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“India backing Baloch insurgency”

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has accused India of backing a Baloch nationalist leader linked to a militant group in Balochistan province.

Rahman Malik, a confidante of Pakistan people’s Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari who functions as Interior Minister, told Aaj television channel that India was supporting Bramdagh Bugti, a Baloch nationalist leader, in “his terrorist activities”, and that the evidence for this would soon be available.

Mr. Bugti is a grandson of the late Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, who was killed by security forces in 2006. He recently announced the formation of the Balochistan Republican Party, and said it would support the Balochistan Liberation Army, a shadowy militant group that is blamed for and has also taken responsibility for several attacks in an ongoing low-level insurgency in the province.

Earlier this week, he was quoted saying he would accept assistance from India, Afghanistan or Iran to defend the Baloch nationalist cause.

Mr. Malik also repeated the accusation that Indian consulates in Afghanistan on its borders with Pakistan were assisting the insurgency in Balochistan.

Mr. Malik’s accusation came as Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani reached out to New Delhi amid a downturn in bilateral ties following the attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul, blamed by the Indian government on the ISI.

In a move apparently aimed at cooling down temperatures after India’s warning of a “strain” in ties, Mr. Gilani telephoned Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday to congratulate him on winning the vote of confidence earlier this week.

The leaders talked about the peace process, which Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon said earlier this week was “under strain”, with India in possession of evidence to show that “elements” in Pakistan were behind the Kabul bombing. Earlier, National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan directly blamed the ISI for the attack.

According to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office here, Mr. Gilani told Dr. Singh that Pakistan attaches “immense importance” to relations with India, and said the “unrest in the region” required “more co-operation” to combat terrorism and extremism as both countries were victims of the menace.

Mr. Gilani said a stable Afghanistan was in the safe interest of all countries of the region.He was looking forward to meeting Dr. Singh in Colombo at the SAARC summit, Mr. Gilani said, and also flagged the importance of a meeting of the Foreign Ministers there.

According to the statement, Dr. Singh assured Mr. Gilani that “all outstanding issues including the issue of Kashmir between India and Pakistan will be resolved amicably”.

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