See the latest opinion pieces on our page
“The day Pakistan became an atomic power, it became a threat to world’s safety,” he said.Marri has also announced plans for a month-long campaign against Pakistan’s nuclear arms beginning April 19.Two years ago, Oren Kessler in an article in The Tower cited another exiled Baloch leader, Khan Suleman Daud, as saying it was in the mutual interests of Israel and Balochistan to join forces.“The world has interests – yours is that Iran shouldn’t be nuclear, and also that Pakistan be weak. I have my interests – independence,” Daud, who lives in exile in Cardiff, Wales, told Kessler. He said the Baloch are the region’s only secular people and are disgusted by the political ideologies of the Islamic republics of Pakistan and Iran, adding, “I’d love to come to Tel Aviv someday – hopefully soon.”Though there is no tangible evidence of Israeli support, Pakistani intelligence believes Israel, along with India and the US, desires to seize Gwadar port and dismantle the nuclear assets of Pakistan, which are growing at a rapid rate and which experts say could equal those of the UK by 2020.In contrast to newfound Baloch sympathy with the State of Israel, the religious Right in Pakistan is in the habit of seeing a Zionist conspiracy behind the nuclear-armed but failing state’s many woes. For instance, when the Saudis attacked Houthi rebels last month in Yemen, not only Shi’ites but also the Wahabi supporters of Saudi Arabia were blaming Zionists of Israel in statements and street protests. Pakistan is one of the most anti-Semitic Muslim nations on the face of earth, where children as young as five years old are taught Jews are enemies of Muslims. It’s worth mentioning here that when Pakistan conducted its nuclear tests in May 1998 in Chagai district, Balochistan, Pakistan’s Islamists took to the streets in major cities like Karachi, commercial capital of the country, to rejoice, and had replicas of nuclear missiles with names of three countries on them. Israel was one of them; India and the United States were the other two.Ahmar Mustikhan is a senior Balochistan journalist who now lives in the Washington, DC, area.