The American Friends of Balochistan (AFB) asked with the ambassador of Afghanistan to the United States and urged Kabul to take the issue of Durand Line to the International Court of Justice.
December 17, 2006 (Press Release) --
For immediate release Contact: Robert Selle
301-809-1965
WASHINGTON, D.C., Dec. 15 -- The leadership of the newly formed American Friends of Balochistan (AFB) met with the ambassador of Afghanistan to the United States yesterday and urged Kabul to take the unsettled Afghan-Pakistani border issue to the International Court of Justice to achieve lasting peace in the region.
AFB President Robert Selle, who was accompanied by the group’s secretary, Ahmar Mustikhan, and board member Nabi Baloch, told Ambassador Said T. Jawad that there is a connection between human rights atrocities committed in Balochistan and the mounting incidence of terror attacks in Afghanistan.
The Afghan ambassador expressed concern that Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, has emerged as the epicenter of terror attacks on Afghanistan.
“Since last fall, coupled with the killing of [prominent Baloch leader] Nawab Bugti, the attacks on Afghan forces and allied NATO and U.S. forces have increased inside Afghanistan, and we believe there is a strong nexus between the assassination and the attacks, in that Pakistan Military Intelligence and Inter Services Intelligence agencies are behind both,” the AFB said in its letter to Jawad, a copy of which has been sent to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Jawad promised to immediately convey the AFB concerns and request to Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
“No doubt, the Baloch and Afghan peoples are tied with one another not only by historic but also blood ties,” the AFB told Jawad.
Pakistan’s Heavy Hand
Selle said he wanted to bring to the attention of the Afghan government Balochistan’s long trail of blood and tears, which has worsened since the August 26 assassination of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, former governor and chief minister of Balochistan.
“After the assassination of Nawab Bugti, the Baloch, as a people, have lost trust in Pakistan, though they never in their hearts accepted the forceful annexation of their homeland by Pakistan in March 1948, seven months after Pakistan was carved out of India by the British,” the AFB letter to the Aghan government said.
The AFB said it was of the considered view that Pakistan had never been a natural geopolitical entity, as was evidenced by the creation of Bangladesh in December 1971.
The U.S-Baloch group said many of the geostrategic challenges that face the Afghan nation and people today stem from the artificially drawn Durand Line currently dividing Afghanistan and Pakistan that, according to many authorities, lapsed in 1993 after 100 years. The Pashtun territories in Pakistan, the AFB said, then should have reverted to Afghanistan.
301-809-1965
WASHINGTON, D.C., Dec. 15 -- The leadership of the newly formed American Friends of Balochistan (AFB) met with the ambassador of Afghanistan to the United States yesterday and urged Kabul to take the unsettled Afghan-Pakistani border issue to the International Court of Justice to achieve lasting peace in the region.
AFB President Robert Selle, who was accompanied by the group’s secretary, Ahmar Mustikhan, and board member Nabi Baloch, told Ambassador Said T. Jawad that there is a connection between human rights atrocities committed in Balochistan and the mounting incidence of terror attacks in Afghanistan.
The Afghan ambassador expressed concern that Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, has emerged as the epicenter of terror attacks on Afghanistan.
“Since last fall, coupled with the killing of [prominent Baloch leader] Nawab Bugti, the attacks on Afghan forces and allied NATO and U.S. forces have increased inside Afghanistan, and we believe there is a strong nexus between the assassination and the attacks, in that Pakistan Military Intelligence and Inter Services Intelligence agencies are behind both,” the AFB said in its letter to Jawad, a copy of which has been sent to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Jawad promised to immediately convey the AFB concerns and request to Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
“No doubt, the Baloch and Afghan peoples are tied with one another not only by historic but also blood ties,” the AFB told Jawad.
Pakistan’s Heavy Hand
Selle said he wanted to bring to the attention of the Afghan government Balochistan’s long trail of blood and tears, which has worsened since the August 26 assassination of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, former governor and chief minister of Balochistan.
“After the assassination of Nawab Bugti, the Baloch, as a people, have lost trust in Pakistan, though they never in their hearts accepted the forceful annexation of their homeland by Pakistan in March 1948, seven months after Pakistan was carved out of India by the British,” the AFB letter to the Aghan government said.
The AFB said it was of the considered view that Pakistan had never been a natural geopolitical entity, as was evidenced by the creation of Bangladesh in December 1971.
The U.S-Baloch group said many of the geostrategic challenges that face the Afghan nation and people today stem from the artificially drawn Durand Line currently dividing Afghanistan and Pakistan that, according to many authorities, lapsed in 1993 after 100 years. The Pashtun territories in Pakistan, the AFB said, then should have reverted to Afghanistan.
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