Baloch pro-independence leader Hyrbyair Marri on Friday condemned Pakistan’s recent attacks on Afghanistan, criticising Islamabad for questioning Afghanistan’s retaliatory actions.
He highlighted historical grievances, including alleged extrajudicial killings of Baloch and Pashtun people, and reaffirmed the Baloch community’s longstanding support for Afghanistan while condemning the aggression.
Marri stated that when the Afghans retaliate to such actions, they are questioned over “what kind of Muslims” would attack fellow Muslims in the month of Ramadan.
The remarks came after the Afghan Ministry of National Defence on Friday said that Afghan forces launched retaliatory strikes along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, killing at least 55 Pakistani soldiers and capturing two bases along with 19 posts.
Marri stated that Pakistan appears to have forgotten its own actions on the fifth day of Ramadan, February 22, when it carried out strikes inside Afghanistan.
The Baloch leader claimed that some Pakistani scholars and politicMedia question the faith of Afghans, asserting that they are not even Muslims. He added that they overlook one historical fact about who converted the people in Pakistan’s Punjab province to Islam.
“Punjab, the land that has served every invader over the past eight hundred years, welcomed them with flowers and has been instrumental and had played a crucial role in helping the invaders conquer nations in the Subcontinent and South Central Asia. Now they claim to be the defenders of Islam, but what about the tens of thousands of Baloch and Pashtun extrajudicial murders by the same pious Pakistani-Punjabi army?” Marri posted on X.
The Baloch leader highlighted that following the Afghan Foreign Minister’s official visit to India, Kabul was labelled as a proxy of India by Pakistan.
“Even this one little visit cannot be digested by the Pakistani elite, as they think Afghanistan is their backyard and they have the sole right to make decisions for the Afghan people. Reality check: Afghanistan is an independent state and it can have relations with any state it chooses,” he stated.
Marri alleged that “Pakistan has been going around all over the world for the past eight decades, with their begging bowl, and serving its foreign masters’ interests, whilst still claiming to be the only defender of the Muslim world and proxy to none. It’s rich coming from a nation called Pakistan, a world-renowned international beggar.”
Expressing solidarity with Afghanistan, he said, “because we have been all-season friends for centuries and have defended each other. Nothing has changed. We condemn the Pakistani aggression against the Afghan people.”
