US Congressman denies CIA behind Balochistan resolution

US House Foreign Affairs Committee member Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), who launched a Congressional resolution calling for self-determination for Balochistan, has denied that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was behind the resolution.
“The purpose of the resolution was to create a much-needed dialogue about Pakistan and Balochistan, and that’s what it’s done, so that’s very nice,” he said in an interview with “The Cable”.
“It’s important to get over that phase where people are going ballistic and start getting serious discussion about an issue that’s been ignored but shouldn’t be ignored.”
According to the US magazine interview, Rohrabacher said the Balochistan issue and the human rights violations there have been ignored in Washington out of a fear of offending the Pakistani establishment, but that strategy isn’t working.
“It’s one of those issues that’s been ignored as to not upset the Pakistanis because they are fragile friends,” he said. “Well, they’re not fragile friends, they are hard-core, two-faced enemies of the United States.”
In fact, the discovery that Osama bin Laden was hiding for years in the Pakistani military town of Abbottabad was direct motivation for his Balochistan initiative, he said during the interview.
“What made me really determined to get involved to the point where I was willing to author resolutions like this was when Osama bin Laden was discovered in an area which made it clear that Pakistanis had for eight years taken billions in U.S. foreign aid while giving safe haven to the monster that slaughtered 3,000 Americans on 9/11,” he said. “At that point I felt, no more walking on egg shells around Pakistan.”
“I can see why the prime minister of Pakistan wouldn’t fully understand why people in various countries — especially elected officials — are free to comment on any policies they see fit in any country they see fit,” Rohrabacher said. “That’s what freedom is all about, but perhaps that’s why they don’t understand it.”
To a question, Rohrabacher denied he introduced the resolution on the behest of CIA to pressurize Pakistan.
“Anyone who believes that is totally out of touch with reality,” Rohrabacher responded. “I’ve had no discussions with anyone in the CIA about this whatsoever and my guess is that if I did, they would be doing somersaults trying to prevent me from doing this.”
In fact, he didn’t even bother to confer with the Obama administration about the resolution at all, he said, and has not heard from any administration officials.
“It was my resolution and not theirs,” he said of the administration. “Unlike our friends in Pakistan, they understand that in a democracy people elected to the legislative branch have the right to propose any legislation they want. I can see why the Pakistani government wouldn’t understand that.”
Rohrabacher compared the struggle of the people of Balochistan to the struggle of the American colonies against the British Empire. “Like in the United States, where we gave a declaration of independence, we have a right to a country separate from Great Britain. That’s what self-determination is,” he said.
Beyond Balochistan, Rohrabacher’s top priority is preventing Pakistan from influencing the Afghanistan reconciliation talks to the benefit of the Taliban. He promises to fight giving US aid to Pakistan if that’s the case.
“The most important thing now is not to permit Pakistan to think they can do anything they want and there will never be any repercussions and they can side with any enemy of the West and still think we’re going to pour money into their pockets,” he said. “That ain’t gonna happen.”