WASHINGTON, Feb 7: A Republican congressman has urged President George W. Bush to raise the issue of Balochistan with President Pervez Musharraf when he visits Pakistan next month.

“It is my understanding that President Bush will be travelling to Pakistan in March,” says Congressman Thomas Tancredo in a letter sent to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. “Please urge him to raise this issue with President Musharraf so this dispute may come to a conclusion and further losses of life may be prevented.”

Acknowledging that Pakistan has been a steadfast US ally in the war on terror, Mr Tancredo claims that the “operations in Balochistan divert important military resources that could be used to hunt Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups.”

The congressman alleges that recently security forces mounted an “all-out assault” in the Kohlu and Dera Bugti districts using “helicopters, fighter aircraft and other sophisticated weapons”.

He noted that the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan had also expressed “serious alarm over the rapidly deteriorating situation” in and around Dera Bugti and had demanded that all “armed conflict in that area cease immediately and a process of negotiations begin”.

Quoting the commission’s report, Congressman Tancredo said the area has been effectively sealed off and most of the inhabitants have left.

He said the government’s strategy of using force to curb citizens’ demand for their rights “has not and will not work”. Only a dialogue between the Baloch people and the federal government can resolve this issue “once and for all” and without this dialogue “there will be no end to the bloodshed,” he added.

Meanwhile, dozens of expatriate Pakistanis protested outside their embassy in Washington on Monday afternoon accusing the government of gross human rights violations in Balochistan.

The protest comes a day after 21 more people were killed in the latest round of violence in the region and the protesters, led by leaders of the World Sindhi Institute, demanded an immediate halt to military operations in the province.

The group said it had received evidence showing that these operations had caused deaths and injuries among civilians, forcing people to leave their homes.

Humaira Rahman, director of the World Sindhi Institute, said the international community should use its influence to end human rights violations in Balochistan.

“The Baloch people are simply asking for their fundamental human rights and control of their resources,” Ms Rahman said. “But instead they are being subjected to military operations and raids by security forces.”

She demanded an independent investigation into alleged human rights abuses in Balochistan.