The United States Committee on Foreign Affairs convened a congressional meeting on Thursday for an exclusive discussion on the situation in Balochistan. The Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, chaired by Representative Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) held a session to discuss the targeted killings and human rights violations in Balochistan and termed it a matter requiring urgent attention. He also co-authored an article a few days ago favouring an independent Balochistan.
In his opening remarks, Rohrabacher said Balochistan was a turbulent land marred by human rights violations “by regimes that are against US values”. He said human rights violations were also there in Balochistan, even though the province had vital strategic importance. Human Rights Watch (HRW) Pakistan Director Ali Dayan Hasan said in his submitted remarks that cases documented by the HRW showed Pakistan’s security forces and its intelligence agencies were involved in the enforced disappearances of ethnic Balochs. He asked the US government in his recommendations to “communicate directly to the agencies responsible for disappearances and other abuses, to demand an end to abuses and facilitate criminal enquiries to hold perpetrators accountable”. He clarified that the HRW took no position on the issue of the independence of Balochistan.
He argued that the US and UK had made enforced disappearances possible by allowing them during the war on terror, which had led to the military doing the same. The hearing, which lasted a little over an hour, came to an end as congressmen decided to go to the floor for a vote. In his closing remarks, Rep Rohrabacher declared that the hearing was no stunt, and that they wanted to start a national dialogue on what US policy should be in that part of the world.
Addressing a news briefing here later, US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said America did not support an independent Balochistan. Nuland confirmed the meeting on Balochistan but said the US position on Balochistan had not changed, adding that her country encouraged all the factions involved in the province to tackle all their differences peacefully and under the political process.