ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has finally decided to send a formal reference to Inter­pol, asking it to issue red notices against fugitive Baloch separatist leader Brahamdagh Bugti.

The interior ministry on Tuesday approved a request from the Federal Investi­gation Agency (FIA), seeking official permission to communicate with Interpol on the matter.

Bugti heads the Baloch Republican Army (BRA), a designated terrorist outfit suspected of involvement in various terrorist attacks.

In an official communication, sent by the interior ministry to the FIA director, a copy of which is available with Dawn, the agency has been directed to establish immediate contact with the Interpol secretariat in Lyon, France.

Approval has also been given for the issuance of red notices against Bugti as well as Sher Mohammad alias Shera of the BRA for his involvement in terrorist attacks in Balochistan.

On Sept 23 last year, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan announced the decision to send a reference against Bugti to Interpol, but this decision could not be implemented. Meanwhile, Bugti decided to seek asylum in India after Switzerland rejected his plea for refuge.

“The FIA will send a formal reference to Interpol within the next few days for the extradition of Brahamdagh Bugti,” Nisar had told reporters at the time.

He had said that with his application for asylum in India, the nexus between the BRA and New Delhi “stands proven”, linking Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s controversial statement about Balochistan with its support for the wanted man.

Chaudhry Nisar’s statement came a day after India’s home ministry said it was examining Bugti’s application for political asylum. “We have received Bugti’s application for political asylum and it is under examination,” the Indian government had said.

“Their (Indians’) feelings about Brahamdagh Bugti and their invitation to him unmistakably establish who is behind terrorism [in Balochistan],” the interior minister had said.

Bugti had fled to Afghanistan after his grandfather Nawab Akbar Bugti was killed in a military operation in Kohlu in 2006 under the Musharraf regime. Later, he flew to Switzerland via India to seek asylum there. He is accused of leading the proscribed separatist BRA, which is blamed for militant violence in Balochistan.

He said in September 2016 that Pakistan was trying to exert international pressure against him by issuing red notices for his arrest. He had also sought India’s intervention to ensure safety for himself and his companions.

Published in Dawn, March 1st, 2017