‘We are no longer alone’: Rebel Baloch leader thanks India for support

Rebel leader Mazdak Dilshad Baloch on Saturday thanked India for its support to the Baloch cause, saying it meant that they were “no longer alone”.

Rebel leader Mazdak Dilshad Baloch on Saturday thanked India for its support to the Baloch cause, saying it meant that they were “no longer alone”.

A Hindu Sena member stages a protest to support Balochistan at Jantar-Mantar in New Delhi. (Ravi Choudhary/HT File Photo)

Participating in a seminar on ‘Baloch Nationality’ at the RSS-backed India Policy Foundation (IPF), he told the gathering, which included journalists, former diplomats and retired armed forces officers that theirs was “the strongest movement of Balochistan; it is a grass root movement run by Baloch people not by any Khan or tribal leader”.

Emphasising the importance of Indian support to Baloch movement, he said: “You do not know how alone we were. But now, we are not alone.”

Citing the atrocities meted out to Baloch people by the Pakistani establishment, he said that there is no home in Balochistan that has not sacrificed its member.

“Pakistan army beats our children in school and makes them sing the national anthem of Pakistan. I have lived in Pakistan and I can say that the people of Pakistan are no different from Pakistan army.”

On the future governance of Balochistan, he said, “We believe in democracy, our traditional tribal system was closer to democracy. Even during the time of the Khan (of Kalat), we had a two house parliament. Future Balochistan will be a democracy.”

IPF also released a booklet titled “Balochistan - What the world needs to know” edited by Prof Geeta Bhatt of Delhi University.