Trump: A Baloch leader calls on to support the cause of Balochistan’s independence
Trump: Drawing stark comparisons between Pakistan’s military establishment and Venezuela’s previous government, a prominent Baloch leader living in the United States has encouraged President Donald Trump to provide the people of Balochistan with the same assistance he provided to the Venezuelan people against tyranny.
The president of the Baloch American Congress, Dr. Tara Chand, wrote on X that President Trump should “likewise support the people of Balochistan in their struggle for freedom” since he “recently stood with the people of Venezuela against dictatorship.”
Chand said that Pakistan’s Army Chief Asim Munir is “selling and mortgaging Balochistan’s vast natural and coastal resources to China and to the world,” in the same way that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro “handed over his nation’s natural resources to China and allowed them to be looted.”
He charged Munir of being a “double agent,” alleging that Balochistan’s riches are being utilized as “bait to mislead the United States” while also being pulled toward China. Chand compared the latest US move against Maduro to President Trump’s request for “firm action” against the head of the Pakistani army.
Chand also compared the Venezuelan government to the Pakistani military in his piece, claiming that both were involved in human rights violations, drug trafficking, arms smuggling, and regional instability. He said that Pakistan’s military poses a danger to international peace by exporting “radical Islamic extremism beyond their borders.”
Chand brought up earlier disputes, citing the finding of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan and claiming that the Pakistani military had given him sanctuary while still receiving funding from the US.
Chand further said that everyday enforced disappearances and deaths brought about by security operations in Balochistan are “crimes against humanity.” General Munir “must be held accountable and arrested, just as dictators elsewhere have been pursued for their crimes,” he said.
According to Chand, “the people of Balochistan deserve freedom, justice, and the right to govern their own land and future.”
A registered political organization, the Baloch American Congress is headquartered in Washington and advocates for the Baloch national struggle for self-determination as well as the defense of the sociocultural and political rights of the Baloch diaspora in the United States. Its president, Chand, served as a cabinet minister in the Balochistani administration.
The comments coincide with increased international focus on resource management, human rights, and US policy toward authoritarian governments in the wake of recent events in Venezuela.