QUETTA: … The Foreign Minister of Kalat is understood to have sent the following telegram to the Pakistan Foreign Affairs Dep­art­ment today [March 20]. … The telegram sta­tes: “The attention of the Kalat Gove­rn­ment has been drawn to a Radio Pakistan anno­u­n­cement that the Pakistan Govern­m­ent has ac­­cepted the accession of Kalat’s two feudatories, Las Bela and Kharan, and the district of Makran. The Kalat Government request that this report be immediately and publicly denied. The action reported by the Radio would be contrary to the Standstill Ag­ree­ment concluded last July and recently reaffirmed in the British House of Commons… .”

[A Press note] issued in Karachi … by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Pakistan [states]: “… the Government of Pakistan would like to state the real facts about these accessions. It is incorrect that the Government of Pakistan was bent upon taking some precipitate or unilateral action. The fact is that the Rulers of Kharan, Makran and Las Bela have been negotiating with the Government of Pakistan the question of their accession for many months… .” — News agencies

Published in Dawn, March 21st, 2023