Appreciate PM Modi's take on Balochistan: Hamid Karzai

NEW DELHI: Welcoming Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s supportive words on the Balochistan, former Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai has said that the people of the region have suffered greatly and will not be a ‘plaything forever’.

While dismissing fears that India’s newly-articulated support for the Baloch cause would trigger a proxy war in the region, Karzai said that the Pakistani establishment needed to see the gravity of the situation that has led to large-scale violence and mass killings.

“People in the region have been suffering immensely from violence, from the promotion of extremism and especially from violation of rights. And the PM’s remarks on allowing the people of Baluchistan to enjoy a violence-free life and aspire for their own development is something we appreciate and welcome,” Karzai said in response to a question from ET.

The former president, who is in India for a few days for meeting with the top leadership in New Delhi, said that the Baloch people were no longer willing to be used as cannon fodder. “It is very clear that our brothers in the Pakistani establishment need to see the gravity of the situation. They should know that this suffering cannot go on forever without people reacting to it, of trying to find a way out. They cannot be a plaything forever for the promotion of other objectives in the region,” he said. Describing the Baloch issue as one very close to Afghanistan too, Karzai said allowing people to have peace and human rights is an important matter to Kabul as well. On Kashmir, the former president expressed his confidence about India’s ability to handle the current cycle of violence, saying that New Delhi has and will be cautious in the use of force. “It (Kashmir) is clearly troubled by extremists, we know where it comes from, as we know where it comes from to Afghanistan as well.

India has been cautious and should remain so in the application of force,” Karzai said. The former president also welcomed more Indian military aid to Kabul, saying that `bold steps’ needed to be taken by New Delhi to support the Afghan armed forces.