's offensive by throwing at it the atrocities it has been committing in PoK and Balochistan, was considered risky. Conventional wisdom was that it would strengthen Pakistan's case vis-à-vis J&K and that it would make matters worse for New Delhi. But what worse can Pakistan do nowIJ Since partition, it has tried to snatch the region away through conventional wars and by other methods such as infiltrating India with state-sponsored militants.
In all these decades, India never raised the Balochistan issue with Islamabad, nor did it bring it up on international platforms. And yet, Pakistan has repeatedly accused New Delhi, without providing evidence, of Indian involvement in the Baloch unrest. India, therefore, had nothing to lose and everything to gain by pinning Pakistan on the matter. Now, it must favourably consider requests for asylum from credible Baloch leaders.