LONDON: Exiled Balochistan leader, Amir Ahmed Suleman Daud said he would approach India for the independence of Balochistan. Addressing a seminar titled 'Balochistan Re-visited', at the British Houses of Parliament, the Khan of Kalat said, "I will go to India."
Spending his exile in the United Kingdom, Daud seemed rather determined as he engaged in stormy exchanges with pro-Pakistan elements in the audience. He said he will go to Afghanistan, Iran, and other countries, and revealed that he is actively in touch with the US Congress. "We lost our independence because of geo-politics," he said. He explained that Britain wanted to deny the Soviet Union access to warm waters. "This is why they (British) went back on the treaties (between the Kalat State and the UK)."
Daud said that in the centuries-old Kalat Confederacy, the Khan of Kalat was the head. On August 4, 1947, Lord Mountbatten, the Viceroy of India, the Khan of Kalat, and the founder of the in-coming state of Pakistan, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, signed an agreement in Delhi recognising the independence of Kalat for negotiation purposes. In fact, it remained independent until March 28, 1948, when it merged with Pak.
