Given the resistance of the Pakistan Army and the ISI, the US ambassador advised the UNHCR, despite initially agreeing to the idea, to not pursue Brahmdagh Bugti’s asylum in Ireland, said one of the cables of the US embassy, according to WikiLeaks.
According to details of the cable sent by the US embassy on December 18, 2009, then US ambassador to Pakistan Anne Patterson said a person (whose name was obliterated in the WikiLeaks for security reasons), designated by UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres, met with the US ambassador and the deputy chief of mission on December 13 and sought US help for Bugti’s asylum in Ireland.
“At the request of the UNHCR, the ambassador agreed to engage President Asif Zardari and have the embassy follow up with the ISI to ensure that the government of Pakistan would not act against such a transfer or negatively respond to the UNHCR’s potential involvement. In a subsequent conversation, however, ISI DG Pasha registered to COS the Pakistan military’s opposition to allowing Bugti to obtain refugee status. While getting Bugti out of Afghanistan is still a good idea, we do not believe the UNHCR should be involved,” the cable said.
The cable also added that though the UNHCR was yet to verify Ireland’s willingness to receive Bugti or to make a determination as to whether Bugti was eligible for refugee status, the British government had previously refused to consider asylum for the Baloch leader.
According to the cable, the man who met the US ambassador was of the view that moving Bugti from Afghanistan and influence in Baloch insurgent activity in Pakistan would be in the Pakistani government’s interest, but High Commissioner Guterres was concerned that the UNHCR’s potential involvement in this transfer could have a negative impact on the agency’s humanitarian access, operations, and security in Pakistan.
The UNHCR was seeking assurances that the Pakistani government would not act against such a transfer or penalise the UNHCR’s potential involvement in it, the cable added. The man designated by the UNHCR also told the ambassador all UNHCR’s interaction with Baloch leaders had been carefully monitored by Pakistani intelligence.
She told the person that the US government would be supportive of moving Bugti out of the region but said the UNHCR would need to first confirm Ireland’s willingness to grant him asylum.
The US ambassador, as mentioned in the cable, cited subsequent conversation with Pasha who said Bugti should return to Pakistan to stand trial for his crimes.
Declaring that the decision belonged ultimately to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pasha made clear that the Pakistani military would not favour allowing Bugti to be accorded refugee status.
“It was also clear from Pasha’s comments that efforts on the part of the UN agencies to effect Bugti being provided with asylum in Europe would colour the military’s perception of those agencies and would affect their working relationships,” the US ambassador said, commenting that on the basis of Pasha’s remarks, “we are advising that it would be better for the UNHCR not to pursue this initiative with Bugti”.