Baloch elders have rejected Pakistan's claims that Indian spy agencies are fomenting trouble in Balochistan Province.

This issue had also figured in the India-Pakistan joint declaration issued by the prime ministers of India and Pakistan at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt during the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) meeting two months ago.

Wahid Baloch, the head of the Baloch Society of North America, recently called Islamabad's allegations that India is meddling in Balochistan Province totally baseless.

“Well, if India had helped Baloch people, then Baloch people would not be suffering… In fact these allegations are baseless.”

He said the Baloch people are suffering at the hands of the Pakistani government and military.

“Pakistan should come out to tell the world what they have done and are doing to the Baloch people instead of pointing a finger at their neighbors and others,” Wahid added.

He also accused Pakistani forces, and especially Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), of gross violations of human rights in the region.

“We have been victims of state intelligence for the last 60 years, which has not reduced or abated, but is still going on.”

To prove his claim, he said that Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and even the Pakistan Human Rights Commission say Islamabad has committed serious human rights abuses in the country's largest and yet poorest province of Balochistan.

FTP/HGL