The Baloch National Movement (BNM) has expressed “deep concern” over the U.S. EXIM Bank’s decision to extend $1.25 billion in financing for the Reko Diq mining project in Balochistan, saying the move would “strengthen Pakistan’s control over the region” and “intensify state repression.”
In a statement on Thursday, BNM spokesperson said the partnership between the U.S. EXIM Bank, U.S. authorities and Pakistan “violates global norms and basic human conscience,” adding that the organization had “serious and fundamental reservations” about the agreement.
“We have repeatedly made it clear that any form of financial assistance or economic partnership with Pakistan directly results in further genocide of the Baloch nation, enforced disappearances and the systematic plunder of our natural resources,” the spokesperson said.
The group said the new U.S. financing package would, “under the guise of so-called development in Balochistan,” support projects that would lead to “intensified military actions, forced displacement of local populations and an accelerated takeover of Baloch resources.”
The spokesperson said the United States, having fought its own struggle against colonial oppression, should understand “the historical consequences of suppressing national liberation movements,” adding that the partnership “effectively undermines the Baloch national movement and reinforces state repression.”
He said U.S. financial support would contribute to “the construction of more military camps and checkpoints,” the “expansion of surveillance infrastructure,” the “exploitation of natural resources,” and efforts to “crush Baloch resistance.” The spokesperson described EXIM Bank’s support as “nothing less than providing oxygen to Pakistan’s occupation and the ongoing genocide of the Baloch nation.”
Highlighting the humanitarian situation, the spokesperson said the United States must consider “how thousands of Baloch youth are suffering in secret Pakistan Army detention centres under inhumane conditions,” and how families of the disappeared “have turned into living embodiments of grief as they wait endlessly for their loved ones.”
“In such a situation, U.S. assistance does not heal the wounds of the Baloch nation — it deepens them,” he said, adding that he hoped “the American conscience will stand against this oppression instead of empowering it in the name of investment.”