Bill In Us House On Right To Self Determination For Balochistan Govt Red With Rage

KARACHI/ISLAMABAD: The government on Saturday condemned a US House of Representatives’ resolution seeking “right to self-determination for Balochistan” as an attack on Pakistan’s sovereignty.

“We condemn it [the resolution] as it is against our sovereignty,” Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani told reporters at Karachi Port Trust.
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar also took a strong exception to the bill. She said in a statement that although it was an isolated move by a few individuals, it was contrary to the principles of the UN Charter and international law. “Such an unfriendly and irresponsible attempt by a few individuals in Washington was aimed at creating distrust between the peoples of the two countries.”

She said the bill was also against the very fundamentals of the long-standing Pak-US relations. The foreign minister said she hoped that this tendentious move would not be allowed to sail through by a vast majority of US Congressmen. The Foreign Office termed the resolution “highly irresponsible” and against international laws.

Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said in a statement that the bill was based on poor information and ignorance. He expressed the belief that the US Congress would not pass the bill. Information Minister Firdaus Ashiq Awan said the bill was an interference in internal affairs of Pakistan. “We were expecting such stunts in the wake of trilateral summit of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran, as the three neighbouring Muslim countries have resolved to revive and promote their cultural, social, economic and trade relations,” she told reporters in Lahore.

Ambassador to the United States Sherry Rehman said Pakistan’s viewpoint on the resolution had been conveyed to the US State Department.

Talking to a private television channel, “We have apprised the US State Department that the resolution on Balochistan would take the bilateral relations of both the countries in a different direction.” Sherry Rehman said that any attempt on the territorial integrity of Pakistan could not be tolerated. Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani said that self-styled champions of human rights did not remember the commitments made to the Palestinian and Kashmiri people for their right to self-determination. In a handout, he said the Americans were not interested in the problem of Baloch and seeking “right to self-determination” for Balochistan because they wanted to pressure Pakistan and enforce their influence in this region. The Pakistani embassy in Washington also rejected the bill as an “ill-informed and unacceptable” move. Pakistan’s Permanent Representative in the United Nations Abdullah Hussain Haroon said the resolution was a “severe violations” of the UN Charter. staff report/app