Brahumdagh Bugti confirms applying for Indian citizenship

LONDON: The exiled leader of the banned Baloch Republican Party (BRP) leader Brahumdagh Bugti has formally asked the Indian government to give him asylum and Indian nationality so that he could live in India and move around the world to campaign against Pakistan.

In a world exclusive, Geo News had revealed on 15th September that Brahumdagh Bugti was set to apply for Indian citizenship and a deal had been reached between the banned BRP leader and the Indian government. The Indian government and the BRP, however, had denied the report, but, just four days later, the news turned out to be correct and Brahumdagh officially announced today that he would apply for Indian citizenship for himself and his family.

This correspondent understands that a key aide of Brahumdagh Bugti reached New Delhi days ago and has been looking after the arrangements.

Geo News had reported that Brahumdagh Bugti has been in touch with the Indian establishment for a long time now but the full-fledged cover was blown last month by none other than Narendra Modi himself, confirming Pakistan's view that India has been sponsoring violent terrorist groups in Pakistan including Balochistan.

Credible sources have told this scribe that several meetings were held in Geneva in the last few months to discuss various options. Senior officials of the Indian spy agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) attended these meetings along with diplomats from the local Indian mission.

At a press conference on Monday morning, Brahumdagh Bugti announced that he has been given a go-ahead by his party leaders to apply for asylum in India for himself and his family.

"We have decided to formally file asylum papers to the Indian government soon. We will follow the legal process for the application," he told reporters in Geneva.

Geo News understands that applying for asylum at the Indian mission is only a formality and that a deal between India and Bugti was struck several months ago.

A top aide of Bugti's revealed to Geo News that "all matters were settled months ago".

"Nawab Brahumdagh Bugti decided to go for the Indian nationality route after realising that the Swiss authorities were making excuses on his asylum case. The Indian option has always been there and it's a known fact," he said.

He said that at the central executive committee meeting of the BRP, members from across the Europe were invited and all of them unanimously agreed that Brahumdagh should go to India. He said that India has been asked to open doors for all supporters of Brahumdagh Bugti.

When asked how Mr Bugti would campaign against Pakistan, he said that help would be sought from India, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh, and everything will be done against the interest of Pakistan.

"Baloch Republican Party's Central Executive Committee has ratified Mr. Bugti's decision to seek political asylum in India. At the moment, we are concerned about the safety of the president of the party and that is why the decision for political asylum was cleared.

"We have not yet decided who all will accompany him on his journey to India, but that is up to him to decide and the party will volunteer members to accompany him as the need arises,” said Azizullah Bugti, a spokesperson of the banned BRP.