BALOCH dissident leader Brahamdagh Bugti’s announcement that he would be applying for political asylum in India is indeed regrettable. He also spoke about filing charges against the army and China in the International Court of Justice with the ‘support of BD, Afghanistan and India’.

Filing charges in the ICJ against China with the support of Bangladesh and Afghanistan, both of which have known close ties with China is impractical and thus a non-starter.

On the other hand, if India accepts Brahamdagh’s application to grant him asylum, it would not be the first time that India had committed a historical blunder.

India allowed the Dalai Lama, a known critic of China, to seek in 1959 political asylum in India, which visibly annoyed Chairman Mao Zedong and was a significant contributor in antagonising China.

With Pakistan-India relations already very tense, all sane elements in South Asia can only wish that the Indian leadership shows sanity, and reflects maturity and neighbourly sensitivity. These two nuclear powers can ill-afford to do rattle-sabering. Reaching out to each other would be welcomed by the people of Pakistan and India and peace-loving people around the globe.

Shahid M. G. Kiani

Islamabad

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REFERENCE Zahid Hussain’s article ‘From covert to covert’ (Sept 21). The writer has focused on two topics: one, Brahamdagh’s decision to seek refuge in Indiaa and, two, Modi’s speech on India’s independence day.

In Brahamdagh’s case, the writer seems presume as if the Baloch leader represents the whole of Balochistan, while this is not the case.

Brahamdagh represents only a small faction or a small off-shoot of the Bugti tribe.There are other factions of the Bugti tribe, which had not recognised even Akbar Bugti and after him, Brahamdagh, as their sardar.

There are many other Baloch tribes like Mengals, Zehris, Lahri, Bizenjos, Kansi, Magsis and a large portion of Bugti tribe’s factions which have rejected secession and want autonomy with the Pakistan federation. It is true that their demands relating to the royalties and allocations of federal resources have not been addressed, but these are the issues which could be discussed. After the Indian independence day address by Narendra Modi, India has opened up its covert support to Brahamdagh. Mr Modi has emerged as the pro-America leader in Indian politics. He heads a group which supports ‘Greater West Asia’.

This idea of redrawing the map of Greater Middle East was put forward by Ralph Peters in the US ‘Armed Forces Journal’.

If this Indian group hopes to create ‘Greater West Asia’, then there are very strong possibilities of the creation of the ‘Greater East Asia’.

It’s common knowledge that freedom movements and insurgencies are going on in the eastern states of Assam, Mizoram and Nagaland, and Marxist militant group United Liberation Front of Assam has been quite active since 1947.

These states can combine to form ‘Greater East Asia’. So, we can be sure enough that ‘all doors are not closed’, rather many doors are still open, and these matters of gas royalties or federal resource allocations are ones which could be discussed and resolved amicably.

Abid Mahmud Ansari

Islamabad

Published in Dawn September 24th, 2016