Baloch, Sindh, Pakhtoon leaders seek India’s help against Pak army

While Balochistan has publicly asked for India’s help to fight Pakistan and gain freedom from it, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces’ leaders living abroad have also started speaking about Pakistan’s “atrocities” against their people, thus hinting towards an alliance among the three provinces against Pakistan, backed by India.

Umar Daud Khattak, a Pakhtoon born in Karak, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, has urged the Indian government to facilitate and support such an alliance to fight Pakistan and said, “For Sindhis, Pakhtoons and Balochs, the real Pakistan only constitutes of Punjabis. The residents of none of the provinces identify themselves as Pakistanis. With India’s support, the separatist leaders of these three provinces will willingly come together. India should help us leave Pakistan.”

On why India should help Pakhtoons, Khattak talked about the extent of geographical dominance that India can practise if it helps the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. “Pakhtoons want a free Pashtunistan, which would include FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas), Khyber Pankhtunkhwa (KP) and the part of KP which was earlier annexed by Pakistan. There are about 15 million Pakhtoons in FATA, who would willingly take on the Pakistan army any day, if India helps them. These Pakhtoons in FATA are united by their disgust for Pakistan because Pakistan made FATA its military backyard. Helping Pakhtoons to fight Pakistan in FATA can give India geographical advantage and impair Pakistan’s various extremist units’ operations,” Khattak said. Another major reason why India should help Pakhtoons, according to Khattak, is, “There are a significant number of Pakhtoons in the Pakistan army. If they know that India is supporting the liberation of KP from Pakistan, they will defect from the army. Pakistan’s mili-