Pakistan very terrified since PM Modi taken up Baloch people's cause: UNHRC envoy

"Pakistan military and establishment are having chills running down their spine since PM Modi spoke about Balochistan," ANI quoted Mehran Marri as saying.

New Delhi: Pakistan is very scared since Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken up the cause of the Baloch people, said a community representative at the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC).

"Pakistan military and establishment are having chills running down their spine since PM Modi spoke about Balochistan. They have intensified military ops in Baloch areas in recent weeks," ANI quoted Mehran Marri as saying.

PM Modi had first raised the Balochistan issue in his Independence Day speech, when he highlighted the human rights abuses in Balochistan and Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) by the Pakistani military.

He described how the Pakistani forces attacked and abducted Baloch people, including women and children, as part of a fresh offensive to silence the voices of dissent.

"Myself and the Baloch nation are very grateful to India for raising the issue of Balochistan, especially on Aug 15 and then again as recent as two days ago at the UNHRC, so we are very optimistic," Marri said.

The Baloch people see India as being "very serious" about addressing the issue of Balochistan, he added.

"The US is well aware of the connivance and dirty games that Pakistan's agencies and its military play in Balochistan. We will request the US Govt to rethink their policy regarding Pakistan and take a step in the same direction as India and Afghanistan have taken," the Baloch leader said.

Earlier this week, India had raised the issue of Pakistan's human rights abuses in Balochistan at the UNHRC.

"Pakistan is characterized by authoritarianism, absence of democratic norms and widespread human rights violations across the country, including Balochistan," India said.

"It will be in the fitness of things if Pakistan focuses its energies on improving the human rights situation within Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir," Ajit Kumar, India's Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN, said in a statement at the 33rd Session of the UNHRC in Geneva.

Pakistan on its part claimed that PM Modi's comment on Balochistan is proof of New Delhi's interference in the province.