New Delhi, Dec 13 (IANS) The Baloch National Movement (BNM) has expressed “deep concern” over the US Export‑Import Bank’s (Exim Bank) decision to provide $1.25 billion in financing to Pakistan for its Reko Diq mining project, a report has said.
BNM said the move will tighten Pakistan’s control over Balochistan and intensify state‑led repression in the region, according to the report from Balochistan Post.
The BNM said the US move, presented as development assistance, amounts to an endorsement of Pakistan’s exploitation of Baloch resources and violation of global ethical standards.
The political organisation called the bank financing a help to “genocide, enforced disappearances, and plunder of the Baloch nation’s natural wealth.”
The group warned the package would pave the way for more military operations, army posts, checkpoints, forced population displacement, and increased surveillance in resource-rich areas of Balochistan.
The organisation called on Washington to recognise the historical consequences of supporting oppressive regimes, adding that the "decision undermines the Baloch struggle for self-determination".
Highlighting the ongoing humanitarian crisis, the organisation urged the US to reflect on thousands of Baloch youth remaining missing held in secret military detention centres under brutal conditions.
"The United States must choose between supporting human rights and endorsing oppression…Such assistance doesn't heal the wounds of the Baloch; it deepens them," the statement said.
In a recent report, analysts said that the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) approval of a $1.2 billion tranche for Pakistan will help the country avoid immediate default on foreign debt repayments but is unlikely to ease the squeeze on mainstream households.
It highlighted structural problems such as trade deficit, impending foreign-exchange crisis and internal political discord.
The data in November showed that Pakistan’s trade deficit widened sharply by 33 per cent to $2.86 billion from a year earlier, driven by falling exports and rising imports amid subdued economic growth.
The report urged that the government should assume further debt only for essentials such as population control, or building safeguards against climate change.
--IANS
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