UPA govt spoke out on Balochistan first: Congress

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not the first to raise concern over the situation in Balochistan, the Congress said on Tuesday, insisting that the party-led UPA government had consistently spoken about the “spiralling violence” and “heavy Pakistani military action” in the Pakistan province.

“The Congress and the UPA government have condemned human rights violations in Balochistan as also in PoK by Pakistani forces and establishment on multiple occasions in the past,” party’s chief spokesman Randeep Surjewala said, noting that the first time the UPA did so was on December 27, 2005.

Besides, he said, the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in reply to a parliamentary question on March, 2, 2006, categorically condemned the spiralling violence in Balochistan and heavy military action, including use of helicopter gunships and fighter jets by the government of Pakistan to suppress the people of Balochistan.