Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry has summoned the US Charge d’Affairs today to express “serious concern” over last week’s House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight hearing on Balochistan, warning that they amount to a unacceptable level of US meddling in internal Pakistani affairs.
The hearing, headed by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R – CA) focused on questions of human rights abuses in Pakistan’s largest province, but also brought renewed attention to calls by Rep. Rohrabacher and Rep. Louie Gohmert (R – TX) for the US to impose independence on Balochistan.
Gohmert has been the primary backer of this proposal recently, insisting that carving Pakistan virtually in half would help the US in its decade-long occupation of Afghanistan, and predicting that an independent Balochistan would be a better ally for the US than Pakistan is.
The interest in this seems to be at least in part fueled by Pakistan’s closure of NATO supply routes through their nation. Two primary routes exist, one through the Khyber Pass and one through Balochistan’s capital city of Quetta.
Khan Abdul Gafakhan, Frontier Gandhi, wanted an independent Baluchistan to start with in 1947. He couldn't get it while alive. Punjabi generals didn't let it happen. They made Blachistanis, Sindhis, and East Bengalis second class citizens. East Bengal seperated as a result. Baluchis and Sindhis must follow Bengalis.