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Updated: Aug 16, 2016 16:02 IST

Encouraged by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s supportive words, leaders of the Baloch nationalist movement have sought support from the US and European countries against the oppressive Pakistani regime.

“The world must understand that Pakistan’s use of religious terrorism as a policy tool will have far reaching consequences; terrorism cannot be contained but needs to be countered effectively,” Khalil Baloch, chairman of the Baloch National Movement, said in a statement.

Read: Modi targets Pak abuses in I-Day speech: Walking Baloch talk will be tough

“Baloch nation hopes that the United States and Europe will join Prime Minister Modi and hold Pakistan accountable for the crimes against humanity and the war crimes it has committed against the Baloch nation in 68 years of its occupation of Balochistan and during the five wars that the Baloch nation has fought with Pakistan to win its national freedom,” Baloch said.

Read: What Baloch dissidents have to say about Modi’s comments on Pak ‘atrocities’

While welcoming Modi’s stance on Balochistan, he said the “policy of indifference towards Pakistan’s war crimes in occupied Balochistan that include both ethnic cleansing and genocide, adapted by the international community is worrying”.

“The Indian Prime Minister’s statement on Balochistan is a positive development,” Baloch said.

Thanking Modi for his statement on Balochistan, Brahumdagh Bugti, president of the Baloch Republican Party in a video statement, hoped that the Indian government, Indian media and the whole Indian nation would not only raise their voices for the Baloch nation but also strive to help practically the Baloch independence movement.

Modi’s comments were widely seen as a riposte to Pakistan’s adoption of a hardline stance on the Kashmir issue. In recent days, Pakistan has sought to repeatedly internationalise the Kashmir issue and spoken about sending medical and other aide to people in Jammu and Kashmir affected by a wave of unrest following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani.

Read: Pak accuses Modi of diverting world attention from ‘tragedy’ in Valley

Bugti, who is the grandson of Nawab Akbar Bugti – a Baloch nationalist leader who was killed in an encounter with the Pakistani army, said Pakistan’s destructive role in Kashmir and its direct involvement in terrorist attacks in India such as Mumbai and Pathankot has been a very well exposed fact.

“In this context, raising the voice of the Baloch people should not be a temporary reaction or short term strategy by the Indian government, but should be a sincere intention of the Indian people to support their oppressed Baloch brothers and sisters and should be very serious part of the foreign policy of the Indian government,” Bugti said.

“The Baloch mission and all the oppressed people of the world, still remember the decision of the Indian government when India intervened and came to the rescue of Bengali people from Pakistani brutalities in 1970s,” he said.

Pakistan demands self-determination and self-rule of Kashmiris and at the same time in Balochistan it is crushing the same demand of Baloch people by force, he said, adding that this not only exposes the double standards of Pakistan but also their evil design to destruct the peace and stability in the region.

The remarks by Baloch leaders came after Prime Minister Modi brought up Pakistani atrocities on people of Balochistan and PoK in his Independence Day speech on Monday.