The Washington-based Baloch American Congress (BAC) has urged the US government to ask Islamabad to free thousands of Baloch activists languishing in jails in the country. The BAC also thanked American lawmakers for seeking to designate Pakistan as a state sponsor of terrorism.
In a statement released on Tuesday, Dr Tara Chand, president of the BAC and a former provincial minister in Balochistan said: "The American lawmakers who have called for designating Pakistan as a state sponsor of terrorism and opposing the posting of Mansoor Khan as Pakistan’s new ambassador in Washington DC have done the right thing. For far too long, Pakistan army and Inter-Services Intelligence have befooled the US government".
Dr. Tara Chand(@drtchand) thanks @RepScottPerry for push to declare Pakistan as a state sponsor of terrorism. See attached statement.#PakistanSponsorsTertorism#FreeBalochPrisoners
Statement:https://t.co/CWKwaXVutI pic.twitter.com/MCygMHDuEj
— Baloch American Congress (@bacongress) March 15, 2022
Raking up the sensitive issue of enforced disappearances and kidnappings of the Baloch by Pakistan, he said: "Thousands of Baloch patriots have been forcibly disappeared and their families have been weeping and beating chests on the roads and streets across Pakistan, without any relief".
The BAC lauded the forts of American lawmakers, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, Greg Steube of Florida and Mary E Miller of Illinois who wanted Pakistan to be put on the list of State sponsors of terrorism alongside Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Syria.
Late last week, Republican Congressman Scott Perry had moved a bill–Stopping Pakistani Terror Act–in the House of Representatives demanding that Pakistan be designated as a State sponsor of terrorism. Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported that the bill has been referred to the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Perry pushed the bill just two days after he and two other American lawmakers, Gregory Steube and Mary E. Miller, had called for an investigation into allegations that Masood Khan–Pakistan’s ambassador to the US, had links with terror outfits. The three parliamentarians wrote to US Attorney General Merrick Garland, saying that ambassador Khan's close relationship with “domestic actors linked with the Pakistani regime remains a critical concern.”
The Congressmen have sought a probe into ambassador Khan’s alleged links with Kashmiri and Pakistani groups, says Dawn.
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The BAC also highlighted Pakistan's close relationship with international terror mastermind Osama bin Laden, who was found living next door to the Pakistan Military Academy in Abottabad. Tara Chand said the Pakistan military and ISI are carrying out war crimes and also crimes against humanity.
In his statement, he said: "Pakistan generals used to call US and NATO soldiers posted in Afghanistan as chocolate boys and a former deceased chief of the ISI, who was The Godfather of the Taliban had on record said the future historian will write that the ISI had defeated the US in Afghanistan with American dollars".
The BAC is a registered political organisation in the US, pushing for the right to self-determination in Balochistan and bringing together different Baloch factions. It is also working on securing the human rights of the Baloch community in Pakistan.
The Baloch diaspora in the US, the UK, Canada and Europe has been striving to internationalise the Baloch struggle for self-determination. Within Pakistan, Baloch armed organisations have stepped up attacks against Pakistani military which they see as an occupying force.
