QUETTA, July 15: Leader of the Opposition in Balochistan Assembly Kachkol Ali Baloch has called upon India to ensure that the province was represented in the tripartite dialogue between Pakistan, Iran and India on a gas pipeline project. Representation at such a forum would allow Balochistan to stake its claim to gas royalty, according to Mr Kachkol.

“If Pakistan can ask India to include Kashmiri leaders in the negotiations on the Kashmir issue, then why cannot the Baloch have representation in the tripartite meeting on the gas pipeline?” the opposition leader asked during a press conference in the assembly secretariat on Thursday.

Mr Kachkol insisted that the Baloch people must be allowed to participate in any agreement on passing the gas pipeline through Balochistan from Iran to India.

Mr Kachkol warned the tripartite states that the Baloch people would not permit them to make the pipeline project viable if the Baloch leadership was not taken into confidence. “The tripartite states should invite the present provincial government to represent Balochistan,” he said.

He said that the Afghans had taken a courageous stand on the gas/oil pipeline issue with international companies and maintained that the Baloch people should also express unity like the Afghans to protect their motherland.

Pointing out that Pakistan was a “multi-national state comprising four nationalities that have different cultures, languages and history,” Mr Kachkol said that in a true federation, all federating units had control over their resources.

The opposition leader said that the federal government had always committed excesses against the Baloch people and alleged that it had looted the resources of the province through use of military force. According to him, the Baloch people had been deprived of political and constitutional rights.