Pakistani FM: US resolution on Balochistan could worsen ties

A US resolution on Balochistan could worsen ties between Washington and Islamabad, Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said. Khar, currently visiting the United Kingdom, said underlined that Balochistan was Pakistan''s internal matter and the province''s elected representatives would resolve its issues and not US Congressmen, Pakistan''s (Geo News) reported. Last Friday, Chairman of the Sub-Committee on Oversight and Investigations of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee Dana Rohrabacher introduced a House Concurrent Resolution, in support of the "right of self-determination of the Balochi people, for being victims of human rights violations and oppression despite being the largest province". Speaking at the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS), Khar condemned the US resolution on Balochistan, and said such acts of "foolhardy-global-vigilanteism" could aggravate Pakistan''s already estranged ties with US. "It would distance the two allies even further," Khar was qouted as saying. For his part, Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani on Saturday condemned the bill submitted to the US House of Representatives on Pakistan''s southwestern Balochsitan province and described the move as against the sovereignty of the nation. Gilani said that Balochistan issue is the internal issue of Pakistan and his government is trying its best to resolve the issue. Pakistan''s ambassador in Washington, Sherry Rehman, while reacting to the resolution on Balochistan in the US Congress said that such resolution was "provocative". The reaction, posted on the embassy website, stated that "the Pakistan envoy in Washington has taken serious notice of the resolution submitted by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher on Balochistan in the US House of Representative. We reject this ill-informed move and the Congressman''s misplaced concern on Balochistan, which is a part of the Pakistani federation". "Balochistan has a directly elected provincial assembly of its own and has due representation in the National Assembly and the Senate of Pakistan," the ambassador said, adding that the "resolution seeks to cast doubt on the territorial integrity of a member of the United Nations and a friend of the United States, and is totally unacceptable".